Redeemer Church of Oklahoma City

Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the LORD before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.” –Genesis 26:5-13

Jacob protests his mother’s plan. That’s good, except the protest was not that God had promised so they should wait on the Lord or even that it was simply immoral. He protests because he isn’t sure the scheme is plausible. He is worried it won’t work and he’d get caught. Getting caught may well involve getting cursed by his father rather than blessed.

Rebekah’s answer to this problem is that she would take the curse upon herself. If we were going to be very generous with her, we might think that she had received the oracle from God while still pregnant with Esau (the older) who would serve Jacob (the younger), and she was choosing to believe it. She could risk accepting the curse because she didn’t think she could be cursed because of God’s promise. Maybe, but no one in this group is exactly on the up-and-up.

Something about which we do not have to speculate is that this passage is about blessing and curse. They wanted blessing, but curse was a real threat. What a picture of the cross! Jesus was like Rebekah in that he was cursed (Paul writes in Galatians 3, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”) He took the curse we deserved thus the firstborn of all creation lost his firstborn rights. He dressed up like us and got what we deserved.

In exchange we are dressed up like him. Our aroma is that of another. Animals died for Jacob to be covered the way he was, in the same way for us without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, no covering, for sins. We go in to the Father with the covering made for us by the shedding of his blood, then clothed in his righteous robes. And when he draws you near, he smells the goodness of the firstborn son. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!

And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.

The related hymns we’ll sing are:
O Worship the King
Baptized in Water
Thy Works, Not Mine, O Christ

The monthly Men’s Prayer Breakfast is this Saturday, June 5, at 8:30 at the church. All men are welcomed.

Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (in Galatians) is continues. Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15. 

Visitors are always welcome!