Turn back to Genesis chapter
32. Genesis chapter 32. Let me just
say a few things here on these verses. I titled this message, He blessed
him there. He blessed him there. Now, let's
go back and look at verse 24. has sent his family away. He has sent them over the
brook. He has sent all his servants
and all his goods. He has sent every one of them
away. And it says in verse 24, and Jacob was left alone. Jacob was seeking to appease
Esau. He sent him over gifts, you know,
animals sent all these things before him, but after he sent
them all away, and then he sent his wife and his children all
away from him, he realized that's not enough. That's not enough. I need God. I need God to intervene
and take care of this situation. He knew that. And it says here
in verse 24, he was left alone. His life was at stake. That's
what's at stake here. Jacob's life is at stake. And
something else is at stake here. The promises of God that he gave
to Jacob about his seed inheriting the land and all those promises,
and through him all the nations of the world would be blessed,
which is Christ the seed. That was at stake. And God's
glory is at stake. And so Jacob here, he's left
alone. And he realizes what's at stake. And he remembers. No doubt how he got the birthright.
He got it by subtlety. Subtlety. He remembered the death
threat of Esau. And he falls on his face and
he's going to pray, but to God. And God shows up in the flesh. This is a pre-incarnation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's alone. He's alone so he
can pray. He wants to pray and call upon
God. And the Lord Jesus Christ comes into the camp. And he wrestles. Can you imagine this? He wrestles
all night. Try just praying 30 minutes. I mean earnestly for 30 minutes.
He went all night long because he knew if the Lord did not intervene,
he would be dead, and all of his family would all be wiped
out. And so he prays here, and he prays all night, and he prays
with the Lord. Only Christ, only the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is God, can truly save us from anything. Only He
can truly save us from the wrath to come. Only He can truly save
us from our sins. Only He can truly save us from
the curse of the law. He's the only One who can save
us. When all else is said and done,
we've done all that we've thought, He's the only One who can save. Jacob learned this. He learned
this this night. And I want you to know the earnestness
of Jacob. And there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day, and Jacob would not let
him go. He wouldn't do it. One writer
said this, Our inability in prayer comes so often from our inability
to beg. I thought that was a great statement.
Our inability in prayer so often comes from our inability to beg. To beg all night. Jacob begs
this man. He begs the Lord all night long. And it's evident during this
whole struggle, the Lord's not encouraging him. He's not getting
any encouragement from the Lord because he's wrestling with Him
all night long. This is going on all night until
the breaking of the day. And it's time to go. It's time
for Jacob to go back to his family. That's what that means, the breaking
of the day. It's time for him to go. It's time for Jacob to
go back to his family, get with his family, and deal with the
business at hand. But for a whole night, for a
whole night, he begs. He literally begs the Lord for
mercy and for help and salvation. And he wouldn't let him go until
he received the blessing. Because I believe this, I believe
Jacob all night long quoted those promises. I bet you one by one
he would quote them and then go over them again. All night
long he was repeating those promises. that was made to him. This was
the only thing he had to encourage him was the promises of God that
was given to him. And all night long he pleads
and begs and wrestles with the Lord. And if you'll notice here
how the Lord discourages him. He says, let me go. Can you imagine
that? All night long and he's about
to meet Esau. Esau is about to wipe him out,
take his life and wipe out his family. Esau wiped his name from
the earth. That's what Esau wanted to do. And he says, I'm not going to
let you go. And the Lord said, let me go.
Jacob, let me go. The day breaks. It's time for
you to go back to your business. Jacob says, no, no. Well, this is in tune prayer.
No, I'm not going to let you go. Not till you bless me. And notice before the blessing,
before the blessing, the Lord says, this man says to him, what
is your name? What is your name? The man asked Jacob his name
before he blessed him. Surely he knew his name. He wrestled
with him all night long. Surely he knew who Jacob was. But now listen. He wanted Jacob
to realize who and what he was before he blessed him. So you see, the Lord knows you.
And the Lord knows me. But it takes me a while to know
me and to know you. It takes a while. Sometimes,
well, it takes a lifetime. It actually takes a lifetime.
He wanted Jacob. He's going to reveal to Jacob.
He's going to bring out of Jacob who and what he is. You remember
that woman with the issue of blood? She touched him, came
behind in the crowd and touched him. And he turned and he said,
Who touched me? The disciple said, Lord, the
crowd's thronging you. He says, somebody has touched
me. She touched him, but she was
going to withdraw back into the crowd and just quietly slip on
back to the house. But the Lord has no secret disciples.
And he's going to get the glory from everyone whom he saves.
He's going to get the glory of it. And so before he blessed
Jacob, he says, what's your name? Who are you? And he says, and I like the way,
I believe it's the Revised, has it, because this really gives
meaning to it. He whispered. He whispered. He said, My name's
Jacob. I'm the one with the blessings.
I'm Abraham's grandson. I'm the seed of Abraham. I'm Jacob. You know what it says here? He
whispered, Jacob, supplanter. He realized in all this struggle,
in all this wrestling, in all that he's asking for, the Lord
said, well now, who are you? You want me to do such a thing
for you? Who are you? He said, I'm Jacob, supplanter,
trickster. That's who I am. I don't deserve
the blessing. I don't deserve what I'm asking
for. I don't deserve it. He said my name. He whispered
my name to Jacob. He's ashamed. He was honestly
ashamed of who he was. My name is Jacob. And the Lord
said to him, and he said, thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, supplater. But Israel, Israel, God changed
his name to Israel because as a prince, he had power with God. You know, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
he has made us kings and priests under God. There's power. There's
power with God's people in prayer. There's power. You have, you
who believe the gospel, you have power with God. in Christ. Through Christ, by Christ, you
have power with God. God changed his name. He gave
him a new name. Israel, we have a new name. Sons
of God. Sons of God. And he says in verse 29, Jacob
asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, who are you? Well, he's not going to satisfy
Jacob's curiosity at this time. He said, We'll just leave that
alone at this time, Jacob. Why is it you ask after my name? Why do you ask that, Jacob? And
then it says, He blessed him there. He blessed him there. He blessed him there where he
was tried. In his darkest hour, he blessed
him there. That was his greatest blessing
and his greatest trial. He blessed him there. In the
night, not knowing what's going to happen tomorrow, it says he
blessed him there. The answer to this prayer, we
know this, that Esau hugged him. I say that when Esau started
out, he did not start out to hug his brother. But the Lord
blessed him there. The Lord answered Jacob. He said,
I'll not let you go till you bless me. And it's evident the
Lord blessed him because when he saw Esau, they just hugged
one another. The Lord changed Esau's heart. If we could really get a hold
of what trials produce, I believe we would desire them more than
shun them. I believe we would. If we really
could see behind that veil what this is going to produce, we
would desire it and not shun it. We can look at every trial. We
can look at every one of them. and sooner or later say, He blessed
me there. He blessed me. There are no mistakes
as to who blessed whom. He blessed him there. One writer
said, Beyond your utmost needs, His love and power can bless.
To praying souls He always grants more than they can express. He
blessed him there. in that hour of darkness, in
that hour where it looked like he was going to die. He blessed
him there. Where is it? Where is it that
God has truly blessed us? Where is it? Well, no doubt it starts at the
cross. It starts at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
blessed us there. As He hanged between heaven and
earth and He's crucified and He's beaten and forsaken of God,
He blessed us there. He blessed us there. Where He
was made a curse for us, He blessed us there. He loosed us from the
curse. He loosed us from it. Where He
was made to be sin for us, He blessed us there. He blessed
us there. Where he died on Calvary's tree,
he blessed us there with life forevermore. He blessed us there. In Christ we are blessed. In heaven where he sits, right
now, at the right hand of God, he blessed us there. Oh, he has
blessed us in Christ, has he not? With all that we need to
stand in his presence, he's blessed us in Christ. We have it all. And in our darkest hours, our
trials, you can be sure of this. One day, you'll look back and
you'll say, he blessed me there. He blessed me there. And after
this was over with, Jacob said there in verse 30, Jacob called
the name of the place Peniel. It means face of God. He didn't
call it or say, this is the place where I wrestled with God and
got the victory. No, he didn't say that. He said,
I've seen the face of God and my life has been spared. Christ said, he that has seen
me has seen the Father. And if he gives us eyes to see
him, We have seen the face of God.
When we see Christ, we've seen the face of God. And He's preserved
our life. He's preserved our life in Him.
And you'll notice here, it says in verse 31, And as he passed
over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted, he limped. He limped. You see, he told Jacob
here back in 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 joint. All he did was just touch him.
I believe what he did, Jacob's wrestling with him. It's time
to go now. It's over. There's time to go
back to doing what you have to do. Life goes on. But he let
Jacob know a little bit of his power. He just touched him and
it put his hip out of joint. And he limped across over to
his family. He limped. He halted upon his
thigh. No one can wrestle with God like
this and walk away the same. You'll never be the same. You
wrestle with God like this, you'll never be the same again. I don't
believe so. Therefore, the children of Israel,
they eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow
of the thigh, until this day, because he touched the hollow
of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank." Well, he blessed him there, and he blesses us. Whatever trial he brings upon
us, we'll look back. And we'll say, He blessed us
there. All right.