I want to direct your attention
for our text this evening to words that we find in Genesis
chapter 32. In Genesis chapter 32 and reading
verses 24, 25 and 26. And Jacob was left alone, and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out
of joints, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go. for the day breaketh, and he
said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. He's verses then in Genesis chapter
32 and verses 24, 25 and 26 where we read of Jacob wrestling with
the angel. This is the theme really that
I want to take up, the theme of spiritual wrestling, spiritual
wrestling. Jacob was left alone and there
wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Who was this man? This man was
the angel of the Lord, was in fact the Lord Jesus Christ. He acknowledges in verse 30 when
he calls the place Peniel For I have seen God face to face,
and my life is preserved." It's the same person who had appeared
to his grandfather Abraham back in chapter 18. Remember there
how we read of these three strangers appearing to Abraham in the plains
of Mamre. but it says at the beginning
of that 18th chapter, the Lord's. The Lord appeared unto him in
the plains of Mamre and he sat in the tent door in the heat
of the day and he lift up his eyes and looked and lo, three
men stood by him and when he saw them he ran to meet them
from the tent door and bowed himself towards the ground and
then subsequently we see that two of these men depart, verse
22, the men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom,
but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. The Lord remains, but
his other two go toward Sodom. And then in chapter 19, there
came two angels to Sodom at Eden, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. and God seeing them rose up to
meet them and He bowed Himself with His face toward the ground. Three angels, but one of the
three was the angel of the Lord. It's the same person that now
meets with Jacob and wrestles with Jacob. And again we have
mention of this person in the book of Judges. It's the same
one who meet with Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson. Remember the account that we
have there in Judges chapter 13? Verse 17, Manoah said unto
the angel of the Lord, What is thy name? That when thy sayings
come to pass, we may do the honor. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? Or, as the margin says, seeing
it is wonderful. This is the Lord Jesus. His name
shall be called Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the angel of the Lord. And it's the same that we see
here in this 32nd chapter of Genesis. In verse 29, Jacob asked
him and said, Tell me, I pray, thy name. And he said, Wherefore
is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of
the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my
life is preserved. Clearly then, this is a divine
person. And this wrestling that we read
of is spiritual wrestling. This is a man then who is having
dealings, very personal dealings with the Lord God Himself. And I want us to observe a number
of things with regards to the manner of this wrestling. First of all, we see quite clearly
that it is solitary work. In the opening words of the text,
here in verse 24 we're told, and Jacob was left alone. Jacob is alone when he meets
with the angel. And is it not a fact, as William
Tiptoff said, that real religion is a personal thing? There is
that place, of course, for the public worship of God, Clearly,
we're instructed not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We know how the Lord God sets
the solitary in families. There is such a doctrine as the
doctrine of the Church. And yet, we have to recognize
that the Lord God deals with us in a very private and a very
personal manner. Certainly, when we think of the
need for that work to be undertaken in the very depths of our souls
there must be hard work the Lord Jesus says the kingdom of God
is within you God must come and deal with us in that fashion
He must deal with us inwardly He must work in our souls for
real religion is such a private thing And we certainly are reminded
of that when it comes to prayer. How the Lord Jesus makes it quite
clear as he instructs his own disciples there in the Sermon
on the Mount concerning the manner in which they are to pray. They're
not to be like the Pharisees. They're not to be like the hypocrites
who want to make a display of their religion. As he says in
chapter 6 of Matthew, when they pray us, they shall not be as
the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may
be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Their religion is all outward
show. They have their reward when they make an impression
upon others, but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in
secret. and my Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly." Now, believers are to be those
who know much of what it is to meet with God in that private
place. And the Lord Jesus doesn't only
preach these things, but He also practices the truth that He is
preaching. We have record in the Gospels
concerning the manner in which the Lord Jesus Himself lived
the life of faith. And how the Lord Jesus spent
many hours in prayer to His Father in heaven. In chapter 14 of Matthew,
and verse 23, when He had sent the multitude away, He went up
into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come,
He was there alone. He goes apart. He is alone as
he communes with his Father in heaven. Or the Psalmist tells
us of that secret place of the Most High. Here we see that there
is that that must be personal. The Lord must come and have these
particular dealings with us, as was the case with Jacob. Jacob
was left alone. how this wrestling, this spiritual
wrestling is a solitary business but how also when we think in
terms of wrestling we see that this man has to struggle in his
dealings with the angel there wrestled a man with him until
the breaking of the day and when we come to meet with God when
God comes to have dealings with us are we not those who feel
something of our sinnership and know that sinnership is a thing
that is grievous to us as this man meets with the angel so the
angel asks after his name verse 27 what is thy name? And he said, Jacob, and in announcing
his name, is he not confessing something of his sinnership?
You know the significance of the name Jacob. It means the
supplant. That was the name that was given,
as we saw there in chapter 25, when these twins are born, and
Esau is the firstborn. verse 26 after that came his
brother out and his hand took hold on Esau's heel and his name
was called Jacob the supplanter that's what the name means he
will supplant his brother and how does he supplant his brother? well in chapter 27 we see something
of it the deceit he deceives his own father the lies that
he tells to his father, how he is cheating Esau out of the birthright,
how there's much in the character of Jacob that's not very pleasant
to behold. We see much of his sins. And here is he not brought to
confess something of his unworthiness, how that God had dealt with him.
In verse 10 he says, I am not worthy of the least of all the
mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto thy
servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and now I am become two bands." He's brought to acknowledge,
he's struggling here with who he is, what he is. He's Jacob,
he's the supplanter. He's a man who's a deceiver and
a cheat. And he is afraid, always very
fearful with regards to this meeting with the brother from
whom he had stolen the birthright. He says to God in his prayer
there at verse 11, deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of
my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him. I fear him lest he will come
and smite me and the mother with the children." In fact, we're
told how this man wept in Hosea chapter 12. He weeps over his
sins. He has a sense of his sinnership. As he's meeting with God, as
he's praying to God there, at verse 9 following, and as he
wrestles now with the angel here in the words of our text this
evening. Well, let us look at what he
said concerning Jacob there in that passage in Hosea. In Hosea
chapter 12 we learn something more concerning this man. Hosea chapter 12 verse 2 it says the Lord hath
also a controversy with Judah and will punish Jacob according
to his ways according to his doings will he recompense him
and then we're told verse 3 he took his brother by the heel
in the womb and by his strength he had power with God yeah he
had power over the angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication
unto him. He found him in Bethel, and there
he spake with us. Even the Lord God of hosts, the
Lord is his memorial." So we're told certain things concerning
this man Jacob. And we have mentioned there of
how he prays. And it is with tears. He wept
and made supplication unto him. The verb that's used there, this
verb to supplicate, in the Hebrew it's what's called a reflexive
verb. In other words, the action that
is being performed is one that reflects back upon the person
performing that particular action. The basic meaning of the verb
is to show favor, or to be gracious. Literally it says that what he
does as he supplicates is to implore and plead for grace for
himself. He is seeking from God a gracious
favour and a blessing. That's the significance of the
word, to implore. and to plead for an experience
of the grace of God. And he pleads, as we see there,
to the point of weeping. He's in earnest as he cries unto
God. Or do we not see something of
his determination in what is said here in our text at verse
26? When the angel says, let me go
for the day breaketh, How does Jacob respond? He said, I will
not let you go, except thou bless me. What determination we see
in this man, how he clings and how he pleads unto the angel,
his desirous of obtaining a blessing from him. And that's brought
out in that that is recorded in the book of the Prophet Hosea.
He had power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication
unto him. This determination that we see,
is it not something of the determination of faith? That clinging, that
cleaving of faith. We said something about it recently
with regards to Ruth when Ruth comes with her mother-in-law
and together also with her sister-in-law, Orpah and each of these women
seem to be very much attached to Naomi that then Eventually,
Orpah returns to Moab. She returns to her own people
and to her own gods. As Naomi says there in chapter
1 and verse 15, speaking to Ruth, Behold, thy sister-in-law is
gone back unto her people and unto her gods. Return now after
thy sister-in-law. But Ruth is a very different
character. In the verse 14 we're told how
Ruth clave unto her. There's the claving. There's
the clinging of faith. And she says, Entreat me not
to leave thee, or to return from following after thee. For whither
thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy
people shall be my people. And thy God, my God, where thou
diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do
so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. And when Naomi saw that
she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking
unto her. No more will she make the suggestion
that she should return. Ruth is a woman of real faith.
And that's what we see, I say, with this thing. Here is Jacob. We see something of the same
spirit when we turn to the New Testament and read of the ministry
of the apostle. There in Acts chapter 17 we're
told of his preaching in Athens and what was the result of all
that ministry while at the end of the chapter we're told certain
men claim unto him. Just as Ruth claimed unto her
mother-in-law Naomi and was determined that her God should be Ruth's
God also, so too with regards to these men. In Acts 17.34,
certain men claimed unto him, it says, unbelieved. Isn't that
claiming faith? Or that clinging to the Lord?
we have the same in that godly king Hezekiah in 2nd Kings 18
verse 6 we are told how he claimed to the Lord he claimed to the
Lord and departed not from following him but kept his commandments
and what a man was that we have that remarkable account of his
prayer in Isaiah chapter 38 after he had been through tremendous
trials. We'd seen the walled cities throughout
the kingdom of Judah fall before the armies of the Assyrians. And there were the Assyrians
now at the very gates of Jerusalem. And yet, there's a deliverance. Jerusalem doesn't fall. God hears
the prayer of good King Hezekiah. and the armies of Sennacherib
are scattered but then the Prophet comes and tells him he must set
his house in order or he will die and he turns to the wall
again, he pleads with his God and before ever the Prophet has
left the royal court God's Word comes to Isaiah and he must go
back and tell the King that God has been pleased to answer his
prayer 15 years added to his life Oh, he says, by these things
men live. In all these things is the life
of my spirit. Oh, how this man, Ezekiel, this
gracious king, he claimed to the Lord and departed not from
following him. It is the spirit that we see
here in his father Jacob. Oh, not these. Ruth and those
men of Athens and Hezekiah are they not those who are true spiritual
Israelites? Jacob says I will not let thee
go except thou bless me and the Lord says to him in verse 28
thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince
hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed. Oh friends, this is faith where
there is this struggling and this wrestling where there is
this clinging and this cleaving the Lord Jesus himself says the
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force whilst we deny the whole notion
of duty-faith. Yet we say that faith is such
an active grace where it is bestowed by the Spirit of God in the soul
of a man. Where there is a true waiting
upon the Lord, it's not just a passive waiting, but there
is all that exercise of soul, that looking, that crying, that
calling. To say with David, Lord all my
desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid, from them. For this man desired a blessing,
did he not? I will not let thee go, he says,
except thou bless me. He wants the blessing of the
angel. And of course the lesser is ever
blessed of the greater. The angel is clearly far greater
than Jacob because there he blessed him. There he blessed him. Think of the prayer of Jabez. A lovely prayer recorded
in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 and verse 10. In the midst of all
those lines, all those genealogies, those lines so difficult for
us to pronounce and we can so easily just pass over those chapters. But if we pass over them we miss
such a little gem as we find there in the prayer of Jabez
in verse 10 of 1 Chronicles chapter 4. And how does he begin his
prayer? Oh, that thou wouldest bless
me indeed. He wanted a blessing indeed. He wanted the Lord to bless him. And this was Jacob's desire also
as he wrestles with the angel. Now we see in all the strugglings
of this spiritual wrestling, he experiences something of the
strength of God. We read it there, in what's recorded
in Isaiah chapter 12, by his strength, he had power with God,
yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed. From whence did that power come?
From whence did that strength come? Well, think of the experience
of Job. He says, will he plead against
me with his great power? No. He will put strength in me. This is what the Lord does when
we're privileged to have any dealings with Him. He grants
us that spiritual strength that we stand in need of. Why of ourselves
we're all weakness, are we not? When we come to pray, How often
do we have to confess that words find us, we can scarce begin
to put a prayer together, we don't know what prayer is we
feel sometimes. We know that it's more than just
a multitude of fine words, but how comforting are those words
that are recorded in Romans chapter 8 concerning the ministry of
the Spirit, how the Spirit also help us have infirmities, for
we know not what to pray for as we ought, But the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us, Paul says, with groanings that cannot
be uttered. And then the assurance. He that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. Oh, that's the great thing, is
it not? That our prayers accord with the will of God. But He
must put strength in us. The Spirit must come and help
us. And this I say is the experience of Jacob in all this wrestling. Yes, it's solitary work. He is
there left alone. None other with him. And then
the angel appears. Oh, and what wrestlings! What wrestlings! What strugglings
for poor Jacob, so conscious of his of his sinnership, his
unworthiness. Does he acknowledge it there
in verse 10? And yet the Lord put strength
within and he is able to prevail and he obtains the blessing.
Well, what do we know of this God? This is the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. All this is the
Lord Jesus Christ that Jacob is having dealings with. This
spiritual wrestling. And then also here we see the
great success that is the result of these things. He's very much
convinced of his own weakness. He's made to feel something of
his own weakness. He's disabled is disabled as
he wrestles they wrestled a man with him until the breaking of
the day we're told in verse 24 verse 25 and when he saw that
he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his
thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joints he was wrestling initially but
he can no more wrestle what do we see in verse 26 He has to
give over wrestling, all he can do now is cling and cleave to
the angel. I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me, he says. He has to resort to this because
he's so weak in himself, he's so disabled by the angel. But it's the experience of the
apostle, is it not? When he tells us there in 2 Corinthians
12 how his strength is made perfect in weakness. This is a strange
thing when we're made to feel our weakness when the Lord is
dealing with us. Why? That's our strength. To
know our own impotence. and to learn our utter inability
to do anything of ourselves or for ourselves. Again, Paul says
here in that twelfth chapter of 2 Corinthians, when I am weak,
then am I strong. The strength comes from the Lord
God. And this is a good lesson for us to learn, is it not? to
be made increasingly to feel our complete and utter inability
to do anything of ourselves. Isn't this really the beginning
of faith? When God so deals with us that
we're shut up, we're shut up altogether to what we are before
faith came. We read in Galatians chapter
3, before faith came, I was shut up, Paul says, to the faith that
would afterward be revealed. Shut up to what? Shut up to his
own unbelief. Shut up to the impossibility
of believing of himself. How he knew that he needed that
faith that is of the operation of God. As he says in Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 12. It's God's operation. It's God's
work in his soul. And so here with Jacob, how he's
very and he knows now that his meeting
has been with God himself and God has taught him this lesson
or he calls the place Peniel literally it means as the margin
says the face of God Peniel for I have seen God face to face
and my life is preserved and as he passed over Penuel the
sun rose upon him and he halted upon his side oh how he now even
as he walks is alone now because the Lord has made him to feel
his own weakness fear not thou worm Jacob he says
in Isaiah 41 and verse 14 fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of
Israel, or as the margin says, ye few men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." All his help comes
from the Lord. Jacob himself is but a worm and
no man. Ah, but isn't that the Lord Jesus
Christ as we see Him there in the 22nd Psalm? when he comes
to make that great sacrifice for sins and so his people also,
those who have any real union with him will feel themselves
to be worms just like Jacob, fear not thou worm Jacob why
the man is all weakness but then this man is blessed with such
communion with his God he really meets with God he has dealings
with the Almighty this is what he is brought to acknowledge
this is the great success of this experience when he confesses
it there in that 30th verse I have seen God face to face and my
life is preserved oh God is a consuming fire is he not? how can such
a sinner as Jacob stand before the Holy One. Well, the One who
appears to him, of course, as we said at the outset, is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It's the mediator between
God and man. It's that One of whom Job speaks
again when he desires a Diaspora. To stand betwixt us both that
He might put His hand upon each of us. One who can stand between
heaven and earth. it's interesting that the Lord
Jesus here clearly appears as a man just as was the case with
Abraham there in chapter 18 three men it says two were angels the
other was the Lord himself and so here also when Jacob was left
alone there wrestled a man who is he? It is the Lord Jesus,
and it's the Lord Jesus appearing as a man before His incarnation. In the fullness of the time He
was made of a woman made under the law, and yet there were these
occasions, these theophanies as they're called in the Old
Testament. And all of this anticipated the coming of the Lord Jesus
as that one who is the only mediator between God and men, the man.
Christ Jesus truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord and this is what Jacob is experiencing
he's experiencing communion with God he's meeting with God God
is dealing with him God is revealing himself to him oh friends what
do we know of of this sort of a religion. The God who has personal
dealings with us. What do I know of these things?
For the Lord to come and to appear and for us to be moved to wrestle
with Him, to plead with Him, to pray to Him. And you see, the great consequence
of all of this is seen surely in that change of His name. He was He was Jacob. He was that one
who was the supplanter. But no more. He is now Israel. A prince with God. Well, as the margin says there
in Hosea chapter 12 and verse 3, he behaved himself princely. That's what the name means, Israel,
prince. the Prince with God, or this
man. He was truly an Israelite. He was truly an Israelite. An Israelite indeed, in whom
there is no guile. Or we sang, did we not, there
in our opening praise, that hymn of John Newton's on the power
of prayer. Though he speaks of the wonder
of that prayer, at the end of the hymn, wrestling prayer can
wonders do, bring relief in deepest straits. Prayer can force a passage
through iron bars and brazen gates. For the wonders he has
wrought, let us now our praises give, and by sweet experience
taught, call upon him while we live. or to learn it, you see,
not only because it's recorded here on the page of Holy Scripture,
but to learn it in our experience, to know what it is to be engaged
in this spiritual wrestling, this seeking to lay hold of God in our prayers and that
determination that we will not let Him go until He blesses us. We have every encouragement.
thus to pray, and to pray with all that holy boldness. What does God say? There are
so many scriptures we could refer to. Isaiah 45 and verse 19, I
said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek him thy face in vain. God
doesn't say to Jacob's seed, seek me in vain. or there is
no vain seeking after God rather does he say ye shall seek me
and find me when ye shall search after me with all your hearts
again there in Isaiah 45 and verse 11 we have those remarkable
words where God says to his people concerning the work of my hands
command ye me how God would have us come you
see and speak with such boldness. Command! Command ye me concerning
the work of my hands. I know we are to be guarded against
any spirit of presumption. We are not to dictate to the
Almighty. We ought to discern that difference
between wicked presumption and that bold spiritual prayer that is the mark of those
who are the true Israel of God. The words of the Lord Jesus,
He says, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall
find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone
that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and him
that knocketh, it shall be opened. Now pray are the words of the
Saviour. What a gracious word of invitation
to come and to ask, and to knock, and to seek. Now we have there
the language of the Gospel, the shalls and the wills, all the
promises of God, you see, in the Lord Jesus Christ, they're
all Yah, and they're all Amen, as it says in 2 Corinthians 1
and verse 20. They're all Yah and Amen, and
they're all to the glory of God by us. Or to be those then who
would be like Jacob. We might be those who are God's
Israel, Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile. Jacob,
we're told, was left alone. And there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he
prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh.
When the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled
with him, how he is made to feel his own weakness, but God put
strength in him. For when he said, Let me go,
for the day breaketh, he said, I will not let thee go, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. The Lord be pleased
to bless his word to us.