So far we have seen that, although they were faithful to God at times and were able to bring salvation and blessing to their house, neither Noah nor Abraham could be the promised Seed of the Woman who would crush the serpent and bring a sin bitten humanity back into Eden again.
God Chooses Isaac
God specifically promised Abraham in Genesis 17v19-21 that Isaac would receive the covenant and in Genesis 21v12 God told him "in Isaac your seed shall be called".
Immediately after the death of Abraham in Genesis 25 some notable things happen to point to Isaac being the next potential seed.
in v11 God blesses Isaac. This theme of blessing continues and echoes the multiply-blessing given in Eden and later given to both Noah and Abraham. God tells him in 26v4 "I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven...and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed". Did you catch the echo? All the nations will experience blessing through the blessing giving to Isaac by God.
in v21 Isaac successfully intercedes for his barren wife. Noah interceded and God promised to never flood the world again. Abraham interceded for Pharaoh and for Sodom and Gomorrah. The Seed will intercede on behalf of others.
Skipping ahead to Ch26 we see Isaac experiencing even more abundance (v12-14), digging wells (v18-25) and living in covenant peace with the surrounding nations (v26-31). Like Abraham, he is spreading a garden and blessing those around him.
Isaac Fails
There are a number of failure moments that show us why Isaac is disqualified from being the promised seed.
Isaac is a Deceiver - Like Abraham, Isaac lies about his wife being his sister (Genesis 26v7). Instead of trusting God to take care of him and bring about the promises made, Isaac becomes a deceiver. The one who was meant to bless the nations, almost brought guilt upon them instead (26v10).
Isaac is Deceived - Sin crouched at the door of Cain's tent. Noah was drunk, naked and shamed in his tent. Abraham took Hagar into his tent. In Genesis 27 Isaac is nearly blind and deceived by his own son in his tent.
Isaac's House - Adam had his Cain, murdering his brother and establishing an anti-God kingdom, Noah had his Ham, shaming his father and establishing anti-God kingdoms, Abraham had his Ishmael and Isaac had his Esau, selling his birthright and marrying multiple women (just like Cain's descendant Lamech).
If it were not for the promise God gave to Abraham, Isaac's whole house would become a cast out line.
You Are/Aren't Isaac
Though he was not the promised seed, Isaac is an example of having faith (Hebrews 11v20). We, like Isaac, are children of the promise by faith (Galatians 4v28-31). We however, are not Isaac and we should be careful how we read ourselves into his story. We need a Better-than-Isaac.
We need an Isaac who will:
Climb the mountain and offer his life as a sacrifice upon the altar
Completely trust and obey God
Bring covenant blessing to all the families of the earth
Like Isaac we are deceived deceivers. Failing to trust and obey God, we have taken matters into our own hands. What we share in common with Isaac is our need for a greater Isaac.
*Spoiler Alert*
Isaac had a miracle birth. Both his mother and father were old and reproductively "dead" when he was conceived (Romans 4v19). Jesus' birth was a miraculous work of God, through a virgin.
God said that Isaac was Abraham's "only son...whom you love". Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father whom He loves.
Isaac was received back from the dead "in a figure" (Hebrews 11v19). Jesus died and rose again from the dead.
A promise and prophecy was given upon and about the mountain where Isaac was sacrificed; "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." (Genesis 22v14). That same mountain was where God appeared to David and where Solomon would build the temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 3v1). Upon the high hill of Jerusalem Jesus was provided as a substitute sacrifice for sinners.
A Promise
We strike Isaac off the list as the potential seed of the woman. However, a promise was made to him; in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 26v4). The search for the Seed continues.
