# 255 Grace, Forgiveness, Repentance

The Book of Genesis

Day 255

Ge 27:36 And Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!" And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" 37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Indeed I have made him your master, and all his brethren I have given to him as servants; with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son?" 38 And Esau said to his father, "Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me-me also, O my father!" And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him: "Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, And of the dew of heaven from above. 40 By your sword you shall live, And you shall serve your brother; And it shall come to pass, when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck."

 It’s easy to read this account in Scripture and forget the original prophecy concerning these two boys. God said from the get-go that Jacob would be the one who would rule over his brother.  God sees, God knows, and God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy.  God used His selection prerogative in the case of Esau and Jacob to teach us about His elective grace which we read about in  Ro 9:11,12  (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),  12 it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."

God’s omniscience (all knowing) is not to be overlooked here either, and quite frankly it is too much for our finite minds to comprehend. He knew Esau would be a profane (godless) and unrepentant man, just as sure as he knew Judas would be the unrepentant traitor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Well,” one might say, “if that’s the case why bother, God already knows my end.” Yes He does…..but you don’t, and that’s the key. As long as you have breath in your body, you like the thief on the cross, have the opportunity to join Jesus in Paradise.  You CAN know your end! It is not God’s will that any should perish, and that includes you! Your answer to where you will spend eternity is found in the Word of God! 1Jo 5:13 says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

 Let us learn from Esau, lest we disqualify ourselves through a heart that has been hardened by unforgiveness. Speaking of Esau in Heb 12:14-17 we read, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.”

Note the reference to the “root of bitterness,” and understand how important it is for us to learn to forgive others.  Esau held on to his root of bitterness with Jacob and “he found no place for repentance.”

Jesus said in Mt 6:15 "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

There are two kinds of repentance. True repentance in which the Holy Spirit produces godly sorrow over our sins, and false repentance in which the sorrow is only produced because we have done harm to ourselves. This was Esau’s major problem, he was not very much concerned about godly sorrow as he was about his own personal sorrow.

True repentance is a gift from God.  Don’t mess with it! No matter your sin, join with David after he was confronted by Nathan with his sin and agree with God saying, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And ask the Holy Spirit for help with any and all issues of unforgiveness in your heart.