Receiving the Promise
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 master Esau: `Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now.
5:I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, menservants and maidservants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favour in your eyes.’ "
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."
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."
9:Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, `Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’
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 groups.
11:Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children...
...21:So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
22:That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23:After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
24:So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25:When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
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."
27:The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered.
28:Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."...
The chapter is all about Jacob setting off to meet with his brother Esau, and receiving Gods blessing on the way. This is where Jacob’s name is changed to Israel, and it becomes the start of the promise given to his grandfather Abraham. Abraham was promised that his descendants would be a great nation as numerous as the stars, and here we read about the beginning of that nation of Israel. That nation may not seem to be a great nation, but there is hardly any news channel across the world that doesn’t broadcast something about what is happening to this group of people. It is constantly the focus of the whole world.
I want to look at how Jacob entered into that promise, and to look at how we can enter into the promises of God. I have noted three things caused Jacob to receive Gods blessing. Firstly Jacob faced his fears and began to make recompense for the past. Secondly he entrusted everything he had to God in obedience to him. Thirdly he grabbed hold of God and wouldn’t let go until he had received that blessing.
He faced his fears and made recompense for the past.
Jacob had upset many people, sometime through no fault of his own and at other times because he practised deceit. But one thing that Jacob had always done was run away from his problems. Esau had sold Jacob his birth right, as the first born son. However when Jacob realised that it was Esau who was going to win his fathers blessing, he, in collaboration with his mother, tricked Isaac into ensuring that he got the blessing over his brother. Realising that he had outraged his brother, Jacob ran to his uncle Laban.
After 20 years of relative peace, Laban and his sons fall out with Jacob, who has become increasingly powerful. God tells Jacob to go back to his homeland, but instead of parting company properly from Laban, Jacob just runs away again. In fact, Jacob and Laban have only just made amends as we reach the start of chapter 32. So Jacob has spent his life running away from problems and they are finally starting to catch up on him. Jacob is loosing out of places to run.
It is in this chapter that we see a different Jacob. Now he is facing his problems head on. Jacob intends to make up with his brother after twenty years of hurt. Jacob is scared to death and yet in obedience to God is putting the past right. We can tell that Jacob is not expecting a good reception by the fact that he sends out gifts ahead of him. It is no coincidence that while Jacob trying to make amends with his brother that God meets with him. God is faithful and ensures that his brother is pleased to see him. Jacob’s fears are unfounded, and in chapter 33 we find the reunion of these two men.
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 maidservants.
2:He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.
3:He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4:But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
The first reason that Jacob entered into Gods promises at this point, was that he faced up to his fears and the problems that he had caused himself in the past. When Jacob finally met his brother again, he found that Esau wanted him back. He was actually pleased to see him. The account of Esau and Jacob shares much resemblance to the parable that Jesus recalls of the lost son, in Luke chapter 15. A father has two sons, and one of them grabs his inheritance early and goes off, but spends it wildly. When he has nowhere to go he returns to the father, hoping that he could be a servant, but finds to his delight that, just as Esau still loved Jacob as a brother, the father still loves him as a son.
Jesus uses this parable to show how just as the son wandered away and used his fathers possessions wrongly, we also have taken the gifts and abilities that God has given us and misused them. But just like the son, and like Jacob, if we are willing to face up to the mistakes of the past and make amends then God is willing to forgive us. The Bible calls it repentance. Jacob thought that Esau would no longer think him worthy to be treated as a brother, and the lost son thought that he was no longer worthy to be the fathers son. They both however found that they were forgiven, and they were given that honour anyway. In the same way because we have messed up, we quite rightly think that we are not worthy to be called Gods children. However if we come to God in humility and repentance, He is willing to forget the past and embrace you, just as Esau did with Jacob.
In the same way if we want to enter the promises of God then we must also be willing to make amends with other people. Some people spend their lives running away from problems. If we want to enter Gods promises then we need to be willing to face them. If we are willing to face the problems of the past, then like Jacob, God will take us into his promises.
He entrusted everything in obedience to God.
Part of the reason that Jacob was making up with Esau and heading back to the homeland was because God had told him to. Jacob was acting in obedience to God. Yet when do we read that God met with Jacob? Was it when Jacob made the decision to go back to the homeland? Was it when he started off on the journey? Was it when he reached the first camp for the night? The answer to all of these questions is no. Jacob did not meet with God until he was completely on his own and had entrusted everything into being obedient to what God had told him to do.
In Genesis 32:21-23 we read that it was after Jacob had sent everything on ahead of him that God came to wrestle with him during the night. Jacob had sent all the gifts, all his possessions, his wives, and even all his sons ahead of him. Jacob couldn’t run anymore because he would have been left with absolutely nothing. He had sent everything on ahead of him in obedience to God. It is at this point that Jacob encountered God.
We can often want to encounter God, and to enter into his presence, but how much are we willing to trust Him? Do we really give to God everything that we have? Would we be truly willing to risk everything that we have in order to be obedient to Him? Until we reach that point we will never truly encounter Gods presence.
On April 21st, in the year 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez sailed into the harbour of Vera Cruz, Mexico. He brought with him only about 600 men, and yet over the next two years his vastly outnumbered forces were able to defeat Montezuma and all the warriors of the Aztec empire, making Cortez the conqueror of all Mexico. How was this incredible feat accomplished, when two prior expeditions had failed even to establish a colony on Mexican soil? Here’s the secret. Cortez knew from the very beginning that he and his men faced incredible odds. He knew that the road before them would be dangerous and difficult. He knew that his men would be tempted to abandon their quest and return to Spain. And so, as soon as Cortez and his men had come ashore and unloaded their provisions, he ordered their entire fleet of eleven ships destroyed. His men stood on the shore and watched as their only possibility of retreat burned and sank. And from that point on, they knew beyond any doubt there was no return, no turning back. Nothing lay behind them but empty ocean. Their only option was to go forward, to conquer or die.
(Illustration taken from Alan Perkins at Sermon Central.com.)
If we want to discover God then we must be willing to do the same. If you do not know God and you want to meet him then this is exactly what you have to do. You must take your own will, your own desires and ambitions, everything that you possess, and you must entrust them into the hands of God. The greatest promise that God gives is that of Salvation. We can only enter into that promise if we are willing to entrust everything we have into Gods Hands and be obedient to Him.
He would not let go until he had received the blessing.
In what is one of the strangest verses in the Bible we read that a man wrestles with Jacob until day break.
Genesis 32:24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
The verse is strange because it doesn’t say anything of where the man came from or the purpose of him being there. It is not until a few verse later that we find that this man is God in the flesh. Jacob obviously realises that this man was from God, as he demanded that he bless him, but it is not until verse 28 that the mans identity is revealed. Jacob encounters God, but he had to struggle.
The Bible doesn’t tell us why the God wanted to wrestle with Jacob, but it does say that God went to leave and that Jacob prevented Him from doing so by holding on. It is amazing to think that after making amends with people after years of hurt. After entrusting all to be obedient with God, and after struggling personally with God. Jacob could have missed out on the blessing if he had not have held on. Even after Jacob’s hip was wrenched, he still refused to let go.
Why did God make Jacob struggle with Him all night before He blessed him? Why did He damage Jacob’s hip to try and force him to let go? I believe the answer to these questions lies with the promise itself. God was about to make Jacob the father of a great nation. This nation would be Gods nation, an example to the world of the greatness of God. This promise could not be given to somebody who wouldn’t take it seriously. It had to be given to somebody who would hold on to it, whatever the cost. Jacob proved himself to be that kind of man. It is at this point that Jacob’s name is changed to Israel.
If we want to enter in to the promises of God then we need to have the heart of Jacob. God wants a people who are willing to struggle with him and refuse to let go in order to see that promise fulfilled. Why is that? It is because of how special the promise is. In order to be able to give us this promise, God sent His Son to die on a cross so that we might not perish in hell, but spend eternity in his presence. This promise is so great, and has been brought at such a high price, that God will not give it to somebody who will just let go of it when the going gets tough. God wants people who are willing to cling to him in order to see that promise fulfilled. It is the greatest blessing that we could ever receive from God.
Conclusion.
Jacob faced his fears and made recompense for the past. He entrusted everything that he had in order to be obedient to god. Jacob would not let go until he had received Gods blessing and received Gods promise. It is at this point that Jacob’s name is changed from to Israel. Jacob, means ’deceiver’, but Israel means ’one who struggles with God’. Jacob received Gods promise, and history has shown that the nation of Israel has continued to struggle with God. The have been times when its hip has been put out of joint, such as in the holocaust, but the Bible states that that nation will be brought back to Him in the last days, and will enter in to the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and earth.
We too can receive the promise of God if we do the same things as Jacob. If we face up to the past and repent. God is willing to forgive your past as long as you are willing to face up to it by bringing it before him in repentance. God will meet with you if you put all your trust in him. You must be willing to give everything you have into serving him. Finally you must be willing to hold on to him until you receive that promised blessing. This blessing will not come until we die, and so if we want to see it, we must be willing to hold on to Him until then. There may be times when we feel we have had our hip put out of place. We might suffer the death of a loved one, or be hurt by those we trust. However if we hold on to Him, then we will receive that promise.
The promise that we receive is an eternity in heaven as opposed to hell. To receive it, you have to do those three things that Jacob did. I want ask if there is anybody in this meeting who is willing to do just that...
... For those who are Christians and are already holding on to the greatest of all promises, I want to ask if you are missing out on Gods blessings in the meantime? God can have great blessings, ministries and promises for our lives, but we can miss out on them. Are you constantly running from problems and difficulties? Are there people with whom you have had years of hurt, that God wants you to make your peace with? Until we are willing to put this right then we can never expect to enter into Gods blessings.
Have you received instruction from God, and gone some way to to following it but haven’t fully committed your life to it? Maybe you haven’t entrusted your personal pride, or your money, or something else into Gods hands. Until we do this then we can never expect God to meet us in out situations.
Finally have you received a little from God but have not been willing to hang on. There have been many revivals in the past where people have received an encounter with God, but it hasn’t lasted. Often that is because they weren’t willing or prepared to hold on to it. We need to desire Gods blessing in our lives so much that we are willing to hold on to it despite our hips being put out of joint. Despite us starting to get tired or weary.
God has got many promises for our lives as individuals and as a church. He wants to bless us. I believe that we are on the verge of seeing a mighty move of His Spirit. We will only see this happen however if we are willing to face up to our fears, to entrust everything, and to hold on tight. God will do the rest.
