Jacob and Esau
This week, the story for Radiant Kids is Jacob and Esau, and I was particularly struck by what a hard teaching it is. Yet it needs to be taught, because our job is to proclaim all of God’s truths, even the ones that make us uncomfortable or offend our flesh. It reminded me that the Bible is much more than a collection of morality lessons.
Often, the the way we approach the Bible is to read it to look for rules for right living. Something along the lines of: the Bible says this, which teaches us about how Christians are to behave. The implication is that the Bible is our instruction book given to us so we can learn all we need to learn about good Christian conduct. This is definitely a shallow view of the Bible.
The fact is, the Bible is God’s revelation of God. It is not simply our book of rules for us. It is God’s book about Himself. The fact that humans are even mentioned should not be taken for granted but should be regarded with awe, that we have been made part of God's story. And in fact, when humans are mentioned, we see that their actions don’t really lend themselves to a good morality lesson.
This is certainly true for the story of Jacob and Esau. There is no template in the story that says “see children, how you should act….” How heroic were Jacob’s actions? Are we to emulate him? He heartlessly took advantage of his brother’s weakness to steal his birthright. Then he deliberately and selfishly, deceived his own father to steal his brother’s blessing. And Esau was no better. He foolishly gave up his birthright for a single meal. And after being deceived by his brother, he decided the best thing would be to kill him as soon as Isaac was dead.
The reality, God is the only one in this story that is the hero. He chose Jacob not because of Jacob’s righteousness, but because of God’s grace. Even though Jacob was constantly trying to take matters into his own hands, and was deceitful, dishonest and selfish, God says “Yet I have loved Jacob” (Malachi 1:2). This is a great promise; it reminds us that God’s grace is far greater than our screw-ups!
The hard part is verse 3, where God goes on to say “but Esau I have hated.” Why did God hate Esau? The answer is that Esau deserved it. The reality is that we all deserve God’s hate. The Bible says “all have sinned.” That means we all deserve what Esau got. All are like Esau. And the only reason any one gets anything other than what he or she deserves is God’s grace. That is a deep mystery and one that compels us, in humility, to praise God for His Amazing Grace for restoring a separation caused by our sin!
Charles Spurgeon says it this way:
"If any of you want to know what I preach every day, and any stranger should say, "Give me a summary of his doctrine," say this, "He preaches salvation all of grace, and damnation all of sin. He gives God all the glory for every soul that is saved, but he won't have it that God is to blame for any man that is damned." That teaching I cannot understand. My soul revolts at the idea of a doctrine that lays the blood of man's soul at God's door. I cannot conceive how any human mind, at least any Christian mind, can hold any such blasphemy as that. I delight to preach this blessed truth—salvation of God, from first to last—the Alpha and the Omega; but when I come to preach damnation, I say, damnation of man, not of God; and if you perish, at your own hands must your blood be required."
Thank God for the blood of Jesus!
-- Mike D.
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