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The author of Hebrews used the Old Testament story of Esau to provide a powerful warning for our day when he said, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 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.” (Hebrews 12:14-17) The story of Esau’s birthright gives us a dramatic word of caution, showing us the awful results of failure to esteem spiritual treasures at their true value.

When this passage describes Esau as profane, the word doesn’t necessarily have the connotation of cursing and swearing that it has today. But the passage seems to make it clear that the word refers to the lack of respect Esau gave to the value of his birthright.

Esau, it seems, had the opportunity for two special blessings from his father, Isaac. The birthright became Esau’s the moment he was born, although he would not reap all the rewards immediately, but the blessing was withheld for many years, and Isaac mentioned it to Esau when he was becoming old. Since the Scriptural passage at the beginning of this article applies Esau’s situation to the situation of the Christian, it may help us to understand this if we draw parallels between Esau’s situation and our own.

Each saved person has two special gifts from his Heavenly Father. One, being bodily with Christ in the future, has not yet been given. Peter speaks of “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (I Peter 1:5) But not all God’s blessings require a waiting period: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) In this verse Jesus explains that life eternal is found in knowing God. This is similar to a “birthright” for us who are born in to God’s kingdom, because we can know God now! “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) We can know Him now, and, if we hold faithful, we can know Him even better in the future. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (I Corinthians 13:12)

When Isaac was ready to give the blessing, Esau was ready to receive it, just as we are ready to receive heaven. We would like to be with God forever. But just as Esau lost the blessing because he was not sufficiently careful with the birthright, we can lose heaven because we were not careful enough to know God. Knowing God is the essence of Christianity. As John 17:3 and Jeremiah 31:34 (both quoted earlier) show us, we are participating in eternal life when we know God; no one is in God’s kingdom who fails to know Him. I John 5:20 tells us, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”

How are we to know God? Let’s take a look at what the Scripture says about people who do and do not know God. John tells us, “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” (I John 4:6) So we know that those who know God will listen to His Word. They will be willing to obey whatever they find in it. John tells us a similar truth when he says, “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.” (I John 2:5) If we are to know God, we have to be willing to submit to Him, to turn our entire life over to Him, to surrender to Him, to do whatever He asks of us. Paul tells us about some people who don’t know God: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16) He shows us here that even though people may say that they know God, they don’t if they are not submitted to Him and His Word. Are we willing to pay the price to know God?

With this in mind, let’s return to the verse quoted at the beginning of this article. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 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.” (Hebrews 12:14-17) This passage is telling us to be careful (look diligently) so that no one loses the grace of God, so that no one follows the example of Esau and fails to properly respect God’s blessings.

God gave us a great blessing when He made us able to know Him. But it’s easy to fail to give this blessing the respect we need to. We look at it lightly, “Oh, I’ll still get to heaven,” just as Esau probably thought that he could still obtain his blessing, even if he lost his birthright, but we know that this was not possible, and, as shown above, it’s not possible for us to have heaven without knowing God either. And if we are not careful to maintain a relationship with God (if we’re not careful to know God), if we let that slip, we will lose heaven too. Even if we have the grace of God, we can fail of it; we can stop allowing the blood to cleanse and purge us, so that God’s grace will no longer save us. In another passage the author of Hebrews tells us that he and others will go on teaching the basics of Christianity. Then he tells us the reason: because Christians can forget these things and lose their salvation. “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” (Hebrews 6:4-8)

Peter seconds this powerful warning with these words: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:20-22) These verses put forward a solemn warning for all of us who have believed to stand fast, to press through the strait gate and know God. They tell of people who were truly saved and serving God, yet failed to maintain their relationships with God, and ended up as unsaved, hardened sinners.

Jude gives a descriptive picture of apostates: “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” (Jude 12-13) It’s clear that Jude is talking about apostates; he uses the term “twice dead” and specifies that the trees were plucked up.

Christ Himself addressed the danger of apostasy: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:2-6) While God is longsuffering, it’s possible to reach a point where He will no longer have patience and a person will cease to be a Christian. “He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” (Luke 13:6-9)

The prophet Jonah said, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” When we forsake God, we reject our own hope of heaven. Will we be faithful?