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20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. ~ Hebrews 11:20-21
We return today to our study of Hebrews 11 wherein the writer of Hebrews has giving us a precise definition of faith in the God of the Bible. As we have been considering, faith is "the confidence in what we hope for" and "the assurance in what we do not see."
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future."
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were familiar with the detailed story of Isaac and Jacob and Esau. Isaac, being very aware of his coming death, blessed Jacob and Esau. Biblical faith faces its greatest test in the hour of death when one has not experienced the fulfillment of the promise God has given. And, all of the patriarchs of Israel died not having received the multilayered promise that God initially gave to Abraham. Yet, all of them died in the confidence that the promise would be fulfilled even though they had not yet received it.
The key phrase here in Hebrews 11:20 is "in regard to their future." Even though Abraham had not received the fulfillment of the promise, he reiterated it to his son, Isaac, who did not receive the fulfillment of the promise, either. Abraham had been promised the land, the nation, and the spiritual blessings to the world. He never saw any of it at all. Yet, he didn’t die in despair. No, Abraham died in faith, confidently passing on the promise to his son, Isaac, knowing Isaac would be the next step in the divine plan that would lead ultimately to the fulfillment of the promise. And, Isaac did the same thing, he passed the promise on to his son, Jacob.
Isaac blessed both Esau and Jacob but Esau did not walk with God. The promise that God gave to the patriarchs is a promise of blessing which rooted in their confidence in God’s covenantal faithfulness. Though the patriarchs did not enter the land, and though they did not see the nation established, and though they did not see the nations of the world blessed, they fully expected God to keep His promise. The worth of their faith was discovered in the faithfulness of their God.
In v.21 of today's passage we read, "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff."
Even though Jacob had his struggles in his walk with the God of the the Bible, he never stopped trusting Him. Jacob had to walk by faith in the God of the Bible because he encountered many struggles and challenges, and the victories came very hard for him. The fog in his life was thick, sin was heavy, but his faith never waned. The story of Jacob as recorded in Genesis alternates between calling him "Israel" which means "prince with God" and "Jacob" which means "deceiver." Like you and me, he had his good and bad days. Yet, fundamentally, he remained faithful because He knew that God is faithful.
Interestingly, in today's passage, the Holy Spirit selected a minute fragment of Jacob’s life with which to illustrate his faith in Him. No mention is made of all the amazing events which took place in Jacob's earlier life. The one point upon which our attention is focused is that of Jacob dying, blessing, worshipping, and leaning! The one minute fragment of Jacob’s life with which to illustrate his faith in God is discovered in the last few words of v.21: "Jacob leaned on the top of his staff."
Jacob's staff had become necessary to him, because his hip had been dislocated in the wrestling match he had with God in Genesis 32 when God changed his name from Jacob to Israel. Leaning upon that staff, Jacob would always remember the miracle that God had wrought in his life, in breaking his stubborn self-will. When Jacob leaned upon his staff he was reminded of his helpless, moment-by-moment dependency upon his God. Jacob worshipped God as the result of becoming a broken man.
Jacob's staff was not just a simple rod, it was a rod with a short crossbeam. Through the many years it has developed into what we use today to make qualitative judgements of the height and angle of an object relative to the user of the staff. Such is the case with our faith in the God of the Bible.
Interestingly, Jacob's staff points us to another cross, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through His cross that any of us have an operative faith in the God of the Bible who made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of so many the stars of the heavens are an illustration of it. It is only through the cross that God opened the only way for our faith to be acceptable to Him. The message of the cross comes to us best on the heels of our brokenness or those moments that we are reminded that we need the Lord more than anything. This was Jacob's story for on the night he met God he thought his brother was coming to kill him. But, in the end, Jacob became an inheritance of God.
