Faith Looks Forward

Hebrews 11:20-22

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.

What do you do when God asks you to trust a promise you'll never see fulfilled with your own eyes?

That's the question running through these three short verses in Hebrews 11. The author has been walking us through the great heroes of the Old Testament — Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham — and now he comes to the end of the patriarchs: Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Each of them, at the end of their lives, looked forward. Not to what was in front of them. Not to what they could touch or hold. But to what God had promised.

And each of them blessed the next generation anyway.

This matters for us because the original audience of this letter was tempted to give up. These Jewish Christians were being persecuted. Some had lost property. Some had been publicly humiliated. The promises of God seemed slow, and the cost of following Jesus felt too high. The author is essentially saying: Don't throw away your confidence. You need endurance. Look at those who came before you — they endured, and they kept their eyes on what God said He would do.

We face the same temptation today. We may not face the same kind of persecution, but we drift toward self-reliance, cynicism, or settling for less when God's timing doesn't match ours. We become NOW focused instead of FUTURE focused. And when that happens, we start making choices like Esau — trading what matters most for what feels good right now.

Isaac: Faith When the Process Is Messy

The author of Hebrews summarizes Isaac's story in a single sentence: "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." But if you know the full story from Genesis 25 to Genesis 28, you know this was one of the most dysfunctional families in all of Scripture.

Isaac and Rebekah waited twenty years for children. When Rebekah finally conceived, the twins fought inside her womb. God told her that two nations were in her womb and that the older would serve the younger — a reversal of the cultural practice of primogeniture, where the firstborn received the greatest inheritance.

The conflict never stopped. Isaac loved Esau, the outdoorsman. Rebekah loved Jacob, who stayed closer to home. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew because he was focused on his immediate appetite rather than his future inheritance. And when Isaac was old and nearly blind, Rebekah helped Jacob deceive his father into giving him the blessing meant for Esau.

It's messy. It's complicated. It's deeply human.

But here's what the author of Hebrews wants us to see: Isaac pronounced that blessing in faith. He spoke of God providing from the dew of the sky and the richness of the land. He trusted God to work in his children's lives even though Isaac wouldn't be alive to see it. And even after the deception was revealed, even after Esau received a lesser blessing, Isaac still spoke toward what would happen beyond his own life.

God's purposes aren't derailed by human failure. God's promises don't depend on our ability to protect them — they depend on God's faithfulness. That should be freeing for us today. He already knows how He is going to keep every promise, even through our sins and mistakes.

Jacob: Faith at the Boundary of Death

Jacob was a deceiver. He lied to his father. He manipulated his brother. He schemed against his father-in-law Laban. For much of his life, honesty was not his forte.

But something changed. On his way back to face Esau, Jacob wrestled with a mysterious figure through the night and refused to let go until he received a blessing. His name was changed to Israel — "one who struggles with God and with men and has prevailed." From that point forward, Jacob began showing signs of genuine faith.

So when Hebrews tells us that Jacob, while dying, blessed Joseph's sons and worshipped, it carries weight. This man who spent decades scheming is now on his knees in gratitude to God.

When Joseph brought his two sons — Manasseh and Ephraim — before Jacob, Joseph placed the older son at Jacob's right hand for the greater blessing and the younger at his left. But Jacob crossed his hands, putting his right hand on Ephraim, the younger. For the third generation in a row, God's pattern of choosing the younger over the older was confirmed. Jacob was no longer fighting against God's ways. He was following them.

Jacob blessed those boys by faith, looking past his frail body and forward to the promises of God. He saw, in some way, how God was working out His plan to fulfill His promise of making Abraham's descendants numerous.

Joseph: Faith That Acts on a Promise Centuries Out

Joseph's faith looks forward the furthest. As he was dying, he told his brothers: "God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." He was predicting the Exodus — centuries before it happened.

Joseph had seen God fulfill dreams before. He had watched God use him to save nations during famine. He knew that God kept His promises. So he made his brothers take an oath: when God finally brought them out of Egypt, they were to carry his bones back to the Promised Land.

Egypt wasn't home. That was where God placed Joseph to minister, to provide for many, to show the mighty works of God. But it wasn't home. And Joseph wanted to be buried in the land of promise.

We read in Joshua 24 that his bones were indeed carried out of Egypt and buried in the Promised Land. God kept His word.

Looking Forward to Christ

Isaac, Jacob, Joseph — each one looked forward to promises they'd never see fulfilled, and each one blessed the next generation anyway. Their vision was on the Lord and what He would provide for His people.

But the author of Hebrews isn't just giving us history lessons. He's not telling us to simply keep going in faith because these people did. The conclusion to all of these stories of faith points to Christ.

"Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2).

When we face trials, when we struggle to believe that God is working, we can look to this list of people who endured all kinds of hardship. And in the midst of that trial, the author tells us to look forward to Christ. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Do you let your current circumstances dictate how you see the world? Do your trials rob your joy because you can't see God working in them?

Look to Christ. Look forward to the blessings that can only be found in Him. This world is temporary. The pain will not last forever. Faith looks forward — not to what we can see, but to what God has promised. And what He has promised is found in Jesus.

If you want true peace in this life, it starts with letting go of your own life and putting it in God's hands.

Prayer:

Father, thank You for the examples of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph — imperfect people who trusted in Your perfect promises. Forgive us for being so focused on what's in front of us that we lose sight of what You have promised. Help us to look forward in faith, to bless the next generation, and to keep our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. When we are tempted to give up, remind us that You are faithful — even when we are not. In Jesus' name, Amen.