Favor: Dwelling in the House of His Face

Hosea 12:4 NKJV

Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, And there He spoke to us—

Bethel-The House of His Face

I want to examine two important events that set the stage for finding the favor of God. The first is Jacob’s dream and the second is his wrestling with the Angel.

Genesis 28:1–22 NKJV

Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.” So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 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 spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Genesis 28:10–22 NKJV

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 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 spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

Gen 28:1-

First, I want to reveal a background picture of what’s going on here.

Jacob and his mother executed a master plan of Jacob receiving the firstborn blessing from Isaac in spite of Isaac’s favoritism of Esau, the actual firstborn. Spiritually, Esau had already given it up for a bowl of stew. The blessing is the promise of the Messiah coming through your bloodline as well as a greater portion of the wealth.

Esau was murderously angry. Jacob fled Beersheba, the Well of Seven or Well of the Oath, which was called that because of the covenant Abraham made with Abimelech and later Isaac made one with Abimelech as well and headed toward Haran. Haran is the place where Abraham’s father stopped and died there on his way to Canaan (). I.e. Jacob is going BACKWARDS or away from the fulfillment of the promises.

He “came to a certain place” and decided to sleep there. The word “came” means “come near another object in an encounter…with a focus that the encounter is effective.” It also means “make intercession.” Here’s the idea: Jacob left all he’s known and is running for his life. He probably doesn’t feel he deserves the firstborn blessing because of how he went about getting it, and he has to use a stone for a pillow and it’s in this place that he bumps into God. I.e. God was in that “certain place” and Jacob bumped into Him.

He dreamed of a stairway FROM earth to heaven and angels ascending and descending. We know this was a prophetic picture of Jesus Christ from . But what’s interesting is the meaning of the word dream. It "to receive a communication from God, in a visual form, and so make something known” but it also means “grow strong, i.e. to become physically stronger as a natural process of development of young into adolescence and adulthood.” How on earth did the word halam in the Hebrew translated dream in the English come to be associated with dreaming? They might not be associated at all, but what I find interesting is that Jacob probably felt physically, mentally, and emotionally spent; therefore, Father sends him a dream to strengthen him but also this is the start of Jacob’s OWN journey into spiritual maturity with Father. He’s establishing his own legacy.

God gives Jacob the same promises and states, “I AM with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land…I will not leave you...” Jacob now has his OWN communication from the God of his fathers.

Jacob wakes up and realizes that “the LORD (YHWH) is in this place” and he didn’t know it. “Is in” is very important. It is “yes” (pronounced “yais” long a sound) and means “there is, it exists, i.e. a marker which affirms the existence of an object, state, or event.” It’s the principle of Hebrew 11:6-”…he who comes to God must believe that He is...” Interestingly, it also means “wealth, substance.” The rest of says, “…and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

He was overcome with a Holy awe and reverence because God was there in that “certain place.” He then said, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” House is “bayit” or “beth” in our language. Bayit is “house, temple, family, place.” God is elohim, the true God. Bethel is “The House of God.” What made it the place of God here? His presence. The house of God is the house of His presence. The Hebrew idea for presence is His Face. It’s the place where His face is turned toward you! Gate of heaven-gate is “entrance area, courts, i.e. an area of the city where people conducted LEGAL business. A LEGAL COVENANT is occurring here.

Jacob woke up the next morning and made an altar and called the name of the place Bethel. He then said, “If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going and provide for me so I can come back to my father’s home in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.” We see that God had already said “I AM with you…I will keep you…I will bring you back to this land...” but Jacob is saying, “IF He does these things, then He’ll be my God.” Hmmm…The word “if” means “a marker of a condition contrary to the fact.” Jacob didn’t yet have faith because again he was viewing God’s blessing and favor as something to be earned.

We know how Jacob served his father-in-law for many years after being tricked, stolen from, and conned. During that time, Jacob grew his family from which the 12 tribes would come. Jacob finally flees Laban a very wealthy man and all the promises are fulfilled in .

Jacob starts to retrace his steps back home and as he approached the FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISES, he hears that Esau is looking for him. And here’s one of the weirdest stories of the Bible:

Genesis 32:1–2 NKJV

So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Genesis 32:

Okaaayyyy…just a friendly camp of angels CAMPING out. Lol. The word “met” is the exact word used in . Here he bumps into a camp of angels. He named is Mahanaim, which means dual camps implying that the angelic camp and Jacob’s human camp merged together! Jacob was obviously in much distress and needed tremendous reassurance implying he was still operating in a lot of fear.

Listen to his prayer:

Genesis 32:9–12 NKJV

Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children. For You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

Gen 32:9-

Jacob is reminding God of His promises but notice that He’s not YET Jacob’s God. He’s still the distant God of his grandfather and father. He then says something that Christians say all of the time, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and all of the truth which you have shown Your servant.” Here’s the truth: NONE of us are worthy apart from Christ but HE HAS MADE US WORTHY! It’s one thing to recognize that fact; it’s another to use your sense of “unworthiness” as false humility. TRUE HUMILITY IS AGREEING WITH WHO GOD SAYS YOU ARE.

I am His beloved, the apple of His eye. I am cherished. I am the daughter of the King and of royal lineage because of Jesus Christ.

You’d think that Father’s response would’ve been to reassure him some more. Nope. It was time to pull Jacob out of his old identity and fears into his new.

Genesis 32:22–32 NKJV

And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.

Gen 32:22-

This verse is referring to Jacob wrestling with the Angel. I want to show you that this was actually a DIVINE SETUP TO PUSH JACOB INTO THE FAVOR OF THE LORD FOR HIS CALL OF RULING!

Now let’s dissect this a bit. First of all, could a man really prevail against God? Was this one of those cases where He LET him win? We know from the original language that this Man was the pre-incarnate form of Christ. Maybe it was a thrown match. But what I find interesting is that He had to touch Jacob’s socket and knock it out of joint after wrestling ALL NIGHT!

The word “wrestle” means “struggle, i.e., have a physical engagement (by grabbing and holding) with an opponent, possibly hostile, which is characterized by physical contact, and gaining advantage through leverage holds and moves, and so control the opponent by manipulations as contrasted with striking and hitting as in boxing.”

(by grabbing and holding) with an opponent, possibly hostile, which is characterized by physical contact, and gaining advantage through leverage holds and moves, and so control the opponent by manipulations as contrasted with striking and hitting as in boxing

Remember the word “came” and “met” that we’ve already seen? It also means “strike, i.e. make physical impact on an object which will result in harm or death.” We’re reading about Jacob wrestling all of his insecurities, fears, and identity to the death. He is determined to get THE BLESSING the legit way. Even the hip socket move didn’t make Jacob quit. To him it was life or death. HE HAD TO KNOW BEFORE HE MET HIS BROTHER.

Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Jesus said, “Let me go!” And Jacob said, “I will not UNLESS YOU BLESS ME!” Jesus then asked, “What is your name?”

We know God doesn’t ask questions to get answers. Jacob had to come to the end of himself in order to embrace his new identity. He said, “Jacob.”

Name is not just a name. It’s how your known, your reputation, i.e. “information that one knows about another.” Typically, your past and present are tied to your name. Jacob means “deceiver” or “supplanter.”

Hosea 12:4 NKJV

Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, And there He spoke to us—

Supplanter means “to take the place of (another), as through force, scheming, strategy, or the like.” But this isn’t how Father saw him! Listen to what the Lord said:

Genesis 32:28 NKJV

And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

Genesis 32:

Israel means “PRINCE WITH GOD.” Jacob got his blessing and named the place Peniel, which means, “Face of God.” He prevailed or succeeded in his quest for God’s blessing and now with assurance, he could build a nation through which the Messiah would come through.

This struggle was actually a DIVINE SETUP TO PUSH JACOB INTO THE FAVOR OF THE LORD FOR HIS CALL OF RULING! Struggle here in verse 28 means “to struggle” and content. But listen to this verse in:

Hosea 12:4 NKJV

Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, And there He spoke to us—

The word “struggle” here means “RULE, GOVERN, I.E. ACT AS A RULER.”

IDENTITY IS KEY TO THE FAVOR OF GOD.

You see, the favor is required in order to RULE AND GOVERN IN YOUR SPHERE OF CALL AND AUTHORITY ON THE EARTH. You HAVE to know your identity in Christ. You have to know that you’re no longer the old person. You’ve had a name change. YOUR IDENTITY IN GOD IS WHAT FAVORS WRAPS ITSELF AROUND. It’s allowing His face (presence) to unveil your true face as you behold Him.

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4  And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.

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35  For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD;

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27  He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil.

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2  A good man obtains favor from the LORD, But a man of wicked intentions He will condemn.

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15  Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.

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9  Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is favor.

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35  The king's favor is toward a wise servant, But his wrath is against him who causes shame.

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15  In the light of the king's face is life, And his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain.

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22  He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.

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6  Many entreat the favor of the nobility, And every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.

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12  The king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion, But his favor is like dew on the grass.

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10  The soul of the wicked desires evil; His neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.

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1  A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.

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23  He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward Than he who flatters with the tongue.

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26  Many seek the ruler's favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD.