Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.
And Israel Journeyed On
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In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
The grace of God is amazing! I believe that none of us can comprehend that amazing grace of God. We can only appreciate His great grace which He has extended generously to all men. His grace is unsought after, undeserved, unfailing, and unchanging.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Titus 2:11
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 2 Timothy 1:9
His purpose is more important than His grace. His grace is what enables us to fulfill His purpose. Make no mistake! God is sovereign. He will have what He wants, with or without you and with or without me. God cannot be frustrated in His purposes. Our sins and our failures cannot thwart God's purposes. Therefore we should diligently seek Him and His ways.
In this word we want to look at the grace of God at work in the life of Jacob, the son of Isaac. More importantly we want to see how that same grace that worked in Jacob's life is at work in our life. It is important to note that grace began in the life of Jacob before the foundation of the world. So it is with us.
20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. Genesis 25:20-26
"Jacob" means "heel-catcher, supplanter, or deceiver." He was a schemer, a planner, a striver, a man of guile. He was always looking out for himself. Prior to his first encounter with the Lord, he had lied and stolen his brother's birthright and blessing. This kindled the wrath of his brother, Esau, who threatened to kill him. Because of Jacob's striving, he made enemies of both Esau and later Laban. Therefore Jacob, out of fear for his life, fled from home and went to Haran to gain a wife. Jacob did not yet know that he was a chosen vessel and that the Lord was protecting him.
10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
This was no ordinary ladder; no man could build it, although men had tried, and failed, at Babel, to build a tower to heaven. The ladder is symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ ... the communion between heaven and earth.
13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
Note that Jacob did not climb the ladder to heaven; instead, the Lord came to Jacob. Five different Bible translations record Verse 13 as, The Lord stood beside him [Jacob].
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
The Lord promised Jacob some wonderful things ... unconditionally ... despite knowing perfectly the state of Jacob's heart at the time.
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [awesome, fearful] is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee. Genesis 28:10-22
This was Jacob's first encounter with the LORD, but there was no conviction of sin within Jacob. Note that the Lord never reproved or rebuked Jacob for his attitude and actions of self-seeking. The word of grace comes to us where we are. Jacob was awestruck with the presence of the Lord. Jacob then saw the Lord as someone useful to him ... to provide food and raiment for him and to get him back home safely. So Jacob was still self-seeking. The Lord loved Jacob as he was so He did not leave him as he was. Jacob was still striving by his own efforts to produce what the grace of God had already promised and provided.
But the Lord was not through working with Jacob, although Jacob continued in his self-centered ways. How did the Lord deal with Jacob? He allowed crises in Jacob's life to get to something much deeper. In Genesis, Chapters 29 and 30, Jacob continued in his striving, scheming ways in his dealings with Laban, his father-in-law and uncle. Jacob married two of his first cousins ... Leah and Rachel. Apparently the Lord allowed, and blessed, that kind of marriage in the early days. "Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured" (Genesis 29:17). Rachel was the love of his life.
In Genesis 31, after being with Laban for 20 years, Jacob stole away from Laban, who pursued after Jacob. But Laban and Jacob settled their differences amicably, primarily because God appeared to Laban in a dream and warned him not to harm Jacob, so Jacob then headed home. However Jacob, even after 20 years, was still very fearful of meeting his brother, Esau. Natural man's greatest fear and concern is self-preservation. But Jacob's real problem at that point in his life was unbelief. The Lord had told him 20 years before that He would bring Jacob safely back home. Jacob had heard the word of the Lord but it was not yet experientially real to him. The word must become flesh.
In Genesis 32, Jacob made extensive plans to try to appease Esau by first sending ahead a generous present. Jacob was now desperate. He pleaded with God for mercy, that his life might be spared. He was consumed with the fear of possible death. He prayed and reminded God of His promises to him 20 years before.
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.12 And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok ["poured out" or "wrestling."].23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Unfortunately, we humans seem to have to come to the end of our rope before we finally turn to the Lord. The "man" who wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of day was undoubtedly the Lord Himself ... the God of all grace. Note that Jacob did not wrestle with the Lord ... the Lord wrestled with Jacob. The God of all grace wrestles with us. Grace allows us to see the truth about our self. I am declared to be right when I admit I am wrong. I am not wrong because of what I have done but because of who I am. It is not me that overcomes sin; but me allowing Jesus to overcome me and to humble me so that I can receive His grace.
25 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.
Prevailed not (did not get through to Jacob's spirit because of Jacob's self-will). He simply touched Jacob's thigh and rendered Jacob physically weak. Of course the Lord could have rendered Jacob helpless immediately but he first wanted to give Jacob a chance to repent.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
In other words, the Lord told Jacob that he had struggled with Jacob's conscience all night and Jacob still would not repent so he might as well leave. Jacob was apparently aware that, "the less is blessed of the better" (Hebrews 7:7).
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Of course the Lord knew full well who Jacob was; He knew his name; He knew his character. Why then did the Lord ask Jacob for his name? To give Jacob an opportunity to admit that he was a planner, a schemer, a striver, a self-seeking man. When Jacob answered and said his name was Jacob, he was admitting the truth of his old nature.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Genesis 32:10-29
Now that Jacob had acknowledged God as the true source of all blessing and was about to re-enter the promised land, the Lord acknowledged Jacob as His servant by changing his name to Israel, which means "he struggles with God" or "rules with God." Jacob had struggled "against" God as a natural man. But when the grace of God appeared to him, Israel was then intense for the Lord. Therefore the Lord, seeing the intensity of Jacob's heart, blessed him.
But the Lord was not yet through working with Jacob. In Genesis 33, Jacob crossed back over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. There Jacob tried to dodge repentance by getting right with men. Then he saw his brother, Esau, coming with 400 men to meet him. But God had been working in both Jacob's and Esau's hearts and the two brothers embraced each other in peace. How did Jacob approach Esau? He bowed seven times, a sign of complete repentance.
In Genesis 35, God told Jacob to return to Bethel, where God confirmed His promises to Jacob and confirmed that his name had been changed to Israel. Then Israel journeyed toward Bethlehem. Before they got to Bethlehem, Rachel, the love of his life, died in childbirth. He lost that which was most precious in his sight at the time.
19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.21 And Israel journeyed [on], and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
Genesis 35:19-21
Jacob could not journey on ... only Israel could journey on. But Jacob's final yielding to the ways and purposes of God was when he buried Leah in the cave where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah were buried, and where he later was buried. Jacob finally realized that the Lord knew what He was doing when Leah became his first wife. The grace of God had brought Jacob from a scheming, striving man to the Israel of God.
Amazing grace!
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