FAITH PURIFIED. Hebrews 11:21 The significance of the patriarchs lies not in their character but in the character of God. They tried to please God but often failed. God’s plans succeeded despite Jacob’s methods. His scheming, planning, ruthless business dealings, and outright lies (in each generation, the lies became more deliberate) were not a blessing from God. God met him four times at different stages in his life. At first, God awakened a personal knowledge of himself. The second required him to wait six years for permission to leave. The third made him realize his dependence on God, and he would not let God go without a blessing. At the fourth, God laid hold of him to send him to Egypt. He wouldn’t go without God’s approval.
The life of Jacob is recorded from Genesis 25 to Genesis 42. As the son of Isaac and Rebekah, born in answer to prayer, it reads like a fascinating storybook. There is all kinds of drama from the human viewpoint, as this youngest of twins becomes Rebekah’s favorite. By subtlety, Jacob obtained Esau’s birthright and, in collusion with his mother, secured Isaac’s blessing. Bitterly hated by Esau, Jacob departed for Haran, from whence his mother came. On the way, one night, he saw, in a heavenly vision, a ladder linking heaven and earth, and made a vow. In Haran, he met Rachel and Laban, served seven years each for Laban’s daughters, and had many children born to him there. He requested a departure from Laban, and as a result, he had to flee. When Laban overtook him, Laban made a covenant with him to secure his future.
Jacob had been raised by parents who had experienced God working in their lives in many ways. He had been blessed by Isaac, his father, fairly early in his life, but it seemed to have very little effect on him. He had never experienced much faith at work in his life because he was planning and scheming like someone who wanted to control his own life. In mercy and grace, he was refined by several appointments that God had arranged. His scheming and planning continued until he was faced with a famine over which he had no control, leaving him helpless to do anything on his own.
At the end of his life, God let him face the fact that his flawed faith had not brought him anything of lasting value. When he learned that Joseph was alive, he turned his thoughts away from himself and realized that it is God who works in us when our faith is in Him alone. His purified faith in his old age was the result of God’s blessing through His chastening hand. Under divine discipline, he finally learned not to trust his natural, scheming ideas. The grace of God brought the wisdom he needed to be a man of faith with prophetic insight.
As Jacob continued his journey back to the land promised to him through Abraham and Isaac, he met angels, a reminder that God is aware of every move we make, whether it is good or bad. That encounter must have strengthened his desire to set things right with Esau. So, he sent a message to Esau, prayed earnestly to the Lord that his brother would accept him, and sent gifts to Esau. Up until this point in his life, there didn't seem to be any real evidence of faith that affected his life.
Then came the scene in which he wrestled with an angel through the night and became intensely aware of God's concern for him and the future. He was named “Israel” that morning, "for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."
Faith becomes real to us when we are conscious of God's presence and feel His hand laid upon us in some way. The refining of faith can be a costly experience when we try to reverse the orders that God gives. To think that the blessing of God is measured by the things we possess is to misunderstand God and what is important to Him. "A man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses."
After Jacob was, to a certain extent, reconciled to Esau, he erected an altar at Shechem, at Elelohe- Israel, because God had become real to him in a special way. However, even as he became much more aware of God in his own life, he was not spared the fact that believers still face family problems, such as the trouble he had over Dinah. He finally returned to Bethel, where he experienced renewal of the small measure of faith he had. His twelfth son, Benjamin, was born there, but as a result of that birth, he had to bury Rachel.
Each of his twelve sons was uniquely different and could not hide his personality traits. Jacob was able to return to see his father and was there when he died. Both Jacob and Esau were there and buried Isaac. His favoritism toward Joseph led both him and his family into a series of consequences that can only be described as sovereign acts of God, right up until he sent his sons to Egypt for food.
When Jacob learned that all his scheming had contributed nothing to God’s blessing, God let him discover what that blessing was. Jacob’s character improved with age, and he did well in old age. His whole life had been a storm of intrigue, deception, selfishness, and subtlety. At the end of his life, he finally broke into the sunshine of living by faith. Joseph was alive. With a greatly purified faith, he blessed Joseph’s sons, "worshipping leaning upon the top of his staff." Leaning on his staff as a stranger and pilgrim in a foreign land, he faced who he really was and acknowledged God’s blessings upon him.
The blessings and grace of God bestowed on him moved him to worship God and to bless others. As he looked at his grandsons, he saw, with enlightened eyes, the refined faith that the promises of God regarding the future were assured. After many years of self-centered, self-sufficient living, he was brought, as a dying man in weakness, to worship God with honest words, “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!” The grace of God, whose blessing he had already proved, enabled him to bless his grandsons in faith, knowing that their future was secure in the promise of God.
Jacob had sent his sons to Egypt twice. The second time, they returned with Benjamin, and upon their return, he was revived by the good news about Joseph. He went to Egypt with his family, saw Joseph, and met Pharaoh. He made Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan. While in Egypt, he blessed Joseph’s sons, then his own sons, and died there, and he was buried in Canaan.
A lesson from Jacob for us is that when God gives the orders, do not try to reverse them. When we learn to trust Him, God makes Himself known to us as we read and study His Word. The experiences we have with God are what make the difference in life. Instead of making our own plans and mistakes, we need to seek God’s approval before taking action. Then we are able to truly worship and bless those around us. We too can be like Jacob, a pilgrim living by faith - finally!!
He wasn’t a perfect man, this man called Israel – he schemed and plotted, yet God loved him despite all his failures. His years were marked by turmoil at home and abroad – yet he always remembered that his God had called. Honor was given to him at his death – the man was named by God “A prince.” When such a one dies, we remember his best characteristics, and “Israel” has been respected since.
It is appropriate to honor those whom God has adopted and called His own. He has dealt with them in life; we must not suppose He has restrictions when He calls each one home. Go over the life of the one who has passed – look for those places of victory. Let us all respect what lasts when the last chapter is written of their story. God welcomes those who belong to Him – we should honor our dead as they enter their “long home.” Grace has worked, and failures dim when we go back over all they have done.