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[0:00] So, two weeks ago, we left where? Two weeks ago, where did we stop? We left. Where did we leave? We left Laban.

[0:23] ! We left Laban. And we're heading for Canaan. Okay, we're heading back home. Now, we're worried about something. About what are we worried?

[0:40] We being Jacob. His brother. Now, I get that. I always worry about my brother. But he has a big deal to worry about. What's he worried about?

[1:00] He's afraid that Esau is going to kill him. Now, why is he worried about that?

[1:11] Well, 20 years ago, they left. They parted ways. And Esau was saying that he was going to kill him a little over 20 years ago, right?

[1:25] He's not forgotten that. He's not forgotten that. Okay. So, let's read those first couple of verses there in chapter 32 to get us started.

[1:38] So, after they part, Jacob continues his journey. What happens?

[1:52] Okay. I'm going to back up a bit.

[2:04] Now, did anyone read ahead at all? Okay. That's okay. Has anyone, I know you, there are many here who have read this passage.

[2:20] Has anyone wondered about that verse? Those first two verses. Well, read them to me.

[2:36] Someone read them, please. And Jacob went on, I'll get us started. Jacob went on his way. And the angels of God met him.

[2:47] Jacob said, when he saw them, this is God's king. So, he named that place, Mahanaim. Okay. Mahanaim means two camps.

[3:01] Okay. Now, if you go on to verse 3, if you go on to verse 3, what does it say?

[3:17] Right. Now, is anything odd to you about that, those two verses, those first two verses? I'm not looking for a real tricky answer here.

[3:34] I'll tell you what was odd to me. Nothing said about it. He says he saw the angels. He named the place. And that's it.

[3:47] Now, usually, when people see the angels, there's something going to happen or be said, isn't there? This one? Nothing said about it. Nothing said about it.

[4:00] Now, do we know that anyone else saw the angels? It doesn't say so, does it?

[4:10] So, do we know that anyone else saw them? Okay. You see, this is a fair... I have to be careful when I take God's word and I make inferences or I make deductions.

[4:28] I need to be careful with that because I need to be careful that I don't mishandle God's word. But this one's a safe one.

[4:47] We can assume, or we don't assume, that anyone else saw them. Why don't I assume that? Because it says he saw them and it doesn't say anyone else did.

[5:02] So, that's just an aside that has nothing to do really with the study except Jacob saw this host of God.

[5:13] Yes? Right. And we assume they did not because they're never mentioned again.

[5:24] If you read on, this is the only mention. I found that kind of interesting. I have read this... I don't know how many times in my life I have read or heard this read and I just glossed over it.

[5:44] You know, I took no thought for, well, why didn't they say something? Or, what's going on? But, yes?

[5:55] Yes? Read that, please.

[6:13] I like that.

[6:25] You know what this put me in mind of? Well, two things. Now, we have no, again, we have no record of any kind of intercourse between the angel camp and Jacob.

[6:42] All we know is that he saw them. However, remember back when Jacob was fleeing and he set up and he camped at what later is going to be called Bethel.

[6:58] What did he see? We are climbing Jacob.

[7:10] Okay. He saw a ladder with the angels of God ascending and descending. The important part isn't that he saw that at Bethel. The important part is what did God say to him?

[7:21] That what? That I will be with you until what?

[7:35] Everything I've said about you is accomplished. Now, he had reiterated, that is, God had reiterated to Jacob the Abrahamic promise about descendants and about safety and about inheritance of the land.

[7:55] And then God said, I will be with you and protect you until everything that I promised is accomplished.

[8:06] That's important to me to remember. Not because of what God's promise was to Jacob exactly, but it's also important for me to remember to learn about the character of God and the covenants of God and the promises of God when I read Romans chapter 8.

[8:28] And God says, yeah, things are tough, but I will work all things together for good.

[8:42] It doesn't always look that way. Sometimes it looks pretty desperate. But I need to remember that because God hasn't forgotten.

[9:00] But the illustration reminded me of Elisha. If you want the background for it, turn to 2 Kings chapter 6.

[9:11] It'll be in there around verses 14. But in 2 Kings chapter 6, there's strife between the Syrians and Israel.

[9:23] Elisha, Elisha, God is giving Elisha instructions to give to the king of Israel. And he's saying, you do this and you do that.

[9:39] And the king of Syria is pretty frustrated. And he says to his people, what's going on? There's somebody, we have a mole in here.

[9:51] Somebody is a secret agent for the enemy. And one of his people says, no, no, no, no, that's not what's happening. There is a prophet in Israel who can hear what you say in your bedroom.

[10:08] And he's telling the king of Israel what to do. So that's the background, right? So the king of Syria, you're starting to remember this.

[10:20] You've read this too. The king of Syria sends men to capture him. He's going to do, I'll stop this business. So now we come to early in the morning.

[10:35] If you're there, you've already read it. Early in the morning, Elisha's servant gets up. They're staying in, is it Dothan? Where are they staying?

[10:46] Is that where it is? Okay, he's in Dothan. They have surrounded him. They're going to capture him. Early in the morning, Elisha's servant gets up and he sees the Syrians surrounding him.

[11:04] and he says, Master, what are we going to do? Now, you've quoted this verse or you've heard quoted this verse.

[11:19] which quote do you see in there real quickly? Well, yeah, that's the verse that comes to mind.

[11:31] But in there, the prophet Elisha says, more are they which are with us than with him. And then Elisha prays.

[11:42] What does he pray for? So that the servant can see what Elisha can see. And what does the servant see? Okay.

[11:58] This, when Jacob was coming, was encamped and he sees this group of angels, that's what put me in mind of this. I thought, I thought of Elisha and the host, the host of the Lord protecting him.

[12:20] Now, we won't get into all the striking him with blindness and all that stuff, but we'll go on. So back to chapter 32, Genesis chapter 32.

[12:32] Now we're at verse 3 and reading on. Jacob sends messengers to Esau.

[12:44] Is that true or not? Okay. What do they tell Esau and why do they tell him this? Okay.

[13:01] They tell Esau I've been with Laban for 20 years.

[13:13] Okay. And I have all these possessions and I want to find grace or acceptance or favor in your sight.

[13:27] I want you to accept me back. that's the message that they deliver to Esau because now, by the way, just as a reminder, I know you know this, but just as a reminder, what do they call Esau?

[13:54] They give him an address. Well, okay. I mean in these verses. The messengers. Thus say to my master or Lord, it's usually translated.

[14:12] Little l. But it has to do with my superior. So he's calling Esau his superior because he's coming, he's coming back and he's making obeisance.

[14:25] He wants to be accepted. He's not coming back with a haughty attitude. Look at me. He's coming back. Now, is he going to get good news from his servants when they return?

[14:42] You say no. Why do you say no? No. Yeah. And these, and they're not playing harps.

[14:58] The, no, the implication is these are, Esau's coming with an armed band of 400. This is, now, Jacob's wealthy.

[15:09] He has a lot of people. But maybe he doesn't have 400 men at arms. Esau does. So, what's it?

[15:21] So, Jacob says, well, I just saw the hosts of heaven. Right? I'm okay. What does it say? Am I ever afraid and distressed no matter what God says in his word?

[15:38] even now, sometimes? When we live in the flesh and walk in the flesh, times get hard, and it's not, it's a whole lot easier when I stand in comfort to say it than it is when I'm in the valley.

[16:11] And I need to be gracious to those who are in the valley. Because someday I'm going to be there in some way.

[16:25] And as David put it, he knows our frame, he being God, knows our frame, that we are but dust.

[16:40] God knows his creation thoroughly and much better than we do. He knows me far better than I know myself.

[16:57] And he died for me. That's pretty amazing grace. because even what I know about myself is pretty stinky.

[17:12] And what God knows about me is more thorough than that. Paul said, look, I don't judge myself. God's my judge.

[17:24] But because we stand justified, those whom he foreknew, he also called. Those who he called, he justified.

[17:39] He called us righteous, not because my actions are righteous, but because of what Christ Jesus did upon the cross. That is wonderful and that is comforting because my security lies in eternity in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:03] It doesn't ride on me. I'm thankful for that. I'm really thankful for that. Okay, back to Jacob.

[18:14] So, he's afraid. Now, by the way, and this is just an incident because you're going to read in the scripture, you're going to read he sent messengers and then Jacob saw angels.

[18:34] The words are the same. That's the same word. And it's so in the Greek too. The Greek, sometimes the editors, the translators render the word in Greek.

[18:53] It's angelos in Greek. I can't even think about what the word is in Hebrew. But sometimes they render it angel and sometimes they render it messenger.

[19:07] Only one time, by the way, is this word ever rendered ambassador and that's only in the Hebrew. Well, that's only in the Old Testament one time it's rendered, at least in King James version, it's rendered one time as ambassador, but it means somebody sent on a mission.

[19:29] So, it's usually in the context that you see the difference, are these angelic beings or are these messengers? others. So, that's just an aside and it's a point, that's all.

[19:49] So, by the way, the very same word as that, and I did mark down an example. Remember Hagar when she was running?

[20:03] Remember that the angel of the Lord found Hagar? That's the same word as here, the messenger that Jacob sent to Esau. Sometimes it's rendered angel, sometimes it's rendered messenger.

[20:19] Okay, that's just an aside there, but they return then with the news that he's coming with 400 men, and Jacob's reaction is he's afraid and he's pretty distressed.

[20:37] What is his move at this point? He divides them up. Now, I want to be in the second group.

[20:49] Yeah, yeah, but he divides them up.

[21:02] At this point, he divides them up into two groups. We're going to see later what he's going to do. But at this point, he divides them into two groups. Why does he do that? What's his thinking? While Esau's busy with that group, some others will get away.

[21:28] We're coming up on September, I know. But late September and early October through early November, the month of October especially, the white tail deer are going to be in the rut.

[21:44] Have you ever observed the buck's going to be running does at this point? Have you ever observed them? Not really? I can tell you what will happen.

[21:57] Here's your field. Here's an open field. Here's the woods that they're coming into.

[22:08] They'll all be running across the field. Guess what happens? Yeah. Okay. Well, that's because you drive too fast, Dave.

[22:21] Okay. What happens is the buck's going to stop. He's going to send the does in. The does will go into the woods first, and when he sees the coast is clear, then he'll come in.

[22:38] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought of that because of what Jacob's doing, right? This is kind of how Jacob's going to act.

[22:50] Yes. It could be. It could be, or maybe it's possible that.

[23:06] It's possible that Esau is just coming, because we know as we read on, Esau didn't come aggressively. He came armed, but he didn't come aggressively at the actual meeting.

[23:21] But he may have been, okay, Jacob, he may have wanted to put Jacob somewhat in his place, a show of power, possibly.

[23:37] But in any case, Jacob splits them up, thinking, okay, while he's busy with this group, this group might get away, and at least half of us will survive.

[23:52] All right. So, now he prays. That's my pattern too, usually. I make a decision, I do something, then I pray about it.

[24:06] No, I don't mean to overstep this, but, so he prays. What does he pray? This will be verse nine if, well, nine and following.

[24:23] Lord, you said to me, okay, so he reminds God of what he said.

[24:44] Now, has God forgotten what he said? No. Has God forgotten what he said? And I'll go back to it.

[24:55] Romans chapter eight. Has God forgotten that? Has God changed his mind because of my behavior? Oh, now there's a trickier one, isn't it?

[25:09] Because some of us think that. Let's go back to the calling of Israel. there were millions of persons on the earth when God called Abraham.

[25:28] Who did he call? Abraham. God gave Abraham a promise that he went through the covenant, which, by the way, God ordained with a covenant that he went through by himself.

[25:46] and Paul will later say that was a promise, and the law, which came 400 and some odd years later, did not abrogate the promise that God made to Abraham.

[26:01] And he uses that so that I remember that my salvation is secure. That's exactly what he uses. He says, we are children of the promise, not of the covenant or the law.

[26:19] We're saved by grace. So, there were millions when God called Abraham, he called Abraham.

[26:34] He said, it's going to be through Isaac that your descendants are named. Then he said, it's going to be through Jacob. And then he promised to Jacob, I'm going to be with you.

[26:46] He has not changed his mind and he has not forgotten. And back to that calling business, later on, because Israel, okay, during the church age, Israel's temporarily set aside as far as the law and so forth, and treated individually now.

[27:09] if you're a Jew, you come to Christ the same way anybody comes to Christ. But, in Isaiah, God will say, in wrath, by the way, to Israel, it's not because, and I know this is a rough paraphrase, it's not because you have repented that I didn't destroy you.

[27:41] He's not going to say that. He's not going to say, it's not because you're such nice people and my heart longs for you that I didn't destroy you. He's not going to say that either.

[27:53] He's going to say, I am the Lord Lord. And it is, I change not.

[28:04] And for this reason, you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. God doesn't forget what he said. In fact, the Lord Jesus will tell him not one word, idle word, ever came from God.

[28:23] That's, by the way, why it's pretty important that I'm very careful when I talk about God told me, this, I better be careful with that.

[28:36] That should send a red flag up. Because no idle words fall from God. And, in fact, the scripture will tell us, God will say, every word that proceeds goes not void.

[28:53] That is, it doesn't, my words don't go out vainly, but accomplish all that I send it to do. So, I need to trust him in that.

[29:05] So, Jacob here is scared. He sent, he has sent these messengers, they came back, 400 guys are coming.

[29:17] He splits into two. Now, where do we go from here? I'm sorry? And he prays, yes. Now, this is what you told me, God.

[29:31] Now, he says, in verse 10, something very important, and it tells me, even in the day of grace, it tells me exactly my position.

[29:42] And what is it? I'm not worthy, not even of the least of the mercies you have shown me. How many times lately have you heard things either in an advertisement, you hear it a lot in that, or people talking and say, I deserve it.

[30:18] I deserve it, or if they're making an ad, you deserve this. You deserve going into debt for eight years and being upside down and through days.

[30:31] You deserve this. So, Jacob acknowledges here, I don't deserve any of this.

[30:45] You have already given me more than I deserve. deserve. In fact, when I look at my eternal salvation, I'm very thankful that God gives me gifts rather than desserts.

[31:02] If I got what I deserved, I'm in big trouble. And that's not said lightly. I'm in eternal trouble if I get what I deserve.

[31:16] By the way, at the white throne judgment, when the books are open, those who are not written in the book of life will get exactly what they deserve. It will be fair.

[31:28] But it's not what they're thinking they're going to get. Because God is a righteous judge.

[31:39] Okay, so I'm not deserving of what you've shown me, the mercies. Because I have two bands here.

[31:54] I have all these people and livestock. livestock. But when I left 20-some years ago, I had a staff. That's what he says.

[32:04] So, now he has a request. And this is what prayer really is. Prayer actually means to beg for or to implore for something.

[32:18] To implore. So when you read, you see it in older literature, we don't write this way anymore. we don't even teach people how to read it anymore, which is a loss for us.

[32:37] But you will have read in old literature, I pray you this or that. It doesn't mean they're worshiping the person. It means I'm asking you for something.

[32:49] So he is here. So this is his prayer. What is it? What is right?

[33:03] I'm afraid. Please deliver me. Protect me. Okay. Now, and he goes on and reiterates and he reminds God again, remember you said.

[33:24] We're at verse 13 by now. So, now he executes a plan for his meeting. What is it? How does he do that?

[33:41] What's his plan? Okay. Okay, he has lots of livestock, so he's going to give him a couple hundred nannies and 20 billies, and he's going to give him a couple hundred ewes and 20 rams, and he's going to give him milk camels, female camels that are milking with their colts, and he's going to give him cattle and asses.

[34:16] So, how does he do that, though? He's got a plan for how this is going to work. What's his plan? I'm going to split them up into groups, and I'm going to send them a group at a time.

[34:36] And as that group gets to Esau, what are they going to do? I'm sorry. Yeah, he's going to say, when Esau comes and says, what's going on, what are you going to say to him?

[35:05] Okay. right. Now, and he's going to put a space between them.

[35:17] So, he's going to send a gift, then there's going to be a little lag, then he's going to have another gift coming, then there's going to be a lag, and he's going to have another gift coming. it's like Christmas at your grandpa's.

[35:35] Except it's big. So, he's going to split them up and send them bit by bit to Esau.

[35:48] Why? By now, you're at verse 19 and moving on.

[36:05] Okay, I'm going to appease him as he gets these presents. He'll be softened. He'll be softened. And then, when he meets me, we'll be ready.

[36:21] So, he rose up that night, verse 22, and he did what?

[36:40] He crossed the Jabbok, he crossed the ford with his wives, his concubines, and his children.

[36:51] And they're camping apart from the main body. Two companies. And we don't have time to get to, to, if John's listening, we don't have time to get to the wrestling match.

[37:14] But we're going to get there, God willing. So, have a wonderful week and think about that wrestling match business and what's going on here.

[37:30] Here we go.