The blizzard continues and well over a foot of snow has accumulated outside the door to my office.
Notice the appearance of the "snow visitor" who sat down at the table and is bowing his head.
It’s a good time to be snowed in with a good book. Better yet, why not “The Good Book”?
Today’s readings are quite dramatic: Genesis 26:17-27:46; Matthew 9:1-17; Psalm 10:16-18; Proverbs 3:9-10;
As we continue to read in Genesis, we learn of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and how He is preparing a nation through which would come the Messiah.
Isaac, the son, is once again a type of Christ- the Son in relationship to the Father; not in moral character, but in the overall pattern of his imitation of his father’s doings. He follows in the footsteps of his father.
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)
What Isaac does, his father has already done. He camps in Gerar as his father did (Gen 20:2). He uncovers the wells that his father had previously dug there. Even in his errors, he imitates his father.
Watchman Nee wrote about Isaac in his book, “Changed Into His Likeness”:
“Constituted the heir by divine promise, he (Isaac) was born, not after the flesh but after the spirit (Galatians 4: 29). Apart from Christ there was no other of whom this was said. Let us briefly recount some other ways in which Isaac may be a type of Christ. To Sarah, Isaac was Abraham's only true son, the beloved (Hebrews 11. 17). Laid by his father on the altar, he was received back as from the dead to be to him the risen one. After Sarah herself died and her `age of grace' was past, Isaac's bride, a figure of the Church, was brought to him from a far country. Yet she came to him as the Church of God's will, not brought in from without but born from within, for Rebekah and Isaac were of one blood, one family, as are Christ and His own. Moreover, Isaac really did occupy his inheritance. Abraham at one point went down into Egypt and Jacob returned to Mesopotamia, but Isaac was born, lived and died in Canaan. This is the Son who `is in heaven', who never left His Father's bosom.”
“In his old age Isaac at last did have his own ideas about blessing his sons. He wanted to bless Esau. But God would not let him do something his father had not done; he too had to bless the younger son! In the end, even the tomb in which Isaac was laid was the one provided by his father.”
Genesis gives us quite a wide open window to the scheming, deceitful hearts of humankind.
We can see why the Psalmist said,
“All men are liars.” (Psalm 116:11).
“There is no one who does good.” (Psalm 14:1)
In Genesis 27 all the characters involved are scheming, yet God’s sovereign purpose prevails. Derek Kidner in his commentary of Genesis writes:
“Isaac, whether he knew of the sale or not, knew God’s birth-oracle of 25:23, yet set himself to use God’s power to thwart it (see verse 29). This is the outlook of magic, not religion. Esau, in agreeing to the plan, broke his own oath of 25:33. Rebekah and Jacob with a just cause, made no approach to God or man, no gesture of faith or love, and reaped the appropriate fruit of hatred.” (Kidner, Derek, Genesis, Chicago: InterVarsity Press, 1967, p. 155)
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a God of all grace!
Another principle, by way of application, is to note how Isaac is deceived by the sense of touch into believing the lie that it was Esau asking for the blessing, even when what he heard was the voice of Jacob. We would do well to listen to the voice of the Word of God (Romans 10:17) “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ” and let that take precedence over all else.
New Testament Reading: Matthew 9:1-17
Here we have more evidence of Jesus’ deity. We learn of Jesus’ authority to forgive sins, something ultimately only God can do. Jesus substantiates this claim by healing the paralytic (Matt. 9:5)
We see the great danger of the sin of self-righteousness in verse 12. These people fail to see their need for the Savior and their need for grace.
Jesus answers the question that the disciples of John the Baptist had about the liberty of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus clarifies with his parable of the wineskins that He did not come to put a new patch on the old religion. He came to give a new kind of life and a new kind of relationship with God; a new covenant relationship in which God becomes a husband to His people and we can joyously celebrate doing life together (fellowship). The apostle Paul puts it this way in the Book of Romans: “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
