Would you turn with me to a number of scriptures?
First of all, in the Letter to the Romans, chapter 8. We will read just one verse tonight: verse 29.
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Then, in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 6.
Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now chapter 3, verse 18.
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
And if you will turn to the Old Testament, Genesis, chapter 32, from verse 24.
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
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 strained, as he wrestled with Him.
And He said, Let Me go, for the day breaketh.
And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
And He said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy name. And He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My name? And He blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.
And one last verse in the New Testament, in the Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 21.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we thank You again. We have already prayed, Lord, for the speaking of Your Word, for the translating of it, and for the hearing of it. We just want to recognise, Lord, that without the anointing, it will amount to nothing. But You have provided that anointing, and the Holy Spirit makes it a living reality.
So, on the basis of Your finished work, we stand in that anointing for the speaking, for the translating, and for the hearing.
Touch us in such a way as You did Jacob, that we shall never be the same again. Touch us in such a way, Lord, that we will bear the marks in our being. Hear our prayer, Lord. We are living in such dark days. Have mercy upon us, Lord.
We should be careful to give You all the praise and worship of our hearts for answering this our prayer. And we ask it in the name of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Well, I cannot imagine that, on this last evening of this conference, you do not know what the theme is. It is, of course, being conformed to the image of God’s Son. My responsibility has been: We shall be like Him.
It is the predestined purpose of God that every child of God should be changed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
The problem is very simple: it is a question of the lordship of the Lord Jesus. Where He is Lord, there is transformation. Where He is not Lord, there is paralysis. You are not changed. The beauty of the Lord is not upon you.
It is a question of who is boss. In practical terms, are you the boss, or is He the boss? Is it the lordship of the Spirit? Has He the keys of your life—of your personal life, your family life, your business life, church life, and the service of God?
When we retain the keys, we can be immersed in activity—work and work and work. We can have a thousand routines. We can have methodology, techniques, steps to this and steps to that. But it is our work; it is not the Lord’s work.
Only when we are workers together with God, when we are under His lordship, is there all the provision we need.
I cannot think of any subject more important than this: being transformed into the image of God’s Son. You will carry nothing into eternity but what God does in your life.
You came into this world naked, and you will go out of this world naked. All your money will be left to others. You cannot take a single dollar with you—not a single one. You cannot even take the clothes you are wearing with you, nor the jewellery, nor the titles before your name, nor the degrees after your name, nor the property you have.
You can take nothing but what God does in you. This is what I mean about facing reality. We spend so much of our time and energy upon that which we cannot take with us. Only spiritual character is the thing that you take into eternity.
In 1 Corinthians 10:11, we read these amazing words:
Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.
I want to talk about one of the most remarkable examples in all the sixty-six books of the Bible. It is the story of Jacob.
Here is an example of being transformed into the likeness of the Messiah. It took all the power of God, all the grace of God, and all the patience of God. No character in the Word of God was more difficult than Jacob. He gave the Lord so much problem.
It is amazing to me: God never called His people Abraham. He never called them Isaac. He never called them Joseph. He never even called them Moses. He called them Jacob—Jacob, Jacob, Jacob—and Israel: two names of one man.
I think that within that act of God lies your story and my story. The Lord took the lowest denominator and saved him, redeemed him, and transformed him. Here is true predestination.
Why did the Lord do this? Why do we have that incredible statement with which the Old Testament ends: “Jacob I have loved”? Why did God love Jacob? Why did He love him so much?
Do not ask me. I only know that God loves me, and I find that extraordinary. I give Him so much problem. I argue with Him. I complain. I am always slow to obey Him. I think to myself, “Why does the Lord love me?”
But listen: out of that incredible love of God for Jacob comes the predestinating power and grace of God. He will not let Jacob go. He follows him. He watches over him. He arranges all his circumstances and his relationships, step by step. He brings him to the place where, for the first time, he sees himself.
We are not dealing with an unconverted person. This man, under the old covenant, is a child of God. He bears in his body the mark of circumcision. He is one of God’s covenant people—one of those to whom God has covenanted to be faithful.
He never leaves him until finally He transforms him.
The story of Jacob is incredible. It is your story, and it is my story. Maybe you do not quite see it. Maybe you are too respectable, too sweet, too pure, too unsinful. But you need to be able to see yourself as God sees you.
The amazing thing is that God can take a man like Jacob and reveal Himself to him. “I have seen God face to face, and I have lived.” He was never the same again. Now he bore another mark in his body for the rest of his life.
There is an old saying: God can only trust a man who limps—only when God has made us lame, only when God has weakened us, only when God has broken us.
The name Jacob itself is interesting. You will remember the story in Genesis 25. Rebekah became aware that something was happening inside. These two babies were having a fight inside of her—not so strange, because they spent the rest of their lives fighting with each other, and still do to this day.
She inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said, “There are two nations in your womb, and the elder shall serve the younger.”
When the time came for them to be born, Esau was the firstborn by a minute or two. Then came Jacob, with his hand twisted round the heel of his brother. So his parents called him Yaakov.
Yaakov is a play on the word heel and the word twist. The easiest way to understand it in English slang is “Twister.” His name was Twister, and he lived up to it. It was prophetic.
Now, just before you begin to think, “Ah, well, I am not like that; I am different,” let me read you one verse from Jeremiah 17:9:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
In the Hebrew, we discover that the heart is Jacob. It is the word from which we get the name Yaakov. It is very interesting: your heart is Jacob.
You have within you the same problem. Maybe you have not yet had the circumstances to bring it out. Maybe you have not got the intelligence to exploit it. But it is all there.
No wonder the Lord said in the pattern prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
The first thing I want to underline is the impossible, seemingly incurable self-life.
Some people paint a picture of Jacob as if he were an obvious triad gangster. Others paint a picture that he was bloodless, anaemic, spineless—an interior decorator, a kind of effeminate man. But all these are absolutely wrong. They are based on misunderstandings of the record.
Jacob was an incredibly attractive man. His mother loved him, and so did Rachel from the moment he kissed her. Seven years she had to wait. And, just to put the story right, so did Leah. What did they see in this anaemic, spineless, bloodless man?
When Jacob ran away from home and came to the country where his uncle lived, he saw the shepherds. He said, “Why are you not watering the flock?” They said, “We all have to wait until we are all here. The stone over the well is so big that it needs more than one man to move it.”
But when Rachel appeared, Jacob single-handedly removed the stone. So much for this idea that he was some unattractive, spineless, weak interior decorator.
The problem with Jacob was not that he deliberately did things that were wrong. The problem for Jacob was an irrepressible self-life. He could not help it.
He had incredible business acumen. He could not see the possibility of profit without immediately clinching the deal. He could not see the possibility of making some money; he had to go for it.
When his brother came in, this great big hunter, a man of outdoor life, apparently Jacob was a good cook as well. His brother came in famished, and he saw lentil soup. He did not even inquire what it was. He just said, “Let me have a swallow of that soup.”
And Jacob said, “Not until you sign on the dotted line, right here. You give me your birthright and swear before God; then you can have as much of this soup as you want.”
For a mess of pottage, as the old version puts it—lentil soup—Esau despised his birthright.
If that was not bad enough, Jacob stole the blessing of his aged father.
Rebekah was an extraordinary woman. I have to be careful what I say, but I must say it: Jewish women would rule the world—and so would Chinese women. They share this common ancestry, in my estimation. She was a remarkable woman.
She overheard Esau speaking with blind Isaac. “Listen,” she said to Jacob, “do not argue. Do exactly what I say. Go and get two kids, and I am going to make the kind of broth that your father loves.”
Jacob said, “But supposing he feels me?”
“Do not worry,” Rebekah said. “I have already got the plan. I will take the softest part of the kids and make gloves for you, and put it on the back of your neck. I will dress you up in Esau’s clothes, for he keeps them here with me, and your father will not know.”
The worst thing of all was that twice Jacob lied to blind, aged Isaac. “Are you Esau?” he said. “I am,” said Jacob. “Funny,” he said, “it is the voice of Jacob and the smell of Esau.”
“Will not a curse come on me?” Jacob said to his mother before they did this.
“Do not worry about it,” she said. “The curse will be on me.”
And it was. She never saw her beloved son again. He fled for his life.
Jacob had a self-life that he could not discipline. It was so powerful, so energetic.
Do you know that the Lord appeared to this man? Would you not think it extraordinary? He stole the birthright. He had stolen the blessing of the firstborn. He deceived his aged father. And now the Lord gives him one of the most extraordinary revelations in the Bible.
He saw a ladder that went out from the earth to heaven, and on it were angels going up and down.
Jacob understood it. He understood that this was the death of his self-life, which is more than many Christians understand. He said, “This is none other than the house of God. This is a fearful place.”
But so incurable was the self-life of Jacob that, after this incredible vision, he began to bargain with the Lord.
“Now listen,” he said. “If You will look after me, feed me, clothe me, take full responsibility for me on this journey, and bring me back here to this very spot, this stone that I have set up will be the house of God. I will build You a house right on this spot.”
He bargained with the Lord. If anything gives you a picture of this man, here it is. He was not undone by this incredible vision of the house of God, this communication between heaven and earth, this relationship with the Lord.
You would have thought that this would have undone Jacob. Not at all. “If You do this for me, I will give You a tenth.” Is that not amazing?
You would have thought the Lord would have said, “I have had enough. This is just about it.” One would have thought the power of God would have struck him dead. No. So amazing is the love of God.
Jacob was a bargainer. As soon as he got to his uncle, he started bargaining—interestingly, over Rachel. He said, “Seven years; that is my wage.” Later on, he bargained over the sheep and goats.
He said to his uncle, “Look, I will continue to work for you. I will just have all the spotted and streaked goats and sheep.” His uncle thought that was a pretty good bargain: “Sort them out and take them.”
Then Jacob took these poplar branches, stripped them, and put them in front of the ewes when they drank. Lo and behold, they all had streaks and speckles.
Both zoologists and scientists have wrestled with this. What was it that Jacob did? There is a very interesting small article on this in the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Scientists in Israel have discovered that Jacob actually was onto something. I need someone else to explain this, but it worked.
Before long, Jacob had enormous flocks, and Laban had smaller and smaller flocks. It does not matter where you turn: this man was incurable.
The second thing is the divinely predestined arrangement.
You know, the Lord never kept Jacob on a short lead. He had one of those leads you have for dogs: they can go right over there, a long way, and then you pull them back.
All these arrangements and relationships were predestined by God—every bit of it. Actually, the Lord meant to give Jacob the birthright. He meant him to have the blessing. It was Jacob’s flesh-life, his self-life, that made all the problems.
He could not leave it to God. He had to do it himself. The Lord said, “That is all right. You do it yourself, and you will suffer the consequences.”
Then the Lord made all the arrangements. The other biggest twister in the Middle East was Laban. Jacob fell into the arms of the other biggest twister in the Middle East, and those two twisted each other for twenty-one years in every single way.
Interestingly, Jacob was totally unaware of himself. He spoke of Laban to Rachel: “Your father has changed my wages ten times.” He never thought there was anything wrong with him.
The worst thing was working seven years for Rachel. The Book says that it was just as if it were a few days, for the love he had for her.
Then came the wedding—the Jewish wedding: everybody there, music, lights, lots of wine. And poor Jacob woke up the next morning to find it was Leah.
Now he was enraged. “How could you do this to me? My uncle, my mother’s brother—you twisted me! Seven years I have worked for Rachel, and now I have ended up with Leah!”
Laban was not the least bit put out. He said, “That is all right. Give one week for the wedding celebrations, and next week we will have Rachel’s wedding. Then you work another seven years.”
When God is going to change us, transform us into the image of His beloved Son, He arranges our circumstances and our relationships.
It is a Laban-Jacob relationship. Now you begin to see yourself.
Never once did it enter Jacob’s head: “My twin brother—I deceived him. My twin brother—I took advantage of him. I cheated him. My aged father—I lied to him. I deceived him.” Somehow, never once did it come into Jacob’s mind.
But at the end of twenty-one years, he had begun to see himself in Laban, and he saw himself in Leah—sweet Leah. She was obviously as twisted as Jacob. Laban had to say to her, “Now, my girl, you keep your big mouth shut. We will veil you right down to the ground. Walk like your sister. Do not open your mouth, and the deed will be done.”
She was part of it. Jacob began to wake up.
He never thought an evil thought had ever entered the mind of Rachel. But when he fled from Uncle Laban, Uncle Laban followed with a posse of men.
“What have you done?” he said. “You have skulked out of the home. You did not let me see my daughters, my grandchildren. And you stole the household gods.”
Jacob said, “Do not be ridiculous. I would not touch your household gods.”
Now these household idols were actual title deeds to property. Jacob said, “Search everything.” And Uncle Laban, who knew his nephew, said, “Yes, I will.”
He searched everywhere. The Hebrew says he touched everything. You have to be Jewish to understand that. He did not just look around; he went everywhere.
When he came to Rachel, she said, “Papa, do not touch me. I am not feeling so good.” She was sitting on the camel saddle, and underneath the saddle were all the household gods.
She was as much a twister as her father and her husband.
For the first time in his life, Jacob knew himself. He saw himself in Laban. He saw himself in Leah. He saw himself in his beloved Rachel. Then he was sick—sick of himself.
Then came home what he had done to his twin brother, to his aged father, and to his uncle.
The whole point of God’s dealings with Jacob was centred on one little spot called Jabbok. It is interesting, again, in the Hebrew, that Jabbok means a crossing. Jacob was brought to a crossing.
Now Jacob—listen—in the words we read earlier: “And Jacob was left alone.”
This is an aloneness that every child of God has to come to. Your wife cannot help you. Your husband cannot help you. Your parents cannot help you. Your children cannot help you. Your friends cannot help you. Those who mean most to you spiritually cannot help you. You have to be alone.
You have got Laban behind you, Esau in front of you, and no one beside you. Now you know yourself.
Every child of God has, sooner or later, to come to their Jabbok. It is a divine appointment.
It is amazing what happened to Jacob. Are you still awake? Are you taking in what I am saying? It is amazing.
“And a man wrestled with Jacob.” Who was this man? In Hosea, He is called the Angel of the Lord. When we have that term, it is normally the Lord Jesus.
Who was this man who provoked Jacob, who wrestled with him? Jacob wrestled with this man all night. And this man said, “Let Me go.” Jacob said, “I will not let You go till You bless me.”
This blessing was not merely, “Bless you, bless you.” This was transformation. “I will not let You go until You bless me.”
The Lord touched his thigh. Who was this man? It was the Lord Jesus.
Here you have an enactment of Calvary: the One who made Himself so weak that He could be nailed to a cross, in order to transform you and change you into His likeness.
The Lord Jesus, in whose face the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines—it was Jesus.
We have it in 2 Corinthians 4:6: “Let light shine out of darkness.” Remember how it goes:
The God that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the illumination, or the light, of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
That heavenly Man, the Messiah Jesus, made Himself weak so that Jacob could prevail, so that He could change him from Jacob into Israel.
Why do you think God calls Himself the Mighty One of Jacob? The Mighty One of Jacob—and yet Jacob prevails against Him. Only Someone as powerful as God will allow Himself to become weak, that He might transform.
“What is your name?” said the Lord.
“Jacob,” said Jacob. He could have said, “I am Abraham’s grandson. I am Isaac’s son.” But he said, “My name is Twister.”
That is facing stark reality.
Now the Lord said, “You shall no more be called Twister. You shall be called Israel.”
This extraordinary name, Israel, deliberately has a number of possible meanings: “God prevails,” “God rules,” “God persists.”
Another way of looking at it is as a pun—a play on a word. Here again, listen: “Prince with God.”
Is that not amazing?
Now I must finish. Jacob was never the same. “I have seen the face of God, and I have lived.” For the rest of his life, he limped, and God trusted him.
The old manipulator was broken and became a prince with God—a man who has power with God.
Jacob never felt the need of anything; he had it all within his self-life. Now, for the rest of his life, he had to use a staff. He was a changed man.
The last picture we have of Jacob is this: “By faith, when he was dying, he blessed the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon his staff.”
An acquirer can never be a worshipper. One who is always acquiring is hardly ever a giver. One who steals blessings is never a channel of blessing.
But now Jacob was so broken of his self-life that it had to be by faith that he blessed, and by faith that he worshipped. God had done such a work in this human being.
Do you know that when he went down into Egypt, Pharaoh wanted to meet him—the greatest potentate of the superpower of the day? When he met Jacob, Pharaoh intuitively knew he had met someone far greater than himself.
He asked Jacob—the twister, the bargainer, the acquirer, the stealer of blessings—to bless him. It is an amazing picture: the aged Jacob placing his hands upon Pharaoh and blessing him.
The effect was so great that when Jacob died, they gave him a state funeral.
What does it mean to be conformed to the image of God’s Son? It means the glory of God. It is as simple as that.
Jacob was dust. You would have said, “Rubbish—not material for the kingdom of heaven.” Yet he ended in glory.
It reminds me of the words of the apostle Peter: “The God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus.”
Who is boss? It is very interesting about Jacob. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” From one point of view, Jacob was anything but pure in heart.
The difference between him and Esau was this: deeper than his self-life, deeper than all his business acumen, deeper than his profit mentality, deeper than the energy that was in him, deeper than the natural power of his flesh, was a desire for God.
That is why he wanted the birthright. He saw it as something eternal. That is why he wanted the blessing. It was something eternal.
Here, then, dear child of God, is a cause of tremendous comfort to us. God loves you, and He has predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son.
The key is the lordship—the lordship of the Lord Jesus. Is He Lord? If He is, He will transform you. He will change you into His likeness.
He will use every circumstance, however dark; every single problem; every tribulation. He will use every relationship to change you into His likeness.
Praise the Lord.
Lord, we are all Jacobs. Some of us may not see ourselves in that way, but You see us as Jacobs. You have said, “Jacob I have loved.”
Take hold of us, Lord. Bring us to the place where we are prepared for You to be Lord. Bring us to the place, whatever it costs, where we are alone, where we have no hope but You.
Bring us to the place where the light of the knowledge of Your glory, in the face of our Lord Jesus, shines. Do it, Lord, for Your glory. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus.