Seeing God's Love through Esau's Eyes

My son Stephen came home from Teen Night and was sharing an insight from a message he heard there from a speaker named Tom. It opened my eyes to something I'd never seen before. Maybe you have, and if you have, you'll understand the impact it had on my heart. Let's see if I can do it justice.

Jacob is always getting the bad rap for deceiving his father Isaac. Actually he was just following through with what his mom told him to do--which, in this case doesn't justify his actions-- but let's make sure we realize he comes by his dishonesty honestly. Isaac, being blind in his old age, depends on his other senses, and is vulnerable to trickery. When Jacob disguises his smooth skin with hairy animal skin like Esau's, Isaac gives him the blessing of the birthright that should've been given to Esau. After all, Esau was the eldest son.

"What's been done can't be undone," Isaac declares when the dirty deed is revealed. Poor Esau. Heartsick and furious, he cries to his dad, "Surely you don't have just ONE blessing. Please bless me, too!"

Isaac gladly bestows a blessing on Esau.

The horror and blessing of the cross is a deed that can't be undone. It's final. When we believe in Jesus and He gives us the blessing of salvation, we "wear the robe of the firstborn" (Jesus's righteousness) and God the Father sees us and treats us like Jesus. Not only that, even if WE see ourselves as an Esau, all we need to do is cry out, "Bless me, too, Father!" and he does.

One other thing I saw this time was that, not only does Isaac say to Jacob upon touching his arms, "You feel like Esau," he also says, "You smell like him"--a very pleasant thing to Isaac. It reminds me of 2 Corinthians 2:14, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."
Not only do we look like Jesus, we smell like Him.

I get choked up thinking that what's been done at the cross can't be undone, that I wear the robe of the firstborn of God, that God chooses to "see" me as He sees His son, that he treats me according to the way He sees me, and if I want more blessings, I can simply ask. My heavenly Father has plenty of them to lavish on all His children.