John Stormer, in his book on raising children, describes the line of one family that sought to teach the Scripture faithfully in their home. He noted numbers of individuals in successive generations from this one family who faithfully served God in various capacities as pastors, missionaries, government officials, judges, doctors and lawyers. They made an impact in society for generations because one father and mother sought to impart to their children the biblical principles of faith. The key idea in this passage is that our faith will be passed down to our children (and to others) only if they see us living as if God were worthy of our trust. In order to see this we need to look at the faith of these three patriarchs and how their faith is connected to one another.
I. The Faith of Isaac
In verse 20, we see the faith of Isaac. The author says, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.” Again we notice that the author uses his key phrase, “by faith.” He is telling us that Isaac blessed his sons according to some word from God. However, from the immediate context of the narrative of Isaac giving his blessing in Genesis 27, it initially appears that the blessing he gave to each son was on account of Jacob’s trickery instead of Isaac’s faith.
If you remember the account, Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, hears Isaac call for their oldest son Esau (oldest by several minutes for they were twins). Isaac charges Esau to go hunt and prepare a meal for him. Afterward he would bless Esau. So Esau runs off to do this task his father had commanded. Rebekah, wanting Jacob to get the blessing of the firstborn, calls for him to deceive his father by putting animal pelts upon him to make him feel like hairy Esau. And she had him wear one of Esau’s outfits. His father was nearly blind so he would have relied more on smell and touch than sight. Jacob having done this then goes to where his father is lying and brings in the food his mother had prepared. His father then gives him the blessing of the firstborn. When his brother Esau comes in some time later and learns of the deception of Jacob he also blesses Esau but gives him a second son’s blessing.
Now this may appear as no more than Jacob getting what he desired by his trickery. We cannot condone Jacob’s evil conniving for God could have and would have given Jacob what He had promised as He had said. And because of Jacob sought the blessing in his own deceitful way he missed seeing God work it out His way.
But now we notice a change in Isaac’s attitude. He, in reality, comes to repentance in going against God’s Word concerning Jacob. But before we describe this let’s look at the God’s promise that Isaac had heard and disregarded for some time. In Genesis 25:23, as Rebekah is pregnant with Jacob and Esau, the Lord gives a prophecy about them. “Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.”
Now Isaac and Rebekah had trust that God would work out His Word as He said. But I think that as Esau and Jacob grew up, the heart of Isaac began to grow cold to the promise of God. He saw Esau as the outdoorsman and Jacob as the momma’s boy and began to set his heart on elevating Esau over Jacob to the disregard of God’s Word. Isaac had chosen to bless Esau over Jacob, even though Esau showed himself unfit for the blessing in a number of ways. First, he refused to listen to his parents concerning the choice of his wife. Second, he despised his birthright by selling it to Jacob for a little food. And though Isaac knew this about his son he was still going to bless him with the blessing reserved for Jacob according to the Word of God.
Now when Isaac thought he had come to the end of his life he called for Esau to bless him in contradiction to the Word of God. When he found out he had been tricked and had given Jacob the blessing God began to convict his heart and cause him to repent to follow the Word of God. Genesis 27:33 says that Isaac began to tremble violently under this conviction. And when he recognized that he had blessed Jacob he firmly said, “Yes and he shall be blessed.” Isaac, after having learned he had been deceived could have issued a curse upon Jacob. He could have reversed his blessing and given it to Esau. But, seeing that he had been in the wrong now stood upon his conviction in the words and promise of God that he had neglected. And in chapter 28 he sends Jacob off to find a wife from Rebekah’s family. Verse 1 says, “So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.” Isaac is growing in his conviction in the word of God. He sees his wrong and not only does not curse Jacob but willingly blesses him again.
God used the circumstance of what appeared to be his final days to bring Isaac back to where he needed to be with God. What we find is that God always has a way to bring those who have put their trust in His Word back to Himself if they stray. Even though they might have strayed from him for years He will be faithful to do it if they are His children. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will perfect in the day of Jesus Christ.” He will cause the believer to persevere. He may use some difficult situations to do it but He is able to bring the heart of the believer back around to where it should be. Yes God is going to restore his child though the child may lose some precious time in their service to the king. Think about this for a moment. If you are living in stubborn refusal to obey God’s Word, you may waste some of the most precious years of your life before you realize where you ought to be with God. Don’t wait to return to Him. The Scripture says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He’s near.” When you return to Him, He can restore the lost time. We notice this in Isaac. He lives almost another 30 years. I think, and this is conjecture, that when Isaac repented, God restored his health for this period of time. In this way his son, Jacob, was able to go to Paddan-aram and return to see his father before he died. Isaac’s faith waned but it did not fail. When the time came he was able to speak concerning things yet to come. Because he believed what God had said, God sustained him and allowed him to follow the Lord.
In Genesis 28, we see how Jacob spoke concerning things yet to come. Because he now had trust that the Lord would bring to pass all that he promised he blessed Jacob in this way, “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”
Now what we need to know from this blessing is that Isaac is simply asking God to do what He had already promised. He told Abraham that he would make his descendants fruitful (Gen. 12:2, 13:16, 15:5, 17:6, and 22:17). And Isaac was just reiterating the promise by asking God to fulfill it in his son, Jacob. Then he asked God to give him the land that He had promised as well. Again this is a different promise related to Abraham’s future. He promised him that he would have the land of Canaan as a possession. He also makes this promise multiple times to Abraham. Isaac sees God’s plan and wants it to come to pass. His blessing of Jacob shows that he is back on track. Understand that this is faith. Praying back to God what he has promised and asking Him to bring it to pass shows that Isaac truly believed His Word. For if he didn’t believe His Word why would he be asking God to fulfill it?
This teaches us a little bit about our own prayer life and faith. We need to be praying and asking God for those things He promises us in His Word. We must grab hold of the fact that our faith must be active in asking God for those things He wants to give us. Your faith is not active if it is not looking for God to carry out His Word in us. So you need to get a feel for the heart of God’s intention to work in your life. But you can’t do this if you are not reading over the Word of God. You need to see the promises God has for you and put them into practice by asking God to accomplish them. Let me give you some examples. In Isaiah 26:3, the prophet says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.” When you are going through a trying, stressful event, you need to be praying this Scripture in this way: “God you promise to keep me in perfect peace when my mind is fixed on you. I am going through this difficulty and it is hard to keep my heart and mind fixed on you. Please let me think about your gracious character. Help me to meditate on the fact of your compassion toward me. Remind me of how good you are and how slow to anger. God let me have that perfect peace as I think on you instead of my problem.” Do you see how in praying for your answer from God you are using His Word as the means for your deliverance? But if you don’t have a grasp of the Scripture how can you pray it out?
Here is another example. “Lord you have said your will for my life is to be pure sexually according to 1 Thessalonians 4. This is what you want for my life. Lord, when I am tempted to think of that which is wrong, help me think on what is true and pure and lovely and of a good report, and excellent and praiseworthy.” So now we take two passages of Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 4 and Philippians 4, and merge them together to both pray for God’s help and to allow Him to work through His Word as we think about the right things to put off that which is wrong.
We find then that the blessings they pronounced upon their children were an extension of these patriarch’s faith. And with that let’s turn to the faith of Jacob.
II. The Faith of Jacob
The author of Hebrews mentions it in verse 21. “By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.” I think it is interesting to note that the faith of Jacob expressed itself first in the same way of his father. But we will not dwell on the blessing of Jacob that he gives to his grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh. He blesses them, again, according to the promises of God made to himself and his fathers, Isaac and Abraham. He calls to God for the fruitfulness of his grandchildren.
The aspect of the faith of Jacob we should concentrate for a moment is his worship. The verse says, “as he was dying…he worshipped.” The faith of Jacob is found in the fact of his consistent worship. From the beginning to the end of the narrative about Jacob we see that he is consistent in worshipping God. In those chapters about him we find at least seven different instances where Jacob worshipped God. The author of Hebrews notes that even as he was dying he worshipped. The passage to which he refers is found in Genesis 47.
There are two observations we can make about Jacob’s faith from his worship. The first observation about his faith is that his impending death in no way precluded or limited his worship. Personal worship of God was so ingrained into the fiber of his being he continued it up until the time of his death. This says something about Jacob. First, he had his focus in the right place. He wasn’t so preoccupied with himself that he couldn’t worship God. He wasn’t so worried about his soon departure that he was unable to worship. God was His God and He loomed large in Jacob’s radar screen. Real faith develops worship that is God-centered, not man-centered. In today’s culture, worship has become self-oriented. Worship is good if it makes me feel good and doesn’t make me feel out of place or awkward. We want to turn off our minds because we want a tame god who caters to me, instead of me changing to cater to God. The Israelites had a god like that. They had a god that catered to the flesh and to feelings. He was called Baal. You didn’t even have to obey the Ten Commandments to worship Baal. After all, you don’t want to have to think about morality when you’re worshipping God do you? You don’t want to think about how you’ve been a hypocrite all week do you? That would make you feel uncomfortable. Just make the music loud and the prayers sweet. Don’t mention repentance or the justice of God. Besides, we can change the names in our songs from “Baal” to “the Lord” because we know he wouldn’t want us to feel bad.
Jacob was able to worship, leaning upon his staff in his deathbed, because he was focused on God. As we come to the place to die, our faith in Christ should not cause us to fear nor flee from the presence of God. But it ought to strengthen our worship. As Jacob worshipped he was able to say, “The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” When it comes our time to die our faith in God should cause us to look forward to what God has for us.
The second observation we have about his faith is that his faith caused him, throughout his life, to develop a living worship relationship with God. As we mentioned earlier the narrative of Jacob’s life is peppered with instances of his worship. We have to understand that worship is cultivated. Worship of the Lord is grown in the heart. Our corporate worship should be the outgrowth of a week’s worth of personal worship. I think there are so many misconceptions in corporate worship because people are so lacking in personal worship.
Worship comes from an old English root meaning to attribute worth to something or someone. Worship extends not only to our personal devotional time, but also how we think about God throughout our day. Worship takes place when we consciously think about how great God is as circumstances (both good and bad) come into our lives. Those with genuine biblical faith cannot leave God behind with their devotions. They take Him with them as they go.
And to worship you cannot neglect daily time with God in His Word and through prayer. You have to develop this discipline in your life if you are going to grow in your relationship with God. Especially in this frenetic society you need unrushed time with God. I usually have some paper nearby while I am praying to write reminders down so I don’t have to be bothered to think about it again while I am praying. You also need to schedule other time with Him besides your regular devotion time. Find an opportunity to go walking in a quiet place and spend time with Him there. Set aside an afternoon to worship God with your Bible, a journal and a prayer list.
Genuine biblical faith causes us to yearn to know God better. And consistent worship should be one of the means we use to accomplish that end. When Jacob came to the end of his life, his faith caused him to worship God not dread Him.
III. The Faith of Joseph
In verse 22, the author speaks of the faith of Joseph. He says, “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.” Again we notice that Joseph was able to speak confidently concerning the promises of God as he lay dying. Though he could not see the event fulfilled he knew God would carry it out. This promise of the exodus of Egypt was made to Joseph’s great grandfather. In Genesis 15, God spoke to Abraham saying, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.” Joseph saw their entrance into the land of Egypt as the fulfillment of this promise from God. And he confidently trusted in it. I think Genesis 50:24 shows the firmness of his faith. Joseph is speaking to his family and says, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob.”
He knew there would be a deliverer who would arise and rescue Israel. The words, “take care of you” in this verse are literally, “visit.” When this word occurs in relation to God’s covenant people it refers to God’s provision of deliverance for them. Joseph believed the nation of Israel would be oppressed and afflicted but also that God would rescue them and bring them back into the land of Canaan.
IV. The Connection in Their Faith
Lastly, we want to look at the connection in their faith. Two aspects link Isaac, Jacob and Joseph in their faith.
A. They persevered in their faith
The first aspect that links these patriarchs is they persevered in their faith. What we notice is that their genuine faith in God’s Word caused them to persevere in their faith. He links all three of these patriarchs by giving glimpses of them at the end of their lives.
Genuine biblical faith perseveres. The author wants us to recognize this. It was his introduction into chapter 11 that described the difference between real biblical faith and counterfeit faith. In 10:39 the author says, “We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
B. They passed on their faith
The second aspect that links these patriarchs is they passed on their faith. We might be tempted to say that these men were not the greatest examples of faith. But we would be wrong for their faith was strong enough and deep enough to pass their trust of the living God from one generation to the next. Their faith was strong enough to produce an unbroken chain of following the living God. And it was because of their faith that God worked out their character flaws and caused them to follow Him and recognize that He was with them all along. When Jacob came to the end of his life he was able to call God, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” He saw that his father and grandfather walked with the living God and that God never left him nor forsook him.
The last words of these men that they passed down to their children and grandchildren were words of faith. They were words that showed explicit trust in the promises of God. They were words of encouragement to persevere in the things of God. They were words that showed the next generations you can serve God even until the end of your life.
We see biblical examples of bad characteristics are passed on between father and son. But look, in the positive, at the striking similarities between father and son as they pass on their faith. Isaac blessed Jacob. Jacob, in turn, blessed both his children and his grandchildren. Jacob asks Joseph to bury him in the land of promise. What did Joseph learn from this? When he is about to die he called for the Israelites to also bury his body in the Promised Land. But, he is so confident of their return from Egypt that he doesn’t ask them to bring him up at that time but a few hundred years in the future when God would bring them out of the land of Egypt into Canaan.
There are things that I see my children doing because they have observed me doing it. I can see my example lived out in my children. Sometimes I get a glimpse of this in the things I do unconsciously when my children bring it to my attention. Not too long ago my son Paul was in my room when I was about to grab my pajama top out of my drawer. He said, “Dad, I put my pajama top on the same way you do.” I asked, “What do you mean, you put your pajama top on the same way I do?” “Well,” he answered, “you take your shirt, put it under your chin, flop it so it’s straight then flip it upside down and put it on.” I said, “What are you talking about?” Then I pulled the shirt out of my drawer, stuck it under my chin, flopped it so it was straight then flipped it upside down and put it on.
How many things do we do that relate to our faith that our children see and pick up without ever having to be taught it. Do your children see you reading your Bible? Do they see you praying? Do they take notice of how you spend time with the Lord (or do they notice the lack of time)? They notice everything. Let me give another example from the son of my right hand. One evening as we were reading his Bible together Paul said, “Dad let me get a pen before we start.” “Why do you need a pen?” I asked. “So I can underline words, dad.” Somewhere he saw mom or me underlining words in our Bible and thought that it was something he should do too. Is your faith going to shine through in your children or in those you are discipling? I hope so. How can you make sure?
Scripture tells us how we should be leaving this heritage of faith for our children. In Deuteronomy 6, Moses, after telling the people to love the Lord with all their heart, tells them to pass it on to the children by communicating a love for His Word. They were to make it a prominent part of their lives. They were to daily teach their children so they would not forget the God who gave them His Word and calls them to know Him.
Diligent and careful instruction of the Word of God is the plan for the family. Sunday school and children’s church are not the substitute for daily family teaching of the Word of God. If you are too busy to teach them the Word then you are too busy and you will pay the price for neglecting to pass it on to them. In Judges 2:10, there is a sad indictment upon the nation of Israel in their neglect to teach their children the ways of the Lord. It says, “All that generation…were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” One generation failed to teach their children about the Lord and the next generation was lost. The light of the Word of God was nearly extinguished in one generation. Will that be in your day? Are you concerned about your children’s future beyond that they get a good job or are healthy? Shouldn’t your heart burn to see them saved and to desire God’s will above anything else? Shouldn’t you encourage them to look into ministry or missionary service? Not everyone should go into the ministry but if you never speak about it at home how will your child know that this is an option? How will they know the importance of the missionary calling if you don’t pray for missionaries in your home and seek the expansion of God’s kingdom in the world?
Now this isn’t just for those with children. You can pass your faith onto others. But to do this you need a faith that is visible and contagious. This applies to both young and old. But you have to have a faith that makes you different if you are going to make a difference. Are you going to pray and work to see successive generations come to know Christ, to love Him and serve Him with all their heart because they have a faith that sees Him to be worthy of all honor and glory and praise? Is your faith going to be a visible reminder to the next generation that they too can know and serve the Lord?