PASTOR'S MESSAGE

   

“The Divine Wrestling Match”

Gen. 32:22-30

 (Preacher: Reverend Timothy D. Storck)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation found in all of our hearts be pleasing to You, oh Lord.  Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 Jacob had gotten himself into quite a situation.  Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.  You remember the story of Jacob and Esau.  Jacob, the one who takes by the heel, had bought Esau’s birthright from him when Esau was dying of hunger.  And again Jacob was not seen in the best light by Esau when, helped by his mother Rebekah, Jacob dressed up like his brother Esau and stole the blessing that Esau was to receive from their father Isaac.

From that time forth Isaac had been on the run because Esau wanted to kill him.   And now Esau was coming with 400 of his men.  Jacob feared Esau and had prepared to appease the wrath of his brother with gifts of animals, all the while splitting the rest of his possessions and family so that if Esau did attack, he could only go after half.   

It’s at this point that we come to our text for today:

“The Divine Wrestling Match” 

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.  He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.   And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."  And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."  Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."  Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." 

The Word of the Lord.

 The night often brings out the greatest of fears.  As Jacob looks for rest by himself during the night he knows that Esau has been waiting twenty years for this encounter and Jacob has been thinking about his sins, his deception, his trickery for the last twenty years.  His conscience rises up and accuses him.  Could Esau have forgotten the about the inheritance that he took from him and the blessing?  No, no way that he would have forgotten about those things.  That is why Jacob was on the lamb to begin with.  Jacob is burdened with his sins and his guilt.

 After his two wives, his two female servants, and eleven children crossed over the Jabbok and after moving everything else Jacob was left alone.  He was left alone with his thoughts and his sins.  He sought a few hours of peace in the night.  He was physically separated from his family but he was also separated from Esau by his sins.  Jacob tries to use this time for some solace and rest.  He was alone, but not for long for a mysterious man appears and an epic wrestling match of heavenly proportions takes place. 

A wrestling match like none other.  There was no clear cut winner or loser.  The mysterious one allows Jacob to contend with him through the whole night.  The grappling and grasping of these two men didn’t even come to a halt when the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  The pains of this world were not enough for the deceiver to let go of the mysterious man.  We could envision Jacob hopping around on his displaced hip, hurting, suffering, and straining to continue the battle, which had never happened before.

 Who could this mysterious man be that He would neither give up nor win out over Jacob?  Jacob’s question is a wonder even now, for in the stalemate he doesn’t ask to be released, nor does Jacob ask to have a break and continue the match, no he asks the man for a blessing.  A blessing?!  During this time of struggle and prayer we could almost hear the words being spoken between the mysterious man and Jacob.  “You are a sinner.”  “Yes, but you don’t desire the sinners death.”  Jacob, you are guilty of sin and deserve nothing but death.”  “I know, but You are one of mercy and will show compassion to the sinner.”

 Jacob, the deceiver, was to receive a blessing!  Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  The mysterious man has revealed his identity; He is God, the almighty one.  Jacob is no longer the deceiver but he is now the one who has striven with God and man and prevailed. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.  He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor.

 God could have crushed Jacob at any moment in this wrestling match.  No man has a chance against to prevail against God when He reaches out in His divine power.  Why didn’t God destroy Jacob for the sins that he committed?  Why did he let Jacob battle him to a stalemate and allow him to receive a blessing?  Because he is compassionate and wants to see the sinner repent, guilt removed, and that He could see the sinner live eternally with him.

 II.

The compassion of our Lord that is what all three of our lessons this morning are about.  God doesn’t want to see the death of the sinner.  Our Lord wants to show compassion and His love to those in this sin fallen world.  And yet we are in a wrestling match like Jacob was.  We are in a world journeying from here to the promised land.  In this land there will be temptations into which we have fallen time and time again.  Perhaps your pride keeps you awake at night, keeping you from the rest that you need to go about the work that was set before you.  Or your thoughts on not helping your neighbor in times of need, or your thoughts about what you will do to the person who injured you keeps you from concentrating and doing the things that God wants you to accomplish during the day.

 During your time here on this earth YOU will wrestle with God.  You may not physically wrestle with Him as Jacob did, but you may wrestle with Him in our daily lives.  God may touch the home or a loved one that will bring about much pain and strife in your life.  Because of the pain you hobble around as Jacob did on one good hip, hurting and suffering, not letting go of God’s promises to take care of you and to bless you.

 That is what the widow in the Gospel lesson did.  She never let go of the fact that even if the judge was neither God fearing nor respected man he was still in a position of power and he had the authority to act and bring about justice.  She didn’t let go as she went through her adversity.  For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will giver her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”  And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night?” 

Why do we endure sufferings and struggle on this side of heaven as believers and as Jacob and the widow did, continually wrestle or come in prayer to those they struggled with. For the forgiveness of sins, so that our guilt maybe forgiven, and that we can limp our way into the promised land. 

We know that we can have peace, the forgiveness of sins, our guilt released, have a Godly fear, and have eternal rest because Christ wrestled also and overcome.  He wrestled especially with His Father in the Garden.  The many struggles that lay ahead weighed heavily on his mind and heart.  As he is apart from the disciples in the Garden he prayed, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will.  The cup didn’t pass from Him and he endure the cross and punishment that we all deserve, the pain and the suffering.  He was encouraged to come down from the cross if he is the Son of God, yet He remained there.  And why? 

So that those who would believe in Him would come into the Promised land to be with Him, so that mankind’s guilt could be removed, so that we would fear God rather than man, and so that our sins could be forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard and protect your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

  

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