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Years ago, in the space of a single day two different people come to me and said something along the lines of, what happens if I keep on sinning, will I still go to heaven? That question is hotly debated, and there are two basic points of view some. Some say no, that ends it, you will not go to heaven. As a matter of fact, I was once had a friend of mine tell me that at his school the teacher, who was also a priest tell him that if they were speeding and got into an accident and was killed, he would not go to heaven, if he had not been to confession that week. I don’t really think that is even a fair application of Roman Catholic doctrine on the matter of sin and salvation.

Some Christians would say, if you sin you don’t go to heaven. Yet others would say no, we all sin. You’re never going to stop falling short, so that doesn’t affect whether you go to heaven because heaven is a gift given to you when you trust Jesus Christ. There are passages, numerous passages that discuss the question I was being asked that day. There are a few passages that answer several different elements of that question. However, in Genesis, there is a single passage that directly addresses that question and looks at what I would say are the two sides of that that argument. With that in mind, may I invite your attention to helpful chapter that is, Genesis chapter 26. 

This passage will tell us two things.

One is that there was a famine in the land, and how Isaac reacts to that famine. The second thing is it tells us how that he ends up in a Philistine city and how he lies about his wife. That’s sort of the natural way this passage unfolds. Let’s look first at the fact that there was a famine and I’m going to begin reading with verse one, which says.

“Now there was a famine in the land and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar”.

(Genesis 26: 1)

Now, if you’re reading the book of Genesis as a whole you will recall that previously when Abraham was in the land, he experienced famine and he hightailed it too. Egypt. Again, the author says there was a famine in the land, and he also brings up the fact that this had happened to Abraham as well previously. At this point, it seems to me the text is clearly implying that we need to contrast Abraham and Isaac. It’s deliberately doing that. This is like the situation that Abraham was in, back in the day. 

“The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live”. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham

(Genesis 26: 2-3)

Now, before I get into that, let me just pause long enough to say this. Let me just make the observation that just because you are a Christian or a believer in God doesn’t mean that you’re going to bypass the difficulties of life. Christians go through problems and natural disasters just like everybody else. To bring it home, if you live in a semi-detached house and there is a thunderstorm, and the building gets struck by lightning that it is going to affect you just the same as the atheist next door. That’s just the way life works. Here is Isaac, he’s a child of God, yet he’s experiencing a famine, and he takes off.  The Bible says, the Lord appeared to him and said do not go down to Egypt. Stay in the land of which I told you live in, and I will be with you and will bless you. 

This is the first time in the Bible text that the Lord appears to Isaac. He appeared to his father Abraham several times, but this is the first time he’s appeared to Isaac, and he expressly says don’t go to Egypt. In fact, he says stay in the land I promised to give you Father Abraham.  Now this is a restatement of the Abrahamic covenant.  Earlier in the book of Genesis, God made a covenant with Abraham, and he said to him, I’m going to give to you the Holy Land that’s now yours. He actually said I’m going to give it to you, Abraham, and to your descendants. So, what’s happening in this passage of Scripture.

1st, God is reaffirming the covenant he made with Abraham and saying just like I told Abraham, I’m now telling you I’m giving you this land, to you and your descendants. This passage is the reaffirmation of the Abrahamic covenant and. that is very important, because God says to Isaac he should stay in the land, and He will be with him. But notice I’m not just going to give you the land. I’m going to be with you. The words used here are the same as the words used given by Jesus just before he left this earth. 

“And lo, I’ll be with you always, even to the end of the age”.

(Matthew, Chapter 28)

So, God is making promises to Isaac beyond the legal covenant of giving him the land, he’s promising his own personal presence and his personal blessing. Let see how Isaac responds.