Roman 9:13 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Hebrews 12:16b “or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.”
This one of the most difficult passages in the Bible and abler men have expounded on it significantly. It is one that leads me to Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
What the passages on Esau lead us to is the debate between freewill and sovereignty. There is no satisfactory answer to this question. If there were it would have been found long ago. What we have in the Body of Christ around this issue is entrenched camps, not agreement. I was raised a Roman Catholic Church that overused the term “mystery” to describe difficult to understand things. However, Protestants underuse the term. There is a divine mystery in terms of how a man plans his way while at the same time God is ordering his steps, but I tell you friends, it gives me great comfort to know that He is. He is also just. Romans 9:20, finishes the logical track of this conversation when it says. “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?”
What we do know is that Esau was held accountable by God for the choices he made and he is called godless because he sells his inheritance. The question I want to pose is how many of us are despising the inheritance that we the Lord prepared for us? When the New Testament scriptures speak of inheritance they speak about eternal life and a kingdom prepared for those who qualify. Esau’s inheritance is a birthright. All human being have an inheritance prepared for them as a birthright. We are qualified. This is because we are made in the image and likeness of God. No other creature has this birthright. No animal on Earth and no angel in heaven has this birthright, only human beings do. There is a condition however. We cannot despise this birthright. We must believe and acknowledge that we have it. Ephesians 1: 13-14 read, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
What Esau did not understand is that an inheritance is more than material, it is also spiritual. His Daddy Isaac is in the faith hall of fame for one reason only, “Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.” Hebrew 11:20. In regards to the material inheritance of Esau, it would ultimately be located between the northern section of the Gulf of Aqaba and the southern shore of the Dead Sea. It was a strong place and one that lead to ungodly type self sufficiency. Of Esau, Obadiah 1:3 reads; “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Many of us are struck by this sin of pride and self sufficiency. The cure is simple. We have to let the Lord pass through our lives.
Numbers 20 shows Esau’s descendents secure in these mountains. Israel now with the testimony of miracles fresh in the recent history of a region just wants to pass through. However, the Esau’s people would not let it happen.
What does God hate? He hates those who will not allow him to pass through. In that passing the people of Esau would have beheld a miracle and their hearts might have softened enough to be saved. God just wants a hearing. He wants an opportunity to show you his miracle. When you do this you make yourself vulnerable. You might even walk with a limp afterwards. Do not blasphemy the Holy Ghost by resisting his request to pass through your life. If you let him pass you may see and believe and receive the inheritance that he intended for you from the foundations of the Earth.
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