The Wrestler

Wrestling. Passage on wrestling.

Genesis 32:22-32

Main Idea: Encountering God changes you

Moses includes this story to both give a history of the name Israel but also give them a glimpse of who God is. God is a God who draws near. Mesopotamian religions were far off and didn’t speak. Yahweh shows up in the form of a man and literally wrestles Jacob. They fought. Our God is not a distant deity who is not concerned with the ways of men. He is an intervening God. Intervenes for Jacob.

Jacob has spent his life tricking people to get his way. Esau and Laban. Wanted the blessing so bad, he wouldn’t relent.

Jacob has spent his life running away from things. He ran away from Esau and Laban. For the first time, he wouldn’t run away.

Jacob was known for not letting go. Held onto Esau’s heel. Stuck around for Rachel for 14 years. He held onto God until he got what he wanted.

Now, God had intervened. Every story we see God intervening in human affairs. So, why wrestle? God had a plan for Jacob. Jacob was always looking for a blessing. God was going to bless him no matter what. God’s plan included his sons and their children. Also before Jacob. Genesis 3:15. Enmity between offspring. Cain & Abel. Isaac & Ishmael. Jacob & Esau. Joseph and his brothers. Far beyond what Jacob could see. Needed Jacob’s character to change. Stop being a man who ran. Stop being someone who takes matters into his own hands. Someone who trusts.

App. Do you identify with any of these?

Truth #1: Encountering God changes your walk

Exp. After Jacob sent his two wives and eleven children across the river, God showed up in the form of the man to wrestle with Jacob. Verses 24-25. Breaking of the day. They wrestled for hours. Jacob is 97 at this point. That’s a long time to wrestle.

Ill. I’ve talked about my son Christian. Who will probably be a WWE wrestler one day. He wants to wrestle all the time. Just the other night, we went at it for 15 minutes. I set a timer. My back was so sore, I had to put a heating press on it.

Exp. Not the point. The man touched his hip. Touched = wrenched, ruptured. Brutal blow to Jacob’s leg. Not a stinger or cramp. Even through the pain, he would not let go. Verse 26. Jacob was unrelenting. He would not let go until he got what he wanted.

App. Is this not like us? Are we not like Jacob and become unrelenting in what we want despite God’s plan? Things we can’t let go of:

Our plans for the future. Career plans. Plans for children.

Our sin. Often we can hear a sermon, and think that we can grow in our faith without giving up that sin. That’s a lie.

Christ - As Jacob’s life was intervened by God in the flesh, so is ours. Jesus even taught the message that God wanted Jacob to learn. There’s a greater plan. We can let go of sin by repenting. We can let go of plans by trusting.

App. Are you different? Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life because of this encounter. Do you walk with a limp? If your encounter with God didn’t hurt, it might mean that nothing died that day. It’s grace that God would break his hip, and it’s grace he would crucify our sin.

Truth #2: Encountering God changes your name

Exp. Jacob’s name means supplanter or to take by the heel. Some rendering of “he cheats.” This name was his identity. That’s how names worked. But we see the blessing come with a name change. Verse 27-28. Name change to Israel. One who contends with God. Name changes from a supplanter to a name that helps give a description of God.

Ill. Volunteer state. War of 1812. 1848, James K. Polk asked for 2,600 men, 30,000 answered the call. The name identified an entire group of people.

Arg. Jacob’s children would carry this name. They would be called Israelites. Amazing how the man who tricked his way through life would be given the name that identified God’s people. We know he wrestled with God for three reasons. 1.) Peniel. 2.) Israel. 3.) Hosea 12:3.

Exp. Jacob’s change in name was a change in character. Genesis 33, Jacob runs to Esau and bows in front of him. Then they embraced each other. The name itself signaled a change, but it was his encounter with God that brought the change.

Christ - This is what Christ is for us. When we encounter God in the flesh, our lives change and we are given a new identity. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” You are a new creation. The old self doesn’t exist anymore. Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

App. New creation and new family. In Christ, this is your identity. Does your identity describe you?

Has your name changed?

Is your name, “I’m a slave to ____” or is your name “Child of God.”

Is your name, “I can’t let go of _____” or is your name “I will trust in God.”

Is your name, “I don’t need God” or is your name “I can’t live without him.”