Genesis 26:2: The one road in the family's story that is closed, and the only map of it is of a journey nobody makes

Here we have Isaac's distinctive trial of faith. God called Abraham to leave his land, his relatives and his father's house, and go to the land Jehovah would show him — and He did show him. But God charged Isaac not to leave. He was to sojourn in that land. That had its own difficulties, and grace does not spare him from them... Jehovah plainly forbade it, so Isaac did not go down into Egypt, even under the pressure of famine in the land. Abraham, as we know, did go; but there he dishonoured Jehovah, his wife, and himself, however rich he became as a result.

Isaac always lives in the heavenly land. How well this fits the place of Christ as the risen Bridegroom is too plain to need further proof... "I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven." Not a word about the sand of the sea. As always, he is tied only to what is heavenly, as far as the picture goes... But it was only the shadow, not the real image. Sadly, the man who was only the type denies his relationship, which Christ never does. Isaac failed like Abraham before. Unbroken faithfulness is true of One only.

There is a clear difference between Egypt and Gerar. Egypt stands for the world with its own resources, living independently of God. "My river is my own" is the language of an Egyptian who did not know Jehovah... In distance, Egypt lay further from Canaan than Gerar; in moral terms, it pictures a soul further from God... So compared with Egypt, Gerar was a better position; but it still lay within reach of very dangerous influences. Abraham got into trouble there, and in this chapter so does Isaac, in exactly the same way.

This famine is clearly marked off from the "first famine," in the days of Abraham. The first tested Abraham, the leader; the second tested Isaac, the occupier... God there warns him not to go further, but to sojourn in Gerar. He lets him sojourn there, to test whether it can be done; but He adds, "dwell in the land of which I shall tell you." Isaac does not only sojourn in Gerar. He settles there, and his troubles start as a result. He has another lesson to learn here. However well he prospers in the land of the Philistines, he can never enjoy the peace and calm his soul wanted while he is mixed up with them.

God let Abraham go, and used it to teach him, and believers in every age, the danger and loss of leaving the place where God has brought us. Only grace can prevent that loss. When trouble now arises in the assembly of God, some are ready to leave it, hoping to escape. By leaving, they may get free of the one thing that dishonours the Lord, but they fall into something worse, and they also lose the blessing that belongs to the place they leave... Isaac's faith was not as strong as Abraham's, and God would not let him be tempted beyond what he could bear.

Heaven has claimed us, and the Father's house is our destination. When we appear with Christ in the glory of heaven, that will be the "revealing of the sons of God." Until then it is for us to remember words full of both warning and encouragement: "Do not go down to Egypt; … sojourn in this land, and I will bless you."