Again, our sermon text tonight is Genesis chapter 32 verses 22 through 32, but I'm going to begin reading tonight in verse one so that we can situate this particular passage within its greater context. So let's begin reading this evening at Genesis chapter 32 verse one. Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's camp. So he called the name of that place Machanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants and female servants. I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you. And there are 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps, thinking, If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good. I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please, deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. For I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. So he stayed there that night. And from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau. 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milking camels and their calves, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. These he handed over to his servants every drove by itself and said to his servants, pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove. He instructed the first, When Esau, my brother, meets you and asks you, To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose are these ahead of you? Then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau, and moreover he is behind us. He likewise instructed the second, and the third, and all who follow the droves, You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him. And you shall say, Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he thought, I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. The same night he arose. and took his wives, his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the fort of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, Let me go, for the day has broken. But Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. Then he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. But he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. The sun rose upon him as he passed Peniel, limping because of his hip. Therefore, to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thaw. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's ask his blessing. Lord, we do come tonight to a passage that is full of mystery. And we, Lord, realize that we're only getting a glimpse of the strange things that happened on that night so long ago. We pray, Lord, that you would shine light upon the text of scripture, which we have read this evening. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to understand what it is that you are seeking to communicate to us. And we ask, Lord God, that the message of this text would penetrate our hearts, even as it penetrated Jacob's on that fateful night. And we ask this tonight in Jesus' name. Amen. The latter half of Genesis 32 contains one of the most mysterious and enigmatic stories, I think, really in all of scripture. The events described here seem to come out of nowhere, rapidly raising more questions than it'll ever answer. Before the narrative suddenly returns, back to the subject of Jacob's reunion with Esau, which we considered in part last week. Yet no matter how bizarrely out of the blue this portion of Genesis might feel, one gets the sense, don't you, while you're reading this, you get the sense that though it's strange, though it seems random, it's not something which can be ignored. Because as we read this story, we find that Jacob comes out on the other side of this incident with a new name. This ends up being a pivotal moment in his life, and thus, it is a central component within the Jacob narrative as a whole. So how do we go about understanding this difficult portion of Scripture? I think we'll be greatly helped. This is why we read the whole chapter. We'll be greatly helped by recognizing that verses 22 through 32 are not a departure from the Jacob and Esau reunion story. The incident narrated here is tightly connected with what came before and what's going to come after. You see, when we left off last week, Jacob was scrambling Though it was his idea to reconnect with his estranged brother Esau, he's terrified when he learns that Esau's coming to meet him with 400 men at his side. He believes that his brother is out for blood, and so Jacob prayed to the Lord for help, thereby giving us that beautiful prayer of deliverance which we studied in verses 9 through 12. He prays to the Lord in faith, but he also, as we saw in verses 13 and following, He also acts out of fear, doing whatever he can to preserve some remnant of his family. He's going to split up his camp. He's going to send gifts on ahead of him. He's going to do whatever he thinks he can do to assuage the anger of his brother, Esau, and save his hide. As is so often the case with us, Jacob turns to God amid his crisis, but he's not totally sure if God is going to come through for him or not. And so he makes contingency plans. He has faith, but he has fear. He prays, but he also plans. And that is the context into which a mysterious figure waltzes in the middle of the night. Jacob has spent up all of his energy fearing Esau, but it's going to be another man. who ambushes him and brings him to himself. When Jacob emerges from the conflict, he's not going to be the same person anymore. He will be ready to face Esau. He will be ready to return to Canaan. The Lord will have done a great work in him. And so we can summarize the theme of our passage tonight like this. In preparation for his return to the promised land, the Lord brings Jacob to the end of himself so that he might confidently depend upon the Lord for success and blessing. And along the way, Jacob learns that God's people are most truly blessed when they are most fully dependent on God. God's people are most fully blessed when they are most fully dependent on God. That's the lesson that Jacob learns, and let's now turn to the text and learn it with him. If it helps you to divide the text this evening for the sake of clarity, then we might say that part one of this story is found in verses 22 through 25, as Jacob wrestles with a man in the night. On the very same evening that he has frantically sent droves of animals on ahead of him as a gift for his brother Esau, Jacob begins to move his family into a more strategic position. He's approaching from the north when he leads his wives and their servants and his children across the river to the southern bank of the Jabbok. This is a body of water that flows perpendicular to the Jordan. So he's headed south. Now if you've ever thought about river crossings or read old books, watched old movies, you know in the western it's always dangerous to ford the river. Everybody dreads crossing the river and so it's odd that one would choose to ford a river with young children after nightfall. But this choice may be more evidence of Jacob's fear, his desperation. He's in a frenzy and he's doing everything he can think of to save his family. Once he gets them into position on the other side of the river, he's left alone. And it's in the solitude of that frightful night that Jacob gets the surprise of his life. He's worrying about Esau ahead of him when he is attacked from behind. The description of that, verse 24, it's abrupt, it's succinct. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. I don't know if you've ever done any wrestling yourself. I engaged in my fair share in days of youth, not in any organized, competitive way, but, you know, we did this sort of thing among my friends. And those experiences tell me that this would have been exhausting. This would have been exhausting. Wrestling is nothing to shake a stick at. to sustain this level of exertion all night long. You would need to be strong. You would need to be conditioned. Your adrenaline would need to be pumping. And Jacob seems to fit that bill. We know that Jacob's strong. Think back on his removal of the rock over the well which watered Laban's sheep. We know that Laban is well conditioned. He spent years managing large flocks, large herds. And we have reason to believe that Jacob's adrenaline was pumping. He's terrified. He's terrified. He is fighting for his life. And so he fights on all night long. But despite the length of this great battle, neither contestant is getting the upper hand. And as morning approaches, they're still at a draw. So verse 25 says that when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled him. Just when it seems like Jacob is never going to give up, this mystery man cripples Jacob with one touch of his hip. Congregation, what in the world is this all about? At this point in the text, it feels as if we are right there in the dark with Jacob, just trying to make heads or tails of what's going. It's hard to figure out where we're coming from, where we're going at this point in Genesis chapter 32. But when we come to the next part of our text, we're given a little more light for understanding, I believe. Having wrestled with a man in the night, here in the second part of the text, Jacob bargains for a blessing in verses 26-29. For the first time here in verse 26, Jacob's attacker speaks. What does he say? Let me go, for the day has broken. Commentators have struggled to understand the motivation behind this request. What was it about the daylight that would have necessitated a ceasefire? Any good ideas come to your mind? It's hard to say with absolute certainty. However, it may be, and I think we'll see why this is the case here shortly, but it may be that the fighter did not want Jacob to get a clear view of his face. Why would that be problematic? Well, Jacob's response may give us the first inkling of a clue. Here's what he says to his retreating foe when he asks him to let him go. Jacob says this, I will not let you go unless you bless me. What a strange thing to say. If you were jumped in the Walmart parking lot, You probably wouldn't ask your attacker to hang around a little longer, would you? You know what? I'm not letting you go anywhere until you bless me. That's not the sort of thing you say to someone who attacks you. But Jacob's request, strange as it is, it reflects a growing understanding that the man with whom he had been wrestling was no ordinary man. Think about it. Who was it? that could find Jacob when he was hiding in the wilderness? Who could keep up with Jacob's pace all night long? Who could cripple Jacob with one intentional touch? Who might not want Jacob to look on his face in the morning sun? Who could bless Jacob with the sort of blessing that he'd been after all of his life? If you're beginning to think that the answer might be God, you're correct. More specifically, it seems that Jacob had been wrestling with the angel of the Lord, which we've talked about in the past. That angel who was a pre-incarnate manifestation of the presence of the Son of God. Listen to Hosea chapter 12, verses 3 and 4, which says this of Jacob. In the womb, he took his brother by the heel. And in his manhood, he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. Yes, my friends, it was Esau whom Jacob feared, but God is the one who came and in a moment brought him to the end of himself. When he could hardly fight another second, after a night of all-out war, Jacob found himself clinging to the angel of the Lord and pleading for a blessing. In response, the angel asked Jacob for his name. And he didn't ask him that because he was ignorant. It's a matter of course. He wanted Jacob to identify himself as Jacob. He wanted to hear Jacob say it. I think that's what's going on here. He wanted Jacob to identify himself as Jacob, the heel grabber, the supplanter, the cheat. That's what his name was. And those are all the connotations of his name. And the angel wanted him to identify himself in this way because he intended to change that identity. Verse 28, then he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. As Jacob is pleading and begging The Lord blesses his servant first with a new name, like his grandfather Abraham before. From henceforth, Jacob, the heel-grabber, the cheat, will be Israel. He strives with God. He's beaten Laban already. He's fought with God and survived. And he will endure his encounter with Esau without trouble. Jacob has no need to fear anymore. In total dependence upon God who has brought Jacob to his knees, Jacob will prevail. He's going to pass over into the promised land unharmed. But this might raise something of a doctrinal conundrum in your mind. How is it that the Lord didn't beat Jacob in a wrestling match? Is that bothering you? It bothers me a little bit. Is he somehow less powerful than we might have thought? No. John Calvin in his commentary on this passage, he provides what I think is a very helpful and thought-provoking explanation. Here's what he says. But the question now occurs. See, we're not the first people to ask this. The question now occurs. Who is able to stand against an antagonist at whose breath alone all flesh perishes and vanishes away? At whose look the mountains melt? At whose word the whole world is shaken to pieces? And therefore, to attempt the least contest with him would be insane temerity. But he says, It's easy to untie the knot, for we do not fight against him except by his own power and with his own weapons. For he, having challenged us to this contest, at the same time furnishes us with means of resistance, so that he both fights against us and for us. In other words, how I'm saying this, God came and he tested Jacob. He fought against Jacob. But the fight was for Jacob's good. And thus, even as the Lord was against him, the Lord was also behind him and with him and for him. The angel of the Lord did not unleash his full strength and power on the patriarch. If he did, he would have been dead in an instant. He crippled him, but he didn't kill him. Why? because he intended to use this wounding experience to strengthen Jacob. He was against him, but he was also for him. He was against him because he was for him. And the Lord would strengthen Jacob in this way by teaching him depend upon the Lord's strength and blessing when besieged by adversaries and overcome with weakness. So in a sense, it's as if Jacob's whole life had been leading up to this moment. He had stolen his brother's blessing in his youth. He had lied to his father to procure it. He had sought it out in Laban's pasture. But the blessing that he was looking for would finally be found on his knees before the Lord when he had nothing else to give. Stripped of his strength, Jacob bargains and begs for blessing with tears, Hosea says, in his eyes. And God grants it to him by changing him into the sort of man who could fruitfully inherit the covenant promises. Yet for all of Jacob's faith that it was in fact his Lord standing before him in the dim light of dawn, he wanted to hear it. In the same way that his opponent had asked for his name, so he beseeches his opponent, please tell me your name. But the angel does no such thing. It's not time for that yet. He says, why is it that you ask my name? Really what he's saying to Jacob is this, why is it that you ask my name when you already know who I am? You know exactly who you're talking to, Jacob. And so instead of answering, God simply blesses him. After the Lord had emptied Jacob of himself, he fills him back up with heavenly blessing and strength. He empties him to fill him. And friends, there is an enduring lesson to be learned here. Every parent wants their child to grow up to be competent and independent, don't they? And that's what you set out to do. You want to raise them right and then you want them to spread their wings and soar, live life successfully. But independence, that's what we're looking for. It is not what God is looking for in His children. God is not looking for independence in His children. In the divine economy, independence is actually a sign of immaturity. Of immaturity. Because to be spiritually mature is to be radically reliant on the Heavenly Father upon whom we must depend every moment of every day. And Jacob was not the last biblical figure to live this lesson either. I think I quoted it just a few weeks ago. I'll quote it again. Think on that passage in 2 Corinthians 12, where the apostle Paul discusses his mysterious thorn in the flesh, which he had begged the Lord to remove. And in response, what does Jesus say to Paul? Verse 9, My grace is sufficient for you. for my power is made perfect in weakness." Jesus does not remove the thorn, whatever it was, because doing so would have done Paul more harm than good. When Paul was at the end of himself, that's when he was most blessed by God and most useful to God. And so take a little encouragement here, take a little direction from the text. If you feel like you are just barely limping through life, if it feels like you're just struggling to get your head above the water, if it feels like you're just constantly crying out to the Lord for mercy, then that might be just where the Lord wants you because that is where He can most truly bless you. The key, however, is that if you are living that struggle, then you must plead but the Lord for blessing as Jacob did. You must cast yourself on Christ who once appeared so long ago as the angel of the Lord. Because feeling your finitude, feeling your limitations, that's not of use if it does not drive you to the infinite fountain of life. Feeling your finitude does nothing good for you unless it drives you to the infinite fountain of life. And that's where Jacob is driven in verses 30 to 32, as he wrestles no longer with the man, but with what has happened to him. That's the final portion where it says, Jacob wrestles with what has happened to him. As is often the case in the patriarchal narratives of Genesis, the place where this event took place receives a new name in light of the significant events which have happened there. In verse 30, Jacob names the place Peniel. And here's what he says, for I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. That which was suggested by his request for blessing is now made explicit. Why didn't God want to be seen? Why is he shielding his face? Why is he making these requests? Well, it's because It's God. It's God. And looking upon God in this way is dangerous. And so Jacob now chooses the name Peniel because he understands what was going on. Peniel means face of God. And Jacob has seen God face to face, even though it occurred in the dim light of early morning. He saw that face, shadowed though it was, and he's still alive. God has spared him. He has not been struck down by the glorious presence of his covenant Lord. And since Jacob recognizes, since Jacob recognizes that he has been spared a worse fate, there is no hint here in the text that he is embittered or angry as he limps away from that sight under the first rays of morning sunshine. As he passes, we're told here, Peniel, which is just an alternative form of Peniel, he has been physically weakened, but spiritually strengthened. He's been physically weakened, but spiritually strengthened. His fear of Esau is gone. His frantic preparations have given way as he peacefully strolls onward. And he's gonna meet with Esau, and he's gonna have no trouble. We'll see that, Lord willing, soon. Now some have thought of this as Jacob's conversion. I don't think that's correct. There have already been signs that Jacob is one who walks with God. We've highlighted those at various points. But this is one of the major turning points in Jacob's life. As he becomes Israel, the father of the people of God, how much more significant could you get? In fact, our passage closes with the historical note that the generations of Israelites did not eat the center of the thigh that's on the hip socket because that's where Jacob had been wounded by God. Looking his Lord in the face had changed him and given him a new perspective. He could retire from the rat race and he could limp towards Canaan with his head held high because his truest blessings, he realized, would be found in dependent communion with God. Brothers and sisters, have you, like Jacob, had the transformative experience of gazing upon the face of God and being changed? Have you humbled yourself before him and found blessing? Maybe you would protest that you have not had the strange privilege of wrestling with any angels. But here's the thing, 2 Corinthians 4, which we read earlier, shows us and teaches us that we have been given freer access to God than Jacob ever got by wrestling. We have been given freer access to God than Jacob ever got by wrestling. Those who have heard the gospel message, received it by faith, have encountered the glory of Christ in a profound way. And therefore Paul concludes in 2 Corinthians chapter four, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ, we encounter now by faith through the word. We don't literally see him, but we hear him proclaimed. As Paul says in Galatians, he's depicted before us as crucified through the preaching of the word. As we encounter him now by faith, and as we do so, looking upon his face by faith, the glorious God is revealed to us. And encountering Him will not leave you unchanged. One glimpse of Him, one glorious gospel glimpse of God, can make all the weakness worth it. It can make all the weakness worth it. And so I would urge you tonight, as you reflect on what we've seen in the text, in your weakness, look to Jesus Christ. Look to Jesus Christ. Two thousand years ago, He was made weak for us. He too was brought to the point of desperation. grieving and groaning, he prayed to his father in the garden of Gethsemane, and then he was brought near to the point of death, and as he was, he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It looked as if his father was against him. But while the crucifixion of Christ did happen according to the divine will, Father was behind Jesus and for Jesus as he suffered on Golgotha. According to the eternal Trinitarian decree, Christ was brought low for us on the cross so that he could also be exalted on high with us in heaven. He was brought low. He was made weak so that we might be brought high with him as we depend upon him. And now Jesus is Resurrected, he's ascended to heaven. He reigns as that perfect emblem of God's glory. And thus, since he has triumphed over his own weakness, we can look to him when we are weak, knowing that he is strong for us. And ultimately, those who repent of their sins and depend upon him in faith will be made strong with him in glory. Resting on Jesus, we, like Jacob, will also make it to the promised land. Congregation, as we come to the end of this bewildering passage, I'll admit that there are questions which we've left unanswered. There are elements of this event which, perhaps until we're in glory, will forever remain shrouded in mystery. But what we've seen is this. We've seen that as Jacob arrives on the precipice of the promised land, the Lord finally brings him to the end of himself. And in this way, he teaches Jacob to depend upon him himself for success and blessing. This is the only way that he could face Esau. This is the only way that he could come into Canaan fruitfully and successfully. And so let us tonight learn to depend upon God with him and thus receive covenant blessing. As we look upon the face of Jesus Christ portrayed in the written word, we are strengthened. We are supplied with all that we need. For in Him we encounter our glorious covenant God. Let's pray.