Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2486
Genesis 32:22-24. And he rose up that night and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his 11 sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them and sent them over the brook, and sent over all that he had. And Jacob was left alone. He had made a quiet oratory for himself by sending everyone else of the company over to the other side of the brook—his own resolve being—
“With You all night I mean to stay, And wrestle till the break of day.”
24, 25. And there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day. And when He saw—When the wrestling Man, the Angel of the Covenant, saw—
25, 26. 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. And He said, Let Me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let You go, except You bless me. When we come nearest to God, we must have a deep sense of our own personal weakness. It must never be supposed, if our suit prevails with Heaven, that there is anythingin us, or anything in our prayers to account for our prevalence. Whatever power we have, must come from God’s Grace, alone, and, therefore, usually when we pray so as to prevail with the Lord there is at the same time a shrinking of the sinew, a consciousness of weakness, a sense of pain—yet it is just then that we are prevailing and, therefore, we may rest assured that our prayer will be answered. The Angel said, “Let Me go,” at the very time when Jacob felt the shrinking of the sinew—“He said, Let Me go, for the day breaks. And he (Jacob) said, I will not let You go, except You bless me.”
27-29. And He said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men, and have prevailed. And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray You, Your name. And he said, Why is it that you ask about My name? Holy desires will be realized and believing prayers will be answered, but mere curiositywill not be gratified! Those who read the Scriptures with a view simply to find out novelties that may tickle their fancy, read in vain. The Covenant Angel will give you what you will if it is necessary for you, but He will not answer your idle questions. He said to Jacob, “Why is it that you ask about My name?”
29, 30. And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Thus did Jacob the wrestler overcome his God! Now turn to the 32nd Chapter of the Book of Exodus, where we find a description of the sin of idolatry into which the Israelites fell while Moses was absent in communion with God upon the mountain. The people brought their golden earrings to Aaron and he made a calf, and they bowed before it, saying, “These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” While this wickedness was going on, Moses was on the mountaintop with God.
Exodus 32:7. And the LORD said to Moses, Go, get you down; for your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! See how Jehovah will not acknowledge these idolaters as His people? He says to Moses, ” Yourpeople which youbrought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.”
8-10. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land ofEgypt. And the LORD said to Moses, Ihave seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of you a great nation. What a great future was thus opened up before Moses! He might become another Abraham and in him should all the nations of the earth be blessed! But Moses loves the people, even the people who have vexed and provoked him so many years. He still loves them so much that, even before he begins to pray for them, God says, “Let Me alone,” as if He felt the force of Moses’ coming prayer and would not have him offer it! O wondrous power of intercession, that by it even God’s right hand is held back when it is lifted up to strike!
11. And Moses urged the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why does Your wrath wax hot against Your people, which You have brought forth out of the land ofEgypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?Moses will not have it that they are hspeople, nor that he brought them out of the land of Egypt. But he declares that they are God’speople, and that Hebrought them forth “with great power, and with a mighty hand.”
12-14. Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, andlsrael, Your servants, to whom you swore by Your own Self, andsaid to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of Heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of wiil I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do to His people. So a second time the mighty power of prayer was proven and the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man! In the seventh Chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, beginning at the 24th verse, is another story which you know well, which tells how the Lord Jesus was overcome by a woman’s mighty faith.
Mark 7:24-29. And from there He arose, and went to the borders of Tyre andSidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but He could not be hid. For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet: the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she urged Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not good to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to the dogs. And she answered and said to Him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And He said to her, For this saying go your way; the devil is gone out of your daughter. Christ capitulated at once! He yielded to the strong arms of conquering prayer and faith—and so the pleading woman had her will!
30. And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.