Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Well of Peace and the Root of Bitterness: Covenantal Fidelity and Profane Rebellion (Genesis 26:26–35)

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The Well of Peace and the Root of Bitterness: Covenantal Fidelity and Profane Rebellion (Genesis 26:26–35) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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I have to tell you, I was staring at the stack of research
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we have on the desk today and it is deceptively thin.
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Oh for sure, it looks like a quick read at first glance.
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Right. I mean, we're looking at Genesis
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chapter 26, specifically the end of the chapter, verses 26
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through 35. And on the surface, it looks
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like a standard ancient diplomatic report.
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You know, a king comes to visit, they shake hands, they eat
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dinner together. End of story.
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That is the surface level, yeah. But then I started reading
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through the commentaries you mark up.
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I was looking at John Calvin, some of the modern Near Eastern
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historical analysis, and the notes on the Westminster
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Confession. And I realized we're dealing
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with something much heavier. Here it really is a heavy
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section of scripture and I'm glad you noticed the contrast.
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In the source material we pulled together, we are looking at 2
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distinct events that Moses, the author, has just jammed right up
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against each other. It is a massive pivot in the
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text. It is.
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You have this incredible high point of international
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diplomacy, a peace treaty with a hostile world government, and
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then literally in the next breath you have this domestic
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disaster happening inside the believer's own home.
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And that is the mission for this deep we want to figure out how
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these two realities coexist. We have this one stack of notes
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detailing how God's covenant presence is so obvious that even
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Pagan enemies see it. They actually sue for peace.
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That is a massive win. A huge.
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Win but. Then we have this other stack of
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notes about Esau, Isaac's son. He brings what the text calls
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bitterness of spirit into the family through his marriages.
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So you have external peace with the world, right next to the
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danger of assimilation within the home.
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That is the tension we are trying to resolve today.
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How does a believer live at peace with a hostile world
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without surrendering their distinct identity?
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How do you shake hands with the Philistines without, you know,
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becoming a Philistine? It is the classic issue of being
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in the world, but not of it. Spot on.
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And to get there, we have to talk about wells.
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I know it sounds a little dry, pun intended.
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Good one, but looking at the background material on the Isaac
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cycle, everything revolves around water rights.
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Before we even get to the king showing up in verse 26, we have
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to understand the mood of the region.
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Because Isaac is not exactly the most popular guy in the
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neighborhood at this point. Not at all.
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If you look at the earlier verses in Genesis 26, Isaac is a
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refugee. There is a famine in the land.
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He moves to Gerar, which is Philistine territory and God
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blesses him there. The text says he reaped a
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hundredfold in one year. He gets incredibly wealthy.
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Yes, and in an ancient agrarian economy, wealth is not numbers
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on a screen. It is flocks, it is herds, it is
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servants, it takes up physical space, and it consumes massive
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amounts of local resources. And that breeds envy.
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I was reading this article on ancient water rights from our
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sources and the Philistine city states were highly protective of
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their resources. So when they see this foreigner
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getting rich, they do not send a congratulatory card, they start
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sabotaging him. Sabotage is putting it mildly.
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They engaged in literal economic warfare, the text says.
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The Philistine stopped up the wells that Abraham, Isaac's
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father, had dug. We really need to pause on that
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for a second. In the modern world, if someone
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shuts off your water, it is a huge annoyance.
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You call the utility company, but in the Negev Wilderness,
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stopping up a well is a violent act.
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It is an act of war. It is an attempt to erase
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someone's ability to survive in that climate.
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The. Historical context notes
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mentioned that a well was not just a utility back then, it was
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an actual property deed. If you dud the well and kept it
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open, you owned the land rights around it.
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Right. So by filling those wells with
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dirt, the Philistines are basically shredding his title
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deeds. They are erasing his father's
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legacy. And then Abimelech the King
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makes it official. He straight up evicts him.
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He tells Isaac go away from us, for you are much mightier than
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we are. He kicks him out of the
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territory. And this is where Isaac's
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reaction is just so fascinating to me.
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I think most people, if they were told to get out after being
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robbed and vandalized, they would fight back.
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Isaac is rich. He has a lot of servants.
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Abraham had over 300 trained fighting men in his household.
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Isaac probably has a similar or even larger force by now.
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He could easily put up a fight. But he doesn't.
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No, he doesn't, and this is where we see the unique
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character of Isaac shining through.
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He is often criticized by commentators as being too
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passive, but that completely misses the mark.
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He displays a very disciplined meekness.
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He just packs up and moves to the valley of Gerar.
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He moves and he digs a well. The local herdsmen fight him for
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it. So he names it Esec, which means
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contention, and he just moves on.
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He digs another. Well, they fight for that one
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too. And he names that one Sitna,
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which means enmity. Right.
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He keeps retreating. He keeps digging holes in the
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limestone, finding water, getting harassed by the locals
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and walking away. It is a profound display of
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faith and ordinary means. He just digs and waits for God
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to make room. Until he finally reaches
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Rihoboth, which means room or broad places.
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He finds a place where they stop fighting him, but then he moves
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up to Beersheba. Which sets the stage for our
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main text today. He is at Beersheba.
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He has been pushed to the very edge of the territory.
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And in verse 24, God appears to him and reiterates the oath he
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swore to Abraham. God says I am with you.
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So Isaac settles down and we see this triad of responses from
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him. He builds an altar, which is
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worship. He pitches a tent which
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establishes his home, and his servants start digging another
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well, which is his provision. He is just minding his own
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business at this point, seeking God and surviving.
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And then seeing one of our texts kicks in.
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Isaac looks up from his tent. And who does he see coming down
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the road? The very guy who kicked him.
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Out It is a shocking visual. Put yourself in Isaac's shoes
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for a second. You're sitting by your tent in
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Beersheba. You see a dust cloud on the
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horizon, and out of that cloud walks Abimelech, the king of
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Girar. But he's not alone.
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No, he brought an entourage. I have the list right here.
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He brings a who's Ath who is described as his advisor or
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friend and Fico the commander of his army.
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Think about the diplomatic optics of that group.
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You have the head of state, you have the chief legal counselor,
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Prime Minister, which is who's that?
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And you have the Secretary of Defense, FICO.
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This is a high level delegation. This is a formal state visit.
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They did not just pop over for a casual cup of tea.
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So I am Isaac. I see the guy who evicted me,
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the lawyer who drafted the eviction notice, and the general
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who enforced it. My heart rate is definitely
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going up. I am probably thinking they're
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coming to finish the job. That would be the logical
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assumption in the ancient Near East.
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But notice the power dynamic here.
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Usually the lesser party has to travel to the greater party to
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beg for favors or mercy, right? But here the king travels to the
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displaced refugee. The entire power structure has
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flipped upside down. Why would a king walk out to a
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shepherd's tent in the middle of nowhere?
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It makes 0 political sense. Is he scared of Isaac's men?
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He is absolutely terrified, but not of Isaac's army.
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He is terrified of Isaac's reality.
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And look at how Isaac handles it.
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He does not play the polite host.
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He initiates the conversation in verse 27.
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He says why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have
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sent me away from you? I love that response.
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He does not offer them a drink right away.
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He does not say, hey guys, it is all water under the bridge.
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He confronts them head on. You hate me.
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That is incredibly blunt. It is, and it teaches us a lot
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about biblical peacemaking. Real peace is not about
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pretending the past never happened.
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It is not this polite silence where everyone just smiles and
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ignores the elephant in the room.
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Isaac demands moral clarity. He puts the offense right on the
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table immediately. He is essentially asking, are
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you here to hurt me again? Because the last time we
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interacted, you treated me like an absolute enemy.
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And their response in verse 28 is the hinge of the whole
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section. They say, we plainly see that
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the Lord has been with you. Let us look at the Hebrew there
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and the research notes. The phrase is Rao Rinu.
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It is a very emphatic construction.
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It literally translates to seeing we have seen.
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So it is like saying we really, really saw it.
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Yes, it implies A thorough empirical investigation.
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They are saying, Isaac, we have been watching you closely.
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We watched you leave Jarrar. We watched you dig well after
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well. We saw our own people attack you
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and steal your water. And yet he kept surviving.
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More than surviving, he kept finding water.
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He kept growing richer. He did not die out there in the
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desert like he was supposed to. They looked at the data and they
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realized there is no natural earthly explanation for his
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survival. The only variable left is his
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God. Right, they recognize that
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Yahweh is actively fighting for this man.
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That is fascinating. They're openly acknowledging
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Yahweh. But I have a big question here.
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Does that mean they're converting?
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Are Abimelech and his general becoming believers?
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That is a crucial theological distinction we need to make
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based on the sources. No, they are not converting at
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all. This is recognition, not
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repentance. So they see the reality, but
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their hurts have not changed. Exactly right.
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They do not say we see the Lord is with you, so please teach us
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how to worship him. They say we see the Lord is with
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you, so please sign a legally binding paper promising not to
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destroy us. It is total self preservation.
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It is classic political realism. They are afraid for their own
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skin. If God is fighting for Isaac and
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they try to fight Isaac, they know they will lose.
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I was reading John Calvin's commentary on this part and he
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makes a brilliant point. He says that God often humbles
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the reprobate world by forcing them to acknowledge His grace
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upon the elect. Calvin is spot on there.
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They cannot deny the empirical facts of God's blessing, even if
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they absolutely hate the theology behind it.
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God forces them to see it. So they propose an oath.
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They say, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and
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us, and let us make a covenant with you.
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And the terms they offer are so interesting.
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Oh, they're completely self-serving.
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They want Isaac to promise to do them no harm, and they justify
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it by saying, just as we have not touched you, and have done
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to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace,
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you. Really have to laugh at the
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revisionist history happening right there.
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Right. Nothing but good.
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You filled his family's wells with dirt.
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You stole his water supply in a desert.
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It is typical diplomatic spin. They are completely glossing
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over their own violence and economic warfare to secure a
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favorable treaty. They are framing their hostile
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expulsion of him as sending him away in peace.
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But look at Isaac's response to this lie.
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He does not argue the point with them.
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He does not bring up the well at Isaac or Sitna.
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No, he doesn't. He already named the sin when he
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said you hate me. He knows exactly who they are.
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He knows they are lying to his face about the past, but he
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accepts the peace treaty anyway. Why?
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If he knows they're spinning the truth, why sign it?
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Because Isaac is trusting in the Lord, not in their moral
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character. He does not need Abimelech to be
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a perfect honest person, he just needs him to be non aggressive.
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He is leaving the justice part to God.
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Yes, and this brings us right into scene 2 from our outline.
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The covenant meal verse 30 says so.
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He made them a feast and they ate and drank.
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Let us analyze this meal because in our modern culture, a
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business lunch is just a lunch. You eat, a sandwich you sign, a
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paper you leave. But in the ancient year E,
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eating together is a highly formal legal ritual.
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It is incredibly significant in that culture.
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The Hebrew word for feast here is mishta.
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It implies a large drinking feast, a true celebration.
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In the ancient world, to break bread, and specifically to eat
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salt together was to forge a binding bond of loyalty.
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So it is a covenant in itself. You cannot eat with a man and
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then go out and stab him. If you share a table, you share
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a life. It is an alignment.
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So when Isaac spreads this table, he is bringing these
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hostile, lying, fearful philistine leaders into his own
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domestic sphere. He is offering them his
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hospitality. And this is where so many
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Reformed theologians see Isaac as a type or a foreshadowing of
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Christ. Want to hear more about that?
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Think about the parallels. Isaac is the promised son of the
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covenant. He has been rejected by the
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world. He has been mistreated and
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pushed out. And yet, when his enemies come
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to him in fear, he does not rain down fire and judgement on them.
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He feeds them instead. He prepares a table in the
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presence of his enemies, quite literally.
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He makes peace. That is such a striking image.
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It immediately reminds me of Romans 5.
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While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God.
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We are the Philistines in this narrative, aren't we?
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We absolutely are. We come to God often out of fear
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of judgement. We come with mixed motives.
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We come having been hostile to His laws, and Christ, the true
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promised Son, invites us to the table.
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He sheds His blood to make a covenant of peace with us.
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That is a beautiful connection. So they eat the feast, they
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drink, and the next morning they rise early and swear the oath to
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one another. The Hebrew word there is shabba
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to swear an oath. And then Isaac sends them away
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in peace. It feels like a very happy
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ending. The external threat of the
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Philistines is completely neutralized.
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But Moses does not end the story there.
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We have a postscript to this treaty that is absolutely vital
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for understanding Reformed theology, specifically regarding
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the Doctor of Providence. Look at verse 32.
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It says that same day Isaac's servants came and told him about
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the well that they had dug and said to him, we have found
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water. That same day, the timing there
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is not an accident. Moses wants the reader to see
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the direct correlation. Isaac signs the Treaty for
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political peace and immediately God provides the water for
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physical life. It is like a divine stamp of
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approval on his peaceful conduct.
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It is God's as Amen to the whole situation.
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But think about what this means for Isaac's actual tangible
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security. He just signed a piece of paper
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with a king who has a proven history of changing his mind and
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lying. How much is that parchment
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really worth? Not much when push comes to
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shove, but the water. The water is real, sustaining
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security in the desert. I see what you're saying.
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God is showing Isaac. You can have the diplomatic
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treaty, that is fine, but do not put your ultimate trust in the
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treaty or in Abimelech. Trust in me.
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I am the one who actually provides the water from the
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rock. This is Chapter 5 of the
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Westminster Confession of Faith in Vibrant Action.
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The Confession teaches that God is the first cause of all
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things, but He works through second causes.
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Let's break that down for the listener.
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First and second causes. God is the sovereign first,
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'cause He uses the political treaty, a second cause to stop
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the Philistine harassment. At the very same time He uses
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the geology of the Negev, another second cause, to provide
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the water. He is governing the fickle
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hearts of Pagan kings and the hidden flow of underground
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aquifers simultaneously. All to preserve his covenant
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servant. Right.
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And so Isaac names the place Beersheba.
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Which means the Well of the Oath.
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It has a double meaning. It points to the earthly oath
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with Abimelech, yes, but fundamentally it points backward
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to the eternal oath God made to Abraham in this exact same spot
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in Genesis 21, and now to Isaac. The very geography becomes a
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permanent testimony to God's faithfulness.
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So if the chapter ended right there at verse 33, we would be
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high fiving. Isaac wins.
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God provides peace on earth. The covenant line is secure.
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But then we hit verses 34 and 35, and it feels like the music
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just abruptly scratches to a halt.
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It is a massive narrative jolt. Moses forces us to turn our eyes
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away from the successful political treaty outside the
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tent and look at the absolute disaster happening inside the
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tent. Let us read it so we have the
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text in front of us. Verse 34 When Esau was 40 years
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old, he took Judith the daughter of Beer to the Hittite to be his
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wife, and Bass Math, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
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We really need to unpack the details here because every word
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is loaded with theological meaning.
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First, notice that Esau is 40 years old.
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Which happens to be the exact same age Isaac was when he
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married Rebecca. Yes, Moses is deliberately
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drawing a parallel here for the reader.
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The father married at 40, the son marries at 40.
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But that is where the similarity completely ends.
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Because Isaac waited for a wife chosen from the covenant line
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from his own people back in Mesopotamia.
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Esau just goes out and picks 2 local women.
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Two Hittite women. Now explain the significance of
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them being Hittites, because I think a modern listener might
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hear this and immediately think, is this an ethnic issue?
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Is the text being racist against local tribes?
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That is a very common modern misconception, but it is
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historically and biblically incorrect.
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In the Old Testament, the strict prohibition against marrying
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Canaanites or Hittites was never about race or genetics.
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It was entirely about religion and cultic practice.
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It was a theological boundary. Right.
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The Hittites and the broader Canaanite cultures were deeply
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entrenched idolaters. Their culture was saturated with
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the worship of false gods, and those cultic practices often
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involve things that were absolutely abhorrent to Yahweh.
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So by marrying into these Hittite families, Esau is not
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just diversifying his social circle, he is formally marrying
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into an entirely different, hostile theological system.
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He is inviting idolatry right into the camp.
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You have to remember the mission of this specific family.
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The family of Abraham is called to be distinct.
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They were supposed to be a holy nation set apart for the worship
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of the one true God. Abraham understood that he went
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to extreme lengths in Genesis 24 to make sure Isaac did not marry
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a Canaanite. He made his servant swear a
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solemn oath. He sent him hundreds of miles
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away across the desert just to find Rebecca.
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And Esau, he just walks down the street and picks 2 local women.
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It seems so casual. It is incredibly casual, and
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that casualness is the real tragedy.
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This is exactly why the New Testament over in Hebrews
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chapter 12 verse 16 refers to Esau as a profane person.
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We usually use the word profane today to mean someone who's
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swears a lot or uses foul language.
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Right, but the biblical meaning is different.
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The Greek word used in Hebrews is de bellows.
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It literally means common. It is the direct opposite of
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holy or set apart. So a profane person is someone
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who takes something incredibly special and sacred and just
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treats it like common dirt. That is it.
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Esau looks at his unique birthright.
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He looks at the covenant promises of God, he looks at the
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messianic lineage that his family carries, and he just
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shrugs his shoulders. He treats the holy as common.
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He values social integration with the local elites more than
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he values his spiritual distinctiveness.
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He wants to fit in. He wants to be one of the guys
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in Canaan. He wants peace, just like his
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father Isaac wanted peace. But look at the stark difference
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in their methods. Isaac made peace with the
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outside world through a treaty, but he kept his distance.
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He lived in a separate tent. He worshipped at a separate
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dedicated altar to Yahweh. Right.
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Isaac remained distinct. Esau, on the other hand, seeks
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peace by becoming the world. He marries into the local
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Hittite aristocracy. He tries to solve the tension of
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being different by simply ceasing to be different.
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And the text tells us the devastating result of this
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assimilation strategy. In verse 35 it says, And they
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made light bitter for Isaac and Rebecca the Hebrew.
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Phrasing there is visceral moratra.
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It translates to bitterness of spirit.
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Bitterness of spirit? That sounds like more than just
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a family argument. It comes from the root word
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marar, which means to be bitter, accurate or sharp.
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It implies A chafing, rebellious bitterness.
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This was not just a personality clash between a mother-in-law
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and daughters in It was not just that Rebecca did not like the
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way Judith cooked lentil Stew. It was a deep covenantal sorrow.
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Imagine the daily scene in that camp.
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Isaac is doing everything he can to maintain the pure worship of
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Yahweh. He builds the altar and right
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next door, literally a few yards away in Esau's tent, his new
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daughters in law are setting up household shrines to Hittite
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deities. They're burning incense to false
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gods right in the middle of the Promised Seeds camp.
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The smoke of that idolatry is blowing into Isaac's face every
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single day. It is a complete violation of
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the home. The sanctuary of the Covenant
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family has been breached from the inside.
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And you really have to pause and notice the irony.
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Moses is setting up here. Isaac successfully secured the
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outer perimeter against the entire Philistine army.
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King Abimelech and Commander Fecal could not get in to
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destroy him. But the spiritual enemy walked
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right through the front door because his own son opened it
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for them. That is a chilling thought for
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any believer. You can win the battle at the
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city gates and then turn around and lose the battle at the
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Bender table. That feels like the perfect
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place to pivot to our theological synthesis and modern
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application for this deep dive. We have these two vivid pictures
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placed side by side, the treaty and the wives, external peace
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and internal bitterness. What do we do with this today?
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Well, let us start by looking at the concept of Providence versus
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what we commonly call the prosperity gospel today.
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Because we hear a lot of messaging today that implies if
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you just have enough faith, everything will smoothly go your
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way, people will respect you, you will be financially
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prosperous, and you will never face hostility.
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But Isaac's story is so much messier than that, isn't it?
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He does get ready, yes, but he also gets intensely hated for
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it. He eventually gets a peace
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treaty, but he gets violently kicked out of his home first.
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Right, Isaac's blessing was not some mechanical transaction
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where he put a faith coin into a vending machine and got a
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perfect conflict free life. He suffered.
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He was envied. He was harassed out of his
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livelihood. The Reformed understanding here
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is that his blessing was rooted entirely in God's electing
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grace, not in Isaac's pleasant circumstances.
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And notice something else. He did not rely on pragmatism to
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fix his problems. Define how you are using
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pragmatism in this context. Pragmatism is the philosophy
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that says just do whatever works to get the desired result.
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If Isaac were a pragmatist, when the Philistine started filling
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his wells with dirt, he would have sat down and said, OK, how
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do I make these people like me? You would have compromised.
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He would have said maybe I should dress like a Philistine,
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maybe I should attend their festivals, Maybe I should
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worship their gods just a little bit, just to blend in and keep
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my water rights. But he did not do any of that.
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He stayed completely distinct. And ironically, it was his
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unwavering distinctiveness that actually won their respect in
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the end. That is the crucial take away.
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The world did not come out to the desert to make a treaty with
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him because he looked and acted just like them.
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They came to him precisely because they saw he had
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something they did not have. They saw the unmistakable
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presence of the Lord. We plainly see the Lord is with
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you. If the church today tries to win
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the favor of the world by simply imitating the world, we lose all
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our saltiness. We just become another social
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club with slightly better morals.
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We have to maintain our distinct identity to be of any real use.
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That ties right into the doctrine of separation, which
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brings us back to Esau. This is a tough topic for a lot
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of people. In the New Testament, Paul tells
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the Corinthians not to be unequally yoked with
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unbelievers. 2nd Corinthians 6.14.
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Right. And I feel like in our modern
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culture, we often roll our eyes at that command, especially when
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we are young and dating. We really do.
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We like to think that romantic love conquers all theological
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differences. We see this all the time in what
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people jokingly call missionary dating.
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The idea that well I love Jesus and he does not right now, but I
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will just change him after we get married.
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I will date him right into the Kingdom of God.
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And statistically, sociologically and spiritually,
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that is almost always a recipe for disaster.
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Esaws life is the ultimate biblical case study for this.
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When you marry someone, you are uniting 2 souls into one flesh.
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If your soul is fundamentally tuned to worship Yahweh, and
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your spouse's soul is tuned to the world or to a false
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religion, there is a constant grading dissonance.
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It brings more at Ruak that bitterness of spirit.
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It is unavoidable. It is not just about having
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petty arguments over where to go on Sunday morning.
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It is about the fundamental underlying direction of your
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entire life. You cannot have deep unified
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fellowship in a marriage if your ultimate defining loves are
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completely different. You can't.
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Esau chose the immediate fleshly gratification of romance and
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social acceptance over the long term stewardship of the holy
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covenant line. He was profane.
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He traded eternal significance for temporal comfort.
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I really want to touch on the parenting aspect of this
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narrative too, because as a parent, reading this text just
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breaks my heart for Isaac and Rebecca.
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It is a devastating reality for them.
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They were faithful people, I mean mostly faithful with some
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flaws, but they worship the true God.
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They clearly taught their kids the family history.
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They lived in the presence of God.
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And yet Esau still made these disastrous choices.
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This is a vital point for understanding the sovereignty of
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God in election. Isaac and Rebecca had twin boys,
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Jacob and Esau. They grew up in the exact same
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tent. They heard the exact same
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prayers from their father. They saw the exact same
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providential miracles out in the desert.
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And yet one son becomes the carrier of the divine promise,
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and the other son becomes a profane man who marries
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idolaters. That is a terrifying reality for
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any parent to face, but I guess in a way it is also freeing.
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It is what you might call a severe mercy.
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It reminds us that salvation is not genetic.
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Grace does not run in the bloodstream.
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It is not the guaranteed result of implementing perfect
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Christian parenting techniques. You can do everything right and
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your child still makes their own free choices.
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Because salvation is entirely of the Lord, God will have mercy on
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whom He has mercy. So if there is a listener tuning
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in right now who is grieving over a child, who is making
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those Esau choices, maybe marrying outside the faith or
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walking away from the church entirely, what is the word of
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encouragement for them from this text?
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The word is this trust in the God of Beersheba.
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You cannot save your children's souls.
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Only God's sovereign spirit can do that.
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Isaac and Rebecca felt intense grief.
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The text is brutally honest about that.
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They were bitter in spirit. But they did not stop
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worshipping. No, they did not dismantle the
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altar of Yahweh just because their Son rebelled.
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They kept trusting the promise of God even when the immediate
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next generation looked incredibly shaky.
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We also need to talk about the balance of grace and truth that
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Isaac demonstrated with Abimelech.
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I feel like in our highly polarized culture today, we are
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constantly told we have to pick one side or the other.
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We are told you are either a truth warrior who blasts
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everyone with the facts and takes no prisoners, or you are a
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grace dealer who never confronts anyone about anything.
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Isaac totally dismantles that false dichotomy.
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He is absolutely truthful. He looks the king right in the
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eye and says you hate me. He navels the sin out loud.
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He does not gaslight himself into thinking the abuse did not
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happen. He demands accountability.
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But then right after that, he feeds the man.
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He throws him a feast. He shows incredible grace.
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He confronts the sin boldly, but he does not retaliate against
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the Sinner. That is such a rare combination
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today. He is non retaliatory but
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completely honest. A lot of what we call
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peacemaking in the church today is actually just peace.
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Faking it is avoidance. You just smile and pretend
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nothing is wrong to keep the temperature down.
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But true peacemaking is hard, dirty work.
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It involves direct confrontation.
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It requires confession of the truth and then and only then, it
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moves to reconciliation. You have to be willing to go
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through the messy, uncomfortable why are you here conversation
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before you can get to the feast. So as we wrap up this deep dive
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into Chapter 26, let us look at the big picture.
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We have seen Isaac the vulnerable refugee.
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We have seen Isaac the bold diplomat.
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And we have seen Isaac the grieving father.
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What is the core thing you want the listener to walk away with
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today? I think it comes down to the
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dual nature of our Christian calling in a fallen world.
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On one hand, we are called to boldly trust Providence for our
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safety, just like Isaac trusted God for the water in the desert.
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We do not need to panic and we do not need to manipulate our
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circumstances. God will provide the will when
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we need it, right? But on the other hand, we are
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simultaneously called to exercise strict vigilance for
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our purity. We cannot afford to be passive
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about holiness inside our own homes.
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Trust Providence for safety, but exercise vigilance for purity.
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That is the massive take away here.
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And I would leave the listener with one final image to chew on
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as we close the image of the table.
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We talked earlier about Isaac spreading A feast for his
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enemies. Right as a type of Christ.
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Every time we gather for the Lord's supping, we are sitting
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at a table spread by the ultimate Prince of Peace.
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We were the hostile enemies, we were the Philistines, and He fed
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us with his own body and blood. He made the covenant with us.
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Now the provocative question for all of us is this Do we actually
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value that table, or are we acting like Esau today?
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Are we willing to trade the eternal birthright of that table
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for the temporary pottage of worldly acceptance?
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Are we trying to feast with the idolatrous culture and feast
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with Christ at the exact same time?
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We cannot do it. We have to choose which table
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defines us. That is a heavy question to end
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on, but a necessary one. Are we selling out our
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distinctiveness for a cheap temporary piece?
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It's definitely something to think about as you go through
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your week. For sure Been a deep dive into
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reformed thinking. We will catch you on the next
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one. Grace and peace to you all.