"Things to Come"

 "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning thing to come." (Hebrews 11:20 KJV)

  "So Jacob went over and kissed him. And when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, "Ah! The smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the LORD has blessed! "From the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, may God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants, and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed."" (Genesis 27:27-29 NLT)

 Whether we can understand it or not, there was really something important in this blessing that Isaac was giving to Jacob, even though he thought it was Esau. In this blessing, as well as in the way that Jacob was pretending to be his brother; Isaac's blessing painted a perfect picture of what was going to happen in the future, with Jacob's son, Joseph. 

 As we see, in the not-so-distant future, Joseph was having dreams abought all his brother's and even his father, Jacob, bowing down to him. Not only that, but when Joseph became the second in command of Egypt, all the other nation became his servants, as they gave up land and possessions, in order to have grain, to feed their families. 

 And to make things even more familiar with this story, when Joseph's brothers came for grain, they had no clue that he was their brother, as he did not even look the same to them. He also did become the master of his brother's; so much so, they begged him for mercy; especially when he asked them to go home and bring Bengamin, in order to prove who they really were; when actually he just wanted to see his brother. 

 Sometimes we see things are meant for certain reasons, and certain people have something in store for them, when it turns out that it was not them at all, but someone else that was actually close to them. The whole point is that God does not fail! His plans are going to happen, regardless, even if it is not the one that gets the blessing but is just the one that makes the blessing happen.  

 When I was given the opportunity to share this particular message, Isaac blessing to Jacob, I used this illustration of Jacob's reasoning to his mother, that it wasn't going to work. This is not easy to explain, as I tried, but most of the congregation didn't really get the massage. But I saw a similarity in the way Jacob doubted his mother's plan would work, as the problem some people have with God's plan that Jesus paid the penalty for their sins.

 It really isn't that hard to believe, unless you don't know who it was that hung on that cross! If you think that Jesus was someone else, less than God, then you're missing something that makes the truth undeniable; because it was God, it means that it totally and completely worked! 

 Even then, some might say, "Why would God need to come and die on a cross for us?" Well, if it takes a perfect sacrifice to do the job, only God is perfect! End of story...

"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation., for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fulness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross." (Colossians 1:15-20 NLT)