Radio Antioch

Rembrandt’s Jacob’s struggle with the Angel, 1659

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 5.

Returning to our study of the life of Jacob, we find that he has reached his own “teachable moment”. Jacob is now ready to receive from God. He has spent twenty years doing his own thing away from his promised inheritance. Now, those who know me well will say that I am pretty stubborn at times, but I hope that I would wake up and get a clue faster than twenty years. Jacob finally figured out that he is not as smart as he thought. Instead of putting one over on his relatives, he has been deceived and cheated by them. He has now come to the end of his own strength and is teachable, and it is here that God begins to intervene to transform his destiny.

Genesis 32:1-2     Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. [2] When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. (ma-ha-nah´yim;  which means two camps)

You almost never hear this verse preached on! But just as there were angels at the border of the promised land when Jacob left, there were Angels at the border when he returned. (I wonder if it was the same angels? Did Jacob give them a knowing nod as he met them, twenty years older but wiser and ready to follow the Lord? ) Jacob could have easily despised his inheritance like his brother did, and stayed in Haran. But God was watching over Jacob’s destiny and protecting his inheritance. So it is with Us. We frequently rebel against God’s best for us, but in His mercy he preserves a way for us in spite of ourselves.
But now that he is coming back to God’s destiny, he has to deal with the flesh and the sins in his life. Jacob sent servants to meet with his brother Esau. They came back very excited: Esau was marching to meet Jacob, with 400 men! Now, you don’t take 400 men with you to meet your brother if you just want to have a hug and a handshake! No, as they say in New Jersey, Esau and “the boys’ wanted to “have a word” with Jacob.
Genesis 32:9-12

[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. [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.’ ”

This is one of the earliest examples of prayer in the Bible, and it was not one of those half-hearted “thanks for the burger” prayers. No, this was one of those “oh, Lord, ooooh Loooord”  kind of prayers. Jacob is toast if God does not save him, and he knows it. Jacob cries out to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, fully acknowledging the covenant with his family. Jacob finally acknowledges that it is God alone who has blessed him, it is God alone who can deliver him from his past, and it is God alone who can carry him into his destiny. He acknowledges that he is unworthy of the kindness and faithfulness God has shown him. But now he claims the promise in the midst of his trial:  “ Lord, Esau is coming to kill me, but you said that you would prosper me.”

Jacob now prepares for the worst- He sends great gifts to Esau to try and turn aside his anger. He then sent his wives and children over the ford of the Jabbok River, which was the boundary of his promised land, and waits alone to hear from God.

Genesis 32:24-29
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.”
[29] Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

The Lord does not let Jacob enter the promised land without confronting his past. He cannot walk into God’s destiny in his life without coming face to face with God. He begins to wrestle with God, and during the fight, his flesh is broken, and he walked with a limp the rest of his life. Even so, it was not enough to leave behind his wanderings. It was not enough to return to God’s destiny for his life. It was not enough to throw himself solely on the mercy of  God in his troubles. No! he had come this far, and would not let go until he received a transformation from God himself! In spite of his flesh being broken, he hangs on and says NO! I WILL NOT LET GO UNTIL YOU BLESS ME!
You see, Jacob had lied and cheated his way to get blessings from men. But his trials and troubles, twenty years being cheated by Laban, and now a threat on his very life had refined his character and brought him to the realization that nothing less than a transformation from God himself would change his destiny.
The question was cutting: “what is your Name?” Jacob must now admit before God that he is a cheat, a supplanter, a deceiver. He comes face to face with his sin, and his flesh nature. He cannot cross into his destiny until it is broken. Then the Lord speaks destiny into his life:

[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.

Whenever there is a name change of an individual in scripture, is symbolic of a profound spiritual change. Jacob would no longer be the cheat, the one who was not the rightful patriarch. Now by God’s grace he became Israel, which according to Strong’s in Hebrew means “He will rule as God” He is no longer the cheat, he is the Ruler under God’s hand.
Jacob was from this moment transformed, and the nation that he fathered was named after him: Israel.
Maybe you are going through distress at this time. A lot of us are. Perhaps you have rebelled from God’s plan for your life and need to come back to the promised land. Maybe like Jacob you realize that the sin in your flesh, or baggage that you have from your family, or the mistakes that you have made are holding you back from going on with God. Maybe for the first time you have reached your own teachable moment and are willing to wrestle with God and have your nature changed.
Are you ready to confess before God where your life has brought you, and confront the issues that hold you back? Are you ready to grab a hold of God and not let go until He changes you? Are you fed up with living with Laban and ready to cross the Jabbok to live in God’s promise in your inheritance? If that is you, come to Him. He will confront your flesh, but He will transform your spirit as you press into your destiny in Him.

Photo Credit

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast, Episode 4.

A few weeks ago, I was in the prayer room at a local church outside of Chicago. I was the guest speaker that morning, and was due to preach in about 45 minutes. I always ask the Lord to intervene when I preach. My ideal Sunday would be for the presence of the Lord to fall during worship, so that the congregation spends the whole service in His presence, making my preaching unnecessary.  Most of the time I don’t get my wish, so I preach anyway. But it is not unusual for the Lord to “adjust” my sermons during this time. During the prayer, the Lord brought these scriptures to my attention:

Joshua 5:1
Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

Joshua 5:13-15
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
[14] “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
[15] The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

This was a totally different subject than my message for that morning. Over the next few minutes I knew that the Lord was giving me a word for the congregation, and I believe, also for those who would read this on the internet.

With the recent financial meltdown and the looming election, I have been receiving many emails. One email said that I should vote for One particular candidate, because HE would fix the financial crisis. Another message said that I should vote for the Other candidate, because HE would fix the financial crisis. Now, I consider myself an independent voter, as I vote for the candidate and not by party lines, and have over time voted not only for candidates from both major parties, but independents as well. And honestly, I have been pretty disgusted with what has come out of Washington from both parties in these recent times.
I also have received emails reminding us that America has killed many times the number of people with Abortion as the Nazis ever killed in concentration camps. (A fact, look it up) This statistic always upsets me. But another one that upset me was a claim that only about 25% of evangelical Christians actually vote. (Before writing this, I looked this one up, and most sources claim this number is in the low 40% range, which is still terrible.)
When the Lord brought this scripture to mind, all of the churn revealed in these mails came into razor-sharp focus. I let it digest for a while, then during the sermon related the prayer room story and what I felt the Lord was saying:
When Joshua confronted the Angel, he instantly recognized it as a heavenly being. His confronting question: Are you for US or our ENEMIES? The implied question seems to be “Are you from God, or from the Enemy? The answer is telling: NEITHER! I am here to do GOD’S BUSINESS! It may have been stunning to Joshua to hear that his people’s agenda was not entirely in line with God’s thought. I  am sure that there are people on all sides of this election that feel that God is on their side. But I feel God saying that we are not to be of one party, or the other, but need to get on our faces and discern what is God’s agenda. The Angel then said to Joshua: “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” At this point Joshua drops his agenda a prostrates himself. I feel the Lord is saying that the Christians need to not only quit buying into all of the political rhetoric, and quit with their apathy. Like Joshua, we need to get on our faces and align ourselves with the Lord’s agenda. It does not matter if we like one candidate or another, or how our family traditionally votes. We are part of the Army of God, and His thoughts and Agenda are far beyond our own. We need to humble ourselves, forget our pre-conceived notions, PRAY until we hear from God on how to vote, then be obedient.
Notice something else: unlike other angelic encounters, the angel actually allowed Joshua to worship him. (Contrast this with Rev. 19:10) Could it be that this was more than merely an Angel? Joshua thought so, naming him “Lord” in verse 14. And the command that followed was the same words that the Lord used to Moses , “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Like Joshua, we have our eyes on the fight, both in the financial and political realms and do not realize that the Lord Himself is calling us to obedience.

Photo courtesy  Christophe Dune, used with permission. Taken in the Campo Marzio, in Rome.