Learning to read is a great thrill in life. Watching my grandchildren as they learn to read brings back memories of my own children going through the process and then remembering my own experience. My three older sisters actually taught me to read long before the school did. I have always had a great love of reading, whether it be history books, Dickens novels, or textbooks from school.
Reading my Bible through from beginning to end has been a lifetime work. Once finished, we just start over. I did stop counting how many times I’ve read through because that number started to be the goal, and besides, nobody really cares to hear about it.
With all that written, there is a point. In reading my Bible I sometimes run across Scripture that boggles my mind. I know the Bible is right, so therefore, I am missing something.
One of those Scriptures was Hebrews 12:17 “For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Comparing the other Scripture that God wants everyone to be saved, [I Timothy 2:4] and that His will is that nobody perishes [II Peter 3:9] then why would God not allow Esau a place of repentance?
This problem bothered me for quite some time until I thought, maybe I should just go back and read the story [I know, I can be a bit slow at times!] So, I simply re-read the Old Testament account of Esau and his repentance. Let me lay it out in bullet points, but please, check out the whole story at some time. The story is from Genesis 27.
v. 34 - Esau was bitterly crying over not getting the blessing of the firstborn. v. 36 - Esau blames Jacob for “taking away” his birthright, rather than confessing that Esau sold it and despised it - Genesis 25:34. v. 38 - Esau wept and begged for a blessing. v. 41 - Esau plotted the murder of his brother Jacob because of the missed blessing. Genesis 28:8-9 - Esau then despises his father, Isaac, and marries women he knows will displease his father.
In no place does Esau seek to repent, or mentions repenting, or ask for forgiveness. In Hebrews 12:17 the blessing is the subject, not the repentance. Esau was not seeking repentance and could not find it, he was seeking the blessing and could not find it, and that is because he despised it and sold it years before.
Real repentance is not blaming someone else for what is wrong. Real repentance is doing right regardless of if you get your way or not. I have seen people say they repent, but when God did not give them what they thought they deserved because of their cheap words, then they just returned to their former self and became so much worse [Luke 11:24-26].
This is what is meant by Matthew 7:21 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
A repentant heart is not just saying magic words. It is a heart that accepts the responsibility for our sin and asks God for mercy through grace and faith.
Esau was not looking for repentance but for blessing. And reading the story clears up the whole question.
