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2/3 Reading Portions: Genesis 35-36; Mark 6; Job 2; Romans 6
Genesis 36:1
These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).
EDOM
I know, I know. You’ve heard me preaching for years that we must see Jesus Christ in the Scriptures (John 5:39). So, you may be wondering, “Brother Jon, how in the wide world of sports are we to see Jesus Christ in the genealogy of Esau?”
The generations of Edom remind us of the emptiness and futility of life apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, Esau’s name was changed to Edom after he sold his birthright for something to eat, just as Adam did. Although Esau grew up with two prophets of God, Isaac and Jacob, he was still as far from God, as east is from the west. Rather than staying close to his father Isaac, Esau moved his family and servants to the east of Canaan, in Seir. His descendants became kings in the land of Edom, yet the Edomites opposed Israel as Israel wandered in the wilderness after God redeemed them from their bondage in Egypt.
In the days before Christ, the Herodians, descendants of Esau, were allowed by the Roman Empire to sit as kings upon the throne over Israel. In the days of Christ’s earthly ministry, Herod the tetrarch had John the Baptist beheaded. When the Lord Jesus was arrested, Herod the tetrarch’s palace guard mocked and brutally beat our Lord Jesus Christ.
In God’s providence, patience, mercy, and grace, Esau and his descendants prospered and flourished. Yet Esau’s generations remind us that the unbelieving world, though they may be as close to the saints of God by blood or by border, apart from the grace of God, they will only oppose Christ, mock Christ, beat Christ, and send Christ back to the Romans to be crucified.
Such were all of us before the grace of God in Christ Jesus found us, filled us with His Spirit, and fed us with the Bread of Life for our spiritual blessing and God’s supreme glory. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
In a measure, God grants men grace
In temporal things on earth;
Yet if Christ Jesus has no place
In them, it has no worth.