A Gracious God

Genesis 36

The blessings of Isaac on Esau became a reality just like that of Jacob. Nations and people came out of him. He married foreigners, grew in population and created communities. But everything he did was a direct opposite of what Jacob did. He disobeyed his parents and dishonoured God. The disobedient enjoy common grace to live, love and enjoy God’s creation. God is indeed gracious to both the righteous and the unrighteous.

What can we learn from this chapter?

#1. The unrighteous enjoy the gift of life. (Genesis 36:1-14)

The first main lesson we can learn from this chapter is that God’s common grace reaches out to the unrighteous as it does for the righteous. Esau or Edom grew in number as was spoken by his father Isaac. He took wives from the Canaanites and gave birth to many children. This was a great gift from God. The Bible says God gives life and also gives children as a heritage to people. They lived, they loved and gave birth to children.

#2. The unrighteous enjoy the gift of creation. (36:15-43)

The second main lesson we can take away is that Edom enjoyed the gift of God’s creation to be organized into groups, leadership and kingdoms. It is God who created man in His own images and gave him the ability to plan and organize into civilization and culture till today. Esau and his descendants enjoyed that common grace which God wired into creation and humanity. We must not arrogate such a source of great abilities to human ingenuity but to the Creator of all things. It is God who blessed us to be fruitful and multiply. Great civilization and culture come from God’s blessings to man.

The unjust enjoy the common grace of marriage, love, having children and forming communities. But we must not forget that the end of the perpetually unrighteous is destruction and not eternal life from God. He gives them a long life so that they may repent and connect to Him. If not, their destiny is surely determined.

Take Action: May God’s grace extend to us.