Article 23
Did God make a mistake in creating man? With all the pain and suffering in this world which we bring on each other, which sometimes falls on the innocent, and especially little children, it might appear that a mistake was made. Yet, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9.
At first there is a tendency to think God was mistaken to not accept Cain's sacrifice, when He did accept that of Abel. When we think it through, we see that Abel's animal sacrifice indicated that he was trusting in the death of an innocent one to make him acceptable to God, while Cain brought his own works to make himself acceptable to God.
Still, a good case can be made against Jacob. Why, why did God allow Jacob to deceive his blind father in order to steal the father's blessing which rightly belonged to his older brother, Esau?
From birth Jacob was a deceiver. His very name means deceiver, a supplanter. "Jacob means he grasps the heel (figuratively, he deceives)", NIV Genesis 27:36 note.
Esau was the masculine type, a great hunter with hair on his chest. Jacob was a momma's boy. She favored him over Esau. But what goes around comes around. After he had worked seven years for his beloved Rachel, what did he get form Uncle Laban? He got the plain Leah instead of the lovely Rachel. Now he had to serve another seven years for her.
Again the conniver, who had not learned his lesson, seeks to induce Uncle Laban's cattle to give birth to the type which would be his rather than belong to his uncle. What kind of person was this who refused to share his food with his own brother, but sold Esau bread and lentil stew for Esau's birthright?
Why would God allow Isaac to bless Jacob, thus giving the leadership of the family to this scoundrel? Why, why, why?
Why did God let Isaac give the blessing to Jacob?
BECAUSE HE CAME IN THE NAME OF HIS ELDER BROTHER whose right it was to receive the blessing.
Because he came in
the name of his elder brother.
We have an Elder Brother, Jesus of Nazareth. It is in His name that we receive the blessing of the Father. "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers." Hebrews 2:11 NIV
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12
Who was Jacob? Jacob is you and Jacob is me. Like him, we have been born with a perverse, self-centered nature. Yet the Second Person of the Godhead is not ashamed to call us brethren if we come to the Father in His name, whose right it is to receive the blessing.
Are we worthy of the blessing? No, but because He is worthy, and because we come in His name, the Father gives us the blessing. Humanity's only hope is to come to the Father in the name of our Elder Brother, who is not ashamed to call us brethren.
Somehow our self-centered, proud, fallen nature is reluctant, maybe too proud, to come to the Father in the name of another. We want to be accepted for who we are and what we are. When the Spirit of God convicts us of our sinfulness and convinces us of our need, then, and then only, are we ready to accept the drawing of the Spirit to Christ. It is Him in whom all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12:3
This promise was made to Abraham and to his descendants which included Jacob, who after twenty-one years, begins his journey to the homeland. He sends messengers to Esau, with gifts of hundreds of sheep, goats and cattle as presents, saying that he is returning, but fears, for he learned that Esau comes to meet him with four hundred men.
What agony for the supplanter. The brother he has wronged, the brother who he cheated out of their father's blessing is coming to meet him with four hundred men. What will happen to his wives, to his children, and to his herds? What anguish, what grief, what distress, what torment must go through the heart and mind of this betrayer, who now fears for his own life.
Jacob prayed to God for deliverance from the hand of his brother. Alone, he wrestles with the Angel, who is his Elder Brother spiritually, and prevails... because he holds on to the Promise, and that promise is Jesus Christ. Man prevailed and had power with God, why? Because he held onto the Promise, that promise being that if humans come to the Father in the name of their Elder Brother, they will receive the blessing.
Jacob is given a new name, Israel, indicative of a new birth and new nature. He is no longer the deceiver, but a prince of God. Why? Because he held on to the Promise.
When Jacob meets his
brother, Esau runs to meet him, hugs him, kisses him, falls on his neck,
and they weep together.
Yes, the Elder Brother forgives the sins committed against Him, and is not ashamed to call us brethren.
What grace! What mercy! What loving kindness!
Look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else
... In the Lord have I righteousness and strength ... in the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified and glory. Isaiah 45:22, 24, 25. Our
righteousness is in our Elder Brother.
In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby he shall be called, The LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah 23:6.
Our Elder Brother
is our righteousness.
The Bible identifies
Jacob's night of suffering and anguish as he wrestled with God, with last
day events, and calls it "the time of Jacob's trouble" and says,
"For that day is great, so that none is like it". Jeremiah 30:7
Daniel 12:1 tells
us that "...there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since
there was a nation..."
Jesus is quoting Daniel
when He says, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."
Matthew 24:21
Yes, in the last days
there shall be a time of trouble, Jacob's trouble, great tribulation.
It certainly appears that just as at the First Advent, the leaders of
God's true church, Acts 7:38, sought the political power to crucify Christ,
so also before the Second Advent the leaders of God's true church on earth
today, will seek political power to oppress and even put to death the
true believers of Jesus Christ.
These saints will
not be in darkness, but will know that the day is at hand. 1 Thessalonians
5:4. Soon to meet their Maker, will their past, their short comings, their
failures and their sins come in review in their minds?
Will they agonize over whether they have confessed every sin, whether
they are fully trusting in the righteousness in Christ, and not in their
own filthy rags? What heart rendering experience will it be?
Alas! For that day
is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble;
but he shall be saved out of it. Jeremiah 30:7
Saved out of it? How?
Saved out of it by
coming to the Father in the name of the Elder Brother who is not ashamed
to call them brethren.