I want to read some verses concerning the theme we are sharing on, and then I will save the rest for the sake of time as we get into the Word.
Romans 8:29 is well known. I know you have memorized it, but this is the theme verse. This is what this message is all about this morning:
For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
That is the theme verse.
Turn to Genesis 32. This message today concerns Jacob conformed to His image.
I think you know these very famous verses. We just sang together the hymn “Face to Face,” and I think you will recognize that same thought here. Beginning with Genesis 32:24:
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 I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Peniel, and he halted upon his thigh.
Then just a few other verses. In Romans 9:13, in the Authorized Version, it reads:
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Another very powerful verse about Jacob is found in Isaiah. It is very pertinent when you think of Jacob—probably one of Lance’s favorite verses. I remember him speaking about this for years:
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel;
I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Then there is one last verse in the New Testament, Hebrews 11:21:
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
Now, Lord, we just come to You again and pray for a fresh anointing, for Your words to penetrate deeply into our hearts. Nothing man can say will make that happen, but we believe the Holy Spirit is able to take Your words—Your words that are spirit and life—and make them alive to us.
And so we come to You in total and absolute dependence and say, “Lord, You alone have the words of eternal life.” We ask You to speak to us and give us, as You speak, the ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. For we ask this together in the name of Jesus. Amen.
I think most of you know that I have been sharing about four characters in Genesis: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and finally, sometime when it is appropriate, Joseph.
I also shared how this burden came to be last year—or the end of the year; I cannot quite remember—when I was sharing on “I AM,” the great revelation. You know, Exodus 3, when God revealed Himself in the burning bush to Moses: “I AM.”
He said an astounding thing to Moses at that moment. In Exodus 3:6, He said:
I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
He said something even more extraordinary, I think, in Exodus 3:15. After that great revelation of the I AM, He said:
The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations.
This is My name forever. Pretty extraordinary thing to say.
So I believe when we look at these characters—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—there must be great meaning for us. I also believe Joseph has a real word for us, since he concludes that book of beginnings in Genesis.
I remember years ago considering the Old Testament. Some Christians, by the way, do not read the Old Testament. They feel it is the old covenant and that it has passed away. But if you read the Apostle Paul’s great spiritual insight in 1 Corinthians 10, it says concerning the children of Israel, in verse 6, that these things are types of us.
Then it goes on more particularly in verse 11:
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.
These four men have something very great to say to us.
For the sake of time, we will not be able to go back. We will only mention that Abraham, I think, embodies the spirit of revelation. What we need to see first of all is revelation.
Ephesians 1 says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. If you do not have that living revelation, you will have—may I put it this way?—a mechanical Christian life. You will never enter into all that God had in view.
The God of glory revealed Himself to Abraham, as Acts 7 tells us. I think that is the whole story of Abraham.
Then last time we looked at Isaac. Isaac speaks, I think, in that wonderful phrase in 1 Peter 1:3-4, which speaks of an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance reserved for you in the heavens.
Isaac was the heir of Abraham. Genesis 25 says that Abraham gave everything he had to Isaac. He was the heir, but he was much more than merely an heir. He typified the Heir, the Lord Jesus, the Heir of all things.
Then we talked about joint heirs. A more exciting thing could not be said of us. Every child of God, Romans 8 says, is an heir of God. But then it says something even more phenomenal: we are joint heirs with Christ. Can you imagine?
At the end of Isaac’s story, he was digging and re-digging wells. I believe we need to lay hold of that inheritance. It is not a passive acceptance of what the Word says. Though Abraham dug the wells and the Philistines filled them, Isaac re-dug those wells and named them after the very same names his father had given them.
In those wells he discovered the fountain springing up with life. To me, there is a great message for us in these four men. God said for a reason, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is My name forever. This is My memorial unto all generations.”
Today we will look at Jacob. I believe Jacob embodies this whole issue of being conformed to His image. The whole explanation of Jacob’s life is being conformed to His image.
Everything we see in Jacob concerns a man who, on the surface and naturally speaking, was fatally flawed—full of flaws. So the first thing we need to see is something of Jacob’s flaws, or, as I like to put it, Jacob’s twistings. He was a twister, no doubt. That was the name given to him.
Then we need to see that, in mercy, God chooses this flawed man. He does the work. In His mercy, He deals with this flawed man. He does not leave him as he is, but transforms and conforms him to the very image of God.
The third point is Jacob’s end. You have to see Jacob’s end. Brothers and sisters, with us it is not all about our flaws, by no means. It is not just all about His dealings, by no means. But what God will do in the end is what matters.
Let us think about Jacob’s twistings. The Genesis record is full of vivid illustrations of this man’s flaws. He was terribly flawed. I hope you agree with that.
When you see him, you see a selfish man, a self-centered man, a soulish man. You see a man who sought the things of God aggressively, but in the wrong way and in the wrong manner.
Yet God did not reject this man. As a matter of fact, the greatest mystery in the Bible is that it says, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” If you read the vivid record, you begin to feel sympathetic toward Esau. But God says, “Jacob have I loved.”
We see a man who became a great man, though he had great flaws. I believe this is God’s way.
Turn to Genesis 25. I think probably all of you know the story, so I am not going to read it all. I will read Genesis 25:21-26:
And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, wherefore do I live? And she went to inquire of the Lord.
And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
And the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
And after that came forth his brother, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob.
Jacob means twister, supplanter, heel-holder.
I think all you need to know about Jacob is seen in this first scene. They are in the birth canal, okay? They are in the womb. This is the very beginning.
His brother, who was the firstborn, was to have the birthright. That was a great thing in Jewish life. He was to have that birthright, that special honored place. But Jacob would have none of it.
Jacob latched hold of his heel in the womb and held on for dear life. If you can imagine it for a moment, I believe he was pulling him back in. “If I can only get him back in and pop out, I will get the birthright.”
What a twister. What a supplanter, even then. What a heel-holder. What a character.
Now, I hope you get the picture here. I am not talking about Jacob. I am talking about you. And I am talking about me.
There is something very great for us in this word. Unless you see it, it will just be history. It will be Jewish literature. But if you see it, God can do something great in you, the way He did in Jacob, this flawed man.
That is the first scene we see. We see all we need to know. He is a selfish man. He is a self-centered man. He is a man dominated by his soul-life. He would do anything to get the birthright, and later the blessing. Anything.
The second scene comes as they grow up. Thankfully, kids grow up. Linda and I are grateful for that.
Look at Genesis 25:29-34:
And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint.
And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom.
And Jacob said, Sell me first thy birthright.
And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall the birthright do to me?
And Jacob said, Swear to me first: and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Terrible. I do not know what is worse when I read this vivid history: is it worse to be the one who despised his birthright, the very things of God? Or is it worse to be a supplanter, a twister, a heel-holder, a manipulator?
These were some kind of kids, I guess. You would not want to brag about them at the next dinner party in the land and say, “Boy, look at my kids. Aren’t they something else?”
Here is Esau coming from the field. I believe there is a bit of exaggeration here. I get it—he was a man of the field. It was why his father loved this manly man, while his mother loved this homely man, Jacob.
He came from the field and thought he was about to die. I do not think he really was about to die, but he must have felt like he was about to die. “Feed me, lest I die.” Sounds like some teenagers I know.
But this twister, this man of natural flaws, took full advantage of that moment. He did not waste a second. He said, “Sell me now thy birthright.”
For a dish of lentils and some bread, Esau sold the birthright. Can you imagine? I think you see a pretty flawed man here—a twister and a supplanter that we can hardly imagine.
But, brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is trying to say something to us: that is you. That is me.
You remember when Nathan the prophet came to David and told him the story of the poor man and the rich man in 2 Samuel 12. The poor man had a lamb, and that lamb was everything to him. It became like a daughter to him, and he loved it.
Then the rich man took the lamb and made a meal of it. David was incensed. He could not withhold his opinion. He thought, “This man should die. That is the only appropriate punishment.”
Can you imagine how stunned he was when Nathan the prophet looked into his eyes and said, “Thou art the man”?
It was all about Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba, and the lamb. He stole the lamb. He had him killed.
But the glory of David’s story is that this man, so deeply flawed and such a great twister himself, was not rejected by God. God chose him and made him king. To me, that is the story of redemption that plays again and again throughout the Bible.
There is a third story. Look at Genesis 27. Isaac had become old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see. He called Esau, his elder son, and instructed him to hunt venison and prepare a savory dish, so that his soul might bless him before he died.
Rebekah heard Isaac speaking to Esau. She spoke to Jacob and said, in effect, “I heard your father tell Esau to bring him venison and prepare a savory dish, that he might bless him before the Lord before his death. Now, my son, hearken to my voice. Go to the flock and bring me two kids of the goats, and I will make a savory dish for your father such as he loves.”
You know the story. Jacob and his mother were in cahoots. Remember, she loved the homely guy. Here was a dying Isaac. He did not know how long he had to live, and he was blind.
This twister, this supplanter, full of flaws, conspired with his mother to deceive a blind and dying father. He lied to his father three times—not once. You might forgive yourself if you tell a little white lie to your father. But to lie three times to your dying and blind father—can you imagine?
They took goat skins and put them on his hands because Jacob was a smooth man, not the hairy man. They put goat skins on his neck. Then they took borrowed clothes from Esau, clothes that smelled of the field.
This ruse seemed so brilliant. What a ruse—the substitute meal to be like the venison Isaac so loved, the borrowed clothes to smell like the son he loved, and the goat skins to make Jacob seem like that hairy, manly fellow Isaac loved.
The ruse was so brilliant, but it almost failed. Look at Genesis 27:18-19:
And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me.
First lie: “I am Esau, thy firstborn.”
He was so intent on stealing this blessing that he would go to any length, and so would his mother. We often say, “Like father, like son,” but I think in this case we have to say, “Like mother, like son.” Sorry, ladies.
Then the ruse almost failed. Isaac said, “How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son?” And Jacob said:
Because the Lord thy God sent me good speed.
Second lie.
He was a liar through and through.
I will never forget one time—I will tell you a little story. I learned early that the one thing my father did not like was lying. My father was full of faults, enough said, but he did not like a liar.
I thought it was a brilliant ruse to grab my books and head off one morning to the bus with the other students, thinking my father would believe his son was in school all day. When I got to the bus, I departed for our fort in the woods and played there the whole day. The ruse was perfect—or so I thought.
At the end of the day, I knew that when the bus came I would show up at the bus stop, wave to my fellow students as they got off the bus, walk home down the road, and my father would never know any different.
But I did not know about the new school program of calling parents and saying, “Dear little Kenny is not here today.”
So I showed up innocent—perfectly innocent. My father asked, “Where were you today?” I said, “Dad, I was at school.”
I will never forget his reaction. He said, “Son, the one thing I cannot stand is a liar.”
Back then, you kids get it easy now. We might put you in a timeout and turn you around backward in a chair to face the corner, but boy, the belt came out. The belt came out.
I was flailing around, and he was trying to hit me with the belt. Thank God, I was partly agile. I would scream at the top of my lungs, figuring that if he thought he was killing me, I would get away easy.
But I will never forget: “One thing I cannot stand is a liar.”
Jacob did not just do it once or twice. He did it a third time. Isaac said:
Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
Jacob came near and kissed him. Isaac smelled his clothes and blessed him, saying:
See, the smell of my son
is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.
Here was a dying father, blind, with this great ruse before him. Jacob lied to him. Brothers and sisters, I think that shows the character of this man. I really think God is trying to say, “This is you.” Naturally speaking, this is you.
You may think this is Jacob. You may laugh. You may have howled in laughter as Lance told those funny stories about “thou worm Jacob,” and it never hit you for a moment that that is you.
Then Esau showed up. Isaac said, “Who art thou?” And he said, “I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau.”
Listen to the description:
Then Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who then is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? Yea, and he shall be blessed.
When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
And he said, Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing.
Esau said:
Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.
Think of Esau’s agony: “Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?”
Then Genesis 27:41 says:
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
Quite strong words. This is Jacob naturally. This is his twisting.
There is another scene. You remember the story of the ladder to heaven. Jacob fell asleep, put his head on a rock, and had a dream. He saw a ladder reaching to heaven, and God was at the top of the ladder. The angels were ascending and descending.
What a great revelation he had of God appearing to him. What a moment.
Brothers and sisters, that vision, that dream, was only partially complete. He saw only in part. But what he saw was right. It is only God who can lift us out—this One who is in heaven, who extends the ladder down to earth and lifts us from our natural condition, transforms us, and conforms us to the image of God.
But the part he did not see in his dream was that God Himself descended that ladder. The Lord Jesus came to earth, and He is determined that His Holy Spirit will take us—with all our wanderings, twistings, and flaws—and conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus.
But after this great vision, Jacob made a vow. Genesis 28:20-22 says:
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God,
and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.
This is the next thing about Jacob. Not only was he a twister, a heel-holder, and a supplanter; not only was he one who lied three times to his dying, blind father; but he was a bargainer with God.
Think about it. He had just had one of the greatest revelations of the Old Testament—the ladder from heaven. Yet at the end of that great revelation he says, “If God will do this, I will do that.”
“If You will protect me, if You will provide for me, if You will do this for me, then I will give You a tenth.”
I think that is us in a nutshell. How many times have you bargained with God? How many times have you said to God, “If You do this for me, I will do this for You”? “If You keep me in this moment, I will then follow You.”
Brothers and sisters, the vivid revelation of who Jacob is and all his twistings covers all that we are naturally. This is us. This is us.
I think, brothers and sisters, we have to conclude that we are Jacob.
It is amazing when you read Romans 9:13: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” How troubling is that verse? I tell you, when I read and meditated over these stories, I had more sympathy for Esau than I had for Jacob.
How could God say, “I have hated Esau,” and love Jacob? I did not get much relief from that until I read what Brother Spurgeon said. Brother Spurgeon said, “It is simply a divine fact: Jacob have I loved.”
Lance used to say that it did not trouble him so much that God said, “I have hated Esau.” Maybe he was thinking about Esau despising the birthright. I do not know. But it really confuses me how God could say, “I have loved Jacob.”
What grace that is. Think of the grace of that.
If you were to select one, would you select Jacob? I do not even know if you would want him to be your best friend. I know Esau did not want him as his brother. At the first opportunity, he was going to kill him outright.
Yet God, in His mercy, declares this stubborn fact: “Jacob have I loved.” Lawyers say facts are stubborn things. They are always true.
Whatever your condition, this is always true. Put your name in the place of Jacob. Say, “Glenn, have I loved.” Say, “Marcia, have I loved.” God will never change that stubborn fact. He will never change His love. It is always true.
Think about it further. He commits Himself to take this flawed man, this supplanter, this heel-holder, this twister, this threefold liar, this bargainer with God, and change him from what he is into what he is not.
How beautiful that is. How wonderful that is. How much hope that gives me, and how much hope it should give you.
God chooses us. Read Romans 9. It is not that they had done anything good or bad, but it is based on election—God’s choice. That is the truth of the matter.
So we think of Jacob’s dealings. Thank God, He will deal with us. Thank God, He will not leave us in our condition. Thank God, His mercy means that He will deal with you in all your issues.
He is determined that in the end you will be conformed to the image of His Son. All those dealings are for this one purpose. Every dealing is to make sure that in the end you are transformed, that in the end you are conformed to the image of His Son, and that He can change this Jacob into Israel, a prince with God.
That describes all of God’s dealings in our lives.
I will never forget years ago reading an Oswald Chambers devotion. I know many of you love it and read it. One morning I read this: “God has engineered all of our circumstances.”
That is the story of Jacob. God arranges our circumstances.
Now, you know my bias in this way: I am an engineer. Engineering is a very purposeful, analytical, determined work toward a desired outcome. It is not some off-the-cuff saying. God engineers the very circumstances of our lives so that in the end He might conform us to the image of His Son.
With Jacob, God knew just what to do. He sent him to dear old Uncle Laban. Laban was Rebekah’s brother, so Jacob went to Uncle Laban.
Jacob saw Rachel, the love of his life. I think the Bible is beautiful in the way it describes Leah and Rachel. Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of countenance. That is complete beauty—not merely outward beauty. Her expression, her spirit, her soul were beautiful.
Jacob loved her so much that he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel.” The Bible says those years seemed like days because of his love for her. Love is a powerful thing.
I tell people all the time—I hope you do not mind this expression or get mad at me—love will mess you up. Love is powerful. It is the most powerful thing known to man. That is why God says, “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul.” It is the most powerful thing.
Jacob was going to serve seven years, and then he would have, for the rest of his life, the love of his life. But you know what happened. You know the story.
On the night of the wedding, perhaps there were dim lights; perhaps it was the veil—who knows? Leah was brought in and substituted. The next morning, to Jacob’s shock and awe, he woke up and who was beside him? Not Rachel.
You have to read the story. He was incensed. The word is very clear. He said to Uncle Laban, “Why hast thou deceived me?”
Can you imagine? When he said to Uncle Laban, “You have deceived me,” oh, the thought of it. Who would trick their family? Who would lie to one of their own?
God knew what He was doing. He put Jacob with Uncle Laban, and Uncle Laban was the perfect match. The perfect match. There Jacob met his match.
I wonder whether, at that moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to Jacob and said, “Jacob, Jacob, do you remember? Do you remember deceiving your dying, blind father? Do you remember?”
God knows exactly what He is doing in these engineered circumstances. He brought Jacob to the place where He could deal with his natural love and his natural character.
If He is going to conform us to His image, this is how the cross works. He has to deal with our natural love, strong as it is. He has to deal with our natural character, flawed as it is, with the one end of conforming us to His image.
The story is even deeper. Jacob was a bargainer with God, and Uncle Laban was the bargainer who out-bargained the bargainer. The next morning Jacob woke up to the shock of his life, and Laban said, “Seven more years. Serve me seven more years, and you can have Rachel.”
Jacob was caught, and he did it. But God put him right in the place He needed to put him.
Wherever you are, God has you in a place where He wants to put you, to do a work in you that He could not otherwise do—in conforming you to the image of His Son.
God was dealing, exposing, and changing the man. Yet when you go through deep dealings, it is not all just deep dealing. One beautiful thing in the story of Jacob—and I encourage you to read it, because there are so many chapters—is that there are great discoveries in the great dealings.
Even though God was testing, changing, and conforming, there were great discoveries.
For example, Genesis 31:3 says:
And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
Brothers and sisters, when you go through great dealings that are God’s design, you discover the greatest secret: in that place, God is with us. That is a great discovery.
Then Jacob said to Rachel and Leah in Genesis 31:5:
I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me.
What a discovery.
Think of what the psalmist said:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me.
Could there be darker circumstances? Could there be greater dealings? Yet the secret is: Thou art with me.
Then Jacob said, “Your father hath mocked me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.” Think of it. What a manipulator Laban was. But God suffered him not to hurt Jacob.
Is that not a great discovery? Have you made that discovery in the midst of all the dealings? Have you made that single discovery? These things are not for your hurt; these things are for your good.
Read the rest of the story. Even when Uncle Laban, the professional trickster, manipulator, and bargainer, changed the rules concerning the ring-streaked and speckled animals, God was with Jacob.
Laban would say, “You get all the ring-streaked,” and then the ring-streaked would be born. Then he would change the rules and say, “You get all the speckled,” and the speckled would be born. God is with us. That is the greatest discovery.
God’s blessing in the midst of deep dealings is the secret we discover in Jacob’s life.
There is another dealing I want to touch on before we close. Look at Genesis 32:9-12. Jacob prayed:
O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good:
I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies.
Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau.
This story is about Esau. Esau’s determined goal was to kill his brother. Jacob lived in mortal fear of that. You remember all his manipulations of who he put out front when he heard that Esau was coming with four hundred men.
What happened is so amazing that it is almost unbelievable. Esau came running, fell upon Jacob’s neck, hugged him, and embraced him. Can you imagine?
Brothers and sisters, the discovery Jacob made—and the discovery we must make in great dealings—is that we do not get what we deserve.
Surely Jacob should have died at the hand of his brother. But instead, God’s grace in that moment was tremendous. Is that not beautiful? What a story.
I think Jacob had a hard time believing it. Esau wanted to be with his brother, and Jacob said, “Oh, no, no, no, we will just do this; we will do that.” But Jacob learned one thing: when God is dealing with us, when God is challenging us, when God is changing us, we do not get what we deserve.
That is grace. Amazing grace.
The last scene I want us to look at is Genesis 32:24-30:
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 I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
This was the last great dealing. What a dealing it was.
God dealt with Jacob’s natural affection, his natural love. God dealt with his natural character. God dealt with his natural fears in relation to Esau. God dealt not only with all of those things, but He dealt with Jacob’s natural strength.
I think a lot of people have the wrong impression. They think, “The problem with me is that I am too weak.” I think very often the problem with us is that we are too strong.
That was Jacob. The angel wrestled with him through the night, and Jacob prevailed. He would not let Him go until He blessed him. The conclusion was, “Thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel.”
He was transformed. He saw God face to face. But God had to touch his natural strength. He had to touch the joint of his thigh and dislocate his hip. From that moment on, Jacob walked with a limp.
I think God has to touch our natural strength. That is the great secret Paul discovered. You remember 2 Corinthians 12:9:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness.
And Paul concluded:
When I am weak, then am I strong.
The problem is not that we are weak. The problem is that we are too strong. God must touch that place. God must deal with that. If you are going to be conformed to the image of His Son, God must do this work.
To me, this is the last great dealing. When I think of Jacob’s end, I want to say this: Jacob’s end is beautiful.
We read about it in Hebrews 11:21. He is a transformed man:
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
Jacob: worshiper, leaning upon his staff. That was Jacob’s end.
Brothers and sisters, because God has determined to conform us to the image of His Son, He will bring us to His determined end. That is the story of Jacob.
Think about it. He worshiped as he blessed the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. You remember the story in the latter part of Genesis.
The one who stole the blessing became the blesser. It is almost too much to imagine. But that is the work God is doing in us.
The one who only thought, “If God will do this for me, then I will do that for Him, and I will give Him ten percent”—what a bonus—was transformed by God into a worshiper.
Notice that he was leaning upon his staff. Did you notice that? That limp never disappeared. That limp never disappeared.
The story of Jacob is tremendous. These things were written for us, for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages has come.
At the end of his life, Jacob erected four pillars. I think you all know that story. You cannot cover twenty-five chapters in an hour. Those four pillars were pillars of testimony to what God had done in his life.
In the end—and let me say this as forcefully as I can—in the end, this twister, this supplanter, this threefold liar, this bargainer, became a pillar of testimony.
That is what those pillars represent.
Do you want to be transformed? Do you want to be conformed?
Brothers and sisters, if God loves you as He loved Jacob—and it is not because of who you are, but because of who He is—He has determined that He will arrange your circumstances in such a way that He can conform you to His image.
When you are in the middle of those circumstances, you may think they are terrible. But they are actually God’s mercy.
He had to do this in Jacob. He has to do this in us. And if He does this, in the end we will be a pillar of testimony—leaning upon our staff, blessing and not stealing the blessing, worshiping and not demanding of God, “Give me this, and I will give You that.”
This is Jacob. And as Nathan the prophet said to David, this is you.
May God do His work in us and not let us go. Thank Him that He has set His love on us, that He would conform us to the image of His Son, that He would engineer every circumstance, and that in those circumstances we would make these great discoveries: that He is with us, that He has poured His grace upon us, and that He has not given us what we deserved.
In the end, you will be that man. You who were Jacob—twister, supplanter, heel-holder—will have been conformed to the image of His Son, and you will be Israel, prince with God, because you have seen Him face to face.
Lord, we commit these thoughts to You and ask You, Lord, to really be merciful, that we can see You in our daily lives; that we can see the work You are doing and intend to do; that You will take us and conform us to the very image of Your Son.
We know we cannot do it, but we are so thankful for Your mercies that have set Your love on us and are determined to change us. In the end, when we stand before You, we shall be like You, for we shall see You as You are.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.