When we last got together, we looked at the examples of Enoch, Noah and Abraham- three men who faithfully honored God as seen in Hebrews chapter 11. If we move a little further along in Hebrews 11, we can find some more examples of real Biblical faith. The next example is found in Hebrews 11:20…
“It was by faith that Isaac knew God would give future blessings to his two sons, Jacob and Esau.”
For those of you who you may not be familiar with the people spoken of here, let’s take a quick time-out and look at the players that are mentioned here in Hebrews 11:20.Now you may remember from last time that God promised the great Old Testament patriarch Abraham that He would create a great nation of people through his descendants. God took the first step in fulfilling this promise by giving Abraham a son named Isaac (see Genesis 17:19, 21 and Genesis 21:1-3).
Later on in Genesis 25:20 we find that Isaac grew up and married a young woman named Rebekah. Some time after this, Rebekah became pregnant with twins. Now this was not so unusual except for the fact that Genesis 25:22 tells us that the unborn twins were unusually active within Rebekah as she carried them. This caused Rebekah to become so concerned about her pregnancy that she prayed and asked God to give her an explanation for the babies’ curious behavior.
Genesis 25:23 gives us God’s response to this prayer…
“The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger” (NIV).
Before we continue, you should be sure to notice that God makes an important call here- He says that the baby born first will be a servant to the one born second. You should remember this little detail because it will become important later in the story.
After the twins were born, Rebekah and Isaac named the older child Esau and the younger child Jacob. Esau grew up to be a great hunter and outdoorsman and he was the favorite of his father Isaac. Jacob, on the other hand was kind of a homebody who liked hanging around the house and Rebekah was partial to him. Many years later as Isaac neared the end of his life, the Scriptures tell us that he called for Esau and told him this…
“…I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons… and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die” (Genesis 27:2-4 NIV).
Now remember what God had said earlier- the older child (that’s Esau) would serve his younger brother Jacob. Despite God’s clear statement, Isaac tried to reverse things by giving his blessing (and its leadership position) to his older son instead of his younger son. In other words, Isaac was trying to get around God’s will because he liked Esau better!
However, what Isaac didn’t realize was that Rebekah was listening when he said this and came up with a plan. She called Jacob and convinced him to dress up like Esau. She then cooked up a great meal for Jacob to bring to his father Isaac. This allowed Jacob to trick his elderly, blind father into giving him the blessing that he originally had wanted to give to Esau (see Genesis 27:1-40 for the whole story).
Now at this point you might be saying, “Hey, wait a minute- you told us that Hebrews 11 was all about faith- where’s the faith in that story?” Well, here’s the answer: when Isaac later discovered that he had actually blessed the son that God had chosen instead of the one he really wanted, he realized by faith that God’s plan was accomplished despite his attempt to get around it!
“By faith Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s two sons as he stood and prayed, leaning on the top of his cane” (Hebrews 11:21).
The sons of Joseph mentioned here were named Ephraim and Manasseh and in his blessing, Jacob declared by faith that they would each become one of the great tribes of Israel (see Genesis 48 for the story).
In Hebrews 11:22 we find a further example of faith shown by Joseph, another member from this same family…
“And it was by faith that Joseph, as he neared the end of his life, confidently spoke of God bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt; and he was so sure of it that he made them promise to carry his bones with them when they left! (Hebrews 11:22).
Now perhaps you’ve heard of this man Joseph and some of the incredible things that happened in his life. For example, you may know the story of how Joseph’s brothers hated him and tried to kill him by throwing him into an empty water well and then later sold him as a slave (you can read the whole story in Genesis 37:13-36).
Maybe you’ve heard about Joseph’s coat of many colors (Genesis 37:3) or how his boss’ wife tried lure him into having sex with her- an incident that landed Joseph in prison even though he honored God and did the right thing (Genesis 39:1-20). Perhaps you’ve read how God took care of Joseph while he was in prison (Genesis 39:20-23) or how God enabled him to rise to an important position in the Egyptian government (Genesis 41:1-44).
You may have heard these things about Joseph but the chances are good that you’re not aware of Joseph’s final act of faith. Joseph’s last great act of faith is easy to find because it’s the very last thing that you read about in the book of Genesis…
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’
And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.’ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt” (Genesis 50:24).
Did you know that Joseph was never buried after he died? His coffin stayed unburied for four centuries until the time when the people of Israel carried it with them out of Egypt during the Exodus, just as Joseph said (see Exodus 13:19). Now that’s acting on what you believe!
So how could Joseph possibly know that all this was going to happen hundreds of years in the future? Well, Joseph faithfully believed in what God had spoken to his great grandfather Abraham…
“Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions… In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here…” (Genesis 15:13-14, 16 NIV).