Echoes of Time - Lesson 4 - Isaac & Rebekah

Agatha Christie once said, ‘An archeologist is the best husband any woman can have---the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.’


Equally yoked

2 Corinthians 6:14, ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?’

Let’s think about this one.
It clearly states, not to be yoked together with unbelievers.
What if a husband and wife don’t see eye to eye.
They are both believers in terms of Christ and salvation,
They may not be like minded believers in certain areas of their lives.’

What are they to do?





Labor in Vain

Why are we doing this?
Why are we here in Sunday School?
I could be home right now spending quality time with my wife and kids at home.

Hebrews 10:25, ‘Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.’

Some people might argue with us that this verse means something else.
Men don’t come to the Men’s Breakfasts because it is a waste of time.
It is taking away from their Family Ministry.
I believe they have forsaken the assembling God asked them to do.

As for the Couple’s Fellowships, not everyone goes to them.
I believe it’s because the man is afraid
his wife will say something that he is ashamed of.
For every couple who knows about the Couple’s Fellowship,
There is a wife sitting at home watching TV wishing her husband would take her.
And a husband watching the same TV hoping his wife forgot about it.

So why are we here why are we in Sunday School?
We don’t hand out awards for attendance.
I believe it’s because we want to grow.
If God’s hand isn’t on this class, I know Pastor would ask me to stop teaching.
Or else everyone in this room would go in one of the other classes.

I believe it is because of our families.
Because of our marriages,
Because of our children,
Because of our most important ministry, our Family.

Psalm 127:1, ‘Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.’

It doesn’t matter what I think a family should look like.
It certainly doesn’t matter what Oprah or Dr. Phil thinks it should look like.
I know it doesn’t matter what the media thinks it should look like.

The Lord loves your wife more than you do.
The Lord loves your children more than you do.
When it comes right down to it, they are his.

Are you taking care of them as He sees fit?





Psalm 127:3-5, ‘Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.’


Let us always look to God's providence.
In all the affairs and business of a family we must depend upon his blessing.

For raising a family.
If God be not acknowledged,
we have no reason to expect his blessing;
and the best-laid plans fail, unless he crowns them with success.

For the safety of a family.
Except the Lord keep the city, mischief may break out,
which even early discoveries may not be able to prevent.

For enriching a family.
Some are so eager upon the world,
that they are continually full of care,
which makes their comforts bitter, and their lives a burden.

All this is to get money;
but all in vain,
except God prosper them:
while those who love the Lord,
and casting all their care upon him,
have needful success.

Our care must be to keep ourselves in the love of God;
then we may be easy, whether we have little or much of this world.
But we must use the proper means very diligently.

Children are God's gifts, a heritage, and a reward;
and are to be accounted blessings, and not burdens:
he who sends mouths, will send meat, if we trust in him.

Children are a great support and defence to a family.
Children who are young, may be directed to the mark,
God's glory, and the service of their generation.

But when they are gone into the world,
they are arrows out of the hand,
it is too late to direct them then.


But these arrows in the hand too often prove arrows in the heart,
a grief to godly parents.
Yet, if trained according to God's word,
they generally prove the best defence in declining years,
remembering their obligations to their parents,
and taking care of them in old age.

All earthly comforts are uncertain,
but the Lord will assuredly comfort and bless those who serve him;
and those who seek the conversion of sinners,
will find that their spiritual children are their joy
and crown in the day of Jesus Christ.


Isaac & Rebekah

Imitated his father's sin

Genesis 26:7, ‘And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.’



Eventually the marriage produced two children –
twin boys, Jacob and Esau.
They were fraternal, not identical, twins –
they were very different in appearance and personality.

As with Isaac and his brother Ishmael,
the conflict and competition between Jacob and Esau lasted their entire lives.
There was no love between them.

Part of it may have been due to blatant favoritism
on the part of the parents as they were growing up –


Genesis 25:28, ‘And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.’


When the time came for the then-elderly Isaac to give his blessing
(in effect, a passing of family leadership) to his oldest son,
which happened to be Esau (by a few minutes),
Rebekah devised a plan to have Jacob get the blessing instead.
Jacob had already bought Esau's birthright
for that famous bowl of stew.

While Esau was out hunting for the wild game
that Isaac had asked for before giving his blessing,
Rebekah had Jacob disguise himself as Esau,
to get the blessing from his nearly-blind father.
The scheme worked - Jacob then had both
the birthright, and the blessing.


Brought trouble into the home by teaching her son deception

Genesis 27:15-17, ‘And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: ‘
‘And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:’
‘And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.’

Do we ever use our children to manipulate our spouse?





We know enough good about this couple.
Isaac is listed as being prayerful and a man of faith

Rebekah is referred to as being beautiful, industrious,
hospitable, a woman of decision and modest.

How do we want to be remembered?
What evil habits do we want our children to perform from watching us?
What will we do differently this week than we did last?
What will we do differently today than yesterday?

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