The Faith of Isaac

April 22nd, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.

On the day that Abraham took his son Isaac upon the mountain to slay him, per God’s command (Gen. 22:1-2), he learned about God’s promise to bless him and his offspring (cf. Gen. 12:1-3). Isaac represented mankind on that altar of sacrifice—man deserving to die for his sins. So when the great man of faith, his father Abraham, demonstrated his faith, God provided a substitute for Isaac and spared his life—a ram instead of the boy. That is the picture of Jesus Christ dying on mankind’s behalf! Isaac lived it firsthand. He knew his life was over, and he likely had the same fears as anyone else would have had. Then God spared him, and that day Isaac learned about the God of heaven first-hand. Up to that point Abraham had likely told Isaac all about the promise of the land, the seed, and the blessing (Gen. 12:1-3, 7). But on that day Isaac lived it, saw it, and believed it. Perhaps on that day Isaac’s own faith was solidified.

Now one might expect Isaac to have lived a life full of faith, but strangely this was not so – at least not from the very brief account given of his life in Genesis 25:19-27:46. Although Isaac lived longer than any of the patriarchs, the story of his life in the Bible is shorter than Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, or Moses. God certainly passed the promises onto Isaac (Gen. 26:3-4), and although these promises should have given him a sense of security and hope, Isaac seems to have lived in fear most of his life. When the Philistines of Gerar (near Gaza) questioned him about his wife Rebekah, like his father, he lied about her saying she was his sister—afraid they would kill him if she were his wife in order to have her as their own (Gen. 26). Oddly, when Abimelech was informed of who Rebekah really was, he showed more fear of God than Isaac ever did!

Even after Isaac became wealthy while living in Gerar, he seems to have spent his life questioning God up to that point and grumbling about his lot. When things finally went his way he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land” (Gen. 26:22). Indeed, he began to multiply. When he finally moved back into the land he came to Beersheba in the south, and then God repeated the covenant promises to him (Gen. 26:24-25).

Isaac’s life seems unfaithful at times, but at other times he was truly faithful. His wife was initially barren, but she later gave birth to twins—Jacob and Esau. Esau was Isaac’s favorite son although God had made it clear that it was Jacob who would be blessed by God. Rebekah felt the need to intervene through deception to get Jacob to receive Isaac’s blessing. In spite of this, God worked through it, bringing His will to fruition. But the whole story puts Isaac in a bad light.

The point of Isaac’s life, however, is his faith. The author of Hebrews, without condoning Isaac’s shortcomings, points to the faith he had in blessing his sons while looking to the future. One thing is certain: Isaac believed in God’s covenant blessings. This is revealed in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob, even though he thought he was blessing Esau (Gen. 27:27-29). Isaac believed God and looked to the future for God’s fulfillment of what He promised. The Greek text of Hebrews 11:20 literally says, “By faith, even concerning things to come, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.” In blessing them, Isaac literally “spoke well of them; he praised them.”

Food For Thought
The blessing given by a man, in this case Isaac, with God’s consent, was an act of faith because it concerned a time beyond their lives. When a person looks beyond their own life in the here and now and into the future, they act on faith. For us, teaching our children about Christ and leaving them an inheritance, both spiritual and financial, is an act of faith, for it plans for their immediate and eternal future. Therefore, we have strong faith when we know we’re saved—when we have the “assurance of things hoped for”—a certainty of God’s eternal plan.