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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Verse 22, and he arose that night, took his two wives, two female servants, his 11 sons. He had daughters, too, but the 11 sons are mentioned, and cross over the ford of Jabbok. Let me just help you place Jabbok. In between the Sea of Galilee up north and the Dead Sea down south, the Jordan River connects both of those bodies of water. Right in between, about midway, is the Jabbok River. About 22 miles, it flows from the east, northeast, and joins and flows into the Jordan River.
Very, very steep in precipitous. That's why the Jabbok was the ancient boundary between North Gilead and South Gilead, or Og and Bashan before that. It was a natural barrier, natural border. He crossed that that night, the Jabbok River. He took them, verse 23, sent them over the brook, sent over what he had, and then Jacob was left alone. So often, God wants to get us alone, quiet, no one around, and then he'll speak to us. Now, he's going to speak very dramatically. Jacob was left alone, and a man, notice that, and notice that if your Bible is my version, it's capitalized, is it not?
Okay. Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now, when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him.
This is the first wrestling match in history. You remember the show some years ago, Touched by an Angel? This is the first episode, but it was called Punched by an Angel. Jacob was assaulted by this man. Now, it's funny, I've read a lot of different commentaries, a lot of different books, and seen this as an example, and typically, how commentators and pastors love to deal with this passage is, here's Jacob wrestling with God in prayer.
That's how it's often taken. Jacob isn't wrestling with God. The man assaulted him, wrestled with him. It's not that Jacob saw him and goes, I'm going to pick me a fight.
That's God. I'm going to wrestle and get something out of him. It's God, through this him, this man, wrestling Jacob to bring him to an end of himself and cause him to surrender. So this wrestling match goes on, and I've got to give it to Jacob, on and on through the night now, probably. I'm just figuring this. But I believe it happened.
I think he sent his wives and everybody over the river and said, I'll join you. I'm just going to spend the night here. Why? I'm thinking, he's thinking, I just need one night's good sleep. I'd been with Laban and had a confrontation with him, and I didn't have a good night's sleep with him.
Now that's gone. I'm about to see Esau, and if I could just get alone with my thoughts and just get one good night's sleep. Well, he didn't get one good night's sleep. Middle of the night, he's attacked. As it says, he was left alone, and a man wrestled with him to the breaking of day.
What is happening, as we'll see, I believe, is God is cracking the nut, the hard shell of Jacob, till he finally just clings to the Lord toward the end of this. I distinctly remember witnessing to a gal named Linda at a hospital I worked at years ago in California. Every time I would witness to her and share something with her day after day, she would always have some little smart remark, or she would do a little bit of research to try to prove me wrong and prove the Bible wrong. And day after day, I'd keep sharing with her, and I'd answer her questions and share a little bit more and answer the next question, and eventually I could see her starting to crack.
Till one night in desperation, out in the parking lot at the hospital, she just lashed out at me. And I said, Linda, you're fighting God. He's got you pinned up against the wall. Just give it up. Just throw in the towel. Just quit fighting him. Surrender to him tonight and watch what happens. She just broke down in tears and cried, and four or five minutes later, she prayed to receive Jesus Christ. Threw up the white flag.
I surrender. And that's what Jacob is doing, I believe, in this passage. When he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip.
The socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the day breaks. But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.
Interesting. That's exactly what he asked his father for 20 years earlier. Now he's asking this man for a blessing.
He should have done 20 years before. And he said to him, what is your name? He said, Heelcatcher. And he said, your name shall no longer be called Yaakov, or Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. Now who is this person?
He's called a man here. Hosea chapter 12 calls him an angel of the Lord, but it goes on to say that God Almighty met with Jacob. And because of that, Hosea chapter 12, along with what we just read, most Christian scholars believe, and even one Hebrew Old Testament scholar that I found believed, that this is some physical apparition of God in the Old Testament. And most scholars believe it's called a Christophany, or if you will, a theophany, the appearance of Christ in a pre-incarnate form in the Old Testament. Or if you prefer the, not and, the angel of the Lord, much like Genesis chapter 18, when the Lord appeared to Abraham with two other angels, those two angels went on to Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham stood before the Lord, he is called. The appearance of a man on a mission, thus the term messenger, or angel, same thing, but some believe it is the Lord himself that he was fighting with. Now it's really not a wrestling match.
I don't want you to get this idea that, you know, gosh, they're, you know, who's gonna win this? There's Jacob fighting this man, and whoa, Jacob got a really good grip on him, what's gonna happen? It wasn't that at all. As soon as this man wanted to end it, he just touched, didn't even hit, just touched Jacob's hip and bam, bam, he's incapacitated. Question, why did he touch his hip? So he couldn't run. That's what he was used to doing his whole life, running.
When he stole the blessing 20 years before from his brother, what did he do? He ran away. When he was with Laban and he wanted to leave, how did he do it? He ran away. And he's probably thinking, I can just run away.
Touched his hip, incapacitated, he can't run. Now he's clinging to the Lord at this point. He's saying, verse 26, let me go for the day breaks, but he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. He's asking this man, the Lord, to bless him, clinging to him. God's turning him from a conniver to a clinger, from a wrestler to a rester.
As Corrie ten Boom used to say, stop wrestling and start nestling. He's just abiding in the Lord. Verse 28, I'm not going to call you Jacob anymore. Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. Jacob asked, saying, tell me your name, I pray.
And he said, why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of that place, Peniel. And this is why, for I have seen God face-to-face and my life is preserved.
Just as he crossed over Penuel, the sun rose on him and he limped on his hip. Therefore, to this day, the children of Israel did not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip and the muscle that shrank. What does the word Israel mean? Some scholars translate it, God strives or God fights or God rules. I think the best idea of the change is one who fights victoriously with God.
That's the idea. Jacob, you've been fighting God and man your whole life. I'm changing your name because I'm changing you into somebody who fights victoriously with God. No longer against God, no longer even for God, but with God.
Israel, one who fights victoriously with God. Verse 32 gives us a little footnote. Therefore, to this day, the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip and the muscle that shrank.
According to scribal law called the halakha, it is the kosher thing to pull out the tendon and the sciatic nerve of this area and throw it away and discard it and not eat it because of this. Jacob, because of this, comes to an end of himself. And the real secret of your strength, if you want to know what is the secret of Christian strength, you want to know what it is? The real secret?
Admitting your weakness. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, the 1960s promised us an explosion of love and brotherhood, but instead they delivered a nation in turmoil, confusion, and moral decline. Fortunately, God has the solution for our damaged families. And in Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World, your Skip Heitzig gives a biblical guide for marriage and families that can help restore relationships which have been damaged by sin. Beyond the Summer of Love is our thanks for your gift of at least $25 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give $25 or more today to help reach people around the world with the good news of Jesus through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. It's not look in the mirror, smile, until you look confident.
So you can go out and go out and say, hi, and have that confidence about you. The secret of great spiritual strength is to admit I'm weak. You go, Skip, that doesn't make sense. That's counterintuitive. But it's what Paul learned. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 said, you know, I got this weird thing. He called it a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Three times I asked the Lord to deliver me from it. And all that God said to him was, my grace is enough for you, sufficient. He said, I asked the Lord three times to deliver me from the thorn in the flesh.
And God just kept saying, my grace is enough for you. My strength, God said, is made perfect when you're weak. So then Paul continues and he says, most gladly then I will boast in my weakness and my infirmity. I will take pleasure in my weakness and my infirmity for when I'm weak, then I'm strong.
How does that work? How could it be that when you're weak, you're strong? Because when you're weak, you recognize you're weak and you depend and lean upon him and he gives you strength beyond yourself.
That's why it's the secret of strength. I'm calling you Israel, one who fights victoriously with God, not one who trips somebody up, catching their heel, manipulating them, conning them. It indicated God had a change in store. Now we have just nine minutes, which is plenty of time to finish chapter 33.
Trust me, we're just going to go through it because it's the payoff. Jacob lifted his eyes and looked. There was Esau coming and with him 400 men.
He swallowed hard. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants and he put the maidservants and their children in front. Yeah.
Yeah. Leah and her children behind and Rachel and Joseph last because those are his prized possessions. That's the woman he loved and the only son by him. And he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother, just bowing a little closer, bowing a little bit closer, bowing a little bit closer, bowing, that's four, a little bit closer, bowing five. You get the picture.
Seven times. But watch this. But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept.
You know what this tells me? It wasn't Jacob's plan that worked. It was Jacob's prayer that worked.
He prayed, Oh God, would you please help me? Okay. Now let me figure this out here. I got to plan this.
Four companies, maybe five companies, animals, present. Yeah. God had already gotten it all handled, changed Esau's heart. Let me tell you a quick little story. It comes to us by Flavius Josephus, the historian. You've heard of Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great conquered the world so quickly that he even surprised himself. He made it all the way to the Indus River and there he wept like a baby because there were no more worlds for him to conquer.
He was such a swift, apt warrior. When Alexander the Great, on his journeys eastward, came to Tyre, the city of Tyre up in modern day Lebanon, to overtake it. And he surrounded the city and he eventually knew that he had to take Tyre. He sent troops down to Jerusalem to get an alliance from the Jews in Jerusalem to get food, supplies, and help to conquer Tyre. He was met by a guy named Jaduwa, the high priest, who said, I'm sorry we can't help you because we have signed an agreement with your arch enemy Darius the Persian. So the message went back to Alexander the Great. Alexander now marches against Jerusalem and everybody thinks the Jews are dead.
Jerusalem's toast is going to be destroyed. When he comes outside of Jerusalem, Jaduwa the high priest marches out to meet Alexander the Great. This is 332 BC, according to Josephus. Opens the scrolls of the Old Testament and shows Alexander the Great where he is predicted by the prophet Daniel to conquer the Medo-Persian Empire and the world swiftly. He shows him the prophecy about himself in the scripture. And they have a meeting, the high priest and Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great dismounts from off his horse and bows down to the ground in front of the high priest, the Jewish high priest.
Alexander's second in command is like baffled, thinking, uh, why aren't you going to kill these people? And he says, because before I even made my journey to the east while I was still in Macedonia, I had a dream at night that I would meet a man dressed in the garb of a high priest who would predict to me that I would rule the world. And so he comes there and he meets a man of God who shows him the scripture and he sees this as the fulfillment of a already given dream and he spares the city. In other words, God had it all in control before Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem. In a very similar manner, God had it all handled. God handled Esau way before Jacob saw him. So Jacob's going, oh no, oh no, oh no. And Esau just weeps and embraces him and loves on him.
It's amazing. And they wept. He lifted up his eyes, saw the women, the children and said, who are these with you? So he said, the children whom God has graciously given your servant. Then the maidservants came near and their children bowed and Leah also came near with her children and bowed down.
Afterward, Joseph, Rachel came near and they bowed down. Esau said, what do you mean by all of this company which I met? And he said, these are to find favor in the sight of my Lord. But Esau said, I have enough, my brother.
Keep what you have for yourself. Now, do you notice the language between these two? Jacob is calling him my Lord and I'm your servant. And here's Esau.
There's, there's nothing between them. He just called, look, you're my brother, man. We're brothers.
Enough of this stuff. And Jacob said, no, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I have seen the face of God. Oh, please. And you were pleased with me. Please take my blessing that is brought to you because God has done graciously with me and because I have enough. So he urged him and he took it. And Esau said, let us take our journey. Let us go. I will go before you. But Jacob said, my Lord knows that the children are weak and the flocks and the herds are nursing with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flocks will die. Please let my Lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly, but at a pace which the livestock that go before me and the children are able to endure until I come to my Lord in Seir. Now, a footnote. There's never a record that Jacob went to meet Esau in Seir.
Now he may have, but there's no record that he did. It would seem like he says, no, go on and I'll go and I'll visit you. You know, don't call me, I'll call you.
We'll do lunch. Never saw him after that. So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. Jacob journeyed to Sukkot and made himself a house and made booths. That's what Sukkot means, by the way. There's a feast called that.
We'll get to it later. And made booths for his livestock. Therefore, the name of the place was called Sukkot. Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. And he came from Padan Aram and he pitched his tent before that city. And he bought the parcel of land, which he pitched his tent from the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100 pieces of money. Notice he bought a house. Up to this point, he was living in a tent. He was a Bedouin, moving around from place to place. The fact that he's buying land and making a permanent shelter shows that he's settling down finally. I remember a conversation my mom had with me.
I was taking a three-month vacation around the United States, driving in my truck years ago. I remember the last words my mom said to me. She goes, I just hope you find a place and settle down. Finally, Jacob is settling down in the land that he's going back to. Now, notice it's called Shechem. Fast forward to John chapter 4, the woman at the well of Samaria.
This is the place. And remember what Jesus said to her? If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would give you living water. And she looks at him and says, what, are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself? This is that place that she will be living at in the area of Samaria later on. Verse 20 ends it just on time. And he erected an altar and he called it El Elohe Israel, the God, the God of Israel. Leighton Ford, who worked with Dr. Billy Graham, used to say, God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way. God loved Jacob way too much to leave him Jacob. He wanted to change him. And to change him, he had to sort of chase him and get him in between these two rocky, tough places and add pressure to his life.
Maybe you are discovering that. Maybe tonight you are saying, boy I am feeling really beat up and I am afflicted. Okay then look at it as, God you have my attention because David wrote, before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Psalm 119. Could it be that you are resisting something that God is trying to do in your life?
Don't know, but just ask him. Like the book Absolute Surrender, ask him sincerely, Lord I sincerely surrender all to you tonight. I don't want to resist. I want to cooperate with you.
I want to fight with you. I want to go where you are going. Instead of saying, Lord here is my plans. Bless me and bless my plans. Why not say, Lord what are your plans? What are you doing? How can I be on board and be a part of that?
That is the most exciting way to live. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you understand and follow God's plan for your relationships.
Beyond the Summer of Love, Relationships in the Real World by Pastor Skip Heitzig is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
