Jr. Tree of Life 02/07/2021
Heroes of the Bible
Isaac and Rebekah ( + Esau and Jacob )
Part 6
Eternity Past, Age of Gentiles, Age of Israel, Hypostatic Union, Church Age, Tribulation, Millennium, Eternal future
Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)
Promise Memory Verse
“Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26
It was Zelda’s birthday; she really wanted a new hover board. Every day she went out to check the mail for birthday cards. One day, she found over 5 cards in the mailbox. Wow, she got really excited! There was one card from her grandma and there was a card from her big sister Emilee.
She tore open an envelope and read the card that her sister gave her; but there was a problem. Her sister had promised to give her an Amazon gift card so she could buy the hover board and it wasn’t in the birthday card.
She searched everywhere, but couldn’t find it. She was really upset!
Next she opened the card from her grandma. Her grandma always gave her fifty dollars, oh no! It was missing too! Where were her gifts? She was so upset that she cried.
She ended up finding out a couple of weeks later that it was her younger brother Patrick that took the money and the gift card. Even though Patrick did the wrong thing by stealing, God still loved him. Our memory verse above, gives us reason to trust God. His love lasts forever.
Last week, we saw that after Isaac’s mom Sarah died, he missed her very much so his dad Abraham decided to find him a wife. He sent his servant to a faraway place called Haran.
When his servant got there, he stopped at a well. Right away a woman named Rebekah gave him and his 10 camels some water. Then she and the servant went back to where Isaac lived and they got married.
Abraham died when he was 175 years old and he passed all of his riches on to Isaac. God also made the same promise to Isaac that He made to Abraham.
He promised, land, blessings, and a large family. This is called the Abrahamic Covenant.
The land that was promised, was a land called Canaan.
Isaac and Rebekah really wanted to have kids. Isaac trusted God to keep His promise of a large family. After they waited 20 years, Isaac prayed to God for a family and God kept His Word!
Rebekah was so excited; God had answered Isaac’s prayer! She was going to have twins! God told Rebekah His special plan for her twins. The oldest boy would not get the special blessing or be the leader in the family, the youngest boy would instead.
When the twins were born they didn’t look alike. The first boy born had reddish skin and looked like a hairy piece of clothing; his name was Esau. Jacob was the second one of the twins born.
Esau was the oldest so he received the birthright and that showed that he would become the leader in the family and get many blessings once his father Isaac died.
The boys grew up and Esau loved the outdoors and enjoyed hunting. Jacob was a homebody and stayed near the tents. Isaac and Rebekah each had a favorite son. Esau was Isaac’s favorite because he loved the food that Esau hunted. Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite.
One day Jacob cooked some red bean stew. Esau smelled it cooking and was starving; he asked Jacob for some.
Jacob was taught that he would be the leader in the family and get many blessings, but there was a big problem; Esau had the birthright and Jacob wanted it.
Jacob made Esau promise to give him the birthright in exchange for the bean stew. Esau could care a less about his birthright; all he could think of was that he was dying of hunger. Esau ate the food and didn’t give his birthright another thought.
Jacob seems pretty sneaky and he really wanted what Esau had, didn’t he! Guess what though God still loved him anyway and He really did want Jacob to be the leader of the family. Jacob didn’t need to trick Esau at all.
Some people think that a Christian is somebody who is really good. That’s not true. Being a Christian means that you know that you are a sinner and believe that Jesus died on the cross for you. Jacob was a believer.
Reason to trust God = God’s love lasts forever.
Birthright – Given to the first-born male of the family so that after his father died, he would be the leader in the family and get many blessings.