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Genesis 32d:

Reading #133   

Face to face

Now comes the move from Peniel.

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Genesis 32: 

30 And Jacob called the name of the place "Peniel" [the face of God]: "for I have seen [the Son of] God face to face, and my life is preserved." 

31 And as he passed over [left] Penuel the sun rose upon him [it was early morning], and he halted [limped] upon his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, to this day [as a permanent reminder of the experience, it is that important]: because He touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank. 

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God says of mankind in general:

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Isaiah 57:16-19

"I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth [with humans]: for the spirit [of humanity] should fail before Me, and [I would lose] the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness [for his desire of the things of this world] was I wroth, and smote him: I hid Me, and was wroth, and [because] he went on frowardly [determinedly] in the way of his heart." [See Isaiah 59:1-2.]

"I have seen his ways, and will heal him [of them]: I will lead him also [day by day], and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. . . . Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, says the LORD; and I will heal him [but it will take time]." 

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Christ might at any time have allowed the fallen angels of heaven to pour out the vials of wrath on our world, to destroy those who are filled with hatred of God and His ways.  In fact, He could still permit this dark spot to be wiped from His universe at any moment He chooses. But He does not do this. He is today represented as standing at the altar of incense, presenting before His Father the prayers of those who desire His help, whether they be saint or sinner.  Revelation 8:3-4.  His "wroth" as He calls it (and which is quite different to ours, Isaiah 55:7-9), is directed towards His inability to help those who need it and yet will not have it.  Only when every one has made up their mind and will not change it will He be forced by that circumstance to relax and permit the seven last plagues to fall.  Revelation 16:1-21. (Take special note of verses 5-7 and 15.)

Jacob in his distress was not overwhelmed during his wrestle with Jesus.  He had repented of his sin, he had endeavoured to atone for the wrong to his brother.  When threatened with death through his shortcoming he realised that he was not right with the Son of God, and so he sought help from Him. "Yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication." Hosea 12:4. "And He blessed him there." 

Then it was, in the power of His Saviour's might, the cleansed one stood up, no longer the supplanter, but a prince with God. He had gained not merely deliverance from his outraged brother, but deliverance from himself. The power of earthliness in his own nature was broken; his character was fully transformed.  He was Israel forever.

Thus the two groups were completed.

Esau had despised the blessings of the covenant. He had valued earthly above spiritual good, and he had received that which he desired. It was by his own deliberate choice that he was separated from the people of God.  See Ezekiel 18:31-32.

Jacob had chosen the inheritance of faith.  Then, although he was the priest of God, he had endeavoured to obtain it by craft, treachery, and falsehood; but the Son of God had patiently permitted his sins to work out their correction.

Yet through all the bitter experiences of his later years, Jacob had never swerved from his purpose or renounced his first choice.  It was this that led him to the point of redemption. He had now learned that in resorting to human skill and craft to secure the blessing, he had been warring against God. From that night of wrestling beside the Jabbok, Jacob had come forth a different man. Self-confidence had been uprooted. From that moment the early cunning was no longer seen. In place of craft and deception, his life was marked by simplicity and truth.  He had given up the idea that his God should punish him if he broke his promise, and in its place had accepted forgiveness and cleansing.

This was not the simple conversion to a new heart which all go through at the beginning of their Christian experience to become babes in Christ.  He had had that years before he left Canaan.  Now he was no longer an infant in the ways of God, but a mature, full-grown man in God.  As Paul later explained to the Greek Christians in Ephesus, this has always been God's intention.

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Ephesians 4:

11 And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying [educating] of the body of Christ: 13 till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. 

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Jacob had learned the lesson of simple reliance upon the Almighty Arm, and amid trial and affliction he bowed in humble submission to the will of God. The baser elements of his character were consumed in the furnace fire, the true gold was refined (see Malachi 3:2-4), until the faith of Abraham and Isaac appeared undimmed in him. 

In like manner, those Christians who endure through the time of the end will find that because they have never swerved (not even temporarily) from their purpose or renounced their choice since they first made it, they will be classed as "virgins", ready to be taken to the heavenly "marriage."  Matthew 25.   They follow Him who is life and cling to His gift, never accepting that it is right to die and separate from Him, for it is Satan who has the "power of death".  Hebrews 2:14.  To go aside for even a short time into the dusty bed of the grave is to commit spiritual "adultery" and lose "virginity", for heaven's view of marriage is that it starts from the day the engagement is announced (conversion).

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Revelation 14:

4 These are they which were not defiled with women [false religions]; for they are virgins. These are they which follow [only] the Lamb whithersoever [wherever] He goes [leads]. These were redeemed from among men [not from the grave], being the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God [i.e. in His sight].  [See also Matthew 25:1-13.]

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Consider king David in this respect. 

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1 Kings 14:

8 ... you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in My eyes... 

1 Kings 15:

5 ... David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

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See also Acts 13:22 for confirmation of this.  Truly, we see not as God sees.

One day Jesus said some very hard to believe words.  They were difficult to accept when He spoke them of old, and are just as inflexible today.

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John 5:

24 Verily, verily, I say to you, He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed [already] from death to life.... 40 And [yet] you will not come to Me, that you might have [or keep that] life. 

John 6:

27 Labour not for the meat [food] which perishes, but for that meat which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you: for Him has God the Father sealed . . .  

47 Verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes on Me has everlasting life. 48 I am that bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 

John 8:

51 Verily, verily, I say to you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death. 

John 11:

25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me [as a Saviour], though he were dead, yet shall he live [in the resurrection]: 26 AND whosoever lives and believes in Me [as a Redeemer] shall never die [but be translated]. Believe you THIS?

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Can you?

Back next week,

Ron

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