Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. Happy Monday. Happy Monday, happy winter revival week. Celebrating it the whole week. Yeah, it's the whole week long. Yeah. In fact, I don't know the weather cause I'm not a prophet and we're recording this ahead of time. There is supposed to be a little bit of snow tonight that potentially could hit the metroplex. I'm seeing reports of, of a dusting up to an inch. It's not like we got last week, not like 6, 7, 8 inches. Um, but it could be like an inch. In fact, my daughter was saying, you know what, maybe they'll cancel school on Tuesday. And then maybe the snow will, will melt and freeze and they'll cancel school on Wednesday. And she was like, and then I'll go on revival and then I'll have the whole week off and it'll be great. So I told her not to get her hopes on upon that. And to pray it up any. Let's see what happens. Let's see how good your prayers are. Maybe there's a dusting of snow headed our way tonight. I know my kids are excited about revival. I know a lot of them are so. Not to be. I'm excited about it. It's going to be great, man. The house

alone is going to be super cool. Retreat houses are fun.

Yeah.

Yeah. And it's probably one of the last times I'll be able to do something like this because the bigger we get got willing, right. The more space we're going to need in a place like this, isn't going to be feasible. Right. But right now it's really cool. Really special.

Yup. Yup. So. Uh, I. You may be listening to this right now, going, you know what. I've been hesitant. I haven't made the decision yet, but I think I really want my kids to go on this retreat. I imagine there's still a possibility to make that happen. If you get in touch with us here at the church office, we can. Find a way to get your, your kids registered and get them out there. Or you could just go to the

website and sign up. The form we'll close that the second that we rented a space, we have, we do have a firm number because obviously the house has limited beds. But. we still have several spots open. So if you want to do this and you want to send your kids, or maybe you want to come. I can't guarantee that we'll let you come. as muCh as I might want to, I just, I can't let you, but you could sign up a neighbor's kid. And maybe, maybe you want to do that, but let them know first.

Yeah. Hey, I send your kid up for this retreat. They're going

or don't kidnap them the night before. That would be horrible. And send them to the retreat the next day

don't do

that.

Yeah. We want our church to continue and we don't want any police presence,

but they say no press is bad press. Is that the phrase? Yeah. I don't know that. That's true. Well, yeah, it would put us in the news though. It would make it newsworthy. That is for sure. And then they would interview you and say, you're the lead pastor? How did this happen under your watch? And then you'll be able to say, well, let me just tell you about the gospel and people will be still enthusiastic about that. They'll show up to our church in droves. It'll grow.

Overnight. I like this idea, all of a sudden now. Okay. We need to find volunteers now. Just for the record, we are completely joking upon this. If something happens, this is a total joke. This is not conspiracy. This is not premeditated. Anything. This.

Too late. It's

in joke

recordings. They're going to use it. They're not going to, they're not going to give context that the news media is not about giving context is going to do a nuance. They're just going to say here's what they said.

Yeah. You tell us what he's saying. Yeah. I don't know. Well, let's talk about what God we're seeing in the Bible. Genesis 25 and 26 today. Uh, Genesis 25 Abraham, uh, here towards the end of his life. You remember his wife? Uh, has now died, she's passed away. And so, uh, Abraham ends up taking another wife for himself. This wife's name is Kitora. Um, There's a lot of. Polygamy. Now this isn't necessarily a polygamy in the truest sense, because I guess. His first wife died. But there's a lot of multiple wives in the Bible, and I think it's important for us to make the clear distinction now and we'll have to revisit it again because it comes up time and time again. You never find God in the old Testament condoning the amassing of multiple wives. You never have. God's saying, this is a good thing. You should do this. Marry multiple people. Um, it happens. And it's it's recorded because in, and this is another evidence of the fact that the Bible is trustworthy because it records the, the warts and the errors as much as records, all the victories and the heroic moments of, uh, the key players. And, and so here again, you have a situation where. Abraham takes this other wife, whose name was Katurah, and we have to ask ourselves, okay, is this, was this what God desired in? I don't, I don't think I can get there because if you look at verse two, it says she bore him. Zimmerman, junction, mitten, meeting, and Midian. So from this marriage of this, this other woman comes to the Midianite people. This is the clean of the Midianites. They're not going to be a friend to the Israelites at all. Again, this is another people group that's going to be a thorn. To the people of Israel there. So here. Uh, towards the, uh, the end of Abraham's life. I don't think this is a high point in his life here by taking this wife and having another child by her

in first Chronicles. One actually tells us that she's a concubine. So I think there's a bit of fuzziness between wife and concubine. Yeah. But later we find out that at least the author of Chronicles thinks that she's a concubine, which we think we can then say, okay, I guess that's what she was, which tells us that her. Her role in the family, I guess, was that of the matriarch. She had the place of honor a position, but she was still nevertheless, a concubine, which is. Technically less than a wife. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. As the chapter progresses, then Abraham does eventually die. Verse eight, breathed his last and died in a good old age, 175 years old, full of years, and gathered to his people. His two sons bury him in that same cave where he had buried Sarah. Um, and then after the death of Abraham, it says in verse 11, God blessed Isaac, his son. This is the author, this Moses helping us understand that the Abrahamic blessing to Abraham and Kevin is progressing and it's progressing through who, not Ishmael, but. Through Isaac. And so it's going to come through Isaac that the blessings are going to continue, but then. What about Ishmael? Well, it does turn to Ishmael and it talks about him and some of his descendants and some of his generations there. And then it does eventually record that, that Ishmael himself. Dies in this chapter, but not before. Uh, giving birth or not him giving birth, but not before father. That's the word fathering, the head of, uh, their own 12 tribes in fulfillment of God's promise to Hagar. So here's the fulfillment of God's promise to Hagar being recorded for us by Moses in verses one through 18 of Genesis 25. After this, then we get the birth of Esau and Jacob. And so you've got shifting back now to Isaac away from Ishmael the center promise. Now, Isaac is back on the scene in Isaac prays for his wife because his wife is barren and God has promised that he would be the father of multitudes, just like he had promised that to Abraham. And so here, he's dealing with another situation of bareness. This comes up a lot. Uh, with the promise line. And it's interesting, we're going to see this again with, uh, with Jacob's wives and, and, uh, it's, it's almost as though God is saying, do you trust me? Do you trust me? Do you trust me? Are you going to trust me? And we've seen it before. We've seen it again here and Isaac to his credit praise for God to bring children to his wife, Rebecca and God. He listens to him and gives him twins, gives her twins. Um, and there's the prophecy here that there's two nations, Jacob and Esau are going to be these two nations. The older is going to suffer the younger. That's going to come back into play as we get to a, to more of what's going to happen there. Uh, but that's a prophecy that is, is going to be significant as this continues to unfold. And I wonder. If this doesn't have something to do with why Rebecca ends up loving Jacob, as much as she does. Uh, because clearly Esau and in, in Isaac have a special relationship, a special bond. And we're going to see that later on as everything develops. But Jacob and Rebecca have their own close knit bond. And I wonder if it comes back to this prophecy that Rebecca heard, Hey, there's two nations in your room. And the younger is going to be the one that is going to rule the older is going to serve the younger. And I wonder though, I think Rebecca goes outside the bounds of what God's design and plan was. I wonder if she was trying to secure that, that was going to be the fulfillment, that that was going to be reality. And she's worried that it's not because, well, if my husband blesses the older, how is this going to come into fruition? And so that's why she gives special favor. So to speak to Jacob as he's growing up there.

Yeah. That's a great theory. I think the thing that stands out to me as we read through chapter 25, again, are the time markers. We read it quickly, but it's not happening quickly. In fact, the thing that we learn about Isaac and Rebecca is that he's not getting married until he's 40 years old. That's old, that's huge, really old. I mean, that's ancient. You might as well retire. It's time to go home soon. Right. That's how old this guy is. I'm just joking, obviously. I have to go. There's people that have. taking time to get married for a variety of reasons. And I think Isaac's a really good example. He waited patiently, I suppose. But then also notice that after he marries Rebecca, well, we read it that he's praying for her because she's barren, but he prays for 20 years. He's praying for 20 years. We again, glance over that, but he's praying for 20 years for God to give his wife has. His woman. Kids, and God does that, but 20 years later, so this is one of those things where you're having to trust God over the long course of time, which for us feels like a very long time, but for God is a blink of an eye because he exists outside of time. Really interesting to know here, pay attention to those things. That's a big deal, and I think it will help increase and encourage your faith. As you think about the fact that God didn't work on microwave speed. He took his time and he takes his time to do the things that he wants to do in the right time. And I think that's something I take great comfort from, and that's

a great point because it does totally change the impact of this passage. If you just read it, like he prayed and then here's the babies. Or if you read it and go, he's praying for 20 years, right. And then there's the answer to prayer. Yeah. And, and we've got a lot to pray for, for our church. I mean, we're praying that God would continue to grow our church. We would love to be in a facility at some point in time and, and hope it's not going to take 40 years. I hope it's not going to take 40 years. It's not going to take 20 years. Um, but you know, it's, it's good for us to continue to pray and trust God with those. Those requests is good for us to continue to bring those things before him. Uh, there's a lot, um, between the relationship of Jacob and Esau that, uh, is worth note here. If you jump to Romans chapter nine, verses 10 through 13, as Paul is talking about the doctrine of election, he appeals back to this. And it says that before they were born, when neither had done anything good or evil, God had chosen one over the other. Uh, Malakai one, two through three is quoted there in Romans nine as well about these two boys and says that God loved Jacob and Esau. He hated. Um, and, and it's, it's difficult, but it's an evidence of God's sovereignty over the life of, uh, these two boys and, and really over the unfolding of the, the, the life of not just Israel, but remember, uh, Jacob is going to be the one that is going to perpetuate the Abrahamic covenant, which is part of it. The gospel, according to Paul in Galatians chapter three. Including that one of his descendants would be the one that would bless all nations. So this matters to us too. As God is working all of these things out in his purview, in his wisdom behind the scenes. Uh, Romans nine is going to reflect back on this and provide commentary as is Malika chapter one, verses two and three. Versus 29 through 34 then, uh, as the boys grow up, there's a scene here where, uh, You saw it comes in from hunting and there's Jacob having cooked something up on the stove and Esau's hungry. And Jacob says, Hey, sell me your birthright. And it says in the text that Esau despised his birthright because he treats it so flippantly as to sell it for a bowl of stew. Now, the birthright would have been. He's you saw it. It's basically surrendering his rights to the inheritance as the first born. So Jacob is now going to get the double portion. He's going to get the, the majority of the, the inheritance there. And so Esau gives that up for a bowl of stew and he does so, and it's just a reminder of, of the danger of the decisions that we make in the passions of our flesh. The, the, the less of our flesh can cause us to do things that we sacrifice way more than it's worth in the end. And we see that, I think with the example of his hunger here,

I think this tells me that Jacob's cooking was really good.

It could be that team. Maybe it's both. It could be both. Yeah. Uh, chapter 26, then, uh, we've got another famine. And yet this time God forbids Isaac from going down to Egypt, as Abraham had done. And then God with, with Isaac, they reiterate the Abrahamic covenant to Isaac. So specifically now, He's passing on the promises of blessing and land and offspring to Isaac. And so, uh, again, Genesis 26 4, here he is reiterating this point, repeating this point. Uh, where he says in your offspring shall all the nations of Europe people. So this is pointing again down the road to Jesus as the ultimate descendant. That's going to bless not only all the families, but now all the nations of the earth, the goyim, the Gentiles. Are going to be blessed through one of the descendants there of Isaac. Verses six through 35, then 26 Isaac comes to live in Philistine territory here. Uh, for some time and the Lord blesses him and multiplies his flocks and possessions to the point that the Philistines begin to fear him. And they're saying, Hey, this guy is getting too strong and too wealthy among us. And so they send him away from their presence. And yet again, the Lord promises in confirms his promises to Isaac. And at the end of the chapter, we find. Uh, Esau they're in this kind of flashback to meanwhile with ISA is just rebelling more and more and more against his parents here. So, um, Things you mentioned with, with Isaac things. Are, are, are there some good things about Isaac? Some not great things about Isaac? Uh, the conflict that we see amongst his boys here is fomenting. And, uh, in at least indicating that, that there was a little bit of an application of, of godly leadership from Isaac, with his, uh, with his two boys there. Any other thoughts PR on, on 26, 25, there.

No, except just to give you a notation here, Isaac's a hundred years old. When these things are taking place, he dies at 180. He thinks that. He's about to leave soon. He thinks he's about to die soon, which is why we're about to enter into the blessing. He's preparing to, to let go, but he has another 80 years on top of this. So just to give you a sense of the timing for Isaac's life, a hundred years old as one chapter 27 takes place, give or take. Yeah. That's, that's

a helpful note because yeah, I was thinking about that recently because we're going to. You know, a little while here, we're going to see when he does die, then Jacob's like, oh no, Esau. He said I was going to come after me. Right. But that's still a ways away from where. I know that. Yeah, it doesn't know that yet. So. All right. Well, Hey, let's pray. And then we'll be done with this episode. Got thanks for your word. And, uh, and for the promises that you've made and for the way that you work things out, according to your plan. In ways that we had made are above our pay grade ways that we don't always understand. And yet we trust you with that. And so we thank you for your sovereign unfolding of the way that you were going to bring about your plan for salvation. Uh, through one of the descendants of Isaac through one of the descendants, ultimately of Jacob and through one of the descendants of Jacob's son, Judah, and the line and everything else that you are. A God of order and design and you've laid it out so clearly for us in the scripture. We're grateful for that and thankful for that. So we pray that we would be encouraged by the, your care for us and your care for all of those who about the needed Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. We pray that you'd multiply more of them. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. And then, all right, keeping your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible. Another exciting addition, another exciting edition of the daily Bible podcast. See you. Bye.

Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of the daily Bible podcast. We hope and pray this has been a blessing to you and your time in the word. If it has, if you would subscribe to this podcast, leave a like, leave a comment and share it with some friends and family. That would be awesome. If you need more information about Compass Bible Church here in North Texas, you can go to compassntx. org. Again, that's compassntx. org. And we'll be back with you tomorrow for another episode of the daily Bible podcast.