Jacob is heading home, and his brother Esau is heading to meet him with an army of men. Jacob had done his brother wrong and was understandably nervous to meet up with him again, so when he saw his brother coming with four-hundred men, he bowed down seven times and referred to himself as the servant of Esau. He must have been surprised when Esau ran up to him and gave him a great big hug! They had a huge family reunion and each wife and all the children bowed down as they were introduced to Esau.
It’s not entirely clear what Esau’s true intentions were, but he did show love and compassion towards Jacob even though Jacob had stolen his birthright. Yet God chose Jacob to receive the blessing. He chose Jacob to carry the bloodline of Jesus. God chooses imperfect people to carry out His plans. That makes perfect sense when you realize that we are all imperfect people. There is no one perfect to fulfill God’s plans, except for Jesus. Jesus, who was without sin, took our sin upon Him and received our punishment so we wouldn’t have to. That’s love. Therefore, though we are imperfect Christians, we are made perfect in Christ.
When we stand before God to be judged someday, Jesus will stand before us and cover our sins. We will appear spotless before our Lord because of Jesus. Jesus wasn’t just a prophet. He wasn’t just a cool dude who preached about love. He was so much more than that. He is the Son of God, and we don’t stand a chance to appear innocent before a holy God without Jesus blocking all our sins. We need Jesus in order to live in Heaven with God. There is no other way.
Jacob tried to give Esau gifts, but Esau tried to refuse them. “I have enough,” he said. The Lord had been good to him also. Both brothers undeserving, yet blessed by God. We are undeserving too, and God still blesses us, but there is one gift we’d better not reject, and that’s the gift of salvation that Jesus gave to us all. Many are still rejecting it. Why?