Last time we met, we talked about the life of Esau. We are searching for the reason God said in Malachi 1:1-5 that he loves Jacob but hates Esau. Today we are going to look at the life of Jacob. We will discover why God told me that Jacob is the son of holiness. 

Jacob The Son Of Holiness

Last we saw Jacob, he was told to leave and live with his uncle Laban. On his way there he had the dream of the ladder with angels ascending and descending on it. At the top is the Lord. The Lord told Jacob:

“And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭28‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

When he woke up he said, “Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭28‬:‭20‬-‭22‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

Jacob vowed to serve the one true God and came into agreement with the promise God just gave him. This is his first step of living a life of holiness. 

God Visits Jacob Again

Jacob lived with Laban and served him for 14 years in order to marry both of his daughters-Leah and Rachel. After many years working for Laban God visited Jacob in another dream and said,

“Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭31‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ (‭ESV)‬‬

What does Jacob do? He immediately left to go back to his homeland. We read these types of stories over and over in the life of Jacob. Yes we can point to many things Jacob did wrong but ultimately he chose to follow God and thus lived a life of holiness unlike his older brother Esau. 

Promises From God

What are the rewards for those who follow the law of the Lord? We find these promises in ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬-‭13‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬:

 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 

I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.”

What Are Those Promises

What did God say would happen to people who chose to follow him and his laws? 

1. Fruitful harvest in the land
2. Live in peace
3. Harmful beasts will be removed from the land
4. No war
5. Their enemies will be chased off easily (5 chases 100 off and 100 chases 10,000)
6. God will walk among them

I don’t know about you, but I would love to live a life like the one promised in Leviticus. We must choose to come into agreement with all the Lord says for those promises to blossom in our lives. 

How Is God Called Great

Malachi 1:5 (ESV) says, “Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!”

If you recall the “this” in Malachi 1:5 is the fact that God said he would make the land of Edom (Esau) desolate. Even if they rebuilt their homes, God would destroy them. 

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So why will people say Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel when God says he loves Jacob but hates Esau and he will tear down Esau’s land and make it a desolate place?

We can say God is great because we can see that God is a God who keeps his promises. When God follows through with what he said will happen to people who either choose to follow him and obey his laws or not, we know we serve a trustworthy God. We see the reality of these promises from God in the lives of Jacob and Esau. 

One brother chose to follow God and one chose to reject God. One is a son of blessing and one is a son of cursing. 

What will you choose today? Will you choose to be a son or daughter of promise and follow God and his ways? Will you choose to come into agreement with everything God says about you, sin, holiness, and anything else he declares as truth? Or will you choose to reject what God says about you, sin, holiness, and anything else? Will you choose to have blessings or curses given to you? The choice is yours to make.