[Wrestle With The ANGEL\

The Hebrew patriarch Jacob on his return to the promise land after working
twenty years for his deceptive uncle Laban, wrestled with ‘ a man’ who
turns out to be God.

Genesis 32:24-30 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day.
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.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let
thee go, except thou bless me.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
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.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face
to face, and my life is preserved.

Jacob tenaciously wrestles with ‘a man’ who is THE Angel of the LORD,
who is no other than the LORD Jesus in his pre-earthly existence. We know
this is Jesus because Jesus tells us in the sixth chapter of John that no man
hath ever seen the Father yet Jacob states’ for I have seen God face to face’.
When we see the phrase ‘THE angel of the LORD’ it is always talking about
Jesus in his pre-earthly existence.

Jacob refuses to let the LORD go, until he receives a blessing, Jacob receives
a name change. Hebrew thought puts great importance to a person’s name.
To know a man’s name is to know the very substance of his being, his
character is involved in his name. The name Jacob means ‘supplanter’;
supplant means to supersede or replace. Jacob’s name is changed to Israel,
which mean’s ‘he shall be a prince of God’". So, in essence Jacob received
a character change. He has changed from a trickster to a chosen man of the
LORD, and his actions from that time on reflect it.
Jacob wrestling with God is a figurative metaphor of what every believer
goes thru. We learn what pleases God such as the Ten Commandments also
known as the Decalogue then we do our best to perform them. We wrestle
with the precepts that one learns when we dedicate ourselves to the LORD.

As we grow in God we learn that He doesn’t like covetousness, greed,

gossip, false witness, lying, cheating, stealing, violence, inordinate sexual
relations, drunkenness and many other human behaviors. The bible reflects
that humankind’s morality does not meet Gods expectations.

Disobedience is an innate part of human nature. So we wrestle or strive with

the higher expectations the LORD has set out for us. Jacob is a type of every
believer who under goes the change from sinner to saint. When we come to
the LORD we begin to ‘fight the good fight of faith’.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,
whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses.

We fight the good fight of faith to ‘lay hold’ on eternal life. When we come
to the LORD, he begins to change our nature or gives us a name change like
Jacob. When we first come to the LORD we receive a hyper sensitive
conscience. When we lie or cuss or steal our hyper sensitive conscience
condemns us, thus begins the wrestling match as described by the apostle
Paul in our next scripture.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 And every man that striveth for the mastery is
temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we
an incorruptible.
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth
the air:
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any
means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

The apostle writes ‘so fight I’, he views spirituality as a fight, ‘fight the good
fight of faith’. The fight is within, a fight between the carnal man and the
spiritual man. The fight is to do good and not bad to our fellow man. The
fight is to be humble, not self- promoting.
Strive: macomai machomai makh'-om-ahee Gr. - to fight as those who
engage in a hand to hand struggle (the Greek word for ‘strive’)

Jesus echo’s this thought of ‘fighting the good fight of faith’ in our next
scripture.

Luke 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

We who come to the LORD strive to do what is pleasing to Him. Such as

turn the other cheek, which is completely against our human nature.

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove

your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobates?

A reprobate is defined as an unprincipled person. ‘Examine yourselves’.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

1 Corinthians 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate
in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an
incorruptible.

A man who strives for masteries is’ running with patience the race’ that is
set before him. Mastery means: comprehensive knowledge or skill in a
subject or accomplishment.

2 Timothy 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned,
except he strive lawfully.

So, this precept use the phrase’s - ‘wrestle- wrestling’, ‘fight - fight the good
fight’, ‘strive - striveth’, ‘run - running the race – the race before us’, ‘prove
your own self’, ‘examine’.

Mastery in Christianity means someone who has overcome sin. They can
live above sin. I call these people, perfect overcomers.
They have accomplished total enlightenment. They receive an incorruptible
crown, an immortal spiritual body - like the angels.
So, to achieve ‘masteries’, we must always be examining ourselves. We
wrestle with the precepts of God that are contrary to our carnal nature. Lets
look at some scriptural descriptions of these special people.

Overcomers:

1 John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is
the Son of God?

He that overcometh is someone who has mastered all of his carnal

inclinations. He desires nothing that ‘the world’ has to offer. His hopes and
desires are totally committed to the LORD and the afterlife, not an easy feat
to accomplish.

Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God.

The overcomer has access to the tree of life.

Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

The overcomer will not be hurt by the second death, which is death of the
soul.

Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

The overcomer eats of ‘hidden’ manna, is given a white stone or an

immortal body like the angels, and they are given a new name.

Revelation 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him will I give power over the nations:
The overcomer will have power over the nations.

Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white

raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will
confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

The overcomer will be clothed in white raiment, which is another

description of an immortal body.

Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my

throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne.

The overcomer will sit with Christ in his throne, or will rule with Christ.

Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be
his God, and he shall be my son.

The overcomer will inherit all things, they are the true sons of God.

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of
my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem,
which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him
my new name.

The overcomer will be a pillar in the temple of God, and receive a new
name.

A New Name:

As I wrote earlier in the lesson, Hebrew thought puts great importance to a

person’s name. To know a man’s name is to know the very substance of his
being, his character is involved in his name. Just as Jacob received a new
name, so also does the redeemed. A new name, or changed nature, changed
from the nature or character of a carnal man to the nature or character of a
son of God.
Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna,
and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which
no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of
my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem,
which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him
my new name.

Isaiah 62:2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy
glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the
LORD shall name.

Revelation 19:12-13 His (Jesus) eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head
were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he
himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is
called The Word of God.

Again, Hebrew thought puts great importance to a person’s name. To know

a man’s name is to know the very substance of his being, his character is
involved in his name.

The sons of God

This is an elite group of people redeemed from among mankind. Known in

the scripture by many different monickers; the blessed, the called, the few,
the chosen, the overcomers, the sons of God.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God.
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom
ye shine as lights in the world;

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like
him; for we shall see him as he is.

So, let us wrestle with the angel and overcome every weight and sin that so
easily besets us, and we, like Jacob and receive a new name, we can become
‘the sons of God’.

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