What a tangled web! Jacob has cheated Esau. Now, Esau is saying, ‘I will kill my brother Jacob’ (27:41). What are we to make of all this? We must look beyond the human scene. Behind it all, there is ‘God Almighty’ (3). God will fulfil His promises. Nothing will distract Him from His ultimate purpose of salvation. We look at the complex series of events involving Rebekah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau. God looks beyond all of that to Jesus Christ. He looks beyond the nation of Israel. His purpose concerns ‘the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). ‘The blessing of Abraham’ refers not only to the ‘land’ (4). There is also ‘the promise of the Spirit’ (Galatians 3:14). We are to live ‘by the power of the Spirit’, and not ‘according to the flesh’ as Esau did when ‘he went to Ishmael (the child of Abraham's unbelief...)’ (9; Galatians 4:29).
Just another night (11)? No! - this was a night to remember, a night Jacob would never forget. God came to him with His wonderful promise of love: ‘I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you’ (15). At Bethel (‘the house of God’), powerfully transformed by the presence of God - ‘Surely the Lord is in this place’ (16) - , Jacob consecrated himself to the Lord. ‘If’ (20) means ‘Since’. See Romans 8:31 - ‘If (Since) God is for us, who can be against us?’. Giving the tenth (22) - this is not legalism, a kind of repayment scheme. There can be no ‘salvation by works’. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our giving must always be a heartfelt expression of thanksgiving to the God of grace: ‘Loving Him who first loved me’. We are saved ‘to do good works’ (Ephesians 2:10) - not because we do good works!
Esther 4
‘Haman sought to destroy all the Jews’ (3:6). This is the work of the devil. He ‘comes only to steal and kill and destroy’ (John 10:10). To oppose such determined enemies of the Lord is never easy. Esther knew this. She was ready to put her life on the line: ‘If I perish, I perish’ (16). She knew that this was not a time for remaining silent. She must speak up for the Lord’s people. She was to serve God’s purpose - the deliverance of His people from death at the hands of His enemies (14). Esther was prepared to suffer death for the sake of God’s people. Jesus did suffer death for us. Jesus tells us why He came to this world: ‘I have come that they may have life...’. He tells us why He died: ‘I lay down my life for My sheep...I give them eternal life’ (John 10:10,15,27-28).Matthew 27
Jesus went to the Cross for us. Refusing to protest His own innocence, He took our guilt upon Himself. Observing this, ‘the governor wondered greatly’ (14). We also should wonder greatly at this - Christ took our place, receiving the punishment that should have been ours. Barabbas was released, Christ was crucified (26). This is the great exchange - the sinless Saviour takes the place of the guilty sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21). As well as its divine aspect - ‘God so loved...’ (John 3:16) - the Cross has a human dimension - the people, Jews and Gentiles (the whole sinful world), sent Jesus to the Cross. For Jews and Gentiles (‘the whole world’), Christ has provided salvation (Romans 1:16; 1 John 2:2). In the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Christ, we are invited to ask ourselves, ‘What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ (22).
The ‘King of the Jews’ wore ‘a crown of thorns’ (29). In the Cross, we see the King. The way of crucifixion - this is the way of the Kingdom. The prayer, ‘Thy Kingdom come’ (6:10), could only be answered by way of the Cross. From the Cross, we hear the call for decision. It is the call of love. The love of Christ calls for our answer: ‘What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ (22). Here, we see different responses to Christ - derision, mocking, reviling (39-44); misunderstanding (47-49); believing worship (54). How are we brought out of unbelief and into faith, out of derision and into rejoicing? By the mighty working of God in our hearts, we are brought out of darkness and into light (2 Corinthians 4:6). Salvation comes from above, from God - ‘The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom’ (51).
‘Mary the mother of James and Joseph’ was also the mother of Jesus (56; 13:55). She began by receiving Jesus, not only as her son but also as her Saviour (Luke 1:38). She was still following Jesus - ‘kept by the power of God’ (1 Peter 1:5). None of us - not even the mother of Jesus - can walk with the Lord without His grace keeping us in the way of faith. The unbelieving world still denies Christ - ‘that imposter’ (63) - and His resurrection - ‘fraud’ (64). As believers, we must maintain our testimony: ‘He has risen from the dead’ (64). The unbelievers expected a ‘fraud’. They did not expect a resurrection! For them, a resurrection was out of the question. God had a surprise in store for them! Unbelief says, ‘Resurrection? - Impossible!’. Faith says, ‘it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him’ (Acts 2:24). He has risen (28:6) - Hallelujah!
Acts 27
There is, in this story, a great picture of God’s way of salvation. (a) Our human situation is hopeless: ‘All our hope of being saved was at last abandoned’ (20). We are sinners. We cannot save ourselves. (b) There is hope: ‘God has granted you all those who sail with you’ (25). God has provided a way of salvation: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son’ (John 3:16). (c) Faith believes the Word of God: ‘I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told’ (25) - ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’ (16:31). (d) Safety: ‘all escaped to land’ (44). God has ‘prepared’ for us ‘a better country’, a ‘heavenly one’, ‘a city’, ‘the city which is to come’. Do you want to ‘escape’, to be saved? Make sure that you don’t ‘neglect such a great salvation’ (Hebrews 11:16; 13:14; 2:3).
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