Lessons from the Life of Jacob

Well, good morning again. Good to see all of you. It's always wonderful to come up and be here early in the morning and be able to see all of you. We've been covering here in services, things at least that I've been going over, studying the unity of the Bible, studying how the Old and the New Testament do obviously tie together. And of course, under the inspiration of God and under the writers of the books of the Old and then those authors of the New, we see a divine plan that is revealed. And of course, as again we went over last time, in the faith chapter, you see a number of those people mentioned. And we covered the people who were faithful to God, at least the only few that we find, pre-flood. That's what we went over last time with Abel and Enoch and Noah. And yet, I want us to realize just how important it is that we fully understand or that we master the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is extremely important to have a foundation in understanding much of the rest of the Bible. And now we know we find other revealed information about the pre-existence of Christ, about Him being the Word and about existing even before and about the angelic realm and ultimately God reshaping the earth and placing Adam and Eve here, the beginning of human existence. And yet, when you read through the book of Genesis, you go through a period of innocency, which of course was very short, and then a period, as we pretty much covered last time with Abel and Enoch and Noah, the period of human conscience of people kind of doing what seemed right to them. And of course, it ended in the flood. And there were very few people that God reveals to be close to Him and righteous at that time. The next administration, actually we called the administration of promise. And this actually begins in Genesis 12, or maybe Genesis 11 you could say, because you see a little of the genealogy of Abraham. And in chapter 12 of Genesis, you see God beginning to work with Abraham. And then later, He's going to work with His son Isaac, and then He's going to work with Isaac's son Jacob.

And then following that, you see numerous chapters. This actually goes from chapter 12 in Genesis to chapter 50. It takes the rest of the book to cover dealing with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and a lot about Joseph, because Joseph was to play an important part in getting into Egypt. Now we know ultimately in Exodus, God got them out. He delivered them and rescued them. But I want to focus on this administration of promise some today, and actually on one of the individuals. Now you might think I would start with Abraham, but I didn't. I'll probably do him next time. And yet, the administration of promise involves God's promises to Abraham and dealing with two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and who? Isaac. It involves God's promises to Isaac and his sons Esau and Jacob. And then, of course, it involves the promises to Jacob. Jacob and his ultimately 12 sons, and particularly a son named Joseph, that he was going to, that Jacob had a great deal of affection for. He truly loved Joseph. In a sense, he favored him more than the others. And yet, you see, Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, being given blessing and favor from Jacob, when we read this in the latter part of Genesis, you see that all of this was in a sense setting up future peoples that God would work through physically, and that there would be information that would need to be understood regarding Jacob and actually regarding Jacob's name change. Because, you know, we know of Jacob, but we more commonly know of Israel. His name was changed to Israel. So I want to cover, you know, some information, the life and lessons about Jacob today. Because his name was changed to Israel, and clearly he not only is a prominent figure in the Old Testament, but the people of Israel. It's what the rest of the Old Testament is about, and the people of spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, is what the New Testament is about. Because this is, you know, what we make up a part of today. It doesn't matter what our genealogical past is, Jew or Gentile, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we are a part of the spiritual Israel of God.

And so as I cover this, I think it's interesting to see several things that are truly remarkable. We find that God chose to deal with Abraham. You know, Abraham was what we now call the father of the faithful. He was clearly an extremely prominent individual in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, because he was, you know, to be an example of faith, an example of faithfulness and of responsiveness and obedience to God. But you find regarding his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, that even though God had chosen Abraham, he then would choose Isaac. He didn't choose Ishmael. That's a whole other story. He chose to deal through Isaac, the child or son of promise. And then, even regarding Isaac and his two sons, he saw in Jacob. God chose to deal with Jacob and not Esau. And then when you drop down to the 12 sons of Jacob, you see that Joseph was given favor. Even though maybe it didn't look like favor, maybe it looked like a giant when he was being sold into the pit and into the slavery that he would be in in Egypt. Now that probably didn't look favorable at certain points. But as Joseph would later say in the latter part of Genesis, well, you meant to do me harm, you know, but God has meant to save our people. God has meant to save the people of Israel by bringing us to Egypt and keeping us from starving to death. And of course, he's then going to work with us as he brings us out. I mean, that was what we read and what we know of later. So as we keep that in mind, I think it's interesting to see that God, as you look through the Bible, and many times we can think that these individuals that are in the Bible, well, those are some kind of special people. And in a sense, they are special people, but they're very fallible. Every one of them, the only perfect man, has been Jesus Christ. Everybody else falls into the same category of being fallible.

And, you know, even those in these individuals that we speak of and that we should be familiar with and become even more familiar with, they may seem larger than life. They too were human. They were subject to frailty. They were subject to sin. And all the men that we study about in the Bible were flawed. You know, we can see a prominent example with David. You know, David would ultimately rise to be king of Israel and be favored in many ways, yet he had his flaws that are graphically described. And yet God also saw his heart. He saw what it was that he was doing with David. And, of course, we see later written about how it is that God is going to use David in the world to come. How it is that he's going to have a prominent role in the kingdom of God, as it also is the case with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob, with Israel. So let's take a look at what we can learn, what we can see in the sermon today about Jacob, who was a grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac. See, actually this spans, and I'm going to very quickly go over this, it spans from Genesis 25 with the birth of Jacob to the end of the book, because he pretty much in chapter 49 or 50, I think it's 49, of Genesis, he dies. He's born in Genesis 25 and he dies in Genesis 49. That's half of the book of Genesis, as far as the number of chapters. And in Genesis 25, we see the birth of Esau and Jacob to Isaac and Rebecca, chapter 25, verse 19. It says these are the descendants of Isaac. And of course, we're talking, I give a lot of information here about Isaac and his wife, Rebecca.

In verse 23, it says, the Lord said to Rebecca, two nations are in your womb, and so she was going to have twins. Two nations are in your womb and two peoples born of you shall be divided, and one shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. Now Esau, even though they were twins, Esau was the older. He was older by a short period of time.

And it says in verse 24, when her time to give birth was at hand, they were twins in her womb. The first came out red, his body like a hairy mantle, so they named him Esau. They named him red. I guess probably he had red hair, I imagine. I don't know. And afterward, his brother came out, and his brother, the one we're going to talk about more so today, his brother had his hand gripped on Esau's heel, and so they named him Jacob. And that means meant to be he takes by the heel or he's a supplanter. Again, this is in a sense kind of identifying something about the characteristic that Jacob graphically displays, even though he's quite a prominent individual in the Old Testament, and of course the whole nation that is described as the people of God in the Old Testament is called the nation of Israel.

You see, the Jacob started out with some problems, kind of like anybody else here. You know, we all start out with problems, and we need to be refined. We need to be improved. But it says Isaac was 60 when Rebecca bore these boys, and they grew up. Esau was a hunter. Jacob was a quiet man living in tents. Isaac loved Esau. He liked, you know, him being out and about and shooting a deer, and the outdoorsy type things that Esau did, and yet Rebecca loved Jacob. You know, there appears to be some favoritism there. That probably wasn't the best thing to do, but it's what they did. And of course, in verse 29, we see an example here that actually is, it gives us a reflection of the nature that Jacob had to begin with.

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came from the field, he was famished.

Esau said to Jacob, let me eat some of that red stuff. I'm about to die. I'm famished.

And Jacob said, well first, sell me your birthright.

And Esau said, I'm about to die. What use is a birthright to me?

So Jacob said, well, swear to me first. And so he swore to him and he sold his birthright to Jacob.

And then Jacob gave Esau bread and stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way.

Thus it says Esau despised his birthright. You know, there's a lot of information there that I'm, again, only briefly reading over. And it is true that Esau didn't appreciate the birthright.

He didn't understand it, perhaps, and he figured, you know, what good would it be if I'm dead?

He probably had a lot of rationalization, and ultimately you see some predictions about Esau, and you see some prophecy that he and his descendants would fulfill.

But we're focusing on Jacob. Now, what kind of a slick move was this? I mean, you think he had ever thought about the fact that I don't have the birthright?

You think he ever coveted that? You think he ever wanted that favor? I doubt that that was the first time he ever thought of that. I bet he thought about that a great deal. And of course, what we find is that when opportunity arose, he cunningly got Esau to agree, which was, you know, somewhat revealing about Jacob's character. See, what would have been an individual named Israel, or going to be named Israel, what would have been the right thing for a person who has the love of God to do if someone comes to you starving to death, and you sell them a little food? I mean, that's what Jacob did. He was relying on his own smarts, his own cunning, his own ability, his own skill. Incredible. Now let's go to chapter 27, and this is even worse, because this is about, you know, the fact that Isaac is growing older. And here in chapter 27, now you see a situation where Isaac says, I'm old, my eyes are dim.

And in verse 1, he says to his son Esau, my son, I'm old, I don't know how long I'm going to live. Now take your weapon and bring me some venison from the field.

Prepare me a savory meal so that I can bless you before I die. See, this was, you know, not only customary, it was clearly, as we know, prophetic.

And yet, Rebecca, who favored Jacob instead of Esau, she heard this, and she doesn't sound too swift either.

She sounds somewhat cunning. Maybe she really identified with Jacob, or maybe Jacob identified with Mom. Very cunning, very deceptive. Actually, Rebecca calls Jacob and says, come here, you know, we've got to work this plan. And in a sense, Jacob kind of resisted a little and said his mother said, no, you know, let this curse be on me. Only obey my word and go and get them. And so apparently, Jacob wasn't strong enough to resist this, you know, because this was, that was his mother. You know, he was being told to do something. And of course, he said, I don't think this is going to work. Dad's not that far gone. You know, he can tell.

And actually what you see in verse, let's say, verse 27, he said, I know the voice is Jacob's, but, you know, the hands are the hands of Esau. You know, he's rubbing a wool rag or, you know, some kind of a skin that he's placed on his arms and on his neck. See, now, what kind of deception is Jacob pulling here? Because what he's trying to do is to achieve not only the slick move of stealing the birthright, but here in this case, lying and deceiving his father about the blessing that he could give. And so, verse 19, Jacob says to his father, whenever his father says, well, who's here?

Verse 19, Jacob clearly lies. I'm Esau, your firstborn.

And of course, then dad thinks, what, are you just bringing in roadkill or what?

This is, he's thinking, this, this, this doesn't just happen. I mean, it might take a while to find something in the woods and eventually cook it and bring it. Oh, the Lord brought it to me.

And so he said, come near. Again, he's somewhat skeptical. Jacob went up to his father in verse 27. He felt him, said the voice is Jacob's, but the hands are the hands of Esau. So he didn't recognize him. He says in verse 24, are you really Esau? He said, he's still kind of skeptical. Are you really Esau? And he said, yeah, I am. Just out and out, lying, deceptive, manipulative, human nature. I mean, that's how we can identify with this.

And so Isaac finally said, OK, I'll bless you. And he said in verse 28, may God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine and let people serve you.

A nation shall bow down to you and you will be Lord over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you and curse be anyone who curses you and bless be anyone who blesses you. He had quite a prominent blessing to extend, and this was being bestowed upon the lying, thieving, cunning, conniving Jacob.

Of course, the rest of the chapter Esau comes back and, ah, what's happened? And even Isaac realized, oh, I've blessed him and he will be blessed. And actually, Esau begs for a blessing. Actually, maybe the description in verse 35, your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.

And Esau said in verse 36, is he not rightly named Jacob, the supplanter, the deceiver?

For he has supplanted me these two times, he took away my birthright and now he's taken away my blessing.

And then Esau asked for a blessing himself, and Isaac is able to bless him, but it's not like the prominent blessing. It's pretty much that he will be subservient, and he will be in a role that is not chosen by God. This was a part of something that God, of course, was working out. And verse 41, Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing, which his father had blessed him. Esau says, it won't take long for dad to die and for the morning to pass, and then I'm going to kill him. Sounds like he's following the way of Cain. You know, if Cain didn't get his way, I'd get rid of Abel. You know, he's kind of a headache anyway. Here in this case, Esau, I am so seething mad, which you can see why he might have been, that I'm going to kill him. And so Isaac and Rebecca send Jacob away, and he goes to live with Rebecca's brother, Laban. So, I mean, you can read through all of this, and obviously we don't have time to try to go over that much of it. You know, you find that as Jacob got to Laban, and as he was to find wives among, or a wife, and as it turns out, several wives, among the people of Laban, the people of his mother, Rebecca, he loved Rachel. It says in verse 18 of chapter 29, he wanted Rachel to be his wife, and yet, what did he run into? Well, he ran into Laban, who was even more cunning, and more deceiving, and more conniving. I don't even know how you could pull off this thing that he did with Leah and with Rachel. You know, Jacob must have been really stupefied, or partially drunk, or very, very dark to not be able to figure out.

But you see in chapter 29, Jacob marrying Leah, marrying Rachel, being given a couple of handmaids as well, and ultimately out of those four women, you see 11 of the sons of Jacob are born, while he is there with Laban. So he's having to serve seven years for Rachel, and then he didn't get her, and so he agreed to serve another seven years, and it appears he was there for 20 years or so. And so, you know, you see the story, and again, I want to jump on over to chapter 32, because after Jacob has been gone from his brother Esau, he's been in a distance from him, you know, ultimately it said in verse 1 of chapter 32, he started, well, I don't have it written down here, but he started to go back. He started to want to reconcile with Esau. He started to want to go back to his country, and to where his mother and father had lived, and where he had been sent away, and yet if he went back, he knew he was going to meet Esau. He knew that this was going to be a huge problem, that Esau still hated him, and he probably figured out, yeah, he has a lot of good reasons, because he's starting to wise up a little bit. You know, he's been with Laban for a number of years, and actually he's been growing in prosperity and prominence, and yet what we find here in chapter 32 is really significant about Jacob and what happened to him. You see in verse 22 that as Jacob was approaching Esau, and as he was preparing his gifts for Esau, he was still somewhat cunning, or at least maybe just smart in this case, well I'll see if I can't appease his anger by sending him gift after gift after gift, and you know eventually if he finds that there are people that are my people, my family, my children, you know then hopefully he'll turn away. Hopefully he will not harm us. And yet as he was on the verge of that, it says in verse 22, the same night he got up and took his two wives and two maids and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jacob.

That's a river, and he took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. But in verse 24, Jacob was left alone, and it says, Jacob wrestled with a man until daybreak. So throughout this night time, Jacob is in contact with what we see later to be a spirit being.

He's in a wrestling match. You know, the strangest thing you could read about, you know, reading about David and Goliath, you know, that's pretty tame looking. That's pretty straightforward. You learn a lot of lessons in it, and yet this is just bizarre. You know, what is Jacob wrestling an angel or perhaps the word, the Son of God, the one who would be, you know, the God of the Old Testament, wrestling throughout the night.

And in verse 25, when the man saw that Jacob, or that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of join as he wrestled with him. And so now, not only is Jacob in this unusual wrestling match, but he's been injured to where his hip is out of joint. And, you know, I'm sure he was in pain. I'm sure he was crying from what we read in Hosea. He was in tears. And truly, you know, if your hip's out of joint, you know, that's about as bad. You know, your knee can hurt and your elbow can hurt, but if your hip's out of joint, then you have a real serious infirmity. And he said in verse 26, let me go.

The day is breaking, and Jacob says, I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me.

See, in a sense, Jacob had come to realize, I'm coming back and I'm wanting to reconcile with Esau. I'm wanting to kind of start making things right. We can see, and I'll read this a little later, how there was a real change in his attitude and in perhaps in his understanding of his own nature and of his deceitful and deceptive ways and his lying manner that was so prominent throughout his life. But he says, I'm not going to let you go unless you bless me. And so, he said to him, what is your name? And he said, my name is Jacob. And the man said, you shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have striven with God and with man or humans and you have prevailed. And then Jacob asked him, please tell me your name.

He says, why is it that you asked my name? And there he blessed Jacob.

See here, his name was changed from Jacob to Israel. The, in a sense, most prominent name in the Old Testament and certainly a prominent name talking of the children of God in the New Testament. The most prominent name in the New Testament is, of course, Jesus Christ.

But in verse 29, Jacob said, please tell me your name. He says, why do you want to know? And he blessed him. In verse 30, Jacob called to place Peniel, saying, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved. See now, again, that was an incredible wrestling match throughout the night. And, you know, there are lessons that I want to point out about that. I do want to point out how it is that, you know, God was working with very fallible people. He was working with Jacob, who was a liar, who was clearly, he relied on his own cunning, his own sensibilities, his own perception of what he thought was right. And he was going to come to see that, well, that doesn't work. I need to learn to rely fully and totally on God. Instead of relying on myself, I need to rely on God. See, Jacob had referred to God as the God of my grandfather, Abraham, the God of my father, Isaac, a God that I know about, but that I'm not really committed to.

I'm not really submitted to. See, this is a part of what we see revealed here in chapter 32.

And of course, in chapter 33, you see Jacob actually meeting Esau and miracle upon miracles.

Not because of Jacob's cunning and not because of Jacob's ability to sway people with his smooth snake oil, which he had relied on throughout his life. It says in verse 4, Whenever he got close enough, Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him in wet. He looked up and saw all the women and children. Who are these? These are my my kin. These are your wives and your children. And Esau's attitude was quite a bit different, as Jacob had come to rely upon God. Now, you see the remainder throughout the rest of Genesis of Jacob's interaction, more so with Joseph. And how it was that the 12th son, Benjamin, was born, but at that time Rachel died in childbirth. Now that's what we read in chapter 35.

Now that obviously seems very sad. And yet, in this case, you find that this was simply, there would be these sons of Jacob that would make up the tribes of Israel. And yet you find this, and you find as you read through the rest of Genesis about Jacob dealing with Joseph and all of the things that went on with his son Joseph. And now that Joseph was given a prominence, and Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Esau, were given a prominence as, in essence, kind of in a prominence like the other sons of Jacob. And they were even given more prominence. And of course, the predictions that would be in Genesis 48 and 49 and 50 about the sons of Israel, Joseph and his sons Ephraim and Esau would be given the great prominence of becoming a great nation and a great commonwealth of nations, which in essence, as we look at the world today, we understand Manasseh, you know, to be the great nation of the United States, perhaps even now on decline.

And the British Commonwealth, clearly, you know, the great company of nations from Ephraim.

And obviously, their zenith of power is past. You know, they still exist, but they don't have the power, and the United States is in decline, where they don't have the power that God really wanted and wished for us to be able to have. But see, you know, the life of Jacob, as I said, God was dealing with pretty fallible people. He was dealing with a pretty rotten guy in Jacob.

But what we find was that Jacob, you know, he came to understand certain things about himself, and we see that reflected, at least here in chapter 32, which we want to go to. But first of all, there are three things I want to mention here about Jacob that we could keep in mind.

Clearly, you know, Jacob reaped what he sowed as far as, you know, the way of life he lived.

You know, he often relied on his own cunning, his own skills, his own ability. And as we saw, he cunningly got the birthright from Esau. Instead of lovingly giving Esau the food he needed right then, he deceived and repeatedly lied to Isaac in order to receive a blessing that was, you know, to be a remarkable blessing. And yet, as I mentioned, he later met up with Laban, who deceived him even in a greater way than perhaps he had seen in himself. And ultimately, you know, he would find that, well, as he started to head back to Isaac and Rebecca, and Esau, he would have to confront him, you know, he had reaped what he sowed. And of course, that is a principle that we want to remember. See, now I'll tell you, God is giving us eternal life, not because we've earned it. God gives us eternal life as a gift. But many of the things that we deal with in this physical life and some of the things we end up doing or not doing, you know, reap what we sow. We read this in Galatians chapter 6, and we'll take time to read through at least a few verses here because, you know, we want to keep in mind how that, even with the man named Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, here in Galatians chapter 6, Paul says to the Galatians, he says, don't be, in verse 7, don't be deceived. God is not mocked, for you will reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, then you'll reap corruption from the flesh. If you sow to the spirit, you will reap eternal life from the spirit. So clearly an admonition for us to seek the kingdom of God and to pursue eternal life that is before us. And so he says in verse 9, let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time if we do not give up. So then whenever you have opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially, especially for those of the family of faith. See, that's what we are as part of the Church of God, a family that is united through faith in Jesus Christ. And yet this is a lesson you learn from Jacob. And of course, you know, as we mentioned David earlier, you learned from David some significant attitude improvements, some understanding of humility and of submission and of contrition and repentance.

You see this to a degree in Jacob because, you know, ultimately he did reap what he sowed.

He also labored later in his life because his beloved son Joseph was not to be found and he was told to be dead. That's what the story was. The brothers gave him. He labored with that for many years until, you know, he ultimately had Joseph revealed to him and restored to him, which I'm sure was a great delight. And yet he, you know, he had, again, reaped whatever or what he sowed, you know, he reaped, at least in the physical sense. The second thing that I'll mention is that Jacob's life is an example of conversion, of transformation. It was a process of a developing character. Much of his character was manipulating and deceiving and lying and cunning. That's what we can see pretty clearly.

And yet there in Genesis 32, his name was changed from being the supplanter to being Israel, which meant a prevailer with God. We read that in chapter 32, how that, you know, he had, he had striven with God. He had been concerned about that enough that, you know, he truly wanted God's involvement in his life. He was growing in understanding. That was a transition that God was making possible in his life. And then lastly, thirdly, you know, as Jacob wrestled with God, or as he in chapter 32 went through this wrestling match and would not let go, he would not fail in seeing that I can't rely on me. I've got to have the help of God. He was, this was actually a test of his perseverance, of his persistence, and really of his submission to God. See, Jacob obviously wanted God's blessing. He was going to hang on to him throughout the night, and he wanted that and begged for that. You know, he was, had a feeling of reliance on God and his blessing, and not on himself anymore, but he knew he had to trust God. And you see this in chapter 32 in a prayer in chapter 32 verse 9. You see a different attitude than what is reflected in Jacob before this. See, this prayer begins in verse 9. And of course, this was even prior to him wrestling all night with God, being persistent and being in perseverance with God. But he says in verse 9, what's reflected in this prayer? Oh God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, I want you to return to your country and to your kindred and I will do you good. Okay, you're the one who told me you've been the God of my grandfather and the God of my father, and you're the one who's telling me to go back and run into Esau. Verse 10, he says, I'm not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.

See, what kind of a transition is already occurring in Jacob's mind and in his heart?

He's come to see that relying on myself doesn't work. All that's reaped is heartache, headache, and learning to rely on the God of my grandfather and the God of my father, fully relying on the God who is sending me right into the mouth of this lion, which he was going back and having to go through Esau.

He says, I'm not worthy of the least of your love or of your faithfulness that you show to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I'm coming back with companies.

So he had been blessed tremendously. He hadn't really appreciated those blessings throughout his life and throughout his interaction with Laban and with his daughters and with the handmaids who would ultimately make up their family. He says, I'm not worthy. He says in verse 11, please, please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. I'm afraid of him. I'm afraid he'll kill us all, every one of us, me, mothers, children. That's what I'm afraid of. Yet, in submission to God now, you've said, I want you, I will surely do you good, and I will make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.

See, that prayer is a prayer that reveals a lot about Jacob's change in his attitude, that he had been converted. And of course, you know, he's not perfect hereafter. He still labors with some of the things that he struggled with before, but his attitude toward God is completely different. And he's the one who then is going to prevail with God throughout the night, and the one who is going to be an example of perseverance and of submission. And of course, his name, which would now be Israel, would reflect that. And I think that's an example of what it is that we want to learn. I know we're covering a large section here in the book of Genesis, but it's all about the man, Jacob, and then the development of the tribes of Israel that would make up the nation of Israel that we read about throughout the rest of the Old Testament.

See, we have to learn to look to God in faith, which is what Jacob learned, that he needed to do, and that he needed to be persistent in that, and that he would prevail throughout his lifetime. And, you know, as we go through the trials and tests that we have in our lives, we can learn, you know, these lessons from Jacob. We can learn that we, you know, we'll reap what we sow. We can learn that we have got to be transformed, and we can learn that we have to be persistent in our faith for God.

See, that's a part of what can be applicable to all of us as we think about Jacob and the prominent role that he has. And I want to conclude here just in reading Galatians chapter 6 again, because we read this, we read earlier a little bit more in chapter 6 of Galatians, but in chapter 6 of Galatians, you see a reference to the Church of God. You see a reference since Paul was writing to the Church of God.

He was writing to the people who made up the church around the area of Galatia. That's where he was writing here in Galatians, this entire book. But in the very last few words of what we see here in Galatians chapter 6, he's of course talking to them about circumcision and how that's not a requirement for Christianity. He's telling them, Jew or Gentile both can be in Christ and can in faith obey God and be the children of God.

And he says, starting in verse 14, he says, May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. He said, that's what I want to focus on is what God has done for us and what He has done through Jesus Christ in offering the Lamb of God for us. He says, neither in verse 15 circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything.

But what's really important is a new creation. A new creation is everything. See, that's the conversion, not only that Jacob went through and of course there seems to be a beginning point and perhaps more so throughout the remainder of his life. But he goes ahead to conclude here, a new creation is everything. And as for those who will follow this rule, he says, peace and mercy upon the Israel of God. Here he references the Church of God as the Israel of God.

We are in that category today. If we are going to draw close to God, if we're going to be a part of God's divine family, then we're going to understand that we're spiritual Israelites. And that Israel actually is going to be, as God will resurrect many and some who will live into the world to come. Israel is going to be given a prominent role. It's going to be caused to be an example of what God wants. And yet today, we make up what God would call the Israel of God.

And so that Israel of God should be truly understanding the process of conversion, truly be persistent in our faith toward God, and clearly realize that we want to turn from our past and truly latch on to the new life, the new creation that God, through His Spirit, is causing to grow in each one of us.