Genesis 32

Three Great Meetings With God

Having parted from his uncle, Laban, Jacob continues on his journey. At the beginning of chapter 32 we read that he "went on his way". It is an indication, I think, of the pilgrim nature of Jacob's life, and, indeed, of the lives of the patriarchs as a whole. God had promised Abraham that he would bring Abraham and his descendants to final settlement in the land of Canaan, but that was a long way off. For the time being, God's people would be subject to wandering, unsettled, through lands that they did not know. Yet in the story at every point is the realisation that God is directing events, sometimes focussing on one aspect, sometimes on another, but all the time reminding us that in His divine Providence, God is in control.

As the story of Jacob unfolds, chapter 32 tells us about three great meetings that Jacob had with this God. The reality of the Bible story is that God is always with his people, to lead them and guide them, to help and comfort them, but also to confront and challenge them. The nature of Jacob's meetings with God is pictured in a three-fold way throughout this chapter.

God Meets Jacob Through His Angels

In a tantalising brief shot and glimpse of Jacob's journey, we are told that "the angels of God met him" (v1). Whatever form they took, and whatever the nature of the meeting was, it was sufficient to lead Jacob to exclaim "This is God's camp!". Jacob called the place "Mahanaim", which means 'two camps'. It is not readily clear why he should give the place this name. In verse 8 there is a reference to another two camps - that of Jacob on the one hand, and that of Esau on the other. Perhaps here he is registering the fact that his camp and God's camp meet, and this is the greatest encouragement he can have to go forward in his journey.

Whatever the significance of the name, and whatever happened there, God met Jacob by sending his angels to meet him. We have already met angels in the book of Genesis (for example, in 18:2 and 19:1). In the context of the Scriptural story, we note that the angels have a particular function when it comes to the people of God - they are "ministering spirits" (Hebrews 1:14), whose particular work is to minister to the heirs of salvation. In the Bible, we find the angels attending to the needs of some of the saints, directing the path of others, stopping others in their tracks - all the time, meeting needs and giving help to the people of God in their different pilgrimages.

Here Jacob is met by angels. God's eye is on his servant, no matter how much Jacob may feel cut off from those who matter most in his life. He knows that God is with him, and that in the camp of God he can find all the resources - all the supernatural resources - he needs to continue on his way and to know the blessing of the God of the covenant upon him.

We may have forgotten about the angels in our modern world, but the angels have not forgotten about us. They still come to us, still minister to us, as servants of the Most High God, whose privilege it is to fulfill a vital role in serving God's church. Through them, and through the divine power they represent, we too can be helped on our way.

God Meets Jacob In Prayer

As he approached Edom, Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to tell Esau that he was arriving. They returned and said that Esau was coming to meet him. We read then that Jacob "was greatly afraid and distressed" (v7).

It is interesting that he had not been 'greatly afraid and distressed' when angels met him on the way! The prospect of meeting with his brother caused him greater fear than the fact of having met with supernatural beings. And in a sense, the fact that angels had come to him, to minister to him and to serve him ought to have induced a sense of courage and reduced a sense of fear. But in the moment, the prospect of seeing Esau again - the estranged brother who had tried to kill him - made him afraid.

So Jacob did the sensible thing. He came to a second meeting with God. Angels are absent, but God is not. On his knees before God, Jacob pours out his heart to God, invoking the name of the God of the covenant and praying that God would deliver him. On the basis of the promises of the Word of God, Jacob comes to plead that God will honour his name and vindicate his truth by giving to him the protection and the help that he needed.

The hymn says "Take it to the Lord in prayer". How often we need to be reminded of that greatest of all resources that is available for us at Christ's throne of grace. It is there that our great King-Priest, the Mediator of God's eternal covenant, waits to be gracious. It is there that Jesus invites us to come, in order that we might make our requests known to him. Do you need to meet with God anew in prayer?

It may be insignificant, but the narrative tells us that after he prayed, Jacob made arrangements then to meet with Esau. Was it the case that having prayed, the fear was coupled with a new certainty that God would not let him down, but would bless him and help him and enable him to go forward. That is what prayer does. It will not change our circumstances, but it will help us to place our confidence in the Christ who can help us to go on.

God Meets Jacob At Peniel

The third meeting between God and Jacob took place at Peniel. At daybreak, "a Man wrestled with Jacob". The result was that Jacob was made to limp, and He asked the Man to bless him. Jacob gave the place the name Peniel - because, as he said, "I have seen God face to face".

Peniel was a place of personal encounter. The Man was none other than God. This was a theophany (an appearance of God) or perhaps even a Christophany (a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ). And Jacob met with him personally, at dawn, face to face. The Gospel must encounter us personally, or it will not benefit us at all. It is not enough to know that there is a God, and that Jesus is His name; we must encounter him face to face. The Bible must be personalised, and God must meet us on our own ground. That he does so is the greatest blessing we can know from him, and the most vital experience we can have in life.

Peniel was also a place of humbling and emptying. The Man touched Jacob's hip, and made him lame. If this was God who did this, you would think that he would make Jacob's legs strong for the pilgrimage ahead of him. Instead, he weakens him, causing him to limp. For it is a cardinal law of spiritual life, that it is when we are weak that we are strong; to be weak in ourselves is to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Jacob had to learn to lean by faith on God, just as a lame man leans on his staff.

Peniel was also a place of covenant blessing. The Man blessed him. O to be so blessed by the Man of the Gospel, by the Lord Jesus, who is able to do us good! Then we can truly go forward in the strength of God the Lord.