In Toy Story 3, Andy, the owner of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and other toys, prepares to leave for college. At the end of the movie, he decides to give his toys to a young girl named Bonnie.

The scene starts with Andy entering the front gate of Bonnie’s home and showing her the box of toys. Andy tells her, “I’m Andy. Someone told me you’re really good with toys. These are mine, but I’m going away now, so I need someone really special to play with them.” Then as Andy proceeds to hand the toys to Bonnie, he introduces them by saying something special about each one.

He begins with his toy cowgirl Jessie: “This is Jessie—the roughest, toughest cowgirl in the whole West. She loves critters, but none more’n her best pal, Bullseye.”

Andy then hands Bonnie his toy Tyrannosaurus, Rex, “the meanest, most terrifying dinosaur who ever lived.”

For the Potato Heads, Andy says, “The Potato Heads—Mister and Missus. You gotta keep em together cause they’re madly in love.”

Slinky the Dog “is as loyal as any dog you could want.”

Andy blesses Hamm, the Pig, by saying, “He’ll keep your money safe, but he’s also one of the most dastardly villains of all time, Evil Dr. Pork Chop!”

Buzz Lightyear is “the coolest toy ever. Look, he can fly and shoot lasers. He’s sworn to protect the galaxy from the evil Emperor Zurg!”

Finally, for his pal Woody, Andy says, “He’s been my pal as long as I can remember. He’s brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, he’ll never give up on you—ever. He’ll be there for you, no matter what.”^[1]

It seems as though Andy is giving a benediction, a blessing regarding the toys.

Today, we continue our walk through Hebrews 11 and come to verse 20. For the next two weeks, we will look at blessings. Today, we look at Isaac and the blessings he gave Jacob and Esau. This is an insightful passage, and the longer I read it, the more it revealed to me. I have read this passage repeatedly, but until now it never stood out to me how God’s sovereignty came through and how Isaac had faith. 

My theme:

Isaac blessed his two sons in faith, and Isaac’s blessings are prophetic.

Application:

God is sovereign; we can trust Him. This means that we can have faith in Him.

Hebrews 11:20 (ESV)

By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.

1. Now, I must start by summarizing this event in the Old Testament.
   1. If you want to follow along, which I recommend you do, please turn to Genesis 27. I will be summarizing the passage.
   2. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details of how the blessings came about, but the reality is that in these blessings we see a great God. God was, and is, over everything. God’s plan was accomplished. God had determined that the older would serve the younger (Gen. 25:23), and the blessings show that. 
   3. This narrative has four main characters.
   4. We have Isaac, and he is the dad. He is the son of Abraham and Sarah.
   5. We have Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother and Isaac’s wife.
   6. We have two sons: Esau, the oldest, and Jacob, the youngest.
   7. We have some backstory that you must be aware of:
   8. In Genesis 25:23, Rebekah is told that the older will serve the younger.
   9. In Genesis 25:25, we see the birth of the two boys.
   10. In Genesis 25:33-34, Esau, very hungry, sells his birthright to his brother. This meant that his younger brother now had the right to the firstborn blessing. 
   11. In Genesis 25:28, Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
   12. In Genesis 26:34-35, Esau took wives from among the foreign women, which made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. 
   13. In Genesis 27, there is a major account of Jacob deceiving Esau to steal the blessing. Jacob had already paid for the blessing, but he now takes it. I suppose Esau was not really going to give it to him. As I shared, Isaac should have known that the firstborn’s blessing belonged to Jacob, the younger, as God had declared. Yet Isaac was not obeying God. Do you see how God works? Do you see that God’s will comes to pass in the end?
   14. In Genesis 27:
   15. Verses 1-4: Isaac calls Esau and tells him to go hunt some game so they can eat and he will give him the blessing. 
   16. Rebekah has overheard Isaac’s plan, but she loves Jacob more. So, she has her own plan. Jacob will take a few young goats, have them slaughtered, and have Rachel prepare them. Jacob will go to his father, Isaac, pretend to be Esau, and steal the blessing. Isaac’s eyesight is failing, so this should not be an issue. Jacob will wear Esau’s clothes and use goat skin to make himself feel hairy like Esau (Genesis 27:5-17).
   17. The plan works, and Jacob is blessed (Genesis 27:18-29).
   18. Esau returns, upset that the blessing was stolen. Isaac and Esau are beyond upset. Esau receives the secondary blessing (Genesis 27:30-38).
2. The blessing of Jacob is prophetic:
   1. Genesis 27:28–29 (ESV) May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
   2. Isaac’s blessing included four elements: agricultural prosperity (v^[2]. 28)—even as he had done for Isaac (26:12); international respect and success (27:29); a command directing Jacob to be master over the entire clan; and the transference of the protective provision of cursing and blessing that God had once given Jacob’s grandfather Abraham (12:3).^[3]
   3. He should never have given this to Esau, since he knew what God had said at the birth in Genesis 25:23.
   4. Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be everyone who blesses you. This is from Genesis 12:3 given to Abraham.
   5. Later, Esau entered the room, upset that the blessing was stolen.
   6. Isaac then gives Esau a blessing.
   7. Genesis 27:39–40 (ESV) ³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: “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, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.
   8. Everything in this chapter is a mess, but God’s will comes through. His will was for Jacob to be the chosen one.
   9. Some insight that Tim Keller gives:
   10. Many years ago, when I first started reading the Book of Genesis, it was very upsetting to me. Here are all these spiritual heroes—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph—and look at how they treat women. They engage in polygamy, and they buy and sell their wives. It was awful to read their stories at times. But then I read Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative. Alter is a Jewish scholar at Berkeley whose expertise is ancient Jewish literature. In his book he says there are two institutions present in the Book of Genesis that were universal in ancient cultures: polygamy and primogeniture. Polygamy said a husband could have multiple wives, and primogeniture said the oldest son got everything—all the power, all the money. In other words, the oldest son basically ruled over everyone else in the family. Alter points out that when you read the Book of Genesis, you’ll see two things. First of all, in every generation polygamy wreaks havoc. Having multiple wives is an absolute disaster—socially, culturally, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and relationally. Second, when it comes to primogeniture, in every generation God favors the younger son over the older. He favors Abel, not Cain; Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau. Alter says that you begin to realize what the Book of Genesis is doing—it is subverting, not supporting, those ancient institutions at every turn.
   11. When I read Alter’s book, I then reread the Book of Genesis and loved it. And then it hit me: What if when I was younger, I had abandoned my trust in the Bible because of these accounts in Genesis? What if I had drop-kicked the Bible and the Christian faith, missing out on a personal relationship with Christ—all because I couldn’t understand the behavior of the patriarchs? The lesson is simple: Be patient with the text. Consider the possibility that it might not be teaching what you think it’s teaching.^[4]
3. Did you notice God’s sovereignty in these events?
   1. Some of you need to read this and be encouraged.
   2. Be encouraged that you are never too far gone for God to use you. God wants to use you and will do so if you give Him the chance.
   3. You may think I am afraid I will mess up what God is doing. You won’t.
   4. Follow the Lord, live for Him, and things will be ok.
   5. Look, God worked in this mess, and He wants to work in your life.
   6. We see this in this chapter. God works in messy situations. You will not thwart God’s plan. However, you ought to be part of God’s plan.
4. Apply the faith of Isaac to your life.
   1. How was Isaac faithful? Let me get back to this. Isaac was faithful in that he trusted God to fulfill His promises.
   2. These promises come from the Abrahamic Covenant. The original promise of the Abrahamic Covenant began in Genesis 12:1-3, then in Genesis 13:14-18, then in Genesis 15:18-21, and then in Genesis 17:6. These promises concerned blessing the descendants so they would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Isaac trusted God regarding the blessing. 
   3. Do we trust God’s promises?
   4. God’s promises are found in His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Do we trust them?
   5. Do we trust the promise of the Gospel: 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
   6. 2 Cor. 5:21: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Close:

Trust God’s Word, which contains His promises; Isaac did. In trusting we have faith.

Don’t run from God and don’t think you are too far gone. God is working through you. You will not thwart God’s plan.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

1. Toy Story 3, Scene 33, “Goodbye Andy,” 1:28:55 to 1:32:05; Submitted by Derek Chin, Portland, Oregon ↑

2. v. verse ↑

3. Robert D. Bergen, “Genesis,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 50. ↑

4. Tim Keller, in the sermon “Literalism” (available on PreachingToday.com on 5-17-10) ↑