Gen. 32:22-32 relates a crucial experience in the life of Jacob, God's chosen one. This is truly an extraordinary portion of the Holy Word. It is unique, and there is no other passage in the Bible that is similar to it. However, due to the lack of experience, most Christians have not paid adequate attention to this part of Scripture. By the Lord's mercy, in this message we must consider this vital experience in Jacob's life and be helped by it.
Jacob's experience in this chapter is very practical, personal, and intimate. What could be more intimate than wrestling with someone for at least half a night? The Lord in the form of man wrestled with Jacob "until the breaking of the day" (v. 24). The Lord God would never wrestle with a stranger or with an unbelieving sinner. Notice that we are not told that the man "came" to wrestle with Jacob. There is no verse which says, "While Jacob remained there alone considering his trouble, the Lord came to wrestle with him." No, it simply says, "There wrestled a man with him," indicating that the man was already there and that there was no need for him to come. This reveals that the Lord had been with Jacob all the time.
Why did the Lord suddenly begin to wrestle with Jacob? There certainly must have been a reason for it. It was due to Jacob's background. As he was returning to his father's land, he had two problems — Laban behind him and Esau in front of him. Having been released from the usurping hand of Laban, he was now desperate as he faced the coming confrontation with his brother, Esau. It was at this time that the wrestling took place. Jacob's messengers had returned with the report that Esau was coming to meet Jacob with four hundred men. When Jacob heard this report, he was terrified. According to Jacob's understanding, if Esau was coming to welcome him, there would have been no need of the four hundred men. It seemed to him that Esau was like a captain coming with an army. Undoubtedly, Jacob thought that Esau was coming to smite him. Believing this, Jacob was forced to pray. After praying an excellent prayer, he divided his gift of cattle for Esau into nine droves. But he had no peace, because his problem was still directly in front of him. Therefore, as verses 22 and 23 say, "He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had." After doing all this, Jacob was alone and was probably considering the situation further and wondering what to do in case Esau would attack him. Jacob's burden was heavy, his situation was serious, and he was desperate.
The Bible gives no indication that Jacob prayed when he was alone. Many times, when you are not troubled, you pray, but when you are deeply troubled, you do not pray. The more you are troubled, the less you pray. Because the trouble is difficult and the situation serious, you simply cannot pray. Why? Because you have not yet been knocked down. No matter how serious the problem is, you have not been knocked down. Like Jacob, on the one hand we cannot go on, but on the other hand we do not pray. Rather, we remain there and ponder the situation, asking ourselves what to do.
While Jacob was considering how to cope with his problem, much to his surprise, a man began to wrestle with him. I say again that we are not told that the man came and wrestled with him. The text simply says, "There wrestled a man with him." As we read this portion of the Word today, we immediately realize that this man was the Lord. But at the beginning of the wrestling, Jacob did not realize that the man was God. He might have thought that his assailant was one of Esau's four hundred men. When this man began to wrestle with him, Jacob refused to let him prevail. Perhaps Jacob said to himself, "This man has come to arrest me, but I will not let him do it."
At this point we need to ask four questions. First, why did the Lord as a man wrestle with Jacob? What was the need of this? When the Lord appeared to Abraham, He did so as the God of glory. But here we do not see that the Lord appeared to Jacob, but that He wrestled with him as a man. Second, why could the Lord, who is the Almighty, not prevail against Jacob, a little man? Third, why did the Lord wait so long before touching the hollow of Jacob's thigh? Why did He not do it at the very beginning? The Lord must have wrestled with Jacob for at least six hours, perhaps beginning at midnight and continuing until dawn. Why did the Lord tolerate this wrestling for so long? And fourth, why did the Lord refuse to tell Jacob His name? On many other occasions, the Lord revealed His name to people, telling them who He was. But here, after being asked by Jacob to reveal His name, He declined to tell him, keeping His name a secret. Although I do not claim to be able to give a complete answer to all these questions, we can, through our experience, at least partially answer them.
In this portion of the Word, we do not have an appearing of the God of glory; neither do we have a visitation from the Lord. To Abraham, the Lord firstly appeared as the God of glory (Acts 7:2). Later, in Genesis 18, the Lord visited him and shared a meal with him. But this experience of Jacob's was neither an appearance of God nor a visitation from the Lord; it was a dealing. When you were saved, the Lord appeared to you, and many times after that you have had sweet and pleasant visitations of the Lord. But besides the Lord's appearing at the time of our salvation and His visitation in moments of fellowship, there are times when the Lord deals with us. At the beginning of these dealings, we do not realize that the Lord is present. We think that our husband, our wife, or an elder is affording us a difficult time. Eventually, we realize that it is not a matter of our husband, our wife, or of one of the elders; it is God who is here dealing with us.
This gives us the answer to the first question concerning the Lord's wrestling with Jacob in the form of a man. God does not deal with us in an apparent way, appearing as the God of glory. At the beginning of every dealing, we always think that some person is wrestling with us. Often, the wrestling lasts a long time. With Jacob, it might have been six hours, but with us, it may be six weeks, six months, or even six years. Sisters, how long have you been wrestling with your husband? Perhaps you wrestle with him every day. You realize that, as a Christian, there can be no separation or divorce. But you certainly feel free to exchange words with him. Perhaps you say to yourself, "It is unfortunate that I married this man. Since I cannot divorce him, I can at least argue with him." Some wives have been wrestling with their husbands for a long time. The same, of course, is true with us husbands, for we also wrestle with our wives. With many of us, married life is a wrestling life. Although we may think that we are wrestling with our husband or wife, the other party is actually not our husband, our wife, an elder, or any circumstance, it is the Lord Himself who is wrestling with us. In our experience, we eventually realize that the Lord is here. For example, a sister may eventually say, "It is not my husband who is wrestling with me — it is the Lord."
If we understand the answer to the first question, we should be able to answer the other three questions. In His appearing for our salvation, the Lord reveals Himself as the Lord of glory, but in His dealings with us, He keeps Himself secret. Whenever we undergo a dealing, we think that it comes from a person or a situation; we do not consider it as coming from the Lord. But whenever a dealing comes, we must realize that the Lord is there. Do not ask His name. Frequently, sisters have asked me, "Brother Lee, why did the Lord give me such a husband?" And often brothers have said, "Brother Lee, doesn't the Lord know everything? Since He does, why doesn't He do something about my wife?" The answer is that the Lord's dealing is a secret. Through Jacob's experience we can realize the name of the One who is wrestling with us. For a sister, the Lord's name might be "husband," and for a brother, the Lord's name might be "wife." In some cases the name of the Lord might be "hard-dealing elder." If we would be honest and open, many would admit that they have questions about their marriage. Many have asked, "Why?" A brother may ask, "Of all the young sisters in the church, how did I happen to marry this one?" Whenever we are dealt with, we do not recognize at first that it is the Lord's doing. Sometimes we do realize it, but refuse to admit it. If we did admit it, we would certainly stop wrestling immediately. Therefore, we strive to the uttermost not to be subdued; rather we exert ourselves to subdue the other party, in most cases not realizing that we are actually wrestling with the Lord.
Let us now consider the second and third questions. If the Lord subdued us immediately, how would we ever be exposed? Some may ask, "I have been praying for my wife for years. Why doesn't the Lord answer me? Why does she never change?" The answer is that you need to be exposed. The Lord wrestled with Jacob in order to expose how natural he was. This exposure required at least half a night. We also need a long time of trouble. Many of us are still wrestling. The Lord is attempting to subdue you, but you are fighting to subdue your circumstances. Perhaps your wife is being used by the Lord to subdue you, but you exercise your strength to defeat her. Hence, the wrestling continues. I hope that in this message the light will shine upon you and that you will say, "Oh, now I see! For years I have been wrestling. Now I see that the purpose of this is to expose how natural I am. The problem is not with my wife — it is with my natural strength. I am still just a natural man."
What was wrong with Jacob that the Lord had to wrestle with him? There was nothing wrong. The reason the Lord wrestled with Jacob was because he was still so natural. Here the dealing is not with anything sinful; it is with the natural life, with the natural man. It takes a long time to expose our natural life. We need an extended period of wrestling before this can take place. Through this period of wrestling, our naturalness, like Jacob's, is utterly exposed. As we read chapters thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three, we see how natural Jacob was. He had been dealt with and he had suffered a great deal, but, in chapter thirty-two, he was still natural. He did not trust in the Lord, and he was absolutely unable to express the Lord. He was natural, and his expression was full of himself.
At a certain point during this night of wrestling, the Lord touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh. Verse 25 says, "And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him." The Lord touched the sinew of Jacob's thigh. The sinew of the thigh is our strongest muscle. The Lord's intention was not to subdue Jacob but to expose him. After exposing his natural life, the Lord touched Jacob's thigh. It was immediately dislocated, and Jacob was crippled. As verse 31 points out, Jacob "limped upon his thigh" (Heb.).
After his thigh was dislocated, Jacob might have thought to himself, "This wrestler is greater than I am. He has not killed me, but he has certainly touched me and made me limp." Realizing that this wrestler was greater than he, Jacob asked him to bless him (v. 26). I doubt that even at this time Jacob realized that this wrestler was God. After touching him, the wrestler said to Jacob, "Let me go, for the day breaketh" (v. 26). But then Jacob said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" (Heb.). After Jacob said this, the Lord asked Jacob what his name was (v. 27). Since the Lord already knew Jacob's name, why did He ask him this question? It was to cause Jacob to realize who he was and to force him to admit that he was Jacob, the supplanter. After Jacob divulged his name, the wrestler said, "Thy name shall be no more called Jacob, but Israel; for thou has wrestled with God and with men, and hast prevailed" (v. 28, Heb.). The name Israel means "wrestler with God." Many Christians know that Israel means "the Prince of God," but, as the best lexicons and translations make clear, this meaning is secondary. The primary meaning of the name Israel is a "wrestler with God."
After Jacob heard that his name had been changed to Israel, a wrestler with God, he immediately realized that this wrestler was God. Perhaps he said to himself, "Oh! This One is God, and He has called me the wrestler of God." Then Jacob said, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name" (v. 29). The Lord replied, "Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?" (v. 29). The Lord did not tell Jacob His name. In our experience, the dealing Lord is always a secret. However, although He did not reveal His name to Jacob, the Lord blessed him. After blessing Jacob, there is no record that the Lord left him. The Lord had been with him all the time and, even after the wrestling, He was still there. The Lord neither came nor went; He simply wrestled with Jacob. If that was Jacob's experience in Old Testament times, it is even more true with us today. The Lord will never leave us. Whenever we require a dealing, He will render the precise dealing we need.
Verse 30 says, "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." After the Lord blessed him, Jacob fully realized that the wrestler was God and he named that place Peniel, which means "the face of God."
After considering Jacob's experience in this chapter, we may think that he had been transformed by it. Actually, however, there was no transformation at all, for chapter thirty-three reveals that Jacob was still Jacob. There was no change in his way of living. He was still planning, dividing, and doing everything possible to cope with the situation. Although there was no change in his way of living, there definitely was a change in his life, his very life had been touched. After his experience at Peniel, he limped. Both before and after the Lord touched him, he could do anything, but after the Lord touched him, whatever he did was done with a limp.
With us Christians there are two kinds of failures and weaknesses — those without a limp and those with a limp. For example, we may lose our temper with or without a limp. I may lose my temper with a brother, but even in this losing of my temper, others will notice that I am limping. If you do nothing, others will be unable to perceive your limp. But the more Jacob acted, the more his limp was exposed. Let me say, however, that we should not try to imitate a limp. Imitation never works.
We in the churches in the Lord's recovery are God's chosen ones. We are in His hand, we are on His way, and I am fully assured that we are also under His dealing. Whether or not you realize it, recognize it, or admit it, the fact is that you are under the Lord's dealing. Sooner or later, you will have the sense that you have been touched by Him. When that time comes, you will know that you are limp and that you will never be the same. You may still have your weaknesses, but you will not be the same. If you still can be the same, it is an indication that you have never experienced the Lord's touching.
With Jacob, the Lord's touching was once for all. But with us, there may be several touchings. Nevertheless, the principle is the same. Many of us can testify that since the day we first loved the Lord, especially since we came into the church life and began to follow the Lord in His recovery, we found ourselves in circumstances where we were being dealt with. We were constantly wrestling. For a long time, we did not realize that the Lord was dealing with us. One day, the Lord suddenly touched us, and we came out lame. After that, we were not the same. Perhaps we were still natural or weak, but we were not the same.
Do not expect that by one touch your whole living will be changed and that you will be totally transformed. No, with Jacob, the touch occurred in chapter thirty-two, but the maturity, the ripening, was not fully manifested until chapter forty-seven. From chapter twenty-six through chapter thirty-two, there were many failures, mistakes, and wrong doings. After being touched by God, in chapter thirty-three apparently he had not changed very much, but actually, in life, he had had a great change. Prior to chapter thirty-two, Jacob was natural, never having been touched by the Lord. But after chapter thirty-two, whatever he did, he did with a limp. From then on, the impression he gave to people was quite different. When he bowed down to Esau, he was still natural, but his limp testified to the Lord's touching. Have you ever realized that as Jacob walked toward Esau and bowed down to him, he was limping? Esau did not see a whole Jacob, but a crippled one. Here we see that while there was no change in his living, a change had occurred in his life. It was not the outward living that was touched by the Lord; it was the inward, natural strength that was touched by Him. The sinew of Jacob's thigh had been touched.
Few Christians realize the crucial significance of Jacob's experience in this portion of the Word. Most devote their attention to dealing with outward sin, wrong doings, and worldliness, never thinking that their natural life, natural strength, must be touched. But the Lord is not only concerned with changing our outward living; He desires even more to touch our natural life. Whether or not you exchange words with your wife, if your natural life has not been touched, you are still natural. In the eyes of God, there is not much difference between losing your temper with your wife or controlling it. If you lose your temper, you are you, and if you control your temper, you are still you. But once Jacob had been touched, though outwardly he was the same as before, inwardly his natural life had been dealt with. Humanly speaking, of course, I like to see the brothers and sisters change their attitudes towards their spouses. But deep within, if their inward being remains the same, I do not appreciate this outward change. When you behave badly, it is difficult for the Lord to work Himself into you. But when you are good, it is the same. In fact, it may be more difficult for the Lord to work Himself into you because you are so good. It is not a matter of outward change or improvement; it is a matter of inward touching. Your inward sinew, your inward natural strength, must be touched by the Lord. We all need this touch.
As we follow Jacob, we may be touched again and again, for with us the touch may not be once for all. After we wrestle for a while, we shall have the deep conviction that we have been touched. The Lord always touches us at a certain crucial spot. Whenever He touches a particular part, we are lame and can no longer be the same in our inward being. From then on, we limp and are no longer whole.
Among the thousands of people in the church life, there are many different kinds: the clever, the wise, the crafty, the proud, the arrogant. According to religion, the correct way is to change our outward behavior. But God's way, the way of life, is different. God did not say to Jacob, "Jacob, I have wrestled with you, touched you, changed your name, and given you My blessing. From now on, you must not exercise your craftiness or use your natural strength to face the situation with your brother, Esau. Don't be crafty any longer. Trust in Me and let Me take care of this matter." There is no such account in the Bible. There is simply the record of Jacob's being touched. The Lord touched his thigh, changed his name, and gave him His blessing — that is all. No sermon, no instruction, was given to him. Whatever Jacob did after that, such as divide his folks into three groups, was up to him. Often, after the Lord touches us, He does not tell us what to do. Instead, He leaves us to ourselves, allowing us to do whatever we like. If we examine our experience, we shall see that this is so.
Those, especially the elders, who care for others are fond of instructing people. Frequently they say, "Brother, you were mistaken. Now that the Lord has blessed you, you should not treat your wife the same way. Surely for the sake of the Lord's glory, you must change." The sisters who engage in shepherding may charge others, saying, "Sister, you should not exchange words with your husband any longer. You should not do this — you should not do that." This is our way, but it is not the Lord's way. After touching Jacob's thigh and blessing him, the Lord gave him no instruction. He did not even say a word. Rather, after that touch, Jacob still exercised himself. He seemed to say to his people, "You all stay back. Let me go forward to see my brother Esau." But as he walked toward him, he did so in a limping way. What a difference between our natural concept and God's way! What a difference between the religious practice and the Lord's touching!
I do not want to hear of instructions that are given to you; rather, I like to see that, one by one, so many of you are touched by the Lord. Often, sisters have come to me complaining about their husbands. However, as they accuse their husbands before me, I am happy because in their accusations I notice that they are limping. Perhaps only a few days earlier they came to me without any sign of having been touched. But now, although they still complain and accuse their husbands, a definite limp is perceivable. I do not rebuke these dear sisters, for I am happy to see that they have been touched. One touch is better than all kinds of instructions. The Lord's touching of our natural life is much better than a hundred messages. This is our need today.
Verse 31 says, "And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he limped upon his thigh" (Heb.). After the touch, the sun rose upon Jacob. He was crippled, but he was in the light. Anyone in the Lord's recovery who has light must be a crippled one. No one under the light is still whole; everyone under the light of the heavenly shining is lame. In the dark night, Jacob was strong and every part of him was whole. But after he was touched, the sun rose upon him and he was full of light. He was under the shining of the heavenly light, yet he was a crippled man. Because we are truly in the Lord's hand and are following His way, many of us are having this kind of experience.
