And he said, 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. (Genesis 32:28)
When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)
When we left Jacob he had undergone his own Damascus road conversion. He had met with God and had prevailed. Now he would meet with his brother. Solomon in the book of Proverbs tells us that the reward of pleasing God is that he will make his enemies be at peace with him, and we see this happen in the reunion of brothers.
When Jacob the supplanter left home, his brother Esau had lost his birthright and blessing and was only waiting for the mourning period for his father to be concluded with the intention of killing Jacob. But now Israel has arrived and Esau receives the blessing of his younger brother.
Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. (Genesis 33:11)
The change in the life of Israel brought a blessing to Esau.
Israel would continue to see God’s hand on his life in the birth of his twelve sons. He would watch them grow and in a repeat of his father would favour a younger child over the firstborn. And as happened with Israel and his brother the older would serve the younger.
The twelve sons would form twelve tribes who would go into slavery in Egypt and come out a nation.
There are parallels to be made between the birth of Israel as a nation and the church.
- God used twelve men to build the tribes that would become the nation of Israel
- God used twelve men who would spread the gospel and found the church
- The birth of Israel came through suffering at the hands of Egypt
- The birth of the church came through suffering at the hands of Rome.
Israel the man would sow the seeds of discord among his children that would lead Joseph to end up as the Egyptian governor.
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Genesis 45:7)
Sometimes people look at us and see only trouble. They see nothing good about us, and yet when God has his hand on our lives we become vessels that not only bring honour to God but blessing to those who once looked down on us.
Esau wanted to kill Jacob for stealing his blessing, but ended up receiving a greater blessing from Israel.
Do you feel that people are putting you down telling you that can be nothing?
Are you going to live your life in the shadow of their declaration?
Or will you defy the odds and like Paul say…
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13)
How you begin is not necessarily how you must end.
Jacob the deceiver became Israel the father of a nation that would bear his name.
The story of Jacob/Israel shows us that not only is it possible for a man to change but to succeed.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen.
MARANATHA
