This morning’s sermon continued the ‘Battles & Blessings’ series, looking at when Jacob wrestled with God. (Gen 32:22-32) This incident profoundly changed Jacob’s life, giving him a new identity and transformed character. Prior to this, he had been known as a grasper, a deceiver (see Gen 25:21-34) who had connived to get his older brother’s birthright and who plotted with his mother to get his father’s blessing. (Gen 27:1-45) He had had to flee from Esau’s wrath and lived away from his family for years, discovering something of God’s presence through a divine encounter at Bethel (Gen 28:12-17), but also learning what it was like to be on the wrong side of deception with Laban! (Gen 29). Now he is about to return home and is fearful of Esau’s reaction (Gen 32:1-5). Immediately before that encounter, however, he has to face a mysterious man who wrestles with him until daybreak…
The wrestling match is not initiated by Jacob, but by God, and we need to remember that whatever we may think, God is the One who goes searching for the lost coin and the lost sheep. We see Jacob’s tenacity in this encounter, however, and understand that if we are to know blessings from battles, we must learn to persevere in prayer. Persistence and perseverance are not the same as pester power, but must form part of our prayer life if we are to be victorious in prayer. (see Luke 18:1-5, Matt 15:22-38, James 5:16-18) God tests us to determine our desire for Him and we must learn to keep on praying and not give up. Prayer becomes the force that moves us forward. Self-help is no good, but as we engage with God in prayer, we are in a position to receive the blessings God pours out.
Jacob’s encounter with God leads to a new name (‘Israel’, the name by which the whole nation will be known) and a new identity as one who has struggled with God and humans and overcome. We too have been given a new identity in God and those who overcome will one day receive a new name from Christ. (Rev 2:17) We are now new creations in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor 5:17) We have been given a new nature and the Spirit of God lives within our mortal bodies. (Rom 8:1-9, 2 Cor 6:19-20) We have been born again, adopted into the family of God so that we are now children of God. (Jn 1:12, Rom 8:14-17) We are no longer slaves to sin, forced to do whatever the enemy demands of us; we are free to do as God says, to live as He commands, to enter into all the countless blessings He has freely poured out. Eph 1:3 says ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.’ Those spiritual blessings are there for every single Christian to receive. Paul says that ‘no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.’ (2 Cor 1:20) Our part, though, is to speak the ‘Amen’ of faith, to claim those promises, to come before the throne of grace with confidence and boldness, just as Jacob speaks boldly and receives a new name, a new identity.