Hebrews 11.20 is not long. By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. It is a new person, though, in the list. We have been, in a number of weeks, the section on Abraham. Abraham began in verse 8 as he started the new long section of names, the middle chunk of names from verses 8 to 22. Abraham took up quite a bit of space. He and Sarah in verses 8 to 12, then sort of a parenthetical, or not so much parenthetical, but an interpretive paragraph from verses 13 to 16. But then it picked back up with Abraham. It didn't move on to another person. Abraham was verses 17 to 19. And now, finally, someone else. And not even a lot. Out of all that's said about Abraham, you get to Isaac, and they say, he blessed his sons. And then it moves on to the next person. That's all you get about Isaac. It is so terse in its language, isn't it? There's really a couple things I want to think about tonight. I want to think about, first of all, the fact that Isaac is brought up, and this not being his first appearance by name in the chapter. And then secondly, I want to think about what the blessings would have been on Jacob and Esau. In fact, it's appropriate that last week we had the young Fit Junior reciting for us the stories about Jacob, because one of the ones that you heard, that you were reminded of, was Jacob cheating Esau out of his blessing. And that is one of the things that will be in view in the passage tonight. So I won't rehearse the whole territory, but we will look at the text just a bit. So in verse 20 here, the name Isaac does not appear for the first time in this verse. Back up, if you will, to verses 8 and 9. In verse 8, Abraham obeys when God tells him to go to a land. He doesn't know where he's going. He's going to receive it, though, as an inheritance. So there he goes. And in verse 9, we are told that in Abraham's journey and in his obedience, he was living in tents temporarily with Isaac. and Jacob, but Isaac's name appears there in this chapter for the first time. So there you have Abraham and his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob. It's said there in verse 9 that they are heirs with him of the same promise. So the first thing we hear about Isaac is that he's with his father and with his son and that Isaac is an heir of the promises of Abraham. This helps us understand in verse 20, when he blesses Jacob and Esau, What is in view is what he himself had been an arrow. The promise. This is all about the promise. The promise that was passed on from Abraham to Isaac, and that Isaac now has, and is going to bless, as we see most specifically, Jacob. Here's the second occasion where Isaac is mentioned by name. If you look at verse 17, it tells us that Abraham, when he was tested, by faith he offered up Isaac. There you have in the second appearance of Isaac's name the reminder that Isaac was going to be killed as a sacrifice. Not because Abraham was angry, not because Abraham was going to disobey God, but because Abraham was going to obey God. This was the shocking Genesis 22 chapter when Abraham was going to offer up his son because God said, give me Isaac on Mount Moriah. In verse 18, this is the third time Isaac's name has been mentioned. The third time it says, of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This is a direct quote of Genesis 21-12, right before the Genesis 22 near sacrifice. The reason that quote is important is because Abraham is told the promise is going to come through Isaac. Next chapter, Genesis 22, God says, I need you to kill Isaac. And we felt the tension because Abraham's thinking is not, well, then God must have somebody else in mind. Abraham's thinking in his mind, God said it was going to be through Isaac. What do you mean now? Now offer up Isaac? So what's Abraham's reasoning in verse 19? Abraham's reasoning is, well, God said it's going to be through Isaac. And then he says, I want you to offer up Isaac. It must be because God's going to raise Isaac. Because God's not going to go back on his promise. He's going to bring Isaac back from the dead. So Abraham reasons that God is going to be able to do that. And of course it says in verse 19 that figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back. When our passage tonight, not passage, but just a little verse, when verse 20 opens with, By faith Isaac, we have some ground already prepared for us. That's why I wanted to go back over those other verses. We're told that he's an heir of the promise. We're told that he was going to be the one through whom offspring would come. And he was the one that was almost sacrificed and figuratively died and was brought back from the dead by that intervention of the angel and the ram caught in the bush. So in verse 20, when it says that by faith Isaac invoked, Isaac has the faith of his father. Isaac is going to imitate the faith of his father. Isaac is going to obey what God has said. The question is, what did Abraham do that Isaac is now going to emulate with these blessings? Notice they're called future blessings. Now, I think you can bless your children with something in the here and now, can't you? You can go to a store. I know I can with my five-year-old. And if I'm in Walmart and I find something that I know he would really like, and Jensen would really like this transformer. And if I bought this, he would really play with it for at least an hour. And so, sure enough, I can go there. And that's a great blessing. And he's just thrilled that I had something that I then gave to him. And so I blessed him with that. But a future blessing isn't even taking into account something later on in their earthly life. The future blessings are filled with Old Testament hope of descendants that will be multiplied and fill the earth and a land in which they will all inhabit. So I need you to go to a couple places. First of all, let's look in Genesis 12, and I want you to hear these promises phrase by phrase. He says in Genesis 12, verse 2, starting out with verse 2, I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you'll be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." This is Genesis 12. In Genesis 15, God believes or Abraham believes the Lord in verse six, and it is counted to him as righteousness that he will have his own son as an heir. That's what God said in verse four, just a couple of verses earlier. Genesis 15, for God said, this man will not be your heir, your very own son. Abraham believed that in Genesis 18, verse Nine, visitors to Abraham say, where is Sarah, your wife? And Abraham said, she's in the tent. God says, I'm going to return to you about this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son. So these things are culminating. There's this feel of a crescendo taking place. God has visited them with a promise. He's come again saying, here's when it's going to happen now, next year. In Genesis 21, Isaac is born. The birth of Isaac, right there in chapter 21, verse 1, the Lord visited Sarah as He said. The Lord did to Sarah as He had promised. She conceived and bore Abraham, a son. And if you look there in verse 12, it says, at the very end, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. That's what's going to be picked up by the Hebrews writer, isn't it? Well, look in Genesis 22. Isaac is going to be sacrificed, nearly so. And then what is repeated is this. In verse 17, I will surely bless you. So that was from Genesis 12. God's repeating that promise to Abraham. But then listen to this language. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, as the sand on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of the enemies. In your offspring, all nations of the earth will be blessed. So he's repeating his promise to Abraham again. Go to Genesis 27. In Genesis 27, Isaac is in a situation where the blessing is going to be given. Rebecca conspires with Esau to deceive the older man. Jacob comes in disguised as his brother. Jacob did not recognize him and said in verse 27 of chapter 27, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be Lord over your brothers. May your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you. The blessing God gave to Abraham, the one Abraham gave to Isaac, the one Isaac is going to give to his son. The language of being a blessing, of having descendants, of the one who is opposing you will be opposed by God. It says in verse 30, as soon as Isaac had finished the blessing, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from his presence, Esau came in. In verse 31, ready, taste the game, my father. And he says, who are you? In verse 32. I'm Esau, your firstborn. Isaac is trembling violently in verse 33. Esau hates what he hears next. In verse 34, his response to hear that the blessing has already been given is to cry out, bless me also, my father, bless me also. Isaac said, your brother came in deceitfully in verse 35. He's taken away your blessing. Esau said, well, didn't he just get the right name then? Because his name is Jacob. And he's cheated me these two times. Took away my birthright, and behold, taken away my blessing. Have you reserved a blessing for me? Just a heart-wrenching scene, isn't it? Just heart-wrenching. Verse 38 says, or verse 37 says, Esau had willingly given up his birthright. That is very true. Esau had given up his birthright. In verse 37, Isaac says, Behold, I have made him Lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son? And Esau says, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me even also, my father. Esau lifted up his voice and wept. So here's what Isaac says. This is probably what the writer of Hebrews has in mind, in Hebrews 11.20, with regard to Esau. Maybe these words. Behold, Away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, you shall serve your brother, and when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck." Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said, The days and the morning of my father are approaching, and I'll kill my brother Jacob. Look in chapter 28. Esau, I mean, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, You must not take a wife from Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. Take as your wife there from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. And why? Verse 3, listen to this language. God Almighty will bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you and you become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you that you may take possession of the land. of your sojournings that God gave you to Abraham. Descendants and land. And it went from Abraham to Isaac. And from Isaac to Jacob. And from Jacob onward. It was a blessing that God had, but it was future oriented. Abraham believed God would bring it about, so he spoke accordingly. Isaac believed God would bring it about, so he spoke accordingly. When it says in verse 20, by faith, Isaac invoked future blessings. Isaac has faith like Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, 1 says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Isaac doesn't see company of peoples being multiplied like the stars in the sand, but he believes God's going to do it, so he blesses his son likewise. Isaac doesn't see all of them dwelling in the land of their sojournings, as God has promised his people will, but Isaac believes it's going to happen, so he blesses accordingly. This is a faith characterized by trusting in God's promise to bring about what they don't yet see. That's the faith Isaac has. It's the faith of his father, and it's the faith that the descendants are going to have. He invokes these blessings, literally the blessings concerning things to come, which is what links us to verses like Hebrews 11.1. With regard to Jacob in particular, we know that the blessing is for Jacob's position as someone who would be, even though the younger brother, the one who has been set apart by God, through whom the line will continue to go. Jacob is going to have Judah, and from the tribe of Judah, the scepter will not depart. And we know that the first king of Israel, who is from the tribe of Judah, is David. Saul, the first king of Israel, was from Benjamin, so he's not in that line, right? But you see this great continuity over the story here. When Isaac says I'm going to bless you and gives those words of what he believed true from what his father said. He believes it's going to be true for his descendants as well. This is the faith the Hebrews writer wants his readers to have. So the appropriate question to ask is, what's the role of this little bitty statement in light of this big chapter? Well, I think one of the things we could say is that both Isaac and Jacob are enlisted after Abraham here. So you have all three patriarchs. You have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in this story. You don't have every Old Testament figure, but you do have all three patriarchs. And I think what's important to affirm is that all three of the patriarchs are in the book of Genesis. section of scripture for the Israelites was the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. And the foundational book of the Torah was the book of Genesis. And in the book of Genesis, the heroes of their faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all believed God and trusted in His promises. And if they did it, how much more should everyone else? I mean, it's not like they can renege on that or somehow think that that was insignificant. This is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So Isaac is included here to be part of that triune patriarchal structure. But then also, Isaac here is described as invoking blessings of things to come. This language ties him to the Hebrews 11.1 kind of faith. It fills out the faith a little more. It puts some muscle and some flesh on the bones. It reminds us that this is a kind of faith about things Isaac, it doesn't see before him yet. In our lives, we should believe God's promise of a coming resurrection and a coming city that awaits us, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews gives us promises that await us. And the writer says, You know what kept these people going? You know what kept Abraham trusting, and Isaac believing, and Jacob as well? These patriarchs, and all those that followed them, they believed God was good on His Word. And that you could trust Him, not only to be good on His Word, but that He had the ability to bring it about. Abraham said, look, if God said, kill Isaac, and the chapter before, He said, it's going to be through Isaac, then God's able to raise Isaac from the dead. There's nothing that's going to stop God's accomplishment of His promises. And I think this should be encouraging to the readers of that day and to our day. We should be encouraged as we look at our lives to know that God will not be shown a promise breaker in any of these things He's revealed in His Word. He will bring, not only is He good on His promises, but He is able to bring all of them about. He's able to take us all the way to the city that is to come. And He's able to raise us from death, whether we meet death in a natural sense, or whether we mean it through great tragedy, or through illness, or through martyrdom, Paul says, what can separate us from the love of Christ? Can famine, or nakedness, or sore, or the present, or the future, or angels, or demons? Nothing can. If we trust that God is good on His promises, and is able to bring them about, then Isaac's faith, just like everyone else who is listed here, should inspire us to believe God in this way. That we should believe God in this way. Now Isaac, Isaac intended to bless Esau. And Jacob's trickery did not lie outside the sovereignty of God. Even Isaac's intentions, and he thought, this isn't the way I thought this would end up. That happens in life a lot. but none of it outside the sovereignty of God. If they were to zoom out, God is unfolding a grander story than they would imagine. And even though this is not unfolding as Isaac is opening his mouth and feeling the hair on Jacob's arms that he has put there to disguise himself as Esau, This is something that under the sovereignty of God is telling a redemption story, and it's showing us that even their disobedience will not prove God a promise breaker, and it will not prevail over His sovereignty, and it will not nullify His redemptive rescue. God will bring it to pass by His own power. Not His people's perfection, not His people's sinlessness, not His people's cleverness and ability. God would bring it about by His own power. And if there's a barren womb, He's going to fill it with life. He did it again and again. And if Isaac's going to die on Mount Moriah, then Abraham's reasoning is God must be able to raise him from the dead. They had such a trust in God's power to bring to pass His promises. They didn't think God was just optimistic. that God just hoped things would work out well. They really believed God not only had made promises, but nothing was going to stand in their way.