Thanks Giving services/Sermon in Minneapolis 30.11.2008

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I will read God's Holy Word from Genesis 27, beginning from verse 18. In Jesus' name.

And he came unto his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, who art thou my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn.

I have done according as thou bedest me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that my soul may bless me, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I crave thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.

And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father, and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice. Other hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau?

And he said, I am. And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat. And he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.

And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. Therefore God give thee as dew of heaven, and the fastness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be Lord, O thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee.

Cursed be everyone that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. Amen.

This story of Jacob and Esau is one of those stories which are very commonly misunderstood and misinterpreted outside the Kingdom of God. In school, in Finland, where they teach religion, it's very common. Well, I think I've never heard it to be explained in a right manner.

And I think it shows quite clearly how again our human understanding is opposite or contrary to God's order of grace. And this story, which when we read it in man's understanding, in human understanding, which feels so awkward, almost unfitting to the Bible, turns out to be one of the brightest examples of God's heart. And we do well, and you do well if you pray for God, that He would grant understanding and wisdom of His Spirit that we would not misinterpret this Bible story.

It became when Isaac was old. The father of two sons became so old that his eyes were dim, so dim that he could not see.

He had two sons and they were twins and they were 40 years old. And one son was married and the other was not married at that time. And during the tradition of that time, men could have many wives. And so Jacob or Esau had two wives already. And it says here, they were a grief of mine unto Isaac and to Rebecca.

They were unbelieving. They did not follow the parents' faith. And so we can understand that the son didn't either. Lots had happened already. When the mother was expecting twins, one day it happened so that the twins, the two unborn fetuses, were battling against one another in the womb, in the mother's womb so badly that the mother thought that another died.

And she was very sad and asked how did this happen? And why am I pregnant if this was to end like this? And she received words from God, where it said, it says here: And the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. So that was what the mother knew before the twins were born.

She knew. So God is and works like this, that He reveals the matters beforehand. Before the Israelites went to Egypt, God clearly said that they are going to be there over four hundred years, and they will come back. So God declares and reveals what is going to happen. He reveals it before it happens.

We don't need to live in darkness. So the mother and the father should know, should have known also. But His eyes grew dim. So there are many pictures in our text. Then again, we pray that God would give us understanding and wisdom to look at those pictures separately.

That we wouldn't only look at one picture which is all blurred or distorted that we cannot understand at all. But we would look at those pictures separately, take them separately. So there was a family, old father, mother and twins. One of the boys was a believer and the other was not. And the father loved for some reason the believing son more than the unbelieving son.

His understanding has become distorted. And the mother was right. And it can happen in a family. It's happened many times in our family that my wife has been right and I've been wrong. Always hurts my pride when it happens, but it can happen.

And I'm talking now of the matters of faith and not everyday matters, but also the matters of faith. She has been right and I have been wrong. And God has made it to teach me through my life. And that has happened in the Old Testament time. You remember how Abraham was instructed to listen to Sarah.

Because Abraham was wrong and Sarah was right. And now here, Isaac was wrong and Rebecca was right. So it happened in the next generation again. And this blind old man asked this unbelieving son, "Go and hunt and bring venison to me and prepare food and I will bless you." And the mother heard and she wanted to straighten the situation and she did it.

And now our mind says that the mother and the younger of the twins joined together to work against the old father behind his back. And this younger twin cheated his elder brother and took his portion. We remember, or maybe we remember that the eldest child, the firstborn, was to have double portion. That was a law of the country. The firstborn received double, and the others received single portion of the inheritance.

And now Esau was the firstborn, but one day he was hunting and came home so terribly hungry that he changed his birthright. That is his lot as the oldest, as the firstborn, when he traded it with his younger brother for food. There's a big picture. He traded his faith, good conscience with temporal matters. That has happened to many people.

And when Paul says that if someone desires to become rich, he will fall into many hurtful temptations, and he will hurt his soul. It's dangerous if someone wants to become rich. Greed is the root of all evil, says Paul. So now this Esau who was technically elder, had given up his birthright. So practically he was not anymore.

But when it seemed that he would get the blessing, receive the blessing, he did not straighten it out. He should have said to the father, "Dad, he belongs to the younger one. I have given it. I bought it with food."

He knew it, but he didn't care about that, because he thought that, "Oh, I'm gonna have both." So he went hunting. And now mother, Rebecca, started talking to Jacob.

What is the picture of mother? We are the family of God.

We are brothers and sisters. And this congregation is the mother. The congregation of God is our mother. We also have a father in heaven. The mother is here upon earth and the father is waiting for us and looking after us from heaven.

And now, mother said to Jacob, "Go and fetch from the flock." He did not need to go hunting. There are many hunters, I think, in this congregation, and you know that it's not easy. You can't take it for granted, although there are lots of deer here. But many have returned from hunting trips just with some more experience and less fresh air.

So it can take a long time to go to hunt, and it needs you to be skillful and good to get something. Jacob went and took from the flock. So easy and simple. As this world says, your faith is so simple that you just believe. You just believe your sins are forgiven, and then all of a sudden they are forgiven.

You do nothing. That's right. We go to the flock and just choose, take. It's God's will that way. So he returned, and the mother prepared Jacob.

I think it's important. You know, he was 40 years old, and he stood next to the mother and waited for the mother to clothe him. Doesn't it feel kind of funny to think that the mother calls a 40-year-old man? That's how it happened. In Christianity, mother takes care of the children.

There's no question how old or young we are. Mother takes care of us. So mother told him and prepared the savory meat, the food which the father loved, and gave it into his hands. He didn't prepare himself at all. He just waited for it.

And he got all prepared. And then he went. And that's how our text began. And now Jacob comes to the father and said, "Did my father?" And the father asked, "Here am I, who art thou, my son?"

And now Jacob says, "I am Esau, thy firstborn." Was he Esau? No. He was Jacob. So how does Jacob go and say to the father, "I'm Esau"?

Doesn't he lie? No! He was made Esau. He was a fake Esau. Let me ask you, are you holy?

Are you sinless? Are you righteous? Are you prepared to step before God? That God who cannot accept a small thing? No.

You are not. And yes, you are. In ourselves, we are Jacobs. Very Jacobs. Even our voice is that of Jacob.

It's in the Psalm, where it says, I can possibly quote it straight in English, but it says that I cry from death after you, my God. Oftentimes we cry from the deep depths. We are so low there, and we cry with the voice of Jacob. With the sinful man's voice, we cry like the one father cried after Jesus, "I believe, please help mine unbelief." There's a battle inside us.

Belief and unbelief battle against one another. So this Jacob went to the father and said that I'm Esau. Okay. Let's see what happens. Father first asked, "How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?"

And he said, "Because the Lord, the God, brought it to me." Did he say wrong? Did he lie? No. He said the exact truth.

Because of God. God brought it to me. Why are you a believer, my dear brother and sister? Why do you dare to say that you are Esau, although you are Jacob? Because God brought it to you.

Because the congregation, the mother, has prepared you to go before the father. And then Isaac said unto Jacob, "Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not." And now Jacob went near, and he trembled, because he had said to the mother that if he will touch me, he will immediately know that I'm Jacob and not Esau, because Esau is hairy, and I'm not. But mother had prepared him for that. And you remember what was used?

The skin of that animal which died to prepare the savory meat. So he was covered with skin. Again, something that he did not own was given unto him to cover him. When we appear before the judgment seat, you won't believe how beautiful a robe will be given to you. So white that no one here on earth can have as white a garment.

It will shine in its whiteness. And it will be all spotless, all clean. We already have that on us when we travel here in the heaven of grace. We are in the heaven of grace already. And we have a robe of righteousness, a path.

But here we tend to soil it, so we have to wash it. And we wash it with the lamb's blood. Isn't that amazing? That you wash a white garment with blood, and it becomes very white. It is again something that our mind would not instruct.

And now Jacob stepped towards his father, and it says here, and he discerned him not. So the father could not make sure or could not find that he was Jacob, because he was made Esau. It was good enough to the father. So when we step before the judgment seat, God does not see us as we are. And that's what we have to believe.

That when we step before the judgment seat on the last day, we step there as Esau. Oh, sorry, as Jacob. But God, when He looks at us, He sees as Esau. And that's fine. That's what makes us holy.

So that doesn't make us holy what we are, but that which we look like to God. And then he ate and asked after eating, come near me and kiss me. And he came near and kissed his father. And the father smelled the smell of his raiment. What was his raiment?

It says here, 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. So Jacob did not go before Isaac in his own clothing. But he went there with Esau's clothing. So Esau did not have his clothing with him. He was in the mother's whole house.

It was in the congregation. He had left his clothes there when he departed. No one can take the garment of righteousness with, if one leaves this kingdom. And when the father smelled the smell of his raiment, he blessed him and said, see, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. So, the smell was again more than voice.

Isn't it amazing how little God sees and understands on the last day when a believer sits before him. He hears very clearly that's the voice of Jacob. But he trusts more those preparations which the mother had done than his own senses. So when mother had given him a raiment of Esau, had put the skins of lambs wrapped around his hands and prepared for the meal, which was not venison. It was taken from the flock.

Those didn't count. So my dear brother and sister, you to whom the enemy of the soul has so often times said that you will not make it to heaven because you are such a big sinner. You will. God will not judge you as you are, but he will judge you according to the service of the congregation. Or the mother if the mother prepares us to step before the father, we're all set.

We don't have to fear. We are fake Esaus, but God will not see it. He will not care it. He will not understand it. And he will say yes, you are Esau.

And he received the blessing. Jacob received the blessing of God. We remember how Jesus spoke in the Sermon of the Mount of those people who come to the judgment seat, and who are so shocked when they are being said that I never knew you. Go away from me, ye evildoers. And they say that, didn't we prophesy in your name?

Didn't we do many mighty works in your name? We know you. That's not important. It's not important if one knows God. But that is important if God knows Him.

That's more important. So if you are known by God, you are saved. And what was the blessing? I would dare to say again that we talk a twofold blessing, a double blessing, temporal blessing of this life and eternal blessing in Heaven. We who share the same spirit, we feel the mother, don't we?

The mother congregation, we feel the love of the mother and we love the mother and we love mother's children. We have love between one another. That was so remarkable when we moved here to America, that I don't tire of speaking of it. When everything changed, there was one matter that didn't change at all and that was the spirit. You know, everything else changed.

Something's little and something's a lot. But the spirit did not change a bit. I didn't need to change my sermons. And I felt, and I still feel, the love and the bond of the spirit. Mother is just one, children are many, but mother is just one.

And this is the King of God. This is the Rebecca who prepares her children to step before God. So when, on the one hand, we see Isaac as the heir of a family, on the other hand, another picture is he's God, who becomes blind before our faults and sins, that he accepts us into heaven, which would otherwise be impossible. And the blessing:

Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. Both dew of heaven and fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be everyone that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

If you want to be blessed, bless God's own.

If you want that God will bless you, bless those who are God's children. And know that if you curse the believers, God will curse you. It's twofold. There are two options. It's always in the word of God.

The distinction is so clear, isn't it? That God has one flock here upon earth, and it's one family, and it's joined together with the spirit, spirit of truth and love. And that spirit is being refreshed with the forgiveness of sins. And therefore, remain believing your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Be of good cheer. In Jesus' name, amen.