God’s Promise to Isaac (Gen 26:1-5)
Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bible, please turn it to Genesis 26:1-5.
Last week we finished our three-week series dealing with love and Christmas—this week, we’re back to our long-running series through the book of Genesis. To help catch you back up, let me review with you the past few sermons in Genesis.
At the beginning of ch. 25, Abraham, who we had been following closely due to the promise given to him by God, died.
However, Abraham had a son named Isaac and Isaac had two sons named Jacob and Esau—about a month-and-a-half ago, we talked about their birth, how even in the womb they fought together and as young adults, they continued to fight against each other, to the point where Jacob was willing to essentially steal Esau’s birthright and Esau was willing to go along with it in hopes of a bowl of soup.
Now, this morning, we’re going to take a brief break from the drama with Jacob and Esau, and we’re going to turn our attention back to Isaac, their father, for the next few weeks.
Remember that Abraham, the original patriarch through whom the promise from God had originally been given, died at the beginning of ch. 25 and that puts things into a slight predicament, as the divine promise from God was originally given to him as an individual. However, God still intends to keep that promise, and so, you see in a few instances where God reiterates the promise first to Isaac, which we’re about to see, but then later on to Jacob. This reiteration of the covenant is a reminder that though Abraham is no longer living, God still intends to keep His promise to him.
Keep that in mind as we read this morning’s text. Genesis 26:1-5:
1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
As we study this text, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Setting (1) and (2) The Promise (2-5). This short passage is unique in a number of different ways and it appears in the context of Genesis as almost like a rabbit trail or side-note. However, what it actually does is that it reminds us of the overall point of the book by pointing us back to God and the promise that He had made—not just to Abraham, but really to all mankind back in the Garden of Eden.
What we’ll do today is pretty simple—we’re going to take today to reorient our minds back into the context of Genesis and where it fits in redemptive history, which will help us see how this passage fits in with the rest of Scripture.
Ultimately, this passage reminds us of God’s promises and it reminds us of who God is and what He is like.
Let’s pray and then we’ll jump in.
Prayer for Illumination
The Setting (1)
The Setting (1)
Our text starts by giving us the setting of what’s about to happen in Genesis 26.
We’re told of a famine that overtook the land.
And the Bible is clear that this is a separate famine from the one that occured in the days of Abraham—that’s referring to Genesis 12:10, which records Abram and Sarai leaving their home to go to Egypt for food and sustenance because of a famine in their day.
We don’t really see famines in the same way that they did during their time period—in fact, if you talk with anyone that handles global food processing and different issues like that—you’ll find that in the United States, for the most part, we don’t really suffer famines to the extent of the Middle East six thousand years ago.
It’s very unlikely that we’ll get to the extent that we would physically have to move from our homes in Pennsylvania to a different location because of a food shortage.
In fact, if you consider national tragedies like the recent Hurricane Helene—we were able to get food to them in what would essentially have caused a famine-like food shortage in their time of need.
In the cases of Abram and Sarai in Genesis 12 and now Issac and his family in Genesis 26—the famine is significant enough that they needed to go somewhere for food—no one was bringing them food, they needed to go and find food.
The famine is significant and during this time period, there really aren’t a lot of different places that you would be able to go for help—most of your nearby neighbors are dealing with the same famine that you are, so if you are to find food, you need to go somewhere else.
More than likely, you need to go somewhere that isn’t affected by the famine, that has enough food to go around, and isn’t hostile towards you.
And in this time period, that’s usually somewhere like Egypt, which was a massive empire that had plenty of food and resources.
Now, you might ask, “how do we know that they’re headed toward Egypt?” and the answer for that is actually in v. 2, God tells him not to go to Egypt. If he wasn’t already headed in that direction, it wouldn’t make sense that God would tell him not to go there.
So, Issac and his family are in desperate need and they’re headed in the direction of Egypt, which is why they end up in Gerar, which is controlled by a man named Abimelech, who is the king of the Philistines.
Gerar is still in the part of the Middle East that will eventually become Israel, but at this point history, it’s owned and controlled by the Philistines.
If you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you’ll recognize that later in the Bible—the Philistines and the Israelites really don’t get along, but at this point—there isn’t a ton of bad blood between the two.
Primarily because Israel as a nation doesn’t exist yet—as far as the Philistines are concerned, the people group that eventually become the Israelites, is just a small family seeking help from their neighbors.
And at this point, there’s a little bad blood between the two, but it isn’t a significant amount.
Now, I don’t want to give too many details here because next week’s sermon will deal with it at length, but I do want you to at least start thinking about the comparisons here between Isaac and Abraham:
They both left their homes and headed towards Egypt because of a famine.
They both bump into a man by the name of Abimelech.
They both hear from God concerning a covenant.
So, that’s the setting. Isaac and his family are in a serious situation in which they need to find food—they need sustenance—and much like his parents, he decides to head towards Egypt, but before he gets there, he stops in Gerar and in-between him stopping at Gerar and the event that’s going to happen with Isaac and Abimelech, we see God speaking to Issac. Let’s re-read the rest of the text:
The Promise (2-5)
The Promise (2-5)
2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
God appears to Issac and speaks to him.
This is another instance in the Old Testament when God appears to someone—remember, this happened with Abram, this also happened in the Garden of Eden.
It’s not a normal thing to happen—it only happens a handful of times throughout Scripture and we’re never really given very many details.
In fact, in this instance, we’re not even sure how exactly God is making Himself visible to Isaac—it could be like what happens with Moses later in Exodus—God could be revealing Himself to Isaac in the form of a burning bush.
It could be like the instances in which we see the Angel of the Lord doing something in a physical form—i.e., this could be what we call a Christophany (when Jesus manifests Himself physically).
Or it could be an instance in which God appears in a dream or a vision.
Regardless, God appears to Isaac and He speaks to him in vv. 2-3.
God gives Isaac a command in vv. 2-3a, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land.”
Contrary to conventional wisdom, God tells Isaac not to go to Egypt—remember, Isaac wasn’t going to Egypt for fun, he wasn’t going on a vacation (he was going to find sustenance for his family).
God instead tells him not to bother going to Egypt, but rather to dwell in the land of which He will tell him.
Of course, tied in with the context—particularly in vv. 4-5, we can assume, that God is speaking of the Promised Land—the same land that God had promised to Abraham’s descendants.
However, we can tell that this Promised Land is still not going to be Isaac’s nor his descendants yet. We know this because of the word Sojourn in v. 3.
Sojourning is precisely what the Jewish people had always done prior to taking the Promised Land later in history.
And the definition for the word is more comprehensive that what we typically see in a dictionary today.
American Heritage Dictionary — sojourn means “to reside temporarily.”
With that definition, we could make the argument that if you were to move to another state temporarily, you’re sojourning, but that’s not what the Bible means.
In Hebrew, we see the word גוּר (yib-leh-awm'),which means more than just residing or living somewhere temporarily. It literally means to live somewhere indefinitely as an alien or a dependent—we would call this person an expatriate or expat.
Or, in other words, what God is telling Isaac to do is to live in the land that will one day be his descendants, but he won’t own that land yet nor does he have a clue when that land would become his people’s.
Really, it takes a lot of faith and trust—to know that you’re going to live the rest of your life somewhere where you technically don’t own any land—you’re living on someone else’s land—and to simply know that God would keep His promises not only to Abraham and now to Isaac, but really to their descendants.
God tells Isaac to remain where there is no food, no sustenance; where he doesn’t own anything nor does he have a clue of when he might own any land for himself.
All of which might sound nerve-racking.
All of which might sound foolish to us.
All of which might seem unusual.
And yet, God tells Isaac to do this and He reiterates the promise that He had with Abraham to Issac in vv. 3-5, “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiple your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Let’s consider God’s promise in detail:
First, God promises to be with Isaac and to bless him—this alone makes the unusual request for him to abandon the plan to find food in Egypt worthwhile.
Unfortunately, for most modern Christians the way that we view God is almost like He’s just an add-on bonus to the world that we already live.
Almost like how Hindu people view adding Jesus to their pantheon of gods—sure, I’ll add a little bit of Jesus to what I’m already doing.
The problem is that Jesus always speaks of our relationship with Him as all-consuming—everything about us really ought to surround Him and our relationship with Him.
We should want that relationship with Him and we should seek to have a relationship with
So, in the case of Isaac—the simple fact that God says He will be with him is such a big perk that it overshadows the fear of not having physical sustenance.
Of course, in this case, we also see an additional benefit in that not only will God be with Isaac, but He will bless Isaac—in several different ways, some of which He points out in the remaining verse.
Second, God gives a promise concerning the land—this is not the first time we’ve heard of a land promise, we actually hear it when God first gives this same promise to Abram in Genesis 12 and 15.
And the promise itself hasn’t changed one bit—God has promised to give this land for him and his descendants to dwell in.
Notice the change, however, initially, the idea is that Isaac and his family would sojourn, to live amongst the people that actually owned the land as aliens or expatriates.
Eventually, God will give that land to Isaac’s descendants and they will no longer sojourn, but rather, He will establish their home there.
Third, God establishes the oath that he had with Abraham to Issac—up to this point, we knew that the Abrahamic Covenant would somehow continue on—after all, the covenant between God and Abraham was always intended to extend to Abraham’s descendants, but we didn’t really know how that would happen beyond the little bit of information initially given during the Abrahamic Covenant.
In v. 3, God specifically makes the statement, “I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.” The idea is that the same promise given to Abraham is also promised to Isaac. What’s included with that?
God promises that Isaac’s offspring will be as numerous as the stars of heaven
And that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through Abraham’s and now Issac’s offspring.
Now, we do need to answer what exactly it means that all nations will be blessed by Abraham and Issac’s offspring, but before we do that, I do want to point out God’s reasoning behind what He does with Abraham and Isaac.
In v. 5, we read that this covenant between God and Abraham and now God and Isaac only happened, “because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
The covenant between God and Abraham was always a conditional covenant—meaning, if Abraham didn’t keep his end of the deal, God would’ve cut off the covenant with him.
But, I want to be abundantly clear, that the covenant that’s being spoken of that happened because of Abraham’s obedience wasn’t about salvation itself—rather, this deals with the other elements of the covenant itself.
What God is saying is that the parts of this covenant concerning land, the multiplication of offspring, and even allowing their familial line to bless all other nations—only happened because of Abraham’s obedience to the covenant.
Now that I’ve said that, let’s talk about the part that we jumped over. What does it mean that all nations will be blessed by Abraham and Issac’s offspring? To answer that, we need to consider Genesis 26:1-5 in light of all Scripture, which we can do with this framework: creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. Let’s talk about that framework:
Creation—Genesis 1-2 tell us that in the beginning, God created all things in the timeframe of six days and He rested on the seventh.
At the end of the creation week, God makes a profound statement, that all things were very good.
So, consider what that means—that just after creating all things, God makes the moral declaration that all things were very good.
We actually don’t have a clue what this would actually look like because the world that we live in today has been so utterly corrupted by sin, that while we get glimpses of what it means for all creation to be very good, we can’t even imagine what it would be like in its full extent.
And yet, the Bible tells us that God created all things and all things were very good . . . until Genesis 3.
Fall—in Genesis 3 we read about a serpent who tempts Adam and Eve.
And let me clarify, that the temptation wasn’t just about eating some sort of fruit—the temptation was more the choice between obeying God and deciding that what the serpent offered—human autonomy was better.
And we all know the account—that mankind thought it to be better to follow what they thought was right, and so, they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and they rejected the very good plan that God had for His creation.
What a lot of people seem to miss, however, is a very specific statement that God makes towards Satan—to the serpent of old. He says in Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; [her offspring] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise [her offspring’s] heel.”
What we see as Genesis continues is the offspring of Eve multiplying and spreading and what we see in Genesis is the record of the descendants, which will eventually get us to the offspring who will bruise the head of the serpent.
So, through genealogies and historical narrative and really just plain history, we see Adam and Eve, who then have Cain and Abel—of course, that doesn’t quite work out, and then Seth.
We trace the offspring of the woman through to Noah in Gen 5 and then Noah’s children through Gen 10. The Tower of Babel in Gen 11 then shows us how the people split into various nations
And then in Genesis 12-25, we’re following Abraham because God had decided to specify His covenant to save mankind through the seed of the woman through Abraham and His seed.
Right now in Genesis, we’re tracing the seed through Isaac, but soon, we’ll see that seed split into the twelve tribes of Israel.
And from that point until Malachi, we’re following the lives of the descendants of the woman—because one of her descendants will bless all nations.
Of course, if you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you recognize that as time progresses, God reveals a little bit more of His plan through various covenants.
So, right now—we know that through Eve’s descendants, someone will come to bruise the head of the serpent.
When Moses comes along—we’ll see a revealing of different aspects of what that someone will need to do—He must fulfil what it means to be the perfect sacrifice needed for the atonement of sin—essentially, we get a strong impression from the Mosaic Law that the way the serpent is to be bruised, the way that the serpent will be defeated is through the fulfillment of God’s Law. We also get a very strong impression through the sins of Israel, that no mere human has the capability of fulfilling the Law of God whatsoever—we’re simply not good enough, we’re not capable, we need someone better than us.
Eventually, we’ll see the covenant specified even more through David—that the person who saves will also come through David’s lineage.
And that person, who is more than merely human, is coming through the lineage of the woman, through Abraham, through Isaac, through David and is completely capable of fulfilling the Law of Moses (really, the Law of God) and we know how He’s capable to when we get to the Gospel accounts in the New Testament.
Redemption—by the time we enter into the New Testament, we realize that the only way someone could fulfill the Law of God is by being God Himself.
And so the Gospels start with the birth of Jesus, which we celebrated last week—the only being who was completely God and completely man.
And as the God-man, He’s the only being capable of atoning for the sins of mankind because He is the only being capable of fulfilling the Mosaic Law (the Law of God).
He is the only person capable of fulfilling the Law of God in such a way that He is the only being able to atone for sin on our behalf—what we typically refer to as the substitutionary atonement.
So, by being God and man, Jesus fulfills the requirements of the Mosaic Law, while still keeping the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and David as Jesus is born within the lineage of all these men.
Consummation—of course, we know that this world isn’t all there is.
There is a future world and a future heaven and earth in which Jesus, who already reigns in heaven will exercise His full authority, power, and control.
We live in what’s sometimes referred to as the already, but not yet—Jesus is already on the throne, but we don’t physically see Him on the throne yet. Jesus already reigns, but we’re still dealing with temporal earthly governing authorities. Jesus’ Kingdom is already here and if you believe, you’re part of it, but we don’t see it to its full extent yet.
The Day of the Lord is coming when all of the Covenant of Grace will be fulfilled.
But until then, we’re waiting.
And in Genesis 26, we’re witnessing the starting elements of the covenant as it is revealed to its fullest extent. We’re watching God reveal His plan to His people, we’re watching as God providential works in the lives of His people, but note, even in Genesis 26, His people believed Him and trusted Him.
I tend to think of Hebrews 11 a lot when I think through the Covenant of Grace in an extended form like this. In Hebrews 11, the author of Hebrews reflects on the lives of people like Abraham, Isaac, and other “heroes of the faith.”
He makes two statements that are worth considering.
In Hebrews 11:13-16, we read:
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
And in Hebrews 11:39-40, we read:
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 11
And all these, having agained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Hebrews 11 makes it abundantly clear that God’s people knew that God had made promises; they knew that God was planning something. Even back in Genesis, they heard from God and they believed and they trusted Him.
To the extent that even though they couldn’t see the fulfillment of the promise yet, they still knew that God would do what He had promised; and that’s where our application comes into play this morning:
Application
Application
Consider God’s willingness to keep His promises
In this section, it refers to God’s promise being extended to Isaac—it’s a particular event that could be very easily overlooked; and yet, it is a reminder that God will keep His covenants—He always keeps His Word.
Think about God’s willingness to keep His promises elsewhere in Scripture—we see it all throughout Scripture, that despite the Israelites acting foolishly, God still keeps His promises to them—He still leads them, directs them, cares for them, and defends them.
Consider God’s promises to His people
Throughout Scripture, the Bible is abundantly clear that God always cares for His people—He always keeps His promises to them, He always cares for them, He always providentially works in a way that even significantly difficult elements of life will work for the good of His people.
With that in mind—that God always keeps His promises and that He always cares for His people as seen even in His extension of the Abrahamic Covenant to Isaac, our application is actually quite simple:
First, you can have hope because God is a God who keeps His promises
We live in a world in which the immediate is often seen as more important than anything else—if something doesn’t immediately happen, we assume that it won’t.
The issue is that God’s timing has never been like our timing. In fact, it’s clear throughout the Bible, that God does what He wants whenever He wants (e.g., in Genesis 3, He promises a Messiah, but it isn’t until the Gospels in the New Testament that we see the incarnation—that’s approximately 4,000 years).
Likewise, after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus promises to return, but it’s been about 2,000 years since and He hasn’t returned yet.
That doesn’t mean that He won’t—it just means that the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people come in His own timing not in our timing.
The beauty is that we know that Jesus will return because He came the first time—just as He said He would.
Even if we don’t see the fulfillment of those promises today, even if we struggle to see the fulfillment of those promises throughout our earthly lives, even if we don’t understand what’s going on around us—we can and we should have hope because God always keeps His promises.
Now, that doesn’t negate the difficulties of life or the confusion that we might have during hardships in life—I mean, just consider those whom we’ve studied so far. They heard from God; and yet, they still experienced difficulty in life despite their belief that God would keep His Word.
Even though life is difficult; God is always good and in His goodness, He keeps His Word.
Knowing this really ought to influence our countenance—it should influence the way we view the world around us. Consider different ways that this is true.
Have hope because God keeps His promises.
Second, you can trust God because God keeps His promises
In the world that we live in as we deal with fellow human beings, the amount we trust someone changes depending on whether we find them to be trustworthy.
So, if someone lies a lot—we trust them less. If they turn out to not be dependable with showing up on time or showing up at all—we trust them less. If someone makes a promise, but then breaks that promise—we trust them less.
Conversely—Jesus doesn’t lie, Jesus does exactly what He says He will when He says He will do it. Jesus can’t break promises because if He did, He wouldn’t be good.
If, with humans, our level of trust is contingent on their reliability, couldn’t we say the same with Jesus Christ?
Humans can prove to be unreliable.
Jesus has always proven to be reliable as seen in Scripture.
So, our trust in Him really ought to be impeccable because He Himself is impeccable—He’s always kept every promise that He has made.
Trust God because He keeps His promises.
Third, you can follow God because He is trustworthy
When it comes to human beings—we typically only follow a human until they prove that they cannot be trusted or they prove that they don’t really know what they’re doing.
For instance, when a corporation sees their CEO blowing money and making questionable decisions—they remove him from control of the company—it’s clear that the CEO probably isn’t sure of what he is doing.
When a church’s leadership isn’t transparent, when they lie, when they don’t prove to have the best interest of the people—they ought to be removed or the congregation ought to remove themselves—it’s clear that they can’t be trust.
When a child lies all the time—parents are right to be suspicious if he makes outrageous claims—again, he might not be trustworthy.
But when it comes to God—who is always good, always true, always right, always just, and so on; when it comes to God, who repeatedly shows Himself as a being who keeps His Word and fulfills His promises; when it comes to God, who is immutable—who cannot change.
We really don’t have a reason not to trust Him—He’s proven Himself over and over to be trustworthy.
So, if you don’t trust Him—it’s not because of Him, it’s because of you:
You might be allowing sin to warp your view of God.
You might have assumed that He had promised something that He never actually did—look at His Word.
You might be viewing your relationship with God as you would view a relationship with a person—assuming that He isn’t trustworthy when in reality, He is.
He’s proven to be trustworthy over and over.
And since He is trustworthy—follow Him, obey Him, listen to what He has said and do it.
God always keeps His Word—no ifs, ands, nor buts. Have hope, trust Him, and follow Him.
Pastoral Prayer
