Lessons from Isaac and Rebekah

I'd like to talk about a man this afternoon in the Bible whose name means laughter. We've heard many messages about this individual's father, but I don't know if we've heard very many messages about him. It is one of the patriarchs, actually, by the name of Isaac. How much do we know about Isaac and Rebecca? We have heard messages about his father, Abraham, but there's a lot we can learn if we look a little bit more closely at the life of Isaac and his wife, Rebecca. As we are well aware, I'll give just a brief introduction to the beginning of the life of Isaac. We know that Abraham was called by God at the age of 75, and that he came into the land of Canaan where he would be a nomad the rest of his life, living in a tent.

And we know that he brought his wife, Sarah, and certain other ones. That Abraham then was very successful as far as being able to do things that would earn a living. The scriptures bring up was rich in gold and silver. He had money then. And when Lot, his nephew, was captured by some of the Babylonian kings that came in to fight sodom and where Lot lived, Abraham was able to garner or muster an army of 318 men to help rescue Lot, which he did. So that means that Abraham very likely had a little city-state of maybe 1,000 or 1,500 people.

Abraham was not just any mean person, was he? He had money. And very likely, when you study the life of Abraham, and I'll bring out a little bit of this because this is going to impact our looking into the life of Isaac, it is very likely that when Abraham came down into the land of Canaan, if you study where he spent his time, it was on a major trade route that ran between Egypt, the two superpowers of that day and time, Mesopotamia and Egypt.

So, Abraham, there were two major trade routes that came out of Egypt that actually joined together in Damascus in Syria. One of them was the sea route. So you could take the sea, if you wanted to go from Egypt to Mesopotamia or Mesopotamia to Egypt, then you could take the coastal interstate or you could take the inland interstate. And Abraham positioned himself on the inland route that went from Damascus on down through Jerusalem and through Hebron and on down into Egypt.

So, he positioned himself along this route and it is very likely that Abraham was more than just a cattleman. He positioned himself near cities and yet he lived in a tent. He did not have any house that he lived in. He was very likely a merchant man, a trader, a businessman. He could very well have provided a supply outpost for traveling caravans moving between Egypt and Mesopotamia.

These caravans would need food. They would need supplies. They would need clothing. They would need perhaps some blacksmith work. It is very likely that Abraham was able to provide those services. And it says in chapter 13 that he was rich in cattle and in gold and silver. So, if you were to look at where he positioned himself, it was on this inland route that ran from Egypt to Mesopotamia. Shechem, Bethel, Hebron, Beersheba, all of those were areas that were on that inland route.

So, Abraham was well able then to make a good livelihood. He was well able to provide for that 1,000 or maybe 1,500 people that lived in his city-state. Think of this also that not only did Abraham provide for the livelihood of those people, but he also provided their leadership, their governance. He was their governor. He was their, you might say, king. He was the one that laid down the rules, but he led righteously. All these things are helpful in our study of Isaac because they give a little bit of background for Isaac's father, Abraham.

We might just mention one other thing because Isaac would see this in his father. When Abraham went to worship God, he had different outward symbols, you might say, or different outward form than what we would be familiar with. When he wanted to have special worship to word God, he would build an altar. He did not go to the pagan altars that were already built in the area. It would be like us. We don't go to the churches of this world either, do we?

We see similarities here. But Abraham built his own altar. Now, how do you build an altar? I have no idea. But Abraham knew how to do that. You find him in different places that he would go to, building an altar where he would worship God. In this worship of God, which was from his heart, it was obedience to God.

And seeking to do what was pleasing to God, he would sacrifice animals. So that was a part of his worship of God. He kept God's laws and commandments. He kept the Sabbath day then, the fourth commandment. And just how did he keep the Sabbath day? Did he have his people come together for, let's say, discussing God's will and God's way of life? Did he even speak and bring out things for his city-state at those Sabbath meetings? We don't have any information on that, but they did not have the scriptures to read like we have today.

They didn't have a Bible back in Abraham's day. That would begin to be in the time of Moses, who wrote the first five books. So Abraham had no Bible and no scriptures to read from, and their service, no doubt, would be different somewhat than ours today. And yet from the heart there would be the same thing, the worship of God, and seeking to do what was pleasing to God.

So we see when Isaac comes on the scene, he is, of course, going to see Abraham's way of worshiping God, and he would, of course, imitate that as well. And by the way, by the time Isaac came on the scene, God had already given the circumcision commandment as well, and Abraham had circumcised all of his city-state, and when God instructed that to be done, including Ishmael, who was about 13 years of age at that time.

But when Isaac came along, circumcision already was in force. God had commanded that, and so that was a part of the worship as well. So we see that Abraham did indeed have some differences in the way he worshipped God, but the similarity is that he was obedient to what God wanted him to do at that time, and he was worshipping God from the heart in the way that God instructed him to do it.

Well, all of that is very interesting than when you get into the life of Isaac. The lifestyle, the culture, the customs of the patriarchs were so different than life here in 2015. So different. Their life, the life of the patriarchs, was nomadic. They were nomads. They lived in tents. When my wife and I and our children went to Jordan in 1988 for the Feast of Tabernacles, we toured around Jordan, around the area where the feast was held in Amun.

And we saw, to this day, there are nomads that pitched their tents, big tents where they lived. Well, I kind of pictured Abraham and Sarah living in a tent of that type back in their time. They had none of the modern conveniences. Think of that. They had no electricity, of course. They had no running water.

They had no telephones, no TV, no radio, no rapid travel. Just none of the conveniences. What a different way of life they had than ours. Yet, in many ways, you would think that their lifestyle was more down to earth. It was literally down to earth. In many ways, it was simpler. And maybe it was easier, far less complex than the world that we live in now.

I mentioned some of these things because it helps us to appreciate what we're going to be talking about, the life and times of Isaac and Rebekah and lessons that we can learn. What was God doing at that time? It was a different kind of work that God was doing than the work that He is doing today. Today, we preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world. And we also help to prepare those that God is calling to be in His church so they can reign with Christ.

That's our work. That was not the same type of work for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The patriarchs were being shaped and formed to be like top administrators when the kingdom of God is set up. We have felt, and I think we would still feel that way, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will form a top team of leadership right under Christ. Maybe like at the vice presidential level, that Jesus Christ will be king over all the earth, and right under Him, working closely with Him, will be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these three men. Spiritually, we are called the children of Abraham. And I think by extension you can say that spiritually we are the children of the fathers, because then Isaac came from Abraham, and Jacob, or Israel, his name was changed to Israel, came from Isaac, and we are the Israel of God.

So in a way, we are all then the children of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they help to lay a solid foundation of how God is shaping and forming His family. Well, let's look at Isaac this afternoon. We often don't just look at an individual like this and learn from his life, and yet there's so much we can learn from the life of Isaac.

So let's read a few passages about his life, beginning in Genesis chapter 21. Now, already we could read previously where the angels had told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a child. And what did Sarah do? She laughed. You can read that in Genesis 18, 12 to 15. She laughed. So the angel said, well, why did Sarah laugh? She said that she didn't, but the angel said, yes, you did. So in chapter 21, verses 1 to 3, it says, The Lord visited Sarah as he had said.

Here's Sarah, 90 years of age, and she's about to have a baby, to come and deliver a baby. And Abraham's 100 years of age. The Lord did for Sarah as he had spoken, for Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him Isaac.

And look at the margin if you have a marginal reference, as I do in my Bible here, and it says, literally, laughter. How'd you like to go around with that kind of name all your life? What's your name? Laughter. You'd get some laughter, I think, out of that, wouldn't you?

But that's what happened to Isaac. And it says, then, verse 4, that Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made me laugh so that all who hear will laugh with me. So, it was a miraculous thing, wasn't it? It was a very miraculous thing that had happened here for Abraham and Sarah.

To have a son in their old age, something they certainly did not anticipate. Well, you know, we're not given a lot of information here. There's this incident of Ishmael kind of mocking. By this time, Ishmael, who was the older half-brother, remember Hagar and Abraham, had Ishmael about 13 or 14 years before this. So here's this 13 or 14-year-old half-brother Ishmael, who is the father of the Arab peoples, the true Arab peoples in the Middle East.

He's making fun, and so Sarah said, cast out the bond woman. And so, no longer was Ishmael and Hagar living right there with Abraham after that. They were sent away. But after this incident, when you look at the life of the patriarchs who have a lot of chapters, we have when you consider the four major ones, Abraham, of course, and Sarah, that's the first one, then Isaac and Rebekah the second, and then Jacob, and he had four wives giving him the twelve sons of Jacob, and then Joseph.

You have a lot of chapters in the Bible, Genesis 12 through 50, but actually we don't have a lot of information about the patriarchs when you really look at it closely. What kind of childhood did Isaac have? We don't have any information on it. No doubt he must have become a part of his father's business.

He may have been involved in maybe watching after the cattle. Maybe he was involved in some of the other working, if they did have an outpost or a blacksmith shop or selling supplies, an outpost. He may have worked some in that. He gained experience, no doubt, in the family business because he was the son of the natural-born son of Abraham and Sarah. He was the heir to the city-state owned by Abraham. But, you know, we'll skip on forward to chapter 22 when we pick up something about Isaac in his life.

Notice here that God told Abraham in verse 2, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. I'm not going to read this chapter because we've had it read to us many times before.

We know the story of how Abraham then obeyed God. He didn't question what God asked him to do. And we know that basically we look at chapter 22 from the perspective of Abraham. And that's okay. Abraham, you know, is the one that was going to carry out the sacrifice of his son.

It was just hard to even imagine what kind of mental suffering he must have gone through. But you know, you think of it through Isaac's eyes as well. That's what we're striving to do in this sermon today. What was it like for Isaac? What age was Isaac? We don't know. Clark's commentary speculates that he would have been 33 years of age because as a type of the Father and Christ in the supreme sacrifice of Christ, Christ was 33, so I think Clark's commentary speculates because of that.

Well, you know, it's possible that Isaac could have been 33. Or maybe he was just 20 or 25. We really don't know. But we do know that he was able to look at verse 6. He was able to take the wood of the burnt offering, and he laid it upon Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. We do know that Isaac was grown, and he was able to look around and wonder, well, hey, we've got the wood, we've got the fire, we've got everything we need for the sacrifice. Where's the animal? And Abraham had to say, well, God will provide a sacrifice, and of course we know that God did provide.

By the way, there are some real parallels between Isaac and Christ. Both of them were the result of miraculous births. Jesus Christ was miraculously born, and Isaac also was miraculously born when Abraham and Sarah were beyond the bearing season. Number two, Isaac and Christ were both only sons. Number three, they both have significant third days. Jesus resurrected on the third day, and the journey for Isaac, the journey out to the place where the sacrifice would be, was three days. Look in verse 4. They both carried a burden of wood. In the case of Christ, it was a tree. They both were bound.

Both Isaac and Jesus Christ were bound. You can look at Matthew 27.2, where they bound Jesus. And here in chapter 22, verse 9, where Isaac was bound. And then it's possible again that the age was 33. Certainly it is possible we can't prove it for sure. And most importantly, number seven, these are seven similarities or parallels between Isaac and Christ, both Jesus and Christ yielded willingly. There's absolutely no indication at all that Isaac resisted. Notice in verse 9, they came to the place which the Lord had told him.

And by the way, it is even possible that the place where the sacrifice was done is the same place as where Jesus himself was sacrificed. That is possible. But they came to the place God had told him, and Abraham built an altar and placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And that's when he stretched out his hand. We're familiar with that.

So we have this incident then from which we learned so much. Okay, let's just pick up a few other things very quickly about Isaac and see how much we can glean from the life of this man that will be helpful to us in our spiritual journey. In Genesis 23 and verse 1, Sarah lived 127 years. These were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjaf Arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and weep for her. But guess who else was there weeping? Isaac was there weeping for the loss of his mother. And what age would Isaac have been at this time?

Well, Sarah was 90 years of age when Isaac was born. She was 127. So she was 37. He was rather 37 years of age when his mother died. This would have been if he was 33, and again I say if he was 33 when he was to be offered up as a sacrifice, this would have been just four years later. But again, we can't know for sure.

So, no doubt, there was some mourning that went on for the loss of his mother and the life of Isaac. In chapter 24, verse 1, when Abraham was old and well advanced in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things, Abraham said to the oldest servant, he had him to put his hand under his thigh and swear, that a wife would be taken not from the Canaanites but from the home country, verse 4, for my son Isaac.

So I'm going to have this story here. This is quite an elaborate story in chapter 24. This servant then goes on his way, and he comes to the home country and he then finds Rebekah. So Rebekah was beautiful, and it was the job of this servant to bring back a wife. And he had prayed about this thing.

He prayed that God would show him, just the one that would come and even help draw water. And Rebekah came and helped to draw water. So he went to the household of this, it was Bethul, the household of Bethul, and Laban was the brother of Rebekah. And so let's skip on forward. They asked Rebekah, after everything was made known as to why the servant was there, if she was willing to go.

In verse 58, they called Rebekah and said to her, Will you go with this man? Now, you know, you think about Rebekah. What kind of woman was she? She had never seen this man before, and he had come and explained his mission to find a wife for Isaac, sent by Abraham, and explained all that had happened, some miraculous things had happened, to indicate that Rebekah was the one.

So she said, I will go. You know, she was a strong woman, wasn't she? She was willing to leave family and live in a tent as a nomad. You know, parallels have been drawn between Rebekah and the church, just as Christ and Isaac as a type of the church and Rebekah, his wife, then as a type of the church. The church has to be willing to also leave everything and be strangers and pilgrims in this world.

So she said, I will go. You know, she was a strong woman to do that. And so they sent away Rebekah, their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men, and they blessed Rebekah and said to her, Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them. Promises, they understood apparently a little bit about, or they were inspired to see anyway, some of the promises that were being passed on down to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So Rebekah and her maids arose, and they rode on the camels and followed the man, and the man took Rebekah and departed. Now Isaac came from the way of Bir Lahai Roy, for he dwelt in the south. I like that, don't you? Isaac was a southerner. He was one of us. He was in the south country below Jerusalem, the southern part of the way down between Jerusalem and Egypt, on that inland interstate route between Mesopotamia and Egypt. So he went out to meditate. He lifted up his eyes. He saw the camels coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac, and she dismounted from her camel.

And she said to the servant, Who is this man walking to meet us? And the servant said, This is my master. So she took a veil and covered herself, and the servant told Isaac all that he had done. And that is verse 67. Isaac brought her into his mother, Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. So this was just a matter of maybe possibly a few years, but not very many after the death of his mother. In fact, we can know how many years it was because look at Genesis 25 and verse 20.

Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethel, the Syrian. So this was about three years after the death of his mother, Sarah, that Isaac then and Rebekah were married. Well, just to see life through the eyes of Rebekah and Isaac, Isaac and Rebekah, Isaac continued to have association with his father, no doubt.

And he saw his father then go out and find a woman by the name of Keturah. Chapter 25 and verse 1, Isaac saw his father take Keturah, and she bore all of these sons to Abraham in his old age. And later Abraham would send them away, it goes on to say. And so Isaac would come to verse 7, it says the sum of the years.

We should go ahead and read the in-between verses. Verse 5, Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. This is coming on then toward the end of Abraham's life. Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which he had. While he was still living, he sent them eastward away from Isaac his son to the country of the east, because Isaac was the one that was to inherit the land of Canaan.

Verse 7, this is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived 175 years. Well, Abraham died then at age 175. What age would Isaac have been when his father died? Well, Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born, so Isaac was 75 years of age when he saw his father die. That means he had been married to Rebekah for about 15 years when his father died. So Abraham breathed his last and you can read more about that.

Okay, we ought to read now an event that happened, though, and this would actually have been before Abraham died in verse 26. After word his brother came out and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. The twins Esau and Jacob were born when Isaac was 60 years of age. Well, Abraham died when Isaac was 75, so that means the twins were 15 years of age when Abraham died. Abraham got to see the twins for 15 years before his death.

Interesting. It is interesting to go back and read and dig up some of the things about the patriarchs. Well, as far as where did Isaac stay? A lot of Isaac's time appears to be in the south country that we read about earlier, Beersheba. There's a place called Gerar, G-E-R-A-R, a city that was in between the two interstate roads. I've called them interstates, the two main routes from Egypt to Mesopotamia. There was a road that went between the two of them around Beersheba and over to the west where Gerar was located.

Well, let's skip on forward now to Genesis 27. It came to pass when Isaac was old, and his eyes were so dim he could not see. This is many years after the loss of his father, Abraham. His eyes were so dim he could not see. There are ways to, and I'll try to maybe at another time bring a chart that will show this, there are ways that indicate that Isaac at this point was about 117 years of age.

He was blind, his eyes were so dim he could not see. This chapter is a chapter we're very familiar with. This is where Jacob is going to deceive his father. Rebecca has these skins she puts on Jacob's arms so it makes Isaac think that it is Esau. He wants to pass on the birthright blessing to Esau, and we know that it was God's purpose to have it passed on to Jacob. So Rebecca and Jacob have this scheme, and Jacob goes in and brings this, which is supposed to be venison, that Esau was going to go and kill and prepare.

And so Jacob comes in and steals the birthright, and he had barely gotten out before Esau came in, and then it was discovered that actually it was Jacob who had received the birthright blessing and not Esau. Well, the point I wish to make here is that Jacob was so blind at the age of 117 that he was not able to distinguish who was who.

He was practically blind then, or maybe totally blind. It says his eyes were so dim he could not see. And yet, think of this, Isaac would live...how long had he been blind already? Probably at least a few years. And guess what? He would live to be 180 years of age. That's 63 years after what happened here in chapter 27. 63 years is a long time.

And so here's a man that perhaps for 65, 70 years of his life was blind. You know, something that would be a trial, wouldn't it? It would be a tremendous trial. And yet that is what happened to Isaac. Well, problems developed because of this and because of what Jacob did. And Esau...notice in verse 41, Genesis 27 and verse 41, So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him.

And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then I will kill my brother. And this word got to Rebekah. And Rebekah got to Jacob and said, You've got to get out of here. And Rebekah then worked to get Isaac to tell Jacob to leave. In verse 46, Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth.

If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me? I'd just rather die. So chapter 28 in verse 1, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paedanarim to the house of Bethul, your mother's father. Go back to our homeland and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples and give you the blessing of Abraham. You know, it was not until Jacob stole the birthright blessings that Isaac began to really understand that it was God's will that the birthright blessings and promises to Abraham would flow through Jacob and not through Esau. Up until that time, he thought the birthright would just naturally go to the firstborn Esau.

But he came to understand. Verse 4, And of course, we know there that Jacob actually wound up with two wives and two handmaids and had 12 children. But that's going to be a story for another time. The book of Genesis basically now begins to follow Jacob for many, many chapters, and we will not read all of that.

But we do want to skip on down to chapter 35 and pick up a verse or two about Isaac. You see, we have the years after Jacob went to seek a wife.

We don't have any information that is given. What happened to Isaac? Well, he was blind. Many, many years went by. But we come to chapter 35 and verse 27. Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjaf Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned, as Hebron is south of Jerusalem, more in the south country. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. So Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Well, Jacob had just returned from where he had dwelt for 40 years, and he did get to be with his father for a short time before his death.

What about Rebekah? When did she die? What happened to Rebekah? We don't have any information that is given to us. We just don't know. But, you know, this helps us to understand the patriarch Isaac and some of his life, some of the things that he went through.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the fathers, called the fathers in the Bible. They're going to have very high positions in God's kingdom. It's good for us to understand a little bit more about Isaac and some of the things that he went through. Let's just read a few verses as we begin to wind down in the New Testament. Luke 13 and verse 28. Luke 13 and verse 28. Luke 13 and verse 28.

A good number of times in the Bible we have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob referred to. Let's go to Luke, rather, to Acts chapter 3 and verse 12. Acts chapter 3 and verse 12.

When Peter...

Let's see, Acts 3 verses 12 and 13. When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, men of Israel, Why do you marvel at this? Why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we've made this man walk, the lame man? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate. So the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do you know when Moses, when God identified himself to Moses at the burning bush, he identified himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. That's in Exodus chapter 3. So what are some of the spiritual lessons we learn when we look at the life of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Well, they lived by faith, so must we.

Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 8. There are several lessons that we learn by studying the life of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 8, by faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place that he would afterward receive as an inheritance. He went out not knowing where he was going. It's kind of like us. We go on forward, too, not knowing exactly where the road might lead. We walk by faith as well. Okay, it was not easy for them dwelling in tents as a nomad and a foreigner. Well, in verse 9, by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. It's not easy for us, either. We're also pilgrims and strangers in this world today. In verse 10, they kept their mind, their goal, as the kingdom of God. Verse 10, they waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. So they kept the goal of God's kingdom in mind. Number 4, they depended on God and did not waver. They had even confidence and faith in miracles, as we do. In verse 11, by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age. It's a miracle because she judged him faithful, who had promised. I tell you, her tummy began to get bigger. She didn't laugh anymore. She knew that she was going to do what God said she would do. She was going to have a baby in her old age, and she did. Number 5, the patriarchs were tested and tried just as we are. Look at verses 17-19. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up. That was going through Abraham's mind and being willing to sacrifice his son. God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. So they were tested and tried in many ways, just as we are tested and tried. Number 6, they did not doubt the promises of God. We read in verse 20, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come, which we read. They didn't doubt the promises of God. So, brethren, we are encouraged by the example of the patriarchs. We've looked at the example of Isaac. He had his trials and struggles. He was blind, the last maybe 65 or 70 years of his life. They had to come out of the world and be separate from the world. They had a work to do. They had to endure in doing that work to the end of their lives. Many lessons, then, that we learn from the patriarchs. Much for us to learn. I want to read one final scripture out of Matthew 8. Matthew 8, beginning in verse 10.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled. This man said that Jesus did not even need to come to his house to heal his servant. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, Surely I say to you, I've not found such great faith, no, not even in Israel. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But there are certain ones that will be cast out. That will be those who are not of faith and who don't follow the life and the example of the patriarchs. Let's be sure to follow the example of the patriarchs. Embrace God's calling as they did. It wasn't easy for what they had to do. It's not easy for us today. Make sure that we have an obedient heart to what God wants us to do. A heart that is full of faith and full of vision for God's kingdom, being submissive to the will of God in our lives, and enduring and overcoming right to the end. In verse 11 again, many will come from the east and the west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. Won't it be wonderful if we do follow their example, and we can sit down in the kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?