CHAPTER EIGHT

GOD’S HISTORY IN TIME
(FROM THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
TO THE FINAL JUDGMENT
AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE—
GENESIS 1:1—REVELATION 20:15)

(7)

WORKING ON HIS ELECT
FROM ABRAHAM TO JOSEPH

(3)

WORKING ON ISAAC AND JACOB WITH JOSEPH

(1)

Scripture Reading: Gen. 17:19; 21:10-12; 25:5, 11a, 21-26; 26:2-22, 24-25; 28:10-22; 30:31-43

OUTLINE

1. Working on Isaac:
   1. Raising him as the unique heir to Abraham to inherit God’s promise to Abraham and God’s covenant with Abraham—Gen. 17:19; 21:10-12; 26:3-4.
   2. Making him a type of Christ as the son of Abraham—Matt. 1:1:
      1. As the only begotten Son of the Father—John 1:14b; 3:16a.
      2. Given by the Father all that the Father has—Gen. 25:5; John 3:35; 13:3.
      3. Offered to God for God’s satisfaction and resurrected from the dead—Gen. 22:2-13.
      4. Gaining the Gentile church as His counterpart through the Holy Spirit—ch. 24.
   3. Putting him under His rich blessing—25:11a; 26:24b:
      1. Given by his father all that he had—25:5.
      2. Given by God two sons as twins by the names of Esau and Jacob—vv. 21-26.
      3. God appearing to him and promising him—26:2-4:
         1. To be with him and bless him—v. 3a.
         2. To give him and his seed all these lands—vv. 3b, 4b.
         3. To establish the oath He swore unto Abraham his father—v. 3c.
         4. To multiply his seed as the stars of heaven—v. 4a.
         5. To cause all the nations of the earth to be blessed in his seed—v. 4c.
      4. Prohibited by God from going down to Egypt and protected secretly with his wife by God—vv. 2, 6-11.
      5. Becoming rich and continuing to grow richer until he became very rich, having possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great household and becoming much mightier than others, and God having made room for him that he might be fruitful in the land—vv. 12-22.
      6. God appearing to him again and promising him—vv. 24-25:
         1. As the God of Abraham to be with him.
         2. To bless him.
         3. To multiply his seed for the sake of His servant Abraham.
   4. As a whole, making him an heir to inherit all that his father had and blessing him all the way in peace and prosperity.
2. Working on Jacob with Joseph:
   1. Having loved and chosen him—Mal. 1:2b; Rom. 9:10-13.
   2. Raising him as an heir to Abraham and to Isaac to inherit God’s promise to them and God’s covenant with them—Gen. 28:13-14.
   3. Having destined him to live a struggling life all his days:
      1. From his mother’s womb to struggle to be the firstborn of the twins—25:22-26a.
      2. To struggle to receive the blessing of the firstborn son through his deceiving according to his mother’s device—27:1-29:
         1. God giving him of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine—v. 28.
         2. Letting peoples serve him, and nations bow down to him: being lord over his brothers, and letting his mother’s sons bow down to him—v. 29a.
         3. Cursed be those who curse him, and blessed be those who bless him—v. 29b.
      3. To be forced by his brother’s hatred and his mother’s partial love and natural wisdom to leave his parents and go to his uncle Laban—v. 41—28:5.
      4. To suffer loneliness and homelessness in the journey to his uncle—vv. 10-11:
         1. When God appeared to him in Bethel and promised him for his comfort that:
            1. He as the God of Abraham his father and the God of Isaac would give to him and his seed the land on which he lay.
            2. His seed would be multiplied as the dust of the earth, spreading to the west, east, north, and south.
            3. All the families of the earth would be blessed in him and in his seed.
            4. He would be with him, keep him wherever he went, and cause him to return to this land; He would not leave him until He had done that of which He had promised him—vv. 12-19.
         2. And when Jacob vowed a vow to God as his terms to God’s promise that:
            1. If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on, so that I return to my father’s house in peace.
            2. Then Jehovah will be my God.
            3. This stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house: and of all that You give me I will surely give one tenth to You—vv. 20-22.
      5. To arrive at his uncle Laban’s home by suffering a long, lonely journey, indicated by his weeping to his cousin Rachel—29:1-14.
      6. To marry four wives and beget eleven sons by fourteen years of hard labor and much grinding under his wives—v. 15—30:24.
      7. To endeavor to become rich by deceiving his uncle Laban with his subtle skill—vv. 25-43.