The patriarchs were the fathers of the Jewish faith whose stories we find in the Old Testament. One of their primary roles and responsibilities was to pass on the covenantal blessings of God, those blessings that God had promised to His people.

Every Jewish child longed for a blessing. Each father had the responsibility of transferring God’s promises of favor to the next generation. With these promises, based on their covenant with God, their descendants found hope, purpose, and proof of the goodness of God. These promises, as the patriarchs understood, were good from generation to generation.

Each father had the responsibility of transferring God’s promises of favor to the next generation.

For God is a generational God. What matters is not just what is happening to me, or to us at this time. It is about God’s plan and program for the future as His kingdom is advanced in history. That was all passed along through the blessing that would be transferred from one generation to the next. That’s why the blessing of the firstborn was so important in the Old Testament culture. To receive a blessing was a highly coveted experience. Genesis tells the story of how Jacob deceived his father to give him the blessing of the firstborn, which was rightfully Esau’s as the older brother. Jacob was desperate to receive the blessing of his father, Isaac. In fact, the brothers’ mother, Rebekah, even assisted him in the charade designed to secure the blessing for Jacob. 

Today, you and I live among un-blessed men and women. They have received no blessing from their own fathers. In our own day, many experience the pain that comes from the lack of blessing, as there was no blessing to pass on to the next generation. That leads to children who are aimless.

If you are someone who has never been blessed and never had a patriarch in your life—a man who has truly and obediently walked with God—to share with you God’s truth, God’s favor, God’s purpose, and God’s blessing, it is not too late. I remember during a church service when we called forward all of the men of the church who had never felt the blessing. We saw grown men crying because they had such a longing for the transfer of blessing from an earthly father to themselves. They wanted the touch of an earthly father to connect them with the blessings of the heavenly Father. This was a powerful moment.

If we are going to impact the next generation, we’ve got to give them a blessing.

If we are going to impact the next generation, we’ve got to give them a blessing. We’ve got to tell them about the promises of God, the favor of God, the purposes of God, and how we can advance the kingdom of God. When we do that, we’ll see a transformation in our families and a shift in our culture. For the blessed people will not be aimless. They will stand tall wearing a crown that testifies: “I’ve been blessed!”

Check out more from Dr. Tony Evans @tonyevans.org