Jesus: Creator, Savior, Lord and KIng: #9 Jesus Wrestles Jacob – Genesis 32

 

JCSLK Jesus Wrestles Jacob – Genesis 32

Introduction

Sermon is about wrestling this morning, or wrassling as we say it here in east Texas. So I thought I might preach the message in my luchador mask, but then I thought that might be a bit distracting, so we’re going to introduce the message another way.

Let me introduce to you, Jordan Peterson. He is a clinic psychologist who rose to fame after he wrote a book entitled “12 Rules to Live By: An antidote to Chaos” I want to share this with you quickly.

"Stand up straight with your shoulders back."

"Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping."

"Make friends with people who want the best for you."

"Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

"Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them."

"Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world."

"Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)."

"Tell the truth – or, at least, don't lie."

"Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don't."

"Be precise in your speech."

"Do not bother children when they are skateboarding."

"Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street."

I hadn’t thought about reading the book until I read those last two rules. Now I think I’m going to read it. The main reason I want to introduce Jordan Peterson to you is not because he is a psychologist but because he is a wrestler, that’s right. He just wrote another book called, “We Who wrestle with God.” In fact Peterson has been wrestling with God for several years now and there are several videos online that show his struggle in trying to reconcile his intellect with the Word of God.

We often hear or read of people like Peterson or Josh MacDowell, Lee Strobel, CS Lewis, or Frank Morrison, who are all wrestled with Jesus in their personal life, but at the end of the wrestling match they all, but Peterson so far, wrote books that affirmed that Jesus was their Savior. Before, they all had a concept of God, an idea that God existed and was real, but they had not had a confrontation with the person of Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Ultimately, they all came to a place where they had to wrestle, not with the idea of a God, or even the existence of the God of the Bible, but instead they had to wrestle with God in the person of Jesus Christ. And that brings us to the story of Jacob, who encountered the Lord on a hill called Peniel. There, he wrestles with the Lord all night and when day comes Jacob is a changed man.

Distanced From God – Genesis 32:1-2

And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. (Two Camps)

Jacob In One Camp, God In Another

Up to this point in time Jacob has lived his life exactly as he now expresses by naming this place where he sees God’s angels, two camps. In his actions, in his mind and as seen in his life, he has been in one camp, and God has been in another camp.

God’s camp was over there. It was near, It was real but it was separate from the camp where Jacob lived. God was in visions and dreams. He dwelt atop the ladder that the angels ascended at Bethel. He was real, He was absolutely and fully God, but He was not in Jabob’s camp and I believe that was because Jacob was comfortable with God “over there” but not here.

Jacob throughout his life has kept God over there while he did things his own way in his life. With his mother, Rebekah, he schemed and stole his older brother, Esau’s, blessing. To accomplish theft he deceived Isaac, his aged and blind father. He even seals the lie with an affectionate kiss.  

After the deception and theft, Jacob flees from his brother’s Esau’s rage and his broken-hearted father. On the journey he falls asleep and dreams the famous Jacob’s ladder, angels ascending and descending from heaven to earth and the Lord stood above the ladder and confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant upon Jacob, the supplanter, the thief. After the vision he prays, but it is a very “quid pro quo” kind of prayer. Genesis 28:20-21  And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God.

If God will do what I want him to do then I will let Him be by God That is exactly keeping God his camp and Jacob in another camp, separate from God.  

Once he gets to his uncle Laban’s land, everything he has does is for himself, God’s plans don’t enter into Jacobs plans. He supplants his uncle’s wealth and flees again now away from Padanaram back to Canaan.  From his birth to his marriages everything Jacob does has one goal, to supplant someone else. To take birthrights and blessings, camels and cattle from someone else and make it his own. But now, in chapter 32, things have changed. He has fled the camp of Laban but now he must confront both the coming of his vengeful brother Esau and the Camp of God.

Keeping God at a Distance.

Jacob is like a lot of people, like Jordan Peterson, CS Lewis or Saul, they have accepted the existence of God, they can’t deny it, can’t ignore that God is real, that the Bible is true, that it is a great book, and teaches a great way to live your life.

They would love to have God’s blessings and so they may call themselves Christian, go to church and live the life according to what they think are the rules that will open the blessings of God. They and we believe but they have God over there, in a separate place, a separate camp. We live here and its nice to see God, or even hear God as long as He stays over there.

Do you remember the story of Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler?

Mark 10:17-22 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

Jesus wasn’t telling the man you can be saved if you sell your possessions, He was proving to the man, that he hadn’t kept the law for he loved his possession more than his neighbors and he didn’t love the Lord his God because he wouldn’t follow Jesus who was his God standing right before Him. The man wanted eternal life in one camp but his life and his wealth in another camp. Instead of repenting and trusting in the Lord, he walked away broken-hearted.

It is the same with many people, with many of us. We are like Jacob at this stage of this life or the rich young man, we compartmentalize the Lord in our life instead of giving him our life.

But it doesn’t work that way as Jesus himself said it in Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Our response to that verse too often is, “Well, what do you mean by all?” All means all! Its not hard to understand what Jesus is saying, its hard to understand how we can do it.

There has to be a change, a change often triggered by a catalyst. We see that Jacob’s catalyst in vss 6. 

Driven by Danger – Genesis 32:6-8

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

Jacob’s Catalyst

Jacob is afraid, very afraid and in the grip of that fear he continues to scheme and do everything in his power to protect himself. He is still the same selfish supplanter. He sends the servants and the flocks first. He tries to appease Esau with gifts. Finally, he sends his family over the brook, and he is left alone.

When he fled from home he had nothing and was alone, it was then that God visited him in the vision and Jacob named the place Bethel, which means the house of God. Now he once again he has given up everything, and is alone and at this point God again visits him, and after this meeting Jacob will name this place Peniel, which means facing God.

Jacob’s Prayer

Listen to Jacob’s prayer here at Peniel and compare it to his prayer at Bethel.

 Genesis 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Jacob isn’t bargaining with God anymore, is he? No, because he has nothing to bargain with. His life may end tomorrow when he meets his brother Esau, who 20 years ago vowed to kill him for living up to his name, the supplanter. Now in his emptiness, at the dregs of his strength, all he asks for, he begs for is deliverance and he knows that salvation can only come from God.

Cataclysm to Catalysts

God often uses hard, hopeless situations in life to bring us to a place where we, like Jacob, must come face to face with God. Where we must stand upon our own Mt. Peniel.

We see it all through the Bible. Joshua faces the battle of Jericho, when the Lord appears as the captain of the Lord’s army. Samson keeps God in a camp very far away, until he is captured, blinded and tortured by the Philistines. Elijah had to come out of the cave after running for his life. They all faced their own Cataclysm of life and it became their catalyst to change in their relationship with God.

They all came to a place where at the end of their own resources, strength, and plans, they all called out and surrendered to God.

David when he was running from Saul, an outcast and an outlaw from his own people wrote about this kind of experience in Psalm 18:4-6 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented (preceded) me. 6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

“Don’t fear the cataclysms of life, because God can use them to be the catalyst of change in your life and especially in your relationship to Him.

Jacob’s catalyst brings him to not make a conditional deal with God, but to now desire God without conditions.

Destabilized by Deity  – Genesis 32:24-32

24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Jacob Supplanted By The Savior

Jacob Struggles. Jacob stands alone  and he wrestles with a man, who we know what Jacob will soon know, that this is not just an angel or a man, but it The Angel of the Lord. Jacob is wrestling with the Lord, Jesus! Jacob begins this battle in his strength, but the prayer he prayed earlier isn’t answered by Jacob strength. The deliverance, God’s salvation, comes when Jacob is weakened to the point he can barely walk afterward.

This word wrestle means to grapple with, literally to get dusty by rolling in the dirt wrestling. Jacob, in his physical strength grapples with the Jesus and will not let go. The Lord allows this last attempt of the supplanter to force his will, to take by force or cunning something that he desperately wants. Jacob is attempting to seize God’s blessing by his own physical strength and willpower. That is what he has always done. He is the supplanter, he takes from others and makes it his own.

Now notice this, God is no longer in that other camp, no, God is no longer even at arm’s length from Jacob’s life, but right there in the very center of Jacob’s life and Jacob is locked in a struggle with the Lord in his grasp.

Jacob Sees. Jacob sees the face of God that night and it changed him to the core of his soul. Jacob knows who this is just as Moses knew who speaks from the burning bush, just as Gideon knew who ordered him to fight the Midianites or Samson’s parents knew who had told them of the birth of Samson. They all come to the same knowledge that Jacob does. We know this because in Genesis 32:30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (which means facing God) He says, “for I have seen God face to face.”

Jacob Surrenders. He is Broken by The Lord’s Touch - In the fight Jacob holds on, refusing to give up and let go. Finally, the Lord touches his thigh and cripples him for life. If Jacob had been standing in his own strength up to this point, he is not standing now. The sinews of his thigh are shrunk. His thigh, the main bone in his leg, is now out of the hip socket, Jacob can no longer stand. All he can do is fall to his knees. And in that utterly broken state, he just clings the Lord. He just holds on to Jesus.

Now the Lord says, Genesis 32:26 “Let me go, for the day breaketh.” Now listen closely to the answer of Jacob, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”

This is not a man who has any power or plans left. This is a broken man unable to do anything but hold on to the Lord, his God. Jacob in his brokenness knows that only God can  bless him, only God can save him.

The Lord speaks in Genesis 32:27-28 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob (the supplanter,) but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

The Lord didn’t ask the question in order to get information, He knew Jacob’s name.  He asks “What is your name?” as a challenge.

Warren Wiersbe says of the Lord’s question to Jacob,  “Are you going to continue living up to your name, deceiving yourself and others; or will you admit what you are and let Me change you?” - Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Authentic.

Jacob Sanctified - Genesis 32:28 for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. We usually translate the name Israel as A prince with God, a ruler with God, but its literal translation is “God prevails.”

Yes, Jacob, now Israel, had prevailed and found God’s blessing but it wasn’t through his strength it was through his surrender. It wasn’t by his brazenness but through his brokenness. God had prevailed, Jacob had surrendered and in that surrender, the blessing of God was found. Jacob now would rule through God, his life had been changed just as his name had been changed.

 Brokenness to Blessedness.

Let me now state the most important part of this message. What happened to Jacob in finding the blessing of God is a struggle that all of us must undergo. God’s blessings begin with my brokenness.

First, my brokenness over the sin that God’s blessing of salvation may begin.

Then the brokenness of my own strength, my own will, my own plans for my life that God’s blessings for my life may begin.

And one day the final brokenness of this physical body at death so that God’s blessing of eternal life and heaven may begin.

None of us seek brokenness, it is always painful, always more than we can deal with in our strength. Only God knows where that breakpoint is. The place where that last store of my strength is drained away and all we have left is God. That place where we realize God is no longer content to stay over there in his own camp, but has moved into my life and He is claiming His right to change me.

The Bible shows this truth in book after book, life after life. We see it in Moses, as he flees Egypt, we see it Samson, standing blind between the pillars and calling out to God.  We see it in Peter after denying the Lord, bitterly weeping when the Lord coming from the Hall of Judgment, looks directly at him. And Paul tells us of his own brokenness in 2 Corinthians.

The Apostle Paul and Broken Blessedness.

 Paul who was blinded, stoned, imprisoned and ship wrecked. This great Apostle to the Gentiles was used mightily by God because he was so utterly broken in his service to God.

2 Corinthians 12:5-10 I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. ... vs 7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Paul understood God’s blessing are brought by brokenness. The greatest servants of the Lord both in the history of the Bible, in the history since the Bible was completed and in our own personal history of those we have known, the greatest servants are those who struggled with God, been broken by this world but, in that struggle and in that brokenness, they have found the blessings of God.

Conclusion:

Is It time for you to stop struggling?

If you are here this morning and wrestling with God, struggling with who He is, or with what He might do or with having Him fully in your life.

Then, know that the Lord is more than equal to your struggle. He is not offended by it, he is not put off by it. Some of the greatest servants of God struggled their whole lives.  But perhaps today, it is time to give up on your strength and will and  begin to simply cling to Him as Savior.

Whatever may be broken in you this morning, turn it into a blessing by trusting Him.