Grace That Is Greater Than All Our Sin

Grace That Is Greater Than All Our Sin
‘“Jacob said to his father, ‘I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.’” Genesis 27:19

Everyone would like to have a blessed life. A life full of wonderful friendships, family, health, adventure, purpose, and enough wealth to enjoy it all. A life blessed by God. 

But in the midst of this crazy world where people hurt, lie, steal, and cheat, it seems to us that finding a blessed life is almost impossible. Because of the challenges in this life, we even wonder if God can deliver us this blessed life. 

When we doubt God’s ability to bless us in the midst of a sinful world, we may resort to lying, cheating, and stealing ourselves. We sinfully grab for the blessed life. 

This is what is happening in Genesis 27 as Isaac prepares to pass on his blessing—really God’s blessing—to one of his sons. God has said that Jacob would be blessed over his older brother, Esau. However, because Isaac favors Esau, he plans to bless him instead of Jacob, in defiance of God. 

When Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, discovers this, she immediately plots with Jacob to steal the blessing from Isaac by deceiving her nearly blind husband. She asks Jacob, who is an adult, to dress in Esau’s clothes, to steal the blessing by lying to his unsuspecting father. Everyone is grabbing for their version of the blessed life, relying on their sinful actions to obtain it. 

It is interesting to read this chapter asking: how many commandments do the members of the holy family of Isaac break in this single incident? The answer: nearly all of the Ten Commandments. 

One family, in one day, breaking nearly all the Ten Commandments, in rivalry against one another, so severe that murder is planned! We are left to wonder: How can God work through this messy, sin-filled family, in such a way that his people can still be blessed of God? 

But this is precisely what God does. God’s grace works through, around, and against our sin in such a way as to produce a life of blessing for his people. 

This is what happens in Genesis 27. God always intended to bless Jacob. Despite all the sins committed by Jacob, despite all the sins committed by Jacob’s family against him, God graciously delivers his blessing—and the blessed life—just as he had promised, to Jacob. Amazing grace!

We see the incredible power of God’s grace superseding sin, in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Sin came at him from all directions. The Roman Governor, Pilate, was a coward who turned an innocent man over to death. The Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, supposedly the most holy men in Jerusalem, plotted to put an innocent man to death. The mob called for the blood of this innocent man. The soldiers tormented and crucified Christ. 

Yet, this all worked out according to God’s plan for his Only Begotten Son. “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). God’s gracious power at work in the midst of our sin. 

God worked through, around, and against the sin of all those involved to bring about his purpose: the sacrifice of his Son. A sacrifice which brought great blessing to Jesus. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:9-11).

Through the cross of Christ, God offers his people his blessing by grace. “To the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). Grace brought Jesus to the cross for us. Grace flows from the cross to us. By grace we are blessed in Christ!

We all want the blessed life. In a broken world where we sin and are sinned against, with great regularity, there is only one way to secure this blessed life. Not by sinfully grabbing for it. But by looking to Christ. For we who are his, by faith, are guaranteed his blessing. “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). This is grace. This is grace that is greater than all our sin.