Hello, brothers and sisters. Good morning.
You know, this is the day of my salvation, because I’ve been in prison since they let me know I’ll be sharing. So, in about less than an hour, I’m going to do a prison break, I think.
You know, the nap that I’m going to have after this is going to hit different. I’m not going to wake up until Tuesday, maybe.
Anyways, let’s turn to 1 John 2.
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake.
And the “little children” here seems to address all three groups. You know, you would expect him to say, “for your sake,” but he doesn’t. Our sins are forgiven for His name’s sake—the sake of His name.
I just want to stop there and consider that. You know, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. His name represents who He is as a person—His character. When He does something for the sake of His name, He does it because He is expressing who He is. He is showing who He is. He is revealing who He is through His actions.
You know, I sometimes consider the Trinity in eternity past. There was no debate concerning what They would do. There was no pros-and-cons list. It was just so true to Himself, true to who He is, that He knew that He would save us and forgive our sins. You know, it is so true to Himself that He is a Redeemer, a Savior, a Rescuer, as our brother shared this morning.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children, because you know the Father.
You know, the first time you read that—“because you know Him who is from the beginning”—it is hard to know what this even means. But as you consider it more and more, it might be the best way to put it, honestly.
Now, these two things—for the children and for the fathers—seem like they might be the same thing. We know that when it says, “you know Him who is from the beginning,” it is talking about God. And for children, it says, “because you know the Father,” God our Father. But we see that there is a world of difference between these two things.
I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
You know, I hope that we can consider—John puts it so neatly and perfectly here—our Christian progression throughout our life, as we go from children to young men to fathers.
It is something that the Lord does, but of course, we have a part there. He pours His grace on us, but how do we respond to that grace? So, I want to consider these three things through the life of our brother Jacob.
You know, Jacob is so pivotal in the Bible. His name is Israel later. What a man. But we are going to use the picture of his life—the way the Lord works in him, works with him, and works through the situations in his life—to take him from a child to a young man, to finally a father.
So, let’s jump over to that story in Genesis.
That story begins in Genesis 25. I love this part about Rebekah, because the twins, Esau and Jacob, were struggling within her. And what does she do? She inquires of the Lord.
The amazing thing is that the Lord answers her and reveals a part of His mind to her.
Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other;
the older shall serve the younger.
We see that Rebekah has spiritual insight—spiritual revelation—concerning what God will do. But we can say she did not have the spiritual maturity to leave it to God. She puts together that beautiful scheme, which I love so much.
But the first story we have about Jacob is with Esau and Jacob together. You know the story about the stew right there at the end of Genesis 25.
I am not going to read the whole story, but we see that Jacob has his eye on something. He has his eye on that birthright, and he is going to use any means to get it—even taking advantage of his brother when his brother thinks he is about to starve to death if he does not get some stew right away.
You know, sometimes I wonder about Esau. Like, how hungry even was he that he had to sell his birthright for a little bit of soup? Sometimes I think, “What was he even thinking?” But of course, the chapter ends:
Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau was a man of the flesh, foregoing eternal things, spiritual things, things that actually matter, for the instant gratification of the flesh. Sometimes we forget that he was the firstborn of Isaac, the son of Abraham, but now we remember him very differently.
But focusing on Jacob, just as a little introduction about him, we see that his eye is on the birthright. But just like his mother, he thinks he can get it by his own means. He wants to get something, but he is quite conniving. He is quite good at deception. He is quite talented, as we see later.
Rebekah gives him the plan: dress up with the goat skins, prepare the food that Isaac loves, and go in. You can kind of say Rebekah was the mastermind there, but who actually went into the room and went through with the deception? It was Jacob.
Can you imagine? He walks into that room, and he lies to his father something like four or five times. Then we see, I think, the most interesting lie in Genesis 27:20. Isaac says to him:
How is it you have found it so quickly, my son?
Now, if Jacob was an honest man, he would have folded at this point. He would have said, “Well, you see, I don’t know what happened.” But Jacob is ready. He is talented. What does he say?
Because the Lord your God granted me success.
He is ready with that answer. Man, he is talented in deception.
But just a little bit of background about Jacob: deceptive, but there are some good qualities there. We see that he is a quiet man, living in the tents. He is obedient to his parents concerning not marrying the women. But there is a mixed testimony there, I guess you could say.
What we want to focus on is the way the Lord reveals Himself to Jacob. Jacob is like us: a little bit of good, a little bit of bad. But the Lord has a plan for Jacob.
Through this plan of deception, Jacob finds himself in a pretty precarious situation in Genesis 28. He is alone for the first time. He is running away from home, and he is afraid. We can see how emotionally distressed he is later when he meets Rachel. He just weeps aloud so loudly.
But here, in a desperate situation like this, the Lord reveals Himself to him.
Now we can consider Genesis 28:10:
Now Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.
And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.”
And here the Lord proceeds to give Jacob such a promise.
Lord, we thank You for this time, O Lord. We thank You that it is You who brings us through—from children to young men to fathers.
Lord, now as we consider this man Jacob, not a perfect person, but Lord, You have Your eye on him. Lord, You reveal Yourself to him in situations like this, and You bring him, Lord, from child to young man to father.
Lord, speak to us this morning, and Lord, reveal Yourself to us. Amen.
Now, let’s consider this promise. I think there are six parts to it—maybe six to eight.
The land on which you lie I will give to you and your offspring.
The whole land is his.
Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth,
and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.
You know, that is such an amazing promise. Of course, He gave it to Abraham in the beginning, but this promise that your offspring will spread everywhere sort of encapsulates the idea that your life will be fine too if your offspring makes it.
In you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Not just your family, but all the families. And we know that points to our Lord Jesus Christ, so that Jew and Gentile are blessed.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised to you.
The Lord reveals Himself to Jacob. Just consider that vision, that dream: a ladder—or, in some versions, a staircase—and the Lord standing right at the top there, speaking directly to Jacob.
Of course, we see in John 1:51 that this staircase is the Lord Himself: the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
You know, the burden for my sharing, I thought, was going to be related to us taking time to meet the Lord one on one, alone, spending that alone time with the Lord. But as I considered the story of Jacob, we see that he never really separates himself or isolates himself for this purpose. It is the Lord who does it through situations. He finds himself alone here so that this revelation can take place.
But how does Jacob respond to this promise? This promise which is almost like everything all at once?
First of all, God’s promise to him is unconditional. There are no conditions, like, “If you do something, then this promise will be fulfilled.” But instead, Jacob responds with a conditional promise in Genesis 28:20.
Then Jacob made 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 clothing to wear, then the Lord shall be my God.”
The Lord comes to us unconditionally, and sometimes we respond conditionally. We do not match His energy at all in the way that He approaches us.
At the end of Genesis 28:22, Jacob says:
And of all that You give me I will give a full tenth to You.
A full tenth of what? All he asked for was a sandwich and a T-shirt.
You know, when the brothers went up to the Castle Retreat up in Pittsburgh, there is a place called Primanti Bros., and the sandwiches are so big, I think a tenth of that would be a decent snack.
But here we have the Lord reaching out to Jacob, giving him a promise which basically includes all of eternity: all the families of the world being blessed through his offspring—his offspring being the Lord Jesus Christ.
But how does Jacob respond? “Lord, I get all that You are saying, but let’s put that to the side real quick. I just need a Primanti Bros. sandwich and an H&M T-shirt, please. That’s all I need.”
The way that we miss what the Lord is saying.
But here is the part that I want to focus on:
And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Isn’t that what happens to us? We are roaming around on this earth. I am not sure what we are even up to. What was Jacob up to right before this? He was dressing up in a goat costume and swindling an old blind man. You know what I am saying?
And it is the same with us. We are up to all kinds of foolishness in this life. We think it is important. But then the Lord reveals Himself to us, and that moment comes where we who are spiritually dead are now spiritually alive.
Somehow, this would have been impossible any other way but through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have become aware of the existence of God. We have come to know that we have a Father, as it says in 1 John:
I write to you, little children, because you know the Father.
So now we become children here, as Jacob says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Now I want to consider the Lord’s response to this. He just gives one of the greatest promises, I think, that there is in the Bible. Jacob responds with his conditional promise, and he asks for basically nothing—bread and clothing.
How does the Lord respond to that? Do you think He is disappointed? Do you think He says to Himself, “Wow, Jacob, you missed everything that I said”? I do not think so.
Because when the Lord looks at Jacob, He sees the entire life of Jacob. He sees him growing into a young man, into a father. He sees the very end, where he is blessing Pharaoh himself. And He sees, of course, way past Jacob’s life—to the coming of the Lord Jesus, to all the families in the earth being blessed.
The Lord sees this all in one moment. And I know that, regardless of Jacob’s response, He sees Jacob turning to his Father, saying, “God, I need You. I need Your help.” I think the Lord is so pleased. He is so pleased—He is overjoyed—to start His work in Jacob, because He knows He is able to do it. He is able to complete it.
Now, little children—one thing I want to say about little children. You know, in most churches, I think most people are children. Of course, Richmond is a bit of a special case.
But it is so nice to have children. There is that verse, maybe in Proverbs, where it talks about when there are no oxen, the stables are clean, right? So here in Richmond, we do not have too many spiritual children, I think, but it would be nice if they were here.
Sure, they will make a mess. They will ask all kinds of crazy questions. But we need more people like that.
I think there are two ways you can have children. You can either have children who have stagnated and not grown up, and of course that is unfortunate. But you can also have children because they should be children—because they have just been saved.
You know, I think one brother put it best here in Richmond. We are like those who have gone up on the mountain and seen the glory of the Lord—the Transfiguration. We have seen such amazing, beautiful things. But then we decided just to stay up there. We never came down from the mountain.
Because you know what happens when the Lord comes down from the mountain? It is like instant chaos. He gets rushed by a bunch of people. There is a demon-possessed person. I am sure the disciples thought, “We should have stayed up there.”
So, you know, the Lord has revealed so much to us, but I hope that we can come down the mountain and be evangelists again, like the Lord calls us to be. If that is the case, then there will be many spiritual children in our midst. Hopefully, even children who are so newly born that they do not even know who Jacob is. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
Anyways, let’s move on to young men.
Now, Jacob receives this promise. He asks for bread and clothing, and of course that prayer is answered immediately.
One more thing I want to say about children: when you first get saved, you have all sorts of small requests that have nothing to do with God’s will for His eternal purposes, but the Lord answers those prayers.
You know, it is not about what you are asking for, and it is not about that prayer request being fulfilled. It is about faith being built in the little children. It is about the children realizing and knowing that they can depend on their Father.
As children, we ask for all sorts of small things—basically things that even unbelievers would desire. But many times the Lord answers that prayer because He knows we are children, and He knows that faith has to be built up.
But what happens to Jacob here? His prayers are answered, of course, as he goes to Laban’s house. But that is when the school of Christ begins.
Laban. You know, it is amazing that the Lord, in His divine wisdom, put Jacob with Laban of all people. Because Esau was such a donut. Jacob got the best of him every time: with the stew, with the blessing—he bested him.
But what do we read about Jacob and Laban’s interactions over those twenty years? In Genesis 31:38, Jacob says:
These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks.
What was torn by wild beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself; from my hand you required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
There I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.
These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times.
I want to focus on that part. You know, when you think of your wage being changed, these days it is usually a pay raise—two to three percent. That is not what Jacob is talking about here.
Ten times, he and Laban had negotiations, and he got the worst end of the deal every time. Look at Laban. He is not like Esau. He is quite a deceiver. He is better than Jacob—much better. Every time he and Jacob negotiate, Laban wins and gets the better terms.
And this is the way the Lord works. In the beginning, as a child, Jacob depended on his skills. The Lord took him to a place where his skills were not enough.
I think this is the way the Lord brings us to the end of ourselves, isn’t it? You know, the Lord tells us to do something at times, and we try to do it, and that is our issue. We find a way to do it, and maybe we even succeed.
But you know what the Lord does? If you succeed by your own strength, He gives you another task where you are sure to fail.
There is a story I heard from probably an Indian preacher. This is the reason why the Lord brings us to the end of ourselves.
You know, in India, there are people who carry baskets on their heads, and they sort of sell things as they go along. Somebody was driving along in a truck, and he saw this woman walking along for a while. She was probably really tired. It was a heavy weight—like thirty or forty pounds on their head. They are strong.
He comes along and says, “I can give you a ride to wherever you need to go.” So she gets in the truck, and as he is riding along, he realizes a couple minutes later that she still has the basket on her head as they are riding along.
And that is the way we are. The Lord says, “I am giving you every spiritual gift, everything you need to do this task.” And we respond to the Lord, saying, “I think I am good. I do not really need Your help right now. I am going to do it myself.” That is the way we are every time.
In the school of Christ, Laban is the tool the Lord uses to bring Jacob to the end of himself. Finally, we see here in Genesis 31:42:
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.
His labor is Jacob depending on his own scheming, conniving, and intelligence. No, he knows it. He knows that if it was not for the mercy of God, he would have gone away empty-handed. He knows that Laban was just too much—way too much better than him.
But now he is trusting in the Lord. We are starting to see marks of a young man in him, because in 1 John it says that a young man is strong, the word of God abides in him, and he overcomes the evil one.
We can see the Lord working in Jacob, removing his dependence on himself. It took twenty years to do it, but the Lord did it. We see the results of that.
But right as he is escaping Laban, he turns around, and now here is Esau again. The messengers return to Jacob, saying:
We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.
I am sure it was probably fine up to that point, and then he hears this: “There are four hundred men with him.” A small army. I think that is the part where Jacob’s heart just dropped right out and fell on the floor.
He says in Genesis 32:7:
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.
Here is Esau. “I knew I was going to have to face him again if I went back, but I did not know about the small-army part. Oh goodness.”
What do we see Jacob do here? He is very distressed, and his old way of doing things comes right out.
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two camps, thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
You see him scheming again? It is a great plan. Start dividing up the group. If Esau takes one, the other will survive. Real good plan.
But the work that the Lord did as he was under Laban is there, because we see this amazing prayer Jacob prays in Genesis 32:9:
O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, “Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,”
I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that You have shown to Your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.
But You said, “I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.”
Do you see that? The promises that sort of went right over his head the first time are now in his heart. In 1 John, it says the word of God abides in young men. Here we see Jacob, through his prayer, standing by faith on the word which the Lord spoke to him. He is standing by faith. We see the marks of a young man.
But now, in the second case, we see the Lord reveal Himself to Jacob. This time, He shows up—the manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ—in Genesis 32:22.
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.
I am not sure what his plan was here. He was sort of dividing the camps and sending them along. But finally, he even sends the mothers and the children ahead of himself. He is just not ready to face Esau. He sends literally everyone ahead of him, and he is left alone there.
You know, I think Jacob had no idea the Lord would show up. He was just sending everyone ahead, and he was sort of stalling—procrastinating, maybe. He is left alone there, and that is when a man shows up.
You know, this is one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. The way that it is presented is just so matter-of-fact. But what does that even mean? A man appeared and wrestled.
And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
Can you imagine the Lord appearing there? You have got to picture that scene. What kind of wrestling were they doing? Did Jacob know some karate or jujitsu? I am wondering what kind of moves he was putting on the Lord.
Actually, Krav Maga is one of the most effective martial arts, and it was invented in Israel. So that is probably what he was using. That is probably what he was using on the Lord.
But this is amazing in Genesis 32:25:
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.
You know, our brother Madhu shared this with me. It is amazing to consider: the Lord later says, “You have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Does it look like Jacob prevailed here? I do not know if you have seen much wrestling, but once you are missing a hip, I think the match is over. You have got to forfeit. It is quite clear that Jacob lost against the Lord.
But that is what we see: the way to prevail with the Lord is to be defeated by Him. To be defeated by the Lord, but to not let go. That is what we see Jacob does here.
You know, whenever I read Genesis 32:31, even as a young person—
The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.
—this used to bother me a lot. I did not like the fact that he was limping.
You know, even in movies or TV shows, the second somebody loses a finger or a hand, I just turn the TV off. I hate the idea of irreparable and irreversible damage. If someone gets bruised or something in a show, in the next episode they are one hundred percent again. But once you lose a limb, that is the rest of the season.
But here Jacob is limping, and he never stops limping. What we need to focus on here is not the limp, but the staff that he now has. That staff is Christ, and he is depending on the Lord.
The young men are strong, and they are strong because they are depending on the Lord. No longer their fleshly strength, their earthly strength—but they are forced to, because they have no other option. Because they are broken, they lean on the Lord, the Staff.
The word of God abides in them. They are standing on the promises of the Lord by faith. They are holding the Lord to them. And they are overcoming the evil one.
Just related to that, I want to mention something in Revelation 12—this idea of overcoming the evil one. Starting in Revelation 12:10, but really verse 11, we see that the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, the evil one. And how did they conquer him?
And they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
You know, it is not like we grow up in the Lord and start depending on our spirituality, our piety, or the fact that we are not doing the foolish sins we did as young people. It will always be the blood of the Lamb—our reason and our way of conquering the evil one.
It says here they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb. It is not about how many times you fall. It is about how quickly you get up by faith. How quickly do you get back into the fight?
I think some of us have a habit, after we have fallen, of sort of punishing ourselves for a couple days and not really receiving the forgiveness of the Lord. But that is what made David stand out so much. He knew how to receive that forgiveness. This man fell—fell multiple times—but every time he turned to the Lord and received that forgiveness. So I hope we can do the same.
And by the word of their testimony—the second way they overcame the evil one. You know, this testimony the Lord is building in Jacob, all the amazing things that He is doing in his life. He is bringing him through, giving him salvation, and you can see that testimony being built in him.
He says, “I crossed over here with just my staff, empty-handed and alone, and now I have become two camps.” It is the grace of God.
And finally, they loved not their lives even unto death. I think the Lord is starting to do that in our brother Jacob.
You know, when I was born, my mother and father tell me that mentally I was probably fifty years old. So that means right now I am about seventy-four. We all are old together, but somehow we found the spiritual fountain of youth. And though we have become old, we are still young men.
Isn’t it nice to be called young? It might not happen most of the time, but the Lord is now desiring that young men become fathers.
You all know more than anyone what a father looks like. There was quite a father here in Richmond for something like forty years—Brother Stephen. Undeniably, a father. And now the Lord is looking for more fathers.
Just like children become young men, and it is unfortunate if they stagnate as children, it is equally unfortunate if we stagnate as young men.
But let us consider the life of Jacob: how the Lord takes him from a young man who is strong, who is depending on the word of the Lord, who is overcoming the evil one in ways—and now the Lord wants to take him and make him a father.
You know, if you read the story of Jacob, you see him leaning on that staff. You see he has gone through so much. You might want to say, “It is probably smooth sailing from now on. Maybe the work of the Lord is done.” But there were some dark days ahead for Jacob.
Let us jump all the way over to Genesis 42.
At this point, Joseph was already gone—the son that he loved so much. Now there was a famine in the land. Look at the way he addresses his sons:
Why do you look at one another?
You buffoons.
But basically, he says, “Go down to Egypt and buy us some grain.” You know this story, about how they go down and it turns out it is Joseph who is king of the land. Pharaoh is just a figurehead. He does not even want to answer questions anymore. If anyone had a question for Pharaoh, he would say, “Go ask Joseph. I don’t know.”
But they go down to Joseph, and they come back without Simeon, their brother. Then they have to go down again. This time Joseph says to them, “Don’t show me your face again until you have Benjamin, so that I have evidence for your claims.”
We can see the distress that Jacob has to go through now.
In Genesis 43:14, we see the life of a father—or maybe a young man about to be a father. Of course, there is overlap between these three phases. We see there are final strongholds that we are holding onto.
Jacob loved his son Joseph so much, and he is gone. Now he is holding on for dear life to Benjamin. He loves Benjamin so much, and he just will not let him go.
Here we see Jacob say, “All these things are against me.” It is really quite a situation of turmoil for Jacob. But finally, the Lord brings him to a place where he lets go in Genesis 43:14:
May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may He send back your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.
You can see the surrender that happens there. The last thing that he is holding onto as an old man is his precious Benjamin, the only thing left. His brother is dead—at least he is dead to Jacob. He is holding on dearly to Benjamin, but the Lord brings him to a place where he lets go of even that last thing.
And what does the Lord do once He sees Jacob has let go of that last stronghold? He immediately relents.
You know, the Lord only does that which is minimally necessary for the gold that He is looking for in each of us. The Lord never goes overboard. He never does more than He needs to. It is just the fact that we are so resistant that the stakes have to be increased.
But once the Lord sees what He is looking for in Jacob, He relents immediately. We see the way the Lord pours His blessings onto Jacob. The son that was dead—not only Simeon and Benjamin, but even Joseph. Something like twenty years they were separated. It was a long time. And even Joseph is returned to Jacob.
Of course, they go from starving due to famine over there to the best of the land in Goshen.
Let us take a look at a few marks of a father. The first one is this amazing story in Genesis 47:7. I think this is something we cannot fully appreciate, how awe-inspiring this is.
There is no man more powerful than Pharaoh, and no civilization that was greater than Egypt. But we see here:
Joseph brought in his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
In Hebrews, it says:
The inferior is always blessed by the superior.
This is just God’s testimony about His child Jacob: that he is greater than Pharaoh.
Later, we see the discernment of a father. They know the mind of Christ. We see that when Joseph brings his two sons. What does Jacob do? He crosses his hands, because he knows. He knows what is on the mind of Christ.
In Genesis 48:3, Jacob said to Joseph:
God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
Look at him. As an old man, I think he is starting to fully appreciate that first vision. Luz is Bethel, that place where he saw the staircase.
In Genesis 48:4:
And said to me, “Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.”
You see? As fathers, that promise which He first gives to us—I think it is starting to dawn on Jacob.
It is sort of like Isaiah. His vision in Isaiah 6 broke his brain. He saw a man sitting on the throne, and it turns out He was God. That must have made no sense to him. Of course, it took a lifetime for him to understand that vision.
But here we see Jacob at the end of his life, as a father, starting to fully grasp what the Lord was saying to him. He blesses Joseph’s sons by crossing his hands with that discernment.
Of course, he is starting to see the eternal purposes of God as well. In Genesis 49:8, his blessing to Judah—I cannot speak to how much Jacob saw or how much he understood—but in this blessing to Judah, we see that he sees something more than just his son Judah.
Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
This is speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate victory that He has on the cross.
Your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s cub;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness;
who dares rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Not just the people of Israel—all the peoples. We see Jacob, in some way, see the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus as its King, coming from Judah’s offspring.
How about this? This is one of the clearest things. In Genesis 49:11:
Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
Looking forward to that day of Calvary, when the Lord’s robe became red with blood so that we could have garments of righteousness, so that we could wear garments of white.
I am sure his sons had no idea what he was talking about. But, you know, through the life of Jacob, we are considering that it is the Lord who does this—takes us from children to young men to fathers.
We need more children in our midst. We need more young men, and we need fathers. It is unfortunate if we have to look to the past for an example of a father. But the Lord is working in us, and there will be fathers soon enough if we stop resisting Him.
You know, it is like when the Lord was being tempted by the devil. The devil was using the word of God against Him. I feel like sometimes we do the same.
When the Lord is working on us, He is doing a faithful work, and we turn around to the Lord and say, “Thus far and no further.” We sort of chase the Lord out of there. But it is what we do.
If you think back, even this year, I am sure there are situations where the Lord came in. We pray so much, “Lord, speak to us.” And then when He finally speaks, you say it is the wind or something. You try to act like it never happened. You say, “Lord, that’s too much. I am not going to do it. You are out of here.”
But let us not be that way.
Lord, thank You for this time where we consider young men, children, and fathers.
Lord, You are so pleased with each of these stages, O Lord. You are pleased with the children who look up to You with their small requests, but they are turning to the Father.
Lord, You are pleased with young men because they are strong. The word of God is abiding in them, and they are overcoming the evil one.
And of course, spiritual fathers—Lord, how precious they are. They know Him who is from the beginning, the eternal Father. They start to realize and understand what is on Your mind, what is on Your heart.
And Lord, we ask that we would have more of each of these in our midst. Be with us, Lord. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.