By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. Hebrews 11:20
Why does the blessing of Isaac’s sons matter? Because God told Abraham, “I will bless you… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3).
Blessing would come to the whole world through Abraham, but the promise would not be fulfilled through Abraham, personally. It would be fulfilled through his offspring.
That is the reason why the birth of Isaac was such an important event. Because God said, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18).
This theme is taken up again in the New Testament, where we read, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).
Somewhere in Abraham’s line, there would be a descendant who would bring blessing to the world. And Galatians tells us that this descendant is Jesus Christ. This is the reason why the Old Testament story focuses on the line of Abraham.
In each new generation the question was, Who would continue this line? When Abraham died, the promise was carried forward by Isaac. But Isaac had two sons—Esau and Jacob. Which of them would carry the promise forward?
The greatest responsibility given to Isaac in his uneventful life was to name and bless the heir to the promise, and Hebrews tells us that he gave the blessing by faith.
When we pray that God will bless someone, we are asking that God will bring good gifts into his or her life. But when Isaac pronounced the blessing at the end of his life, he was announcing (as a prophet) the line into which the One who would bring blessing to the world would come.
Who could you pray for, as an act of faith, and ask God to bless today?
