Gtcotr/ws012523
You
know when you’ve come across a main character in the Bible when they are
mentioned over and over again. For example:
·
Noah
is mentioned 46 times in the Bible.
o That’s pretty big to
be mentioned 46 times in the Bible.
·
Job
gets 54 mentions
o Must be something we
can learn from him …
·
Abraham
is mentioned by name 277 times.
·
Joseph
229 times
·
David
968 times
·
Jesus
942 times by name
o But His name and all
of those are only in the New Testament
o This does not account
for Messiah; Savior; Lord; and all other direct references, making it
incalculable and really never-ending.
·
God
has the lead with 3893 mentions directly as God
o Of course there is no
account for the personal pronouns and many descriptive names such as “I am”,
Jehovah, Yahweh, and even “Me!”
· Ruth, one of the great grandmothers of Jesus is mentioned 13 times in the Bible … that’s really a huge number of times to be recognized and pointed out by God for all generations to observe and learn from.
Our Bible character today is the third covenant patriarch, Jacob. His name is mentioned 345 times covering both the Old and New Testaments. However, if you consider that God changed Jacob’s name Israel, a prince with God, mentions rise to well above 2500.
Just the number of mentions alone make Jacob one of the main characters in the one story God is telling in His Word. Jacob’s life and legacy is one which every Born-Again Believer in Jesus should know and love.
Remember the one story God is telling is a story of redemption. No purpose of God is more important than the rescue and recovery of His relationship with mankind. And it happens one person at a time.
No story, including yours, is complete without it ends in redemption. This is the life of Jacob.
Isaac was 60 years old, and Abraham was already 160, when Rebecca became pregnant and delivered twin boys.
Genesis 25 NKJV
23 And the LORD said to her:
“Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your
body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall
serve the younger.”
24 So when her days were
fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her
womb.
25 And the first came out
red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came
out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac
was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 So the boys grew. And Esau
was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling
in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
It had been 20 years since Isaac and Rebecca married and now, finally (but well bathed in God’s timing) Rebecca gives birth to twin boys. The hand of providence was on Jacob from his mother’s womb. When born, his attempt to be first and claim the birthright was evident to all. Jacob the wrestler, as he was called, the one who takes and grabs what he wants by his own strength.
We will find in the life of Jacob that he continued getting what he wanted by the cunningness of his own nature. He wrestled with everything in life, right up to the point where he met God and wrestled with God. Only then did Jacob change and God called him Israel, a prince with God.
Jacob fought most of his life for something God always intended to give him. Jacob reminds us that God wants to bless us, and we need not fear or be worried or be cunning or crafty or lie or cheat or steal in order to get ahead and fulfill that longing in our hearts to be somebody, have something, do something, to get ahead.
The
story of Jacob will take longer to share than I can manage in one evening.
Since his life and legacy is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, story in
the Bible. Jacob teaches us:
·
To
trust in the Lord and not in our own abilities
·
How
to weather disappointments
·
The
value of working for a dream
·
The
sadness of missing the joy God intended
·
About
the covenant of tithes and offerings
·
The
dangers of having favorites among our children
·
How
to deal with loss
·
About
family
·
And
how to restore relationships
·
That
money isn’t everything
·
How
quickly things can change
· That we should always be ready for a new day
But before we push the pause button for tonight, allow me to share tree important principles from the life of Jacob that we can hopefully apply to our lives this week.
1.
God has a plan for you.
2.
Life has a way of bringing you back around and giving you another
chance.
3. You don’t have to wrestle in your flesh to get what God always intended to give you by His Spirit.
Let go of Esau’s ankle and let God be God …
God
really is big enough to do His job without you taking it out of His hands and
imagining it’s better in yours.
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