Jacob

I didn't get to post yesterday; one of my roommates got married. It was a big day (multiple days actually with all the festivities). It was also a wonderful reminder of what God has done in his life, in his new wife's life, and in both of their lives together. It will be wonderful to see what He does with them in the years to come.

Their wedding and the reminder of God's amazing work in two lives is a great segway into the guy we talked about next with the kids: Jacob. My favorite part of his story is the way God brought Jacob to Himself. Jacob's salvation appears to be a long, winding road and a fantastic testimony of the change only God can do.

Jacob's parents called him Jacob (“heel catcher/supplanter”) because his struggle went all the way to the womb, and he was born grabbing the heel of his older twin brother. God promised him the birthright, even though he was the younger brother. Jacob decided to get the birthright his own way, instead of waiting for God's way.

On Jacob's journey to find a wife, God made Jacob the same promises He had given to Jacob's father and grandfather. Jacob worked 7 years for the woman he loved, then discovered his father-in-law had married him to the wrong woman, so he worked 7 more years for the woman he loved. 

Eventually, after God had made Jacob prosper, God sent him back to Bethel, the place God first revealed Himself to Jacob—where God established His covenant with him.

Finally, Jacob dedicated himself and all who were with him to the Lord. He told them to get rid of all their idols and everything that kept them from God. 

I drew a few different versions of Jacob. Each one is different—each Jacob depicted is a different man. This final Jacob is the one I really like. He's leading his family and living by faith.

Abraham

Isaac wants to know where
the Lamb for the sacrifice is.

The first guy we talked about of those after the flood was Abraham. The Lord called him from his home to travel to the place God promised to give his descendants. The Lord promised to make him into a great nation, a promise which must have required increasingly more and more faith as the years wore on, Abraham became an old man, and he remained childless.

We brought up this term “covenant” again with our guys. When Abraham was old, the Lord made a covenant with him stating that he would become father of many nations, God would greatly multiply his descendants. The Lord even changed his name from Abram to Abraham.

We also mentioned how God tested Abraham when his son Isaac was born. He instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. On the way there Isaac asked Abraham where the lamb for the sacrifice was. Abraham's answer: “God will provide for Himself the lamb...” (Gen. 22:8) God stopped the sacrifice before it happened and provided a ram as replacement. Close to Easter is perfect timing for this post, even though the night we talked about Abraham with the kids was actually last fall. We pointed ahead at to God sacrificing His Son for us. He provided for Himself the Lamb (with a capital “L”).

I'm not sure what else you could want here. We've got a great picture of faith—Abraham “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar...” (Hebrews 11:13). We've got God's promises, and we've got a fantastic picture of salvation.