Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #9 of Genesis, chapter 27, and we are going to read Genesis 27:30-33:

And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

Again, we are continuing on, as we look into the deeper spiritual meaning.  The historical situation is pretty apparent.  Jacob deceived his father into giving him the blessing, as he was pretending to be his brother Esau.  After he did this, he went out from Isaac’s presence.  And, almost like a “rotating door,” Esau walked in.  As soon as Jacob went out, Esau came in and he had the venison that he had prepared, and he brought it to his father.  Esau was probably full of expectation: “What could go wrong?  Everything is right.”  His father had spoken only to him, and he went and did what his father said, and he came, expecting that his father Isaac would give him the blessing of the firstborn.

You know, we can see something in that because, again, Isaac is a picture of God the Father and God tells his son…and mankind is the son of God.  The genealogy in the Gospel of Luke goes all the way back to Adam, and then it says of Adam that he is the son of God.  God created Adam.  He made him from the dust of the ground.  In creating him and bringing him forth and giving him life, God was his Father.

So the father, Isaac, told his son Esau (also known as “Edom,” a word that identifies with man), “Go and do this thing, and when you have done it, bring the venison to me, and I will eat of it, and I will bless you.”  We can compare that to what the Bible says to all people or to all mankind: “Here are the commandments of God.  Go, and keep them.  Follow these commandments, and you will be blessed.  You will have the blessing of the firstborn.  You will have eternal life.  All you have to do is to do as I say.”

Of course, we see nothing wrong with Esau’s actions in response to his father Isaac’s command to go on a hunt, catch an animal, and prepare it such as he loves, and then Isaac would eat and bless.  Apparently, Esau did everything correctly, just as when God made it known earlier to two brothers, Cain and Abel, that He desired an offering of both.  And both presented an offering.  Cain gave an offering of the ground, and it is fine to give that kind of an offering.  Abel gave another kind of offering, and some theologians think that the reason that Abel was accepted and counted righteous in God’s sight, while Cain and his offering were not accepted, was because of the type of offering.  But, no, that is not true, because the truth is that neither man’s offering was acceptable in the sense that it could make them righteous in God’s sight.  It could not please God in any way, except that they had done what God required them to do.  We went over this and we spent some time discussing this when we studied Genesis 4, but God accepted Abel’s offering because it was a “figure” that was looking toward the Lord Jesus Christ.  Abel had trust in the One his offering pointed to, and God accepted Abel on the basis of the Lord Jesus having paid for Abel’s sins, whereas Cain was looking to the offering itself, and not to what it represented and who it pointed to, and, therefore, his offering was unacceptable.  In other words, he had not had the atoning work of Christ performed on his behalf, so he remained unrighteous while his brother was righteous.  And this caused Cain to despise his brother and, finally, to kill his brother.

So, here, we have Esau doing what his father would have him to do to obtain the blessing.  But after doing it (or, we could say, after keeping the law), he failed to receive the blessing.  And we could see that as in indicator that this is true of every human being that has ever attempted to get right with God through the keeping of God’s commandments to any degree – they never receive the blessing of God.  Instead, it is the “other brother,” and in this case, it is Jacob who had done a terrible thing in being deceitful.  But in the plan of God, God had determined to bless him, and he received the blessing because of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not because of anything in him, whereas Esau did not receive the blessing because his sins were not laid upon the Lord Jesus.

So Esau came in, and he had the venison and he said, in Genesis 27:31:

…Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.

Again, up until this point, everything was fine.  Esau had good expectations.  He was counting on receiving the blessing of the firstborn.  After all, he qualified because he was the firstborn son of Isaac, historically.  So why would he not?  But then his world was about to crumble.  It says in Genesis 27:32:

And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.

Isaac is now shocked, because he was convinced that the one that had just stood before him (even though he did not sound like Esau) was Esau because of feeling the hairy hands and smelling the raiment, and the fact that he had brought the venison his father loved, and he knew all about it.  But now he is realizing, as he remembered that he had some suspicion, which is why he had called Jacob to come close to kiss him, and then he smelled him. Then his earlier suspicions are brought to the surface, and he blurts out, “Who art thou?”  He knows him, but he does not know him.  Does this remind us of anything?  Yes – it reminds us of a couple of passages, but I will read one for now, in Matthew 7:21-23:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

These are professed Christians…because you are not going to find Muslims, Buddhists or other religions or secularists that say, “Lord, Lord.”  That is something that Christians say of the Lord Jesus Christ, and many of them are letting the Lord know, “Certainly you know us?  We have prophesied in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and done many wonderful works in your name!”  There is nothing to make us think that this is not accurate, and these people have not done these things. 

Of course, we should not look at this literally, because in the Bible, when someone becomes saved, it is like casting out a devil.  And proclaiming the Word of God is bringing the Gospel, and it is akin to prophesying.  And, of course, many wonderful works were done by professed Christians during the church age, and outside the church age, as some men have given up their lives and dedicated their whole lives to going over to a foreign land, and they sacrificed everything – their position in society and their wealth.  They either left their families or they brought their families with them, and they would even lose children to disease, and grievous troubles took place in China and India and distant places of the earth.  Of course, some of them were truly saved, and they are not in view here.  Some of them were God’s elect, so Jesus is not speaking of them.  But there were also large numbers of people that have sacrificed in one way or another, whether it was giving of resources, time and money, and service to the church or they went on mission trips. 

But whatever it was, not all who did these things were truly saved, but they could legitimately say to the Lord, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?”  And it was true that they did, as far as handing out tracts or setting up missions in foreign lands.  And as a result of handing out the tracts or setting up those mission in foreign lands, some truly did become saved and, therefore, “devils were cast out” through salvation.  So they could say, “and in thy name have cast out devils.”  Yes – that could be true, too.  And they could say they had done “many wonderful works” in various ways, and that could be acknowledged to also be true.

But then what did Jesus say in Matthew 7:23?  “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”  Not only did He say He did not know them presently, but He is saying, “I never knew you, even when you were doing those things.  Even when you were sacrificing and serving me, you were not truly serving me.”  You know, people do things for all kinds of reasons that we do not understand.  God can use people that have certain desires to do things, and He will use them to accomplish His purposes, but in the sense of salvation and knowing them intimately and personally – by having their sins laid upon Himself, paying for those sins and dying for all those sins, and rising to justify them, making them His children by adopting them into the family of God – they were never “known.”  That is the picture, and that is what is being illustrated by Isaac’s statement in Genesis 27:32: “Who art thou?”  Who are you?  There is a lack of recognition.  That is, he is saying, “I do not know you.  You say you are Esau, but Esau was just here.” 

So, yes, historically, it has nothing to do with Matthew 7 and the verses we read there, but, spiritually, it has everything to do with it.  And not just with Matthew 7, but let us turn to Luke 13, where this even more directly fits in with our present circumstances of living on the earth in the Day of Judgment.  It says in Luke 13:23:

Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,

And I wanted to read this verse because that lets us know that the context has to do with salvation.  It has to do with those that are saved.  Are there few or many?

The Lord Jesus is responding to this question, as it goes on to say in Luke 13:24:

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

This is a very hard saying, is it not?  It is a very difficult thing to hear, and it is shocking.  It is really shocking that many will seek to enter in (and not be able).  Also, notice that it is referring to the “strait gate.”  Remember where we were reading in Matthew 7, and if we had started reading earlier, it says in Matthew 7:13-14:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

This tells us that many go through the wide gate, the broad way that leads to destruction.  Only the few seek to go through the strait gate, the narrow way.  But it says here in Luke 13:24: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.”  It is not mentioning a wide gate, from what we can read.  It appears to be saying that many will seek to enter in at the strait gate, the narrow way!  This is not what Matthew 7 says, so why is this, and why are they not able to enter in?  Look at Luke 13:25:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…

That is the time when many will seek to enter in the strait gate, the narrow way.  That is, that gate is closed because the door is shut.  It was always a strait gate and a very narrow way, and only few were able to find it, and those few were the chosen, God’s elect.  But what Luke 13:24-25 is saying is that when the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, it can only be Judgment Day.  And we have understood, by God’s grace that Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011.  It has continued until now, and it will continue for some time more, but during this period of time is when these verses have their application.  And during this period of time, that is after the Great Tribulation period and after God has completed His salvation program of saving souls, there is no more evangelizing, and no more encouraging others to cry out for mercy that God might save them.  God has completed His salvation program, and He has saved everyone He intended to save.  There is no more “blood in the basin,” so to speak.  We still have the “hyssop,” or the Word of God, but we can no longer dip that hyssop into the basin of blood and apply it to anyone, because there is no more blood to be applied. 

All to be saved have become saved, which means that something the Bible does show us from time to time will apparently take place in the Day of Judgment; that is, after the time God has bestowed the blessing.  And that is how it relates to our account in Genesis 27, because Jacob received the blessing and went out, and then, immediately, here came Esau, coming properly to his father to obtain the blessing.  This means that after God shut the door on May 21, 2011, many people will now come the proper way (to seek salvation), recognizing that God must have mercy and that God saves by grace according to election.  But they will come to obtain the blessing, like Esau and like these people in Luke 13:25, and I will keep reading now, in Luke 13:25:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

There is the similarity to what Isaac said to Esau, except it is worded a little differently, and we will try to take a look at why it is different.  Of course, the difference is that it does not say, “I do not know who you are.”  It says, “I know you not whence ye are.”  That is a different word, and we wonder why.  In Matthew 7, it said, “I never knew you,” and that was very similar to Isaac’s statement to Esau: “Who are you?”  But, here, it says, “I know you not whence ye are,” and the word “whence” is more of a word for “location.”  It is more the idea of saying, “I do not know where you are coming from.”  It goes on to say in Luke 13:26-28:

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

When will that be?  Right now.  It is right now.  “Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets” are a figure of speech to represent all of God’s elect.  Where are they?  They are in the kingdom of heaven.  What is another way of saying that?  God has saved everyone He intended to save, and God has completed His salvation program, as the Bible has revealed, and as EBible Fellowship has been declaring.  Is that not what this is saying?  They “see” Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets (not just a few of them) in the kingdom of God, and they are outside the kingdom of God.  They are thrust out.  By the way, this is a place of darkness, weeping and nation of teeth.  It is the earth itself at this time when God has shut the door of heaven, and the earth has become a place of blackness and darkness and where the weeping and gnashing of teeth occurs.  It is going on all around us.

And that is why it is so aggravating and disturbing to people when they hear this particular doctrine that God has opened up.  Of course, people in the churches were not fond of hearing that the church age was over, and that Satan was ruling in the congregations.  They got pretty angry over that.  But more are very upset with the idea that the door is shut and that everyone to be saved has been saved, and there is no more salvation.  It is not something anyone can take very easily.  And if you are an unsaved person, this is a very grievous thing.

Then it goes on to say in Luke 13:29-30:

And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

Just think of Jacob and Esau.  Esau was firstborn, but he ends up last.  Jacob was last to be born, and he ends up first.

Well, we have run out of time.  Lord willing, we will think about that a little more, and also about the phrase, “whence ye are.”