Gods Sabbath

176

E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

was any part for her or Jacob to play beyond this, the Almighty would instruct them with specific orders. It is a sad fact of history that the well-intentioned mother chose the wrong way to solve the problem. The plan proposed by a determined Rebekah and carried out by a reluctant Jacob, in volved the direct violation of God’s holy law, for it demanded that Jacob intentionally deceive his father. “‘Are you really my son Esau?’ he asked. ‘I am,’ he replied.” Genesis 27:24. In Rebek ah’s scheme was not a single thread of divine planning. It was specifically an effort to protect and build God’s kingdom, man’s way. (See Genesis 27:8–29 for a description of the whole story.) When God foretold that Jacob would have the birthright, He made the commitment in the full knowledge of everything that would stand in the way. Isaac’s attitude was no surprise to Him. Therefore, He made the promise knowing exactly what it would take to implement it. He was not placed in a position where the matter was so out of control that He needed human beings to take over and fulfill the promise for Him, for He was more than capable of handling the matter Himself. In fact, only He had the capacity to do so, whereas those who took over from Him did not. By usurping the role of problem solver, Rebekah violated the first commandment. She put herself in God’s place, and tried to save the Lord’s work in her own way. As in Abraham’s case, her motives and intentions were laudable, resulting in an apparent success which, for the time being, satisfied her that she had done the right thing. It was not long, however, before both moth er and son saw how evil their course had been and were deeply repentant for their sin. Both came to see that in attempting to build God’s kingdom in their own way, they had placed their trust in themselves instead of their heavenly Father, and had so tied His hands that He could not bring about His plan to give Jacob the birthright in His own way.

Jacob’s Victory

It was not until that awful night many years later, when Jacob wrestled with the Angel, that he finally experienced blessed relief from the burden of this sin. As Jacob returned to