The God Who Conquers

Genesis 35:9-10 ESV

9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.

Today we continue on in our series of messages from Genesis, chapter 35, verses 1-15 and what we have seen in studying the first eight verses of this chapter is God calling Jacob to appear before Him in Bethel to worship Him, and then ensuring that Jacob and his household made it to where God had called him.

We then saw that when Jacob and his household arrived at Bethel, he erected an altar and worshipped the Lord his God, and Jacob was forever changed as his understanding of God became so much deeper, so much more meaningful than it had ever been before.

Now, in verses 9 through 15 of this chapter, we read again of Jacob arriving at Bethel, but this is not a separate trip that Jacob made to Bethel, rather, it is the same trip that he had made, but the account that we read in what remains of the passage fills us in on some details that had not been mentioned in the account that was given right before it.

So, today, as we work through the 9th and 10thverses of this chapter, we are going to look at is God fulfilling His promise to Jacob, and God powerfully enacting Jacob’s new beginning.

The first thing that we read of in the first part of verse 9, is God fulfilling His promise to Jacob when we read:

Genesis 35:9a ESV

9a God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram,

Whenever Jacob was running from his brother Esau with no certain destination in sight, God appeared to Jacob at Bethel. And when He appeared to Jacob, God gave Jacob a vision, a vision that we today know as the vision of Jacob’s Ladder.

What Jacob saw was a ladder set up on the earth with the angels of God ascending and descending on it and above the ladder stood the Lord Himself.

And in the midst of this, over in Genesis, chapter 28, verse 15, we read the promise of the Lord to Jacob in connection with what He had just revealed to him. So, over in Genesis 28:15, we read where the Lord said this to Jacob:

Genesis 28:15 ESV

15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

God had promised Jacob that while he would be away for some time, that He would bring him back and give him everything that He had promised to give him, the land of Canaan, an abundant offspring through whom all of the families of earth would be blessed.

And as Jacob witnessed the angels of God ascending from earth and descending to earth, he received that these angels of the Lord, who are God’s messengers and servants would go with him and protect him at God’s command.

And now we see here in the first part of verse 9 of our reading where God had completely fulfilled His promise to Jacob as He brings Jacob back to Bethel, away from his uncle Laban’s home in Paddan-aram, just as He promised He would when He told him that He would not leave him until He had done for him what He had promised He would do for him.

And when Jacob returned to Bethel, God appeared to him once again, and when God appeared to him, He done what the end of this 9thverse tells us, when it says that God appeared to Jacob:

Genesis 35:9b ESV

9b and blessed him.

Now I know that we probably don’t think too much about what is said here, but I think that a lot of the reason why that is, is because a lot of us don’t really understand what it means to be blessed by God and what the implications of being blessed by God means.

To be blessed by God means to freely receive something from His hand. And when I say “freely” I mean that in the absolutely most literal sense.

This means that to be blessed by God means that one receives from God, not because they asked for what God gives them, not because they deserve what God gives them, not because God foresaw that when He gave this person what He gave them that they would use it well, but rather, to be blessed by God means that God gives what He gives, to who He gives, for no other reason than because He wants to, because it is His will to do so.

And it was in this way that God blessed Jacob. And we see in the first part of verse 10 of our reading how it was that God freely blessed Jacob when it says:

Genesis 35:10a ESV

10a And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.”

As God appeared before Jacob in all of His glorious splendor, He proclaimed a change when it came to Jacob that He intended to go into effect immediately. And that change that God enacted in Jacob was giving him an entirely new identity. And when I say that He gave him an entirely new identity, I mean that he was given an entirely new person, in fact, an entirely new heart.

And we see this as God says to Jacob, “Your name is Jacob…” Now, we said earlier on in this series of messages that the name Jacob means “Heel holder” “Deceiver”, but most of all, “Finagler”.

Now, to say that Jacob is a finagler means that it is always his intention to twerk and manipulate things to go whatever way he wants them to go. In other words, it is always his intention for his own will to come out on top.

But then God tells Jacob here that he was no longer to be known as Jacob, but instead, “Israel” is his new name and identity.

Now, the name Israel means, “he wrestles with God”. In other words, it means that this is one who contends with God so that whatever he wants, comes to pass. It means that he is unwilling and resistant toward God… doesn’t sound too much different than Jacob the heel-holding finagler, does it?

I mean, this name “Israel” means that Jacob fought and struggled with God so that Jacob’s and not God’s will would be accomplished, that doesn’t sound too much different than the character that Jacob had always had, does it?

But you see, the difference between Jacob the finagler and Israel who wrestles with God is that when Israel wrestled with God, God won.

This means that regardless of the fact that Jacob was stubborn, resistant, selfish, and self-seeking, it was still God’s will to make Jacob into whom God wanted Jacob to be. So, God molded Jacob, and Jacob fought back, he wrestled with the Lord, but in the end, it was God Who won.

And we see this in the definitive statement given at the very end of our reading, where it says:

Genesis 35:10b ESV

10b So he called his name Israel.

It was God’s intention to utterly change Jacob, to give him a completely new heart. A heart that was submissive to the Lord, a heart that solidified the fact that Jacob was set apart by the God of heaven and earth. And thus, God spoke…

And the same word that spoke the heavens and earth into existence now spoke to Jacob, “You are Israel. You have fought against Me, and I have overcome, you are now Mine!” and so it was. He was no longer Jacob the finagler, rather, from this point on, he was Israel, the one who had been utterly conquered by God against his own will.

It kind of reminds me of a story that an old friend of mine who has since passed on, name Jasper Strode told me.

Jasper was born and raised in the hills of the Kentucky, and he was definitely country, before country was cool.

Living where he lived, they were a little behind on some of the modern technologies of the day. For example, he said that he didn’t get electricity on his Kentucky homestead until he was well into his 30’s in the 1960’s, and didn’t get plumbing until the ‘70’s. He also didn’t learn how to drive and get his own car until he was well into his 40’s. Up until he got a car, he rode a horse everywhere he went.

And because he had to ride a horse everywhere that he went, he had grown very accustomed to breaking new horses. But he said that there was one horse in particular who was stubborn as can be. He said that this horse continuously fought him and refused to let Jasper ride on him.

Well, eventually, after what seemed like forever, Jasper broke this stubborn, self-willed horse and he was able to ride him. In fact, he said that this particular horse eventually became the most obedient, reliable horse that he had ever known.

And he gave me an example of this horse’s transformation from being wild and stubborn to being obedient and reliable when he told me how back in the late 1940’s, he was courting a girl who later become his wife.

He said that one afternoon he rode this same horse out to see the girl he was courting and that they were having such a good time over there that he stayed late into the night, much later than he intended.

He said that when he got onto his horse to go back, it didn’t take long for him to realize that he was lost. And the reason why he was lost is because it was so dark that evening that he couldn’t even see the trail that he was riding on, that everything was enveloped in darkness.

So, he just kind of sat there on his horse, but the horse kept walking along and eventually walked all the way back to the barn on Jasper’s homestead, and obediently walked straight into his stall.

Jasper didn’t have to make the horse go back home, in fact, Jasper had no idea how to get home it was so dark out. And so, this same horse that had been so wild before that it wouldn’t let anyone ride on him, now obediently walked straight home without even being made to do so.

And so it is for those whom God desires to save. He seeks His wandering sheep, before they even know that they are His and He irresistibly draws them to Him.

And while everything about us naturally fights against God, God still ensures that He has us in that even against our own will, He brings us to Him, He breaks us down, and while we contend with Him, He eventually wins, and we are His!

What a remarkable blessing! He sought us, He pursued us, and in the fullness of time, He conquered us! What a blessing to be conquered by Him!

It could be that today, God is in the process of conquering you, of ensuring that you become His. Perhaps you have been fighting, resisting Him. Do not fight, do not resist, it is all in vain!

It is such an undeserved blessing to be apprehended by Him, to be humbled by Him, to be conquered by Him, and to become His, for His glory!

May we humbly look to the heavens and say, “Conquer me! Make me who You have willed for me to be!”

Amen?