Text: Hebrews 11:21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff - NKJV
Title: Jacob - from Worm to Worshipper!
Intro: The bible in both Old and New Testament depicts “Living by Faith” as the only life that is acceptable and pleasing to God!
Hebrews 10:37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” 38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith.[NOT FEAR, WORKS, OR ANYTING ELSE] And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” [i.e. WHO IS FAITHLESS] 39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. [UNTO THE SAVING OF THE SOUL!]
Proposition: Yet we have a misconception of faith. We often see it as a means by which we escape the test, trails, challenges, and set-backs in life! Or to say it another way, if we just have enough faith – no hardship will find us!
Yet God’s great goal for our lives is not to make us comfortable but rather to conform us in character into the image of His Son, Jesus!
Romans 8: 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.- NIV
Or to put it another way to transform us from being a:
Jacob – ??????? - Ya`aqob - "heel holder" or "supplanter" or “deceiver.”
To a:
Israel – ?????????? -Yisra'el - "One who prevail with God " or “Prince of God.”
And this is really the history of our person of interest in our scripture passage God turns him from being a worm to worshipper!
Why would I call him a worm? Because God did!
Isaiah 41: 14 “Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,” says the Lord
And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth;
You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small,
And make the hills like chaff.
16 You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away,
And the whirlwind shall scatter them;
Transitional sentence: How does God do it? Let’s look 3 portraits of Jacob, that show how this “metamorphosis “takes place! The first one being…
I. Jacob – The Worm! I know what your thinking. It is not very kind to call anyone a worm!
A) Definition = Worm
1. Any of a number of creeping or burrowing invertebrate animals with long, slender soft bodies and no limbs.
2. An informal or definition is:
a) A weak or despicable person.
b) A groveling, abject, contemptible person
Q: Why would he be defined this way?
A: He was a supplanter right from the womb!
B) At Birth
1. When he comes out of his mother’s womb – his parents named him– DECIEVER!
Genesis 25: 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26a Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob...
a) Jacob - ???? Yaccob, from ??? akab, to defraud, deceive, to supplant, i.e., to overthrow a person by tripping up his heels.
Adam Clarke-Hence this name was given to Jacob, because it was found he had laid hold on his brother's heel, which was emblematical of his supplanting Esau, and defrauding him of his birthright.
b) And as you read the story of his life this is what it looked like!
He was a determined man; some would consider him to be ruthless. He was a con artist, a liar, and a manipulator, In fact, the name Jacob, not only means deceiver, but more literally it means grabber.
c) Someone who by hook or by crook would take what he wanted or needed to get thru in life!
B) Birthright (How he got it)
1. Was through deception, even though God said it was ultimately his.
2. He still used trickery to lay hold of it!
Genesis 25: 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
3. He still used trickery to lay hold of it!
Genesis 27: 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. 18 He went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
4. He even built up his wealth by deceiving his father in law.
a) When Laban asked him:
Genesis 30:31 “What shall I give you?” he asked. “Don’t give me anything,” Jacob replied. “But if you will do this one thing for me, I will go on tending your flocks and watching over them: 32 Let me go through all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat. They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty (really?) will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen.”
34 “Agreed,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” 35 That same day he removed all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Genesis 30:37 Jacob, however, (Resorted back to his wormy ways) took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. 38 Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, 39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. 40 Jacob set apart the young of the flock by themselves, but made the rest face the streaked and dark-colored animals that belonged to Laban. Thus he made separate flocks for himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. 41 Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches, 42 but if the animals were weak, he would not place them there. So the weak animals went to Laban and the strong ones to Jacob. 43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys.
C) Brother that he still had to contend with:
1. Esau!
Genesis 31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.” 2 And Jacob noticed that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had been. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
b) Who held a grudge against Jacob!
Genesis 27:41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
c) So what does Jacob do? Transforms into portrait #2?
II. Jacob – The Weasel!
A) Weasel?
1. A deceitful, sneaky, untrustworthy, or insincere, or treacherous person?
B) What would make me say that?
1. Plots – AGAIN!
Genesis 32: 3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, [Servant? Really?] I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
2. Plot?
a). Bribe! That…
b) Backfires?
Genesis 32:6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
3. Panic!
Genesis 32: 7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
a) And low and behold what is his third reaction – what should have been his first!
4. PRAYS!! (Listen to it!)
Genesis 32: 9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
a) Gives God platitudes! Like we often do when we are in trouble and need His help!
Genesis 32: 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
5. Petition?
a) Listen to how it is prioritized….
Genesis 32:11a Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, (Save me first!)
Genesis 32:11b and also the mothers with their children. (Secondly)
Genesis 32:12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
b) The prayer is a pretense of relying on the Lord, because he does not pray and trust but rather:
6. Plots again!
Genesis 32: 13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.” 17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’”
7. Plan?
a). Pacification!
b) Perhaps I can pacify my brothers anger by bribing him!!
Genesis 32:20b For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” 21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
BUT NEXT WE SEE A DIFFERENT STAGE OF HIS METAMORPHISIS: PORTRAIT #3..
III. Jacob – The Wrestler!
A) Who did he wrestle with?
B) What did he wrestle with?
1. I believe first of all -HIS THOUGHTS!
2. With -HIMSELF!
a) His choices
b) His tendencies
c) His weaknesses
d) His failures
e) His fears
f) His sins!
g) His selfishness
h) His soul!
B) Point?
1. I believe he did a lot of soul searching that night, thinking how did I get to this place? My life is in danger! Etc.
2. I believe that he was totally exhausted, felt completely defeated, and was more frightened and phobic than he ever was in his life!
3. Here he is alone in the desert, physically, emotionally exhausted, pennilessness now, because he sent all that he possessed ahead, in an attempt to appease a murderous brother before him, and an angry father-in-law behind him.
4. For the first time in his life, felt totally powerless to control or manipulate his own fate anymore!! He felt trapped, hopeless, defeated, with an inevitable death, knocking on his door!
a) And out of sheer exhaustion and hopelessness he falls into a exhausted sleep!!
5. AND SO THE NARRATIVE SAYS….
Genesis 32: 24a So Jacob was left alone!
6. But it was there that he had a Divine Visitation that would forever change who he was!
7. Someone earlier in the narrative of his life that told him he would not leave him alone, comes to him!
Genesis 28: 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
8. He is identified as:
Genesis 32:24b and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
Q: Who was this “man?”
9. This was a pre-incarnate theophany of Jesus Christ!
Adam Clarke - This was doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ, who, among the patriarchs, assumed that human form, which in the fullness of time he really took of a woman, and in which he dwelt thirty-three years among men.
Q: Why did he come? TO WRESTLE WITH THE WEASEL AND THE WORM!
Genesis 32:24b and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
C) PERSPECTIVE?
1. What was happening?
Frederick Buechner – The magnificent defeat of the human soul at the hands of God!
Madeline Kalu- Jacob’s struggle with God is symbolic of his struggle with his inner self. God wanted to enter into a relationship with Jacob, however, he couldn’t do so until Jacob admitted his weakness of self-reliance, deceit, and trickery. When Jacob refused to surrender to God, a mere divine touch on Jacob’s hip forced the young man to surrender and admit his utter need for God!
Genesis 32:25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him,
2. Not because he could not, but because he would not!
a) Why not?
Thomas Coke -The Divine Person prevailed not, because he was willing to give Jacob the apparent superiority.
The key to understanding this is the context of intent. Those who instruct students in the martial arts for example, deliberately hold back when sparring. That is, they restrict their techniques and limit their force. [why?] This allows their student to continue competing, rather than being quickly and pointlessly defeated. In the case of a more skilled student, the instructor is "unable" or better said “unwilling” to defeat their opponent so they use a limited approach. At that point, if they choose to, the instructor can stop holding back and end the fight. Which, in fact, seems to be exactly what this mysterious opponent chose to do with Jacob, delivering a sudden and crippling attack.
Genesis 32:25b he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Q: Why did God do that?
D) Principle
1. God did it to break him of his self dependency.
2. And God must break us of it also, so that He can bless us as we cling to Him in our brokenness.
3. It was only after he came to grips with God and ceased his struggling, realizing that he could not go on without God that he finally received the blessing of God!
Genesis 32: 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Canon Hay Aitken. - As soon as Jacob was brought to his proper place, and in utter weakness was content to accept the blessing of God’s free gift, that moment the blessing came.
Peter Pett- Jacob is clinging on because he wants with all his being the blessing of God, not just as a ‘blessing’ but as a life-changing experience. He is deeply aware that he has been face to face with God in the closest of encounters, and now he wants it to impact fully on his future life. He will not rest until he is sure that his future is secure in God’s hands, until God guarantees that future. God has come to him in a deeply personal way and he does not want to rest until he has obtained the full benefit of what God has brought.
Genesis 32: 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” (Deceiver, defrauder, grabber, supplanter - one who deceives, but Lord - I repent, I don’t want to live this way anymore)!
Genesis 32:28a Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [ Prince with God- prince of God, or, one powerful with God. a prince that has power with God ]
Genesis 32:28b because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
E) Point?
1. Jacob you contended with Esau in the womb, and have overcome!
2. Jacob you have contended with Esau for the birthright and have overcome!
3. You have contended with Laban and have overcome!
4. You have contended with Me and have overcome!
a) How? Well there is an insight that Hosea gives us that Moses doesn’t…
Hosea 12: 3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. 4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;[how] he wept and begged for his favor. - NIV
Benson Commentary – He prayed with tears from a sense of his own unworthiness, and with earnestness for the mercy he desired.
b) Overcome? How did he do it?
i. He acknowledged his sin
ii. He sought God’s forgiveness
iii. He asked for his mercy to triumph over his justice
iv. He asked to be saved not only from Esau but from his sinful, selfish, scheming, ways!
v. And God changed his (life,i.e.) his name!
Q: Why does God sometimes change a person’s name in the Bible?
A: When God changes a person’s name , it is usually to establish a new identity! A name change in the bible symbolized a change of character and destiny!
vi. That is what He does to all who inherit eternal life ultimately!
Revelation 2:17 "To the one who OVERCOMES - conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it"
Close:
Genesis 32:29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” [God? Man?] But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” 31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
He now is a new man! He is transformed into:
IV. Jacob – The Worshipper
Genesis 33:1 Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. 2 He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. [Notice the different approach} 3 He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
A) Picture of?
1. Humility
Genesis 33:4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. 5 Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked. Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
Genesis 33:8 Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?” “To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.
2. Generosity
Genesis 33:9 But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.” 10 “No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably. 11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.
3. Purity
Genesis 33:16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir. 17 Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.
18 After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. 19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. 20 There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.
Genesis 35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
Close – The faith walk is a journey in which God transform you - preparing you for eternity? What stage are you in? What would best describe you?
1. Worm?
2. Weasel?
3. Wrestler
4. Worshipper?
May you cease your striving against God, and give your life over to Him!
