Latest / Reformed Thinking / Broken to Cling: Jacob’s Transformation at Peniel (Genesis 32:24–32)

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Broken to Cling: Jacob’s Transformation at Peniel (Genesis 32:24–32) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to the Reformed Thinking podcast.
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Picture this scenario for a second if you would.
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It is a pretty intense scene to imagine.
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Oh, it really is. So it is the middle of the night
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and it is pitch black out. You have just sent away your
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spouse, your children, your entire life savings.
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Literally everything you own. Right.
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Everything you own, you sent it across a dark river.
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Yeah. And you were sitting there,
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completely alone in the dirt. Just waiting, yeah.
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Waiting for an army, 400 armed men and they are led by a
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brother who is explicitly sworn to murder you.
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And they're going to arrive at dawn.
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Your heart would just be pounding out of your chest.
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I mean, you have run out of clever tricks.
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You have run out of bribes. There is no escape route left at
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all. And then, out of the dark,
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someone violently attacks you from behind.
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It is such a shocking moment in the text.
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It really is welcome to our deep dive into Genesis chapter 32,
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looking specifically at verses 24 through 32 today.
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This is such a critical text. It is our mission for this deep
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dive is to unpack the historical and theological weight of this
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incredible encounter at the banks of the Javak River.
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We are going to look into how God intentionally breaks human
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self-reliance in order to grant His grace.
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Which is a huge blow to how people think today.
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Oh. Absolutely.
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It completely refutes the modern idol of practical wisdom.
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And you know that whole self help theology we see everywhere
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as we analyze this text today, you're going to see a really
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stark contrast. The massive contrast.
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Yeah, because our culture constantly tells you to look
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inward to find your inner strength.
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This scripture, however, demands that we confront our inner
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bankruptcy. We have a lot of sources,
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historical context and confessional theology to cover
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today. We really do.
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And you know that physical isolation at the river, that is
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the absolute starting point for making sense of everything that
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happens next. Right, the isolation is key.
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Yeah, before we can analyze the mechanics of the wrestling match
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itself, we have to establish why Jacob is alone in the dirt in
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the first place. Which means looking at who he
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is. Precisely to do that, we have to
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look at Jacob's historical character.
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His very name means the heel grabber, or the supplanter or
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the deceiver. He is the undisputed master of
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the side deal. He really is.
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I mean, if you look at his entire biography up to this
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moment, from the very second he was born, literally grasping his
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twin brother's heel in the womb, his entire existence has been
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defined by relying on his own cunning.
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Always looking for an advantage. Yes, when his brother Esau came
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in from the field and he was exhausted and hungry, Jacob saw
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an angle. He bargained for the birthright
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in exchange for a bowl of red Stew.
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Just ruthless. And later, he manipulated his
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blind, dying father Isaac to steal the blessing.
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After fleeing his family, he spent decades matching wits with
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his equally deceptive father-in-law, Laban.
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They were just constantly scheming over slots, genetics
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and changing wages. Exactly.
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I mean, Jacob is a man who always possesses a backup plan.
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He always has a hidden strategy and some human mechanism to
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secure his own well-being. But now, standing at the Jabuk
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River, he is gripped by a concrete, terrifying fear.
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Because Esau's 400 men represent an overwhelming existential
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threat. Right.
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A militia of that size is not a welcoming party.
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It is a military force designed to wipe out a small camp.
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So what does Jacob do in the face of this threat?
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He actually prays a very Orthodox prayer in Genesis 32,
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verses 9 through 12. It is a good prayer too.
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It really is. He directly appeals to God's
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covenant promises. He quotes God's own words back
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to him, but simultaneously he schemes.
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Of course he does. Yeah, he divides his camps into
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two groups to minimize his potential losses.
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He figures well. If Esau attacks one, the other
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can flee. Hedging his bets?
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Right. And he prepares wave after wave
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of extravagant livestock gifts to appease his brother's wrath,
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sending them ahead to create a buffer.
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But God systematically scripts away all these secondary
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supports. Every single one by the time we
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reach verse 24, all the camps, all the gifts and all the family
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members are gone across the river.
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The solitude Jacob experiences, his theological before it is
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geographical. Oh, that is a great point.
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What's fascinating here is the divided heart of the believer.
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Jacob genuinely trusts God's promise, but he leans heavily on
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his own arrangements. He prays for divine deliverance,
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yet he plans for physical survival, as if the outcome
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depends entirely on his own intellect.
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Spot on. God intentionally isolates him
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to expose His true nature. The Lord is dealing with Jacob,
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the individual man, not yet the corporate nation.
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God removes the noise, the wealth, and the family buffers
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so that Jacob cannot hide behind anything earthly.
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OK, let's unpack this setup, because we really need an
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analogy to grasp the sheer panic of this specific moment.
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I love a good analogy. Think of a modern corporate
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business person, someone who has built a massive financial empire
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entirely on shrewd negotiations, aggressive networking, and, you
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know, maybe cutting a few ethical corners over the
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decades. The kind of person who always
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lands on their feet. Right, they have always managed
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to talk their way out of trouble.
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They always had a slush fund to cover their mistakes and always
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knew someone they could call for a favor.
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But then something happens. Yeah, and audit hits or a
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massive, unprecedented market collapse occurs, and in a single
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afternoon they lose their entire life savings.
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Oh wow. Their network of friends
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completely abandons them to avoid the fallout.
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Their professional reputation is ruined beyond repair and they
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are left sitting alone in a dark, empty office room just.
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Devastating. The phones are dead.
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There is no one left to call for a bailout.
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They have absolutely nothing to look at except their own past
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sins, the consequences of their deception, and the terrifying
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reality of their complete helplessness.
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That is Jacob at the Jabulk River right there.
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He is utterly bankrupt of options and this reality heavily
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contrasts with how modern seeker sensitive models operate in our
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culture today. Oh, heavily.
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Those models often try to give people more camps and more gifts
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to manage their fears. Right, like if you are anxious,
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they offer practical tips for stress management.
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Or if you were worried about the future, they provide financial
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planning seminars and psychological buffers to make
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you feel secure. But the biblical text shows us a
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God who actively removes all the buffers.
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God strips everything away so the Sinner has absolutely no
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choice but to face him directly. Face him without any props.
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Without any bank accounts and without any excuses, Jacob
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genuinely thinks his biggest problem is his brother Esau.
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He is preparing all night for that human conflict.
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But the text reveals that his actual crisis is an ambush by
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the Almighty. Yeah, verse 24 states that a man
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wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
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The linguistic choices used by the biblical author to describe
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this ambush are staggering. Let's dig into the Hebrew a bit
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here. Yeah, if we look at the Hebrew
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verb structure in this passage, it utilizes rapid fire,
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consecutive imperfect verbs. This is known as the Wayakull
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form. Wayakull, right?
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Yes. In ancient Hebrew narrative
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grammar, this specific structure indicates a violent, sudden, and
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continuous intrusion that aggressively drives the action
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forward. So it is not a calm spiritual
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moment. Not at all.
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The text does not describe a gentle, meditative visitation in
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the quietness of the night. It describes an assault.
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Furthermore, the specific Hebrew word chosen for wrestling here
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is a back. It is an exceptionally rare term
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meaning dust kicking. Yeah, the biblical local author
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deliberately uses it to create a brilliant audible triple word
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play in the original language. It plays between the river
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Jabuk, pronounced Yabuk, and the man Jacob, pronounced Jacob
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right, and the dust kicking action of wrestling, pronounced
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a buck. All that is amazing.
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Yabuk Jabuk. Exactly.
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This intense physical terminology tells us that the
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man who attacks Jacob is a Christophany.
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A preincarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Yes, the Holy One of Israel condescends into the dirt,
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kicking up the literal dust of the earth to hunt down the
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Deceiver on his own ground. Which brings us directly to the
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doctrine of Divine Providence. As articulated in Chapter 5, The
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Westminster Confession of Faith. Right.
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The Confession teaches that God is the great Creator of all
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things, who upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all
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creatures and actions. God is not a passive observer
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sitting on a cloud just watching from heaven to see how Jacob
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handles his stress management. God actively, sovereignly
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intercepts Jacob. We must completely crush the
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Armenian error right here. Let's do it.
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The Arminian framework suggests that human free will initiates
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spiritual encounters, or that God simply responds to our
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choices, waiting for us to invite Him into our
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circumstances. The Jacob absolutely did not
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initiate this spiritual struggle.
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He wanted to be left alone. He wanted a safe hiding place in
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the dark to sleep before facing his brother.
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But the sovereign intruder forced the conflict.
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This is irresistible grace. Taking on a physical, muscular
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form, God determines to confront the rebel, and he does so by
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coming down into the dirt to initiate a battle the rebel
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never asked for. And one he could never
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anticipate. But I have to push back on the
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method here though, because I think a lot of people listening
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are wondering the exact same thing.
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What is that? Why does God choose a physical
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dust kicking street fight? It is a fair question.
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Why not just speak from a burning Bush like he does with
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Moses? Why not send a vision in a deep
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sleep like you did with Abraham? Or why not whisper in a still
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small voice like he does with Elijah?
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The sheer physicality of this is staggering.
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It is. I mean, a wrestling match
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requires total bodily exertion. If you have ever wrestled or
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even watched a collegiate wrestling match, you know it
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drains your cardiovascular system in minutes.
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It is exhausting. Your lungs burn, your muscles
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flood with lactic acid, your vision blurs, and your grip
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fails. Yet this fight lasts until dawn.
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Hours and hours. We are talking about hours of
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grueling, breathless, muscular struggle in the pitch black.
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Why choose such a brutal, exhausting medium to interact
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with this man? God chooses this specific
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exhausting method because Jacob has been a wrestler his entire
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life. Right.
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Think about it. He wrestled his brother in the
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womb. He wrestled Isaac for the
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covenant blessing. He wrestled Laban for the wealth
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of the flocks. He has always used his natural
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stamina, his endurance and his wit to overcome every obstacle
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in his path. So God meets him in the physical
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manifestation of his own lifelong sin.
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God fights him on His own terms to prove definitively that
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fleshly striving will never prevail against the Almighty.
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God condescends to Jacob's level.
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Yes, engaging the deceiver in a contest of strength to exhaust
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the very strength Jacob trusts in the fight rages all night,
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but we see it ends in a fraction of a second, which proves it was
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never an actual contest between equals.
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Right verse 25 says that when the man saw that he did not
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prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket and
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Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
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We really have to look closely at the mechanics of that
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specific injury. And the wording there is
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fascinating because it says the man saw that he did not prevail.
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That phrasing could trip someone up into thinking God was
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actually losing the wrestling match.
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It sounds like it on the surface.
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But based on what happens next, it is obvious the man was simply
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allowing Jacob to exhaust all his energy.
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He was letting Jacob throw every move he had until the appointed
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time. And then with a single motion,
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the fight is over. Precisely.
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The Hebrew word translated as touched or struck in verse 25 is
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taka. Taka.
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This word carries the meaning of a violent strike, a fierce
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thrust, or a clapping motion. It is the same violent verb used
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elsewhere in Scripture for driving a heavy tent peg deep
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into the ground. Like JL and Sisera?
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Yes. Or for blowing a massive
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piercing trumpet blast that completely shatters the silence.
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So this was not a gentle, magical tap on the leg that
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caused a mild cramp. Not at all.
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It was a devastating divine strike that instantly dislocated
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the strongest joint in the human body.
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The ball and socket of the hip. Right.
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It represents the absolute seat of human physical stability.
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A wrestler without a functioning hip cannot stand, cannot
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generate leverage, cannot shoot for a takedown and certainly
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cannot fight. To put the hip out of joint is
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to violently destroy the structural integrity of the man.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture of Reformed theology, we
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see a brilliant illustration of the doctrine of total depravity.
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Which is often misunderstood. Highly misunderstood.
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It does not mean a person is as utterly evil as they could
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possibly be in their actions. It means every single faculty of
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their nature, including their mind, their will, and their
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physical desires, is radically corrupted by sin and hostile to
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God. Right.
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As long as Jacob has a functional leg to stand on, he
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will rely on his own speed, his own balance, and his own wit to
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save himself. So by shattering the hip, God
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shatters Jacob's ability to rely on his flesh.
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We also see the Law gospel distinction vividly displayed
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here. How so?
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The physical strike is the law doing its crushing work.
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The law exposes our inability, it shatters our pride and it
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destroys our self righteousness. It leaves us crippled and unable
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to run. And this thoroughly dismantles
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the modern prosperity gospel. Oh, completely.
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The prosperity gospel teaches that God's primary goal is to
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make us healthy, wealthy, and physically whole.
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They claim that faith guarantees physical vitality.
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But look at the dirt of Peniel. God's great biggest act of
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sanctification for Jacob was making him a permanent physical
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cripple. Worldly logic dictates that
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physical strength equals divine blessing, but biblical logic
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demonstrates that the limp is the definitive mark of the
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chosen. Here's where it gets really
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interesting. I.
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Am listening. Think about a skilled mechanic
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who is watching a completely reckless driver speed toward a
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Cliff, right? The driver refuses to listen to
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the radio warnings, refuses to look at the warning signs posted
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on the road, and is absolutely convinced they have the driving
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skills to handle the sharp turns ahead.
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They think they're invincible. Right, so the mechanic
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intentionally disables the engine of the car.
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He reaches in and violently pulls a critical component so
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the vehicle simply cannot move forward anymore.
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To the driver sitting behind the wheel, losing the engine feels
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like total destruction. It feels like a catastrophic
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breakdown of everything they rely on, but in reality it is a
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severe mercy. Because disabling the engine is
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the only way to stop the dryer from plunging over the Cliff to
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their death. Yes, God disables Jacob's engine
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in the dark. He takes away his physical
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mechanism for running away and his physical mechanism for
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fighting back. That is a brilliant way to
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picture it. Once the physical mechanism of
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his self-reliance is shattered, Jacob's entire posture shifts.
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He stops fighting, and he starts holding on.
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That is the shift we see in verse 26.
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The man says let me go for the day breaks, but Jacob replies, I
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will not let you go unless you bless me.
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This is the shift from striving for a fleshly advantage to
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engaging in helpless, desperate supplication.
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He goes from trying to pin his opponent to begging his opponent
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for grace. And that shift is the turning
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point of Jacob's entire existence.
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It holds massive implications for our understanding of
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salvation. Tell me more about that.
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Well, the divine request let me go is incredibly revealing.
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It is not spoken because the Almighty lacks the physical
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strength to break free from a crippled mortal.
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Right, that is an absurd notion. Instead, the request is a
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deliberate test designed to draw out the new affections of
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Jacob's heart. God is giving Jacob the
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opportunity to voice his complete helpless dependence.
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And this utterly destroys the error of Pelagianism, right in
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all forms of self righteousness. It does.
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Pelagianism argues that man has the inherent natural ability to
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choose God, to stop sinning, and to fulfill the law without the
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necessity of inward divine grace.
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Pelagius taught that we are born neutral and can simply will
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ourselves into obedience. But if that were true, Jacob
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would have prevailed by his own muscular endurance and his own
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willpower. He would have defeated the man
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and demanded a prize. But Jacob did not win by
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overpowering God. No, he prevailed by being
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totally subdued. He won by losing completely.
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We must connect this to Chapter 14 of the Westminster
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Confession, which deals with saving faith.
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The confession teaches that faith is the alone instrument of
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justification. Yes.
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Jacob's desperate clinging to the Lord is the monarchistic
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work of the Holy Spirit. Monarchism, meaning that God
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alone does the work of regeneration.
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Right. The Spirit changes the hostile,
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fighting heart into a clinging, desperate heart.
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Jacob is no longer trying to beat God.
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He is holding on to God for dear life because the Holy Spirit has
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caused him to seek his all in Christ.
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His physical clinging, wrapping his arms around the one who just
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broke his hip, is the outward manifestation of the inward gift
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of saving faith. He has nothing left to offer.
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He brings absolutely nothing to the transaction except his own
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brokenness. But I have to ask a question
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here. If God already crippled him, and
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God is the one doing the inward monarchistic work of changing
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his heart, why does God make Jacob vocalize this demand for a
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blessing? Why, say let me go at all?
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Yeah, why not just give him the blessing instantly the moment
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his hip hops out of joint, it feels almost like God is
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prolonging the agony of the situation.
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It does look like that. He's sitting in the dirt, his
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leg is useless. The sun is about to come up and
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Esau is still out there. Why draw it out?
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Because vocalization seals the reality of his dependence, the
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text reveals A staggering paradox about how God
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administers his grace. What paradox is that?
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The exact same hand that just violently broke Jacob's hip is
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the only hand Jacob can look to for healing and blessing.
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Think about the physical reality of that moment.
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He doesn't roll away from the man and look for a medical
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doctor. He doesn't shout for his
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servants across the river to bring a splint or a stretcher.
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He clings tighter to the very one who.
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Yes, that vocalization. I will not let you go unless you
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bless me, forces Jacob to admit out loud that he has no backup
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plan anymore. He cannot save himself from Esau
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and he cannot heal his own body. Right before God grants the
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blessing Jacob is clinging to, God demands a confession of the
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old self. In verse 27, God asks him a very
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simple, direct question. What is your name?
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And Jacob answers Jacob. We have to understand the
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historical weight of that specific answer.
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This is a direct, unavoidable mirror to Genesis chapter 27.
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Decades earlier. Right.
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Jacob stood before his blind, dying father, Isaac.
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Isaac asked him almost the identical question.
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Who are you? My.
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Son and Jacob lied to his face. He wore goat skins on his arms,
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he smelled like the field and he said I am Esau, your first born.
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He used a disguise and a blatant lie to steal the covenant.
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Blessed. But here, in the dark, pinned
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down by the Almighty, he cannot lie.
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He cannot wear a disguise. He must admit his actual nature.
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He must say the name that means Deceiver, Supplanter, Heel,
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Grabber. You must confess his identity as
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a fraud. And only after that brutal
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confession does God rename him Israel, meaning he strives with
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God. You know, think of it like a
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medical doctor dealing with a patient who has a severe life
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threatening substance addiction. That is a solid comparison the.
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Patient comes into the clinic asking for pain relief, asking
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for a cure, but actively wanting to hide the actual cause of the
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illness. They want the medicine, but they
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do not want the stigma. Right, but a good doctor will
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not just write a prescription to mask the symptoms while the
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patient continues to lie about the addiction.
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No, a good doctor won't do that. The doctor sits the patient
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down, looks them dead in the eye, and forces them to verbally
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admit their addiction. The patient has to say I am an
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addict out loud. The diagnosis must be spoken.
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Exactly the reality of the disease must be confessed before
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the protocol for the cure is administered.
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God acts as the Great Physician here at the Jabbock.
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He forces Jacob to say I am the deceiver before applying the
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remedy of the new name. The truth has to precede the
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grace. This raises an important
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question regarding the nature of how God deals with sinners
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across all of redemptive history.
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Which is. Grace always requires truth.
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God does not sanctify us by maintaining our illusions or
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ignoring our past sins. God does not grant the new name
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until the old name is confessed. Jacob had to own his deception.
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He had to verbally agree with God's assessment of his
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character, which is the very definition of biblical
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repentance. Only then does the authoritative
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declaration of a new identity take place.
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Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel.
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This renaming is monumental both for Jacob personally and for
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biblical history. We have to consider the
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dispensational framework here to understand the full scope of the
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text. Let's break that down.
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In the literal historical narrative, this is the
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covenantal birth of the physical nation of Israel.
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The 12 tribes will bear this specific name.
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And we shouldn't algorize away the literal seed of Abraham,
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Isaac and Jacob. No God has specific covenantal
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promises for the physical nation regarding the land and the
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lineage of the Messiah. However, the spiritual principle
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seen in this moment applies directly to the Church today.
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The principle of the death of the old man and the birth of the
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new creation. Yes, the old identity of
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striving in the flesh, relying on schemes and trusting in
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earthly wealth must be exposed and put to death so that the new
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identity of resting in God's provision can be established.
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Jacob the deceiver dies at the Jabok River, and Israel, the
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dependent Prince is born. And once the spiritual renaming
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is finished, the physical world catches up to the spiritual
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reality. Right, because as the sun comes
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up over the horizon, we see the lasting physical proof of what
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happened in the dark. Verse 31 gives us this
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incredibly vivid image. The sun rose upon him, and he
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limped upon his thigh. He names the place Peniel, which
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means face of God because he is absolutely amazed that he saw
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God and his life was delivered. And the text notes in verse 32
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that the children of Israel establish a memorial dietary
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practice of not eating the sinew of the thigh, the hip muscle.
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Right to remember this exact event for generations to come.
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The limp becomes a National Monument, the naming of the
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place. Peniel highlights the incredible
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paradox of seeing God's face in Scripture.
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It is a terrifying prospect in most of the Bible.
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Throughout the biblical narrative, the unveiled face of
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God is a lethal threat to the unregenerate.
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Sinful flesh cannot dwell in the presence of unshielded holy
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perfection. We see this with Moses in Exodus
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33 when God says man shall not see me and live.
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Seeing the unshielded glory of God brings instant destruction
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to a Sinner, yet seeing God's face is also the supreme joy and
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the ultimate goal for the redeemed in eternity.
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So how did Jacob survive? Jacob survived this face to face
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encounter only because the man he wrestled was the mediator.
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The pre Incarnate Christ shielded Jacob from the
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consuming fire of the divine essence while still delivering
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the full weight of divine authority and discipline.
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Jacob walks away from the river, amazed that he is still
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breathing, and he walks away limping.
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The limp functions as the third use of the law as outline in
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Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession.
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Let's quickly review those 3 uses for our listeners.
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Sure, the confession outlines 3 uses of the moral law.
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The first use of the law drives us to Christ by exposing our
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sin, acting as a schoolmaster. The second use restrains evil in
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civil society through the threat of punishment.
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But the third use of the law guides the regenerate believer
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in how to live a life of grateful obedience.
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So the limp is Jacob's internal physical guide.
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It is grateful obedience born out of absolute brokenness.
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Every single step Jacob takes for the rest of his life
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involves a drop of the hip and a spike of pain.
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That limp preaches a silent, daily bodily sermon against
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autonomy. It tells him with every single
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stride he takes toward Esau and every stride he takes for the
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rest of his earthly life. Do not trust your own strength.
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Remember the night you fought the Lord.
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Remember that you only survived by His mercy.
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So what does this all mean? How does Jacob's limp challenge
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the modern American bootstraps theology that permeates so much
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of our culture? It shatters it.
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It really does. Bootstraps theology assumes that
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God's primary goal is to make us physically, financially, and
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emotionally whole. It assumes that if you have
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enough faith, your business will thrive, your health will be
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perfect, and your family will be flawless.
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It tells you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, conquer the
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world, and show everyone how blessed you are by how strong
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you look. But Jacob is the patriarch of
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the faith. He is the father of the 12
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tribes and his greatest spiritual victory resulted in a
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permanent physical disability. If bootstraps theology were
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true, God would have healed the hip right before the sun came up
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so Jacob could March proudly and strongly to meet Esau.
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Chest puffed out, ready to conquer.
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But God leaves him broken. He leaves him, looking weak to
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the outside world. He meets Esau, dragging his leg
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behind him. This story is an ancient shadow,
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but we need to look at the substance.
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The substance of this encounter is found thousands of years
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later on a hill called Golgotha. Christ is the true and better
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Israel. He perfectly prevailed with God.
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Where Jacob deceived his father to win the blessing, Christ
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spoke only truth and obeyed his father.
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Florida State, where Jacob grabbed his brother's heel for
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his own advantage, Christ emptied himself and washed his
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brother's feet. The Christological fulfillment
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here is absolutely breathtaking when you trace the themes.
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Jacob's hip was put out of joints so that he, a guilty
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Sinner, could receive a blessing he did not deserve, right?
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But on the cross Christ's entire body was broken, His hands and
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feet were pierced, and as Psalm 22 prophecies, all his bones
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were out of joints. And this happened not so that
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Christ could be blessed, so that his people could be healed.
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God strikes Jacob's hip to discipline him and save him from
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his own pride, but the Father strikes the Son to spare the
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Sinner entirely. The wrath of God, the full
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weight of divine justice, falls completely upon Jesus Christ.
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We must bring the Law gospel distinction home to the heart
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right here. Yes.
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We do not cling to God to make Him love us.
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We do not muster up enough faith to convince God to look
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favorably upon us or reward our intense grip.
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That is works righteousness, and it leads to despair.
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Instead, we cling to Him precisely because He has already
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laid hold of us in Christ Jesus. Our grip is weak.
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Our arms get tired. Our faith wavers, but his grip
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is omnipotent. This truth completely shatters
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the specific idols of our modern time.
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We live in a culture obsessed with bodily autonomy, arguing
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constantly that our physical bodies belong to us alone, to do
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with as we please, free from any divine claim.
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But Peniel shows us that God claims sovereignty even over our
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physical joints. He owns the body.
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We also worship the idol of pragmatism, using whatever
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secular management techniques work to grow church attendance
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or balance the budget. We rely on polished
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presentations, high production values, values, and strong,
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invulnerable leaders who project success.
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But church leaders should lead with a visible limp.
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A pastor or an elder should visibly demonstrate surrender to
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Christ, leading out of confessed weakness and dependence rather
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than corporate swagger. They should lead as men who have
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been broken by the Law and healed by the gospel.
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That is such a vital warning for the church today.
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And this isn't just an ancient story about a patriarch having a
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tough night by a river. For the unbeliever listening
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right now, you need to understand that fighting God is
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a battle you absolutely cannot win.
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You cannot outlast him. You might think you are just
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wrestling with bad luck, or fighting against a difficult
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boss, or struggling with your mental health, or dealing with a
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string of unfortunate circumstances.
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But if you are resisting the truth of the gospel, you are
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wrestling with the Almighty God. He is the sovereign intruder.
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You must fall upon the mercy of Christ before the breaking of
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the day. You must surrender your weapons
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of self righteousness, your schemes, and your backup plans.
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God conquers our pride in order to save our souls.
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True strength is found exclusively in absolute
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dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He breaks us to remake us. He strips away our earthly
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props, our bank accounts and our clever tricks, so that we have
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nothing left to stand on but the solid rock of His grace.
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That is the heart of it. If God's greatest act of mercy
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toward Jacob was giving him a permanent physical weakness,
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take a hard look at the chronic struggles, the closed doors, or
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the limps in your own life right now.
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Look. Closely at them.
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Look at the pain you have begged God to take away, or the
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weakness you constantly try to hide from the world.
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What if that specific weakness is not evidence that God has
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abandoned you, but the very mechanism He designed to ensure
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you never let go of Him? Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive.