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Let's take our Bibles and look in Genesis chapter 32, our scripture reading and commentary, Genesis chapter 32. This is a profound chapter when you consider it in light of redemptive history. That's what the Bible is. It's history of redemption. So this is not just an historical account of Jacob's fear. or his preparation or his wrestling, but really a spiritual picture of the sinner's encounter with God. I think we all can, for the Lords, identify with this encounter here of Jacob with God face to face and yet not without the mediator. So in the unfolding of God's revelation, Here we see Jacob serving as a type of the elect sinner, chosen in Christ, but brought to the end of himself. I believe anybody that is the Lord's that God has chosen, they have been brought to the end of themselves in their experience with God and made to see that God alone the Savior. So let's begin here in Genesis 32 verses 1 & 2. Here we read, "...and Jacob went on his way." You remember he's heading back now to his homeland leaving Laban and that family behind and it says, "...the angels of God met him and And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host. And he called the name of that place, Mahanaim. Jacob here returning to the land of promise that was given to Abraham. He's immediately met by angels. We know that angels serve God's purpose. Christ on the throne and they're heavenly messengers. And so in this, I believe God is assuring Jacob that he's not alone. Hebrew says that the angels are ministering spirits under those that are heirs of salvation. I believe this mirrors the believer's journey, even though we may not necessarily be aware of angels. Someone asked me that one time. Well, are there still angels? Yeah, angels have been around since God created them and they still serve God's purpose just because you can't see them. But it's a reminder that those that are God's elect are surrounded with his protection and led by his providence. People make light of wearing out their angel, accompanying angel that they have, but we know that they serve God's purpose. And here, the word Mahanaim, which actually means dual camp, reminds us of the unseen spiritual realities. of God, especially in, as I mentioned, Hebrews 1 14, he does not leave his elect alone, but ultimately that Christ himself, when it says here, this is God's host, you can put down, this is Christ's host and he goes before his redeemed, no matter where he directs them. So in verses three through eight, we have Jacob's fear and then the dividing of the camp. It says, Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, under the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them saying, thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau, thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men's servants and maids, women's servants. And I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh to meet thee and 400 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." That's where the name Meha Naim originates because of the dividing of the camp. And said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. So even though God's presence was with Jacob, like any one of us, we know God's sovereign. We know that there's nothing and touch any one of God's elect, but what it comes through the hand of Christ. And yet, what do we do? Same thing. We start conniving, strategizing, figuring out a way here, way there. That's why Jacob sends messengers to Esau fearing his wrath and rightly so, because he had fled on terms that weren't so good and so he divides his family in flocks seeking to preserve at least a remnant. There it is again, imagine that this was up to him. We denounce free will and say it's not up to us but as soon as we face a certain trouble, what's the first thing we do? Go back to the flesh. Thankfully the Lord does not leave us there so even though he was chosen preserved by God, it wasn't going to change God's direction for him. God had preserved him all those years, but Jacob still fears Esau. And so it is, so often we wrestle in our souls with fear. Don't we wrestle with guilt? I'm sure he's rethinking everything that took place and now suddenly the reality hits him. But in the greater picture of God's redemptive history, I believe that Esau represents the threat of judgment and justice and Jacob, even though he was a schemer, supplanter, that's what his name means. Yet he is brought to know that safety lies, not in strategy, but in the mercy of God. Oh, that we would remember that. And so versus nine through 12, we're just skimming over this, trying to highlight. different parts. Jacob said, Oh God of my father, Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac, the Lord, which sits unto me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth, which thou has showed unto thy servant. Well, that's true. Repeat that over and over for with my staff, I passed over this Jordan. Now I'm become two bands deliver me. I pray thee from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau for I fear him. He's being honest before the Lord. What we do in prayer, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. thou saidst I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude." So it shows right there you can know a lot of truth and yet still the experience of it escape you when it comes to the reality. This is a turning point because Jacob, yes, is acknowledging his unworthiness. That's a confession that I believe every elect soul is brought to confess by the Spirit's awakening and so what do you do when you're troubled, your soul's troubled? You appeal to God's covenant promise. Thou saidest, you go back to what God has said concerning his children and concerning how he's promised to preserve his children in Christ. This shows that God-given faith doesn't cling to self. There's nothing here. You'd like to be like a drowning man, holding onto yourself and hoping to make it. No, it clings to God's word. How do we know anything with regard to God or Christ salvation? It's in his word fulfilled in Christ. And even as he says there in verse 12, that God had promised the seed is the sand of the sea that should have shown him right there, nothing was going to happen to him. God, this seed would not be destroyed. And Paul wrote of that in Galatians 3 16, when God made that promise to Abraham concerning the seed that from his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Paul says in Galatians 3 16, it doesn't say seeds, but by the seed, which is Christ. So nothing, even though Jacob is troubled and being blown like a leaf in the wind, yet none of that changes God's direction, his providence for Christ's sake. He was as safe in his fear as he was when he wasn't even thinking about it. Then in Galatians 32 verses 13 to 23, here again, we see Jacob continuing with his human strategy and yet bringing an offering. It says, and he lodged there that same night, verse 13, and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau, his brother. 200 she goats and 20 he goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams. That's quite a number. 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 kine, 10 bulls, 20 she-asses and 10 foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves and said unto his servants, pass over before me and put a space betwixt, drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost saying, when he saw my brother meeteth thee and asketh thee saying, whose art thou and whether goest thou and whose are these before thee when thou shalt say, they be thy servant Jacob's. It is a present sent unto my Lord Esau, and behold, also he is behind us. And so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed the droves saying, on this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And say ye moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us where he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me. And afterward, I will see his face per adventure he will accept of me. So went the present over before him and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his 11 sons and passed over the ford, Jabbok. And he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had." There was a strategy and of course directed by the Lord. You know, man proposes, God disposes. And so in sending these gifts ahead to Esau, You might think, well, that he's doing the right thing, but he's still relying on human effort to pacify his brother. What is it that causes the wrath of man to glorify God? It's God himself. And even though he prays yet in his flesh, he's still attempting to find a solution apart from full reliance on God's sovereignty. Oh, that we could just lay flat before the Lord and wait on Him to direct. And this is typical. It's not just here an example of what it is to be an unbeliever. He's one of the Lords. And yet there's that inner conflict that we see here between flesh and faith. Paul writes about the flesh warring against the spirit. It's not that there's two natures, we don't have two natures, we have one that's evil, sinful. But the spirit of God entering in, it's like a wild horse takes that nature and reins it, directs it, but it's still bucks and kicks because it's a wild horse and it will not be tamed. You're not gonna change it, you're not gonna improve it. That's why we need the spirit of God. And there's always going to be that struggle for any of us between human works and God's grace. Our first thought in the face of trouble is not, I'll just wait on the Lord. Wouldn't that be great if that was the case? The first thought is that flesh conniving and figuring and laying up late at night, thinking, plotting. where the Lord said, can you even, with all of your worries, add one cubit to your stature? You can't. And then he points us to the lilies of the field, the birds of the air. They neither tall nor spin, but the Lord cares for them. How much more those that are his, but ultimately it's the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that teaches us that the only offering that could ever satisfy God's justice is that which Christ himself would offer. It's not coming from our hands. All of these that Jacob was sending ahead thinking that somehow that would pacify Esau. That's not what would do it. It's going to be the Lord. And that's what we're seeing here. Now, when the Lord begins to deal with them, verses 24 to 30, Jacob is going to wrestle with the angel of the Lord, and here I believe the angel of the Lord is Christ. Christ appears. Verse 24 says, and Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 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. And he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. He knew who this man was. And should he depart without blessing Jacob or giving him that strength, Jacob knew he was nothing. And he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. It's not that he didn't know, but he was getting Jacob to answer. 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. And Jacob asked him and said, tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, wherefore is it that thou dost ask for after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. This is really the heart of the chapter and really of the gospel. When you consider Jacob wrestling with the angel, I'd put a capital A there. It's none other than the pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here by God's grace, he confronts Jacob. See, it's the man that met him there when he was alone. And he resists, Jacob wrestles. He resists just like every sinner does until he's wounded and his strength is broken. And that's when he realized he needed this man to remain. And that's why he said, I'll not let thee go except thou bless me. So Jacob clings. Have you ever been there to where you just ask God not to leave you to yourself? He no longer fights in his self-will but pleads in his brokenness. That's a good thing. Be laid low at Christ's feet. This is not Jacob overcoming God, but God overcoming Jacob. It pictures how grace brings God's children to the end of themselves. That's what I listen for when people Tell me about their experience of salvation. I listened for a broken sinner. I've always smiled a little bit because when you, when people write me, they'll put bro Ken, like brother Ken, they'll put bro Ken. I like that. That's who I am. A broken sinner brought to the end of myself and to rest in Christ alone for blessing. I don't care what it is. If you're looking anywhere else, you're an idolater. And that's where we are by nature. We need the Lord to hold that tight grip on us and pin us, if you will, in this wrestling, smite our, our joint, put it out of joint, the hollow of Jacob's thigh. I don't know whether from that time forward, he walked with a limp, but it would be a reminder. You don't wrestle with God and come away without a, without it affecting you. But the blessing that Jacob received, it's not merited. I've heard messages on this, that look how Jacob wrestled with God. He wrestled because God gave him the strength to do it, but he learned that there wasn't gonna be any win as men think of it, except for God be with him. And it's given by grace. And it's through the spiritual blessing in Christ. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians 1.3. All spiritual blessings are heavenly places in Christ. But here's where the Lord changes Jacob's name from Jacob to Israel. A new name represents a new identity and so it is with all those that Christ has redeemed and the Spirit has called. They have a new identity. It's Christian. That name's abused, but it's one who is Christ. And so the gospel by God's grace wrestles each one down that God has purposed to save and has saved through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ breaks us and then blesses us with that new name. Israel means a Prince with God. Imagine that here we are being picked up off the dunghill and raised up in Christ. And therefore our new name is beloved. That's a new name, justified, redeemed, sanctified, all of it in Christ. And so in verse 30, Jacob calls the name of the place, Peniel. It simply means I've seen God face to face. The only way that we can ever see God face to face is in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why I say he saw God, but not without the mediator. This man was the mediator and he knew it. Jacob's experience, I believe is that of every elect soul called by sovereign grace. We see God in Christ, but no longer as a judge against us. That's the beauty of the gospel. but rather as the justifier having already been justified through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We talked about giving you peace. Had God purpose to kill Jacob, he'd have killed him, but it wasn't his purpose. It was to teach him, but he was already the Lord's. He was one for whom Christ would come and pay the debt. And so we see where Christ alone preserves those that are his and in him, justice is satisfied and mercy reigns. And then verses 31 and 32, I call this the limp of grace. As he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. I don't think he ever got over that. That was never, never healed. It just says he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank." Isn't it interesting how you make an idol out of everything? Which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the sinew that shrank. Jacob limps forever after his encounter. I like that picture because that's exactly how we're going to finish our life. It's not going to be in perfection. I like the picture of the ship that enters the Harbor, but the masks are torn and blown from the travel. Every believer, I believe is going to bear the marks of their encounter with God being humble. We're brought low to be lifted up and strength is made perfect in weakness. That's what Paul said there in second Corinthians. The limp isn't a sign of loss. but rather of grace wrought through an encounter with Christ. That's a good thing. So as I said, Genesis 32 is not simply a story about fear or reconciliation with a brother. It's the gospel in shadow and type. It shows that the sinner being brought low under the mighty hand of God, humbled in spirit and made to cling to Christ alone for blessing. But in the end, it's not us clinging to him. There's going to be times you won't even be able to claim, but the Lord never lets loose of any of his own. It's a picture of God's sovereign election is irresistible grace and his power and his faithfulness to deliver every one of his own all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ who came and has overcome us to make us His own. May the glory of Christ be manifest through what we've read. Let's have a word of prayer. Gracious Father, I thank you for this word, how we need it, how we need to be taught. Humble us, I pray, and cause us ever to cling to Christ. And never to look to our flesh or our own strategies, our will, which can only mislead, but to be in Christ, having encountered you in him and to know that his victory is ours. His death is our life and his finished work, our salvation. We give you all the praise and honor and glory in Christ's precious name. Amen.
Scripture Commentary Genesis 32
This sermon explores Jacob's encounter with God in Genesis 32 as a spiritual picture of the sinner's confrontation with divine justice and grace, highlighting the believer's journey in life as God's elect ones and His blessing as their ultimate Savior. Through Jacob's wrestling, fear, and eventual blessing, the message emphasizes the importance of acknowledging unworthiness, clinging to God's covenant promises, and ultimately finding safety not in human strategy but in God's mercy and grace, culminating in a new identity and a lasting reminder of God's unwavering presence and power, fulfilled through the mediation of Christ.
Identifiant du sermon | 722250442886 |
Durée | 26:25 |
Date | |
Catégorie | Service en milieu de semaine |
Texte biblique | Genèse 32 |
Langue | anglais |
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