Jacob — Eric Hughes

Jacob's Birth and the Sovereignty of God

Now you know this evening that we're thinking about Jacob and we want to read first in chapter number 25 of the book of Genesis chapter number 25 and down at verse number 19 these are the generations of Isaac.

Abraham's son Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian and Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren.

The Lord was entreated of him and Rebekah his wife conceived and the children struggled together within her and she said if it be so why am I thus. And she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said unto her two nations are in thy womb.

Two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. The one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days were fulfilled to be delivered behold there were twins in her womb the first came red all over like a hairy garment and they called his name Esau.

And after that came his brother and his hand took hold of Esau's heel and his name was called Jacob and Isaac was three score years old when she bare them and the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter and a man of the field and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents and Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Jacob sought pottage and Esau came in from the field and he was faint and Esau said to Jacob feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said sell me this day thy birthright.

And Esau said behold I am at the point to die. What profit shall this birthright do to me. And Jacob said swear to me this day and they swear unto him and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way.

Thus Esau despised his birthright. Now we're pleased to chapter number 28. Chapter number 28 verse 10. And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haran lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set.

He took the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold an angel the angels of God ascending and descending on it and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father the God of Isaac the land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it unto thy seed and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the west to the east and to the north and to the south and in thee and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed.

And behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all the places whither thou goest and will bring thee again into this land and I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob wakened out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. And he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place. This is none other than the house of God this is the gate of heaven.

Jacob rose up in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set it up for a pillar and poured oil upon it on the top of it. And he called the name of the place Bethel. But the name of the city was called Lazardfest.

And Jacob vowed a vow saying if God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my father's house in peace then shall the Lord be my God.

And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and all that thou givest me I surely give thee a tent unto thee. Then Jacob went on his journey and came into the land of the people of the east.

Or a better translation would be. Then Jacob lifted up his feet. Now over to chapter 31. Please. Chapter number 31. Sorry. Chapter number. Yes. Chapter 31 and verse. I think we can just move in at verse 43.

And Laban answered and said unto Jacob thee daughters are my daughters and these children are my children and these cattle are my cattle and all that thou seest is mine. And what can I do this day unto thee my daughters or unto their children which they have borne now.

Therefore come thou let us make a covenant and I and thou and let it be a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone and set it for a pillar. And Jacob said unto his brethren gather stones. And they took stones and made a heap and they did eat there upon the heap and Laban called it but Jacob called it Galid.

And Laban said this heap of witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galid and misper. For he said the Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from another.

And then a little further on in the book please if you just come over to chapter number 35 verse 1. And God said unto Jacob arise go up to Bethel dwell there make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fled us from the face of Esau my brother.

Now a little down the chapter if you come down to verse number eight. But Deborah Rebecca's nurse died and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak. And the name of it was called Alan Bacchus. And God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out of Padan Aram and blessed him.

God said unto him thy name is Jacob thy name shall not be called any more Jacob but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. And God said unto him I am the God Almighty be fruitful and multiply a nation and a nation shall be of thee and kings shall come out of thy loins.

The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in that place where he talked with him even a pillar of stone.

And he poured drink offerings thereon and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him in Bethel. And finally just down to verse number 19. And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath which is Bethlehem sorry which is Bethlehem.

And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave that is a pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. And Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edah. And God will bless to us that rather lengthy reading of his own precious word tonight.

Jacob's Extensive Biblical History and Four Pillars

Now we want to go back to chapter number 25 and that is where we'll start tonight to think about Jacob. Now you would understand that it's a very large section of the word of God that is given over to the life of Jacob.

And as we look at it you'll find that Jacob is in chapter 26 and right on really to chapter 49. And then you'll read of him in the book of Exodus. You'll read of him in Leviticus in Numbers and Deuteronomy.

You'll find him in Joshua and 1st and 2nd Samuel. You'll read of him in the book of Kings and Chronicles and in the book of the Psalms you'll go on to read of him his name is in Isaiah and in Jeremiah and in Lamentations and Ezekiel and Hosea and Amos and again you'll find that Obadiah Micah and Nahum and Malachi all have Jacob's name in them one way or another you'll read of him in Matthew Mark and Luke and John and in Acts and in Romans and in the epistle to the Hebrews the first mention of Jacob is where we began to read tonight in chapter number 21 and the last mention of his name is in Hebrews in chapter 11 the first mention is his birth and the last mention is his death and so you have this large section of the word of God given over to this man Jacob so we couldn't hold to touch the very fringe of those things tonight so you'll notice that I've read to you about his birth and then I've read to you the four pillars that he erected along his life's journey and it's really around those that we want to weave the ministry tonight so that you'll be able to remember the things that we want to impress upon you so the life of Jacob is really very very large but you remember that we thought about the about the four altars which Abraham erected and we thought about the four wells that Isaac was associated with and now we've looked and read of four pillars that were erected in the life of Jacob.

Chapter 25 is birth and in that same chapter you have the birthright and then of course in chapter 27 you have the blessing and really what's associated with Jacob is birthright and blessing and he's a picture of a servant really when you look into the life of Jacob he is God's servant and as you look at him you will find that he is very typical of the nation of Israel.

You remember in regard to Jacob that he commences in the land and then he goes out of the land for 20 years and then he comes back into the land again. In the land he's marked by deceit and bargaining and all that kind of thing and there doesn't seem to be anything spiritual about the man at all but then when you find him away from home he's just a soldier and he's moving in a strange country and of course it's just like the Jew who today is just wandering as a stranger in this very world and then of course when he comes back again as we read in our final reading tonight you find he comes back and he comes into blessing and really the Jew will be just like that.

They were in the land when the Savior came they are out of the land in a sense they're wandering all over the world today I know the nation has been established but they're really out of the land the whole of the land will be emptied again won't it before in the great tribulation before ever the kingdom is set up and they'll be brought back into the land for blessing.

So you could look at the life of Jacob from that standpoint and link it on with Romans 9, 10 and 11 and there you will find the outline of a dispensational outline of the history of the Jewish nation and Jacob is really typical of the Jew.

But we don't want to think along that line too much tonight we want to think more in a practical way and as we look at Jacob you'll find that he didn't have a very good start didn't have a very good beginning.

He didn't start well but he finished well and that's a great thing about Jacob didn't start so well but he finished well. You remember when we were thinking about Isaac on the last occasion last month that he is a man who had everything to start well but he didn't finish well.

You remember there was 40 years of his life which goes into exclusion and you don't read anything about him and you find really that once he begins to talk about the blessing and his eyes being dim and he's got thoughts of dying really he's a man who's prematurely aged in a sense and thinking of death prematurely.

He lived for a lot longer Isaac after that he gave the blessing to Jacob but he thought that he was about to die and he thought life was finished and yet he had many years yet to live. And you know sometimes saints are like that.

You know you say to one brother about another what happened well he he seemed to lose the will to go on with the thing and you know there's a danger of prematurely aging and prematurely laying down the weapons of our warfare and giving up on things and there's a danger of that so we must be careful that we don't give up but we go on faithfully for God and finish well like Jacob did.

Divine Sovereignty and the Flesh-and-Spirit Conflict

Now you notice divine sovereignty here that God takes away the first to establish the second for when his mother found that she was in difficulty in regard to the children that she was carrying she went into the presence of God and she inquired of the Lord and the Lord in sovereignty tells her then the elder was going to serve the younger and he was going to take away the first and establish the second and you find that of course as you come through your Old Testament you'll find the sovereignty of God you remember it's not Cain but Abel and then again you find that it's not Ishmael but Isaac and now it's not Esau but Jacob the elder shall serve the younger.

And as you go down that passage that we read together in chapter number 27 you'll find that rather chapter 25 that it's really a picture of the flesh and the spirit you find that in regard to Esau he was a man of the flesh and Jacob really is a man of the spirit he's not showing those characteristics but he's a man who have designs upon the blessing and he's a man who coveted the blessing even though he went about the thing so often in a wrong way but nevertheless he wanted the thing.

You find it here that immediately he was born he's grasping the heel of his brother and you recall that that was what Jacob was like he was a one who would grasp every opportunity and Esau is really the man who loved hunting it says and he loved savory meat and so on and Isaac loved Esau because of his savory meat and Isaac really is marked by the flesh as well but you find that Rebekah loved Jacob and she had an answer from God and she knew that the younger was to be the prominent one and the only unfortunate part about that was having received the mind of God upon the matter.

She thought that God needed help in bringing about his own purpose and you know sometimes we're like that we think God needs a helping hand but God doesn't need any helping hand in regard to his purpose.

You see God could have brought about the thing on his own without her interfering and you remember that as a result of her thinking that Isaac was going to give the blessing to the older son when he told him to bring in venison and she thought that that was not going to bring about the purpose of God and she intervened and you remember there's lies and there's deceit and there's all sorts of problems arise because of her interference but she didn't have to do that.

God could have brought about his purpose himself. You remember later on when Jacob's going to bless the sons of Joseph and you remember that Joseph brings the men and he puts the old eldest to the right hand so he get the blessing and the younger to the left hand but you remember in divine sovereignty Jacob crosses his hands and Jacob and Joseph tries to uncross their hands and he says not so my son and he gives the blessing and the younger gets the blessing.

You remember but God overruled and there was no need, no need at all for Raham when she hid the messengers on the roof to tell lies about it. You see she told a lie but she didn't have to do that. You see the very God of heaven could have blinded the eyes of those men and would never have found them under the flax on the roof.

She spoiled the thing by telling a lie she thought she was going to have to help God out in his purposes and that's what happened here. And you remember as you read down the chapter after the birth and after the blessing or the birthright here's the character of these two men coming out in chapter 25 you remember that Jacob has sought potage this red lentils and as he comes into the field he says give me of that potage and Jacob seizes the opportunity to sell me a birthright and he says what is the use of the birthright to me.

I'm about to die, he wasn't about to die at all. He's going to live for many years, he says I'm about to die what use is it to me. And you see he was a man of natural tendencies and he was a man of the flesh and he went according to the sense of his smell.

He could smell the potage and he could only see what was near. He looked at the potage and that's all he wanted. He was hungry he wanted to satisfy his hunger and that's all that mattered at that point.

And Jacob sees the opportunity and says well sell me a birthright. And he says what use is a birthright to me. And we've read here today in chapter 34 and the Hebrew epistle takes it up doesn't it in verse 34 rather that he despised his birthright and when later on of course he realized what had happened and what he had done.

It says that he with crying and tears he wanted to reverse the issue but it couldn't be reversed. And the blessing eventually as well as the birthright had gone to Jacob you see he was a man who went by his senses and went by the things he could see and he only had time for that which was present.

He had no time for the future. And we often preach the gospel from this. But you know saints are like that sometimes saints can despise their birthright and saints can despise their blessing simply because they want to have a hold of that which is near that which satisfies their senses and their feelings and their flesh.

And sometimes they allow those things to override what is spiritual. And because of that they lose a tremendous blessing. And they lose so often the blessing of God upon their life. You see sometimes God gives us what we want and it's to our detriment.

And so here's a man now who despised his birthright. But then when you come over to the chapter when here where Isaac his eyes are dim in chapter 27 and it came to pass when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim they could not see.

You remember the scene I'll have to trade upon your knowledge. But you remember that Esau has gone away hunting to get the venison to bring it back to make the savoury meat and to get the father's blessing as the firstborn.

But you remember that Rebecca hears about this and she knows what's happening. And she gets her son and she dresses him up in Esau's garments she takes the flesh or rather the fur from the animal that had just been slain.

She makes the savoury meat. She knew what her husband liked and with the fur of the animal she puts it around his neck and upon his hands. And he goes in before his father. And you remember that when he goes in the father said art thou my very son Esau.

And he says I am. And right away he tells a lie. And of course he then not only tells a lie but then he says how is it that you've got the venison so soon. He says God brought it to me. And he involved the name of God in his deceit and his lie.

And his mother was insisting him. She says the onus of the thing is upon me. You just go and do it. And oh how sad you see one lie leads to another and that's got to be covered up. And then he says God brought it to me.

And then he says that blind father art thou my very son Esau. And he said I am. And he confirmed the thing. And he said come near to me. And he smelled the smell of his raiment. And he said a remarkable thing I want you to get this.

He says the voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau and the hands and the voice of Jacob did not agree as he stood before his father and his life was a life of deception and lies.

And there's a danger. You know sometimes that our hand and our voice doesn't agree. You see if the hand and voice doesn't agree it's better to say nothing. You see it's far. You see that. But the Bible teaches us is that we are to live the thing before we preach the thing.

And you've got to live it before you speak it. And that's important lesson to learn in that chapter though it's not particular chapter before us tonight but you'll learn that lesson there the hands are the hands of Esau the voice of Jacob.

The hand and voice did not agree. And of course you know as you go through the life and as we'll see tonight in a few moments other hours that what a man sows he reaps. And if you show to the flesh you love the flesh reap corruption.

If you show to the spirit to the spirit you shall reap life everlasting. And there's a divine principle that holds good in the lives of the unsaved as well as the saved what a man sows he reaps. Now when we come to the end of that chapter we find that as a result of his lies and the result of his deceit and this deception there's murder in the heart of his brother.

His brother's going to kill him when he realized what's happened. And so the mother intervenes and says now you better go away for a short while and you go to your uncle laban's and there you'll find a wife and so on.

And so away he goes and he goes on his journey and uh you know he didn't realize it. Their mother said only me for a short while but when he left home that day he would never see his mother again the last time that he saw his mother when he left home.

Jacob's First Pillar at Bethel

And then we come over to chapter number 28. And as we come to chapter 28 we find where jacob raises his first pillar and here he is a man who's away from home. He's a fugitive and uh he's going to be away for 20 years and he's going out now and he's leaving the land and he's left his home and he's going out into the school of god and god is going to teach jacob and god is going to discipline him.

But when he's at his first night away from home here in chapter 28 you'll find in 10 to 15 that jacob lies down to sleep. And then in verses 16 to 22 jacob is awake. Now notice the beholds in the chapter and i can only point these things out to you won't be able to enlarge upon them but you can build the sermons around them anyhow.

Notice that there are four important beholds been pointed out to you before i'm sure verse number 12 behold the ladder. And then again verse 12 behold the angels. And then verse number 13 and behold the lawn stood above it.

And then notice verse number 15 behold i am with you. Behold the ladder behold the angels ascending descending and ascending. Behold the lawn behold i am with you. And then notice that there is the vision and there's a voice and there's a vow in this chapter the vision he had the voice that he had and the vow that he makes.

As you look a little closer to that you'll find that it says here that god is the god almighty. And god almighty is el shaddai. He's the one of the source of strength and every grace. And el is god. Shaddai is the all-bountiful and jacob finds god to be the all-bountiful god the one who'll be able to supply all his needs.

Behold a ladder as he sleeps he sees this ladder between earth and heaven. And he sees that there's a connection a connecting thing the connected heaven with earth. A ladder connecting two places heaven and earth.

And really that was a stairway in a sense between heaven and earth. And you remember that in regard to that matter when the lord jesus is speaking to nathaniel in john's gospel in chapter one he says when i saw thee under when i was under the fig tree i saw thee.

And nathaniel confesses that the lord jesus is the king of israel. And he says what if thou shall see angels ascending and descending upon the son of man. And really jacob is getting a vision here i take it of what was going to be in the future when heaven and earth were going to be linked and god was going to link heaven and earth.

I will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And here was a link between heaven and earth. And that's impressed upon the mind of jacob at the beginning. Then he says behold the angels that's the care of heaven.

Behold the ladder is the communication between heaven and earth. Behold an angel is the care of heaven. And here is angels ascending and descending. And these angels of course are those who would take care of jacob.

Angels in the old testament are very interesting. And they're there to help and to guide and to direct the people of god. And then behold the lord jehovah covenant relationship here. And he says to him behold the lord and covenant relationship.

And he says to isaac the lord god of abraham the father god of isaac the land thereon thou liest i will give it to thee. And here's the promise of the land. Now you see it's the covenant god. Behold the lord the lord jehovah covenant relationship.

And the land is given. And not only the land but in verse 14 the seed. So the land and the seed are promised to jacob. See how the picture comes to the surface now of jacob being a picture of the nation and god is promising these things you see to jacob so it's behold the ladder.

Behold the angels behold the law. And then he says behold i am with thee. Behold i am with thee. And you need to note note here in these verses the 13 to 15 the i shalls shalls and i wills. And there's a constant repetition of shall and i will.

Let's read it together. Verse number 13 behold the lord stood above it. I am the lord god of thy father abram the god of isaac and the god of jacob the land whereon thou liest i will give it. And so there's verse number 13 tells us that he's the lord.

I am the lord god that's the person 13 and 14 is the provision i will give it to thee. And here's god promising to provide and give the land. Verse 15 i am with thee. Here's his presence. Now a promise to jacob of his presence.

So there's his person i am the lord. There's his provision i will give thee. There's his presence i am with thee. And then again in verse 15 his protection i will keep thee. And so here's a protection of god upon the life of this man.

And then in verse 15 again the preservation of god i will bring thee. He'll not only protect thee but he'll preserve thee. He'll bring thee back again says god to jacob. And then not only his preservation but his promise in i will not leave thee i will not leave thee.

And then of course verse 15 again is purpose till i have done till i have done the thing. And so here we are. The person the law the provision the presence of god the protection of god the preservation of god the promise of god the purpose of god are all given in this dream.

As jacob's lying there notice that he speaks to jacob about the dust and the sand but no stars. You remember to abraham he said the dust and the sand and the stars. But to jacob just dust and sand no stars.

You see it's all in relation to the coming kingdom blessing that's going to come to the jewish nation in the coming day. Now these are all unconditional promises. Remember that it's a good thing to face up the a-millennials with this.

You see these are unconditional promises. And they're all the promises on god's path that is to say and god will fulfill them. And god has never extended them. They've never been abrogated. The promises remain and they will come to pass.

And you remember that great statement in verse 16 i will not leave thee until he had completed his purpose. And you know how that through the bible that promise is reiterated. It's spoken of in deuteronomy as the people are journeying god makes the same promise he's.

He makes the same promise to joshua in in chapter 1 and verse 5 and to solomon in the building of the temple. You remember in his first chronicles 28. And he says to us again the final mention of it is in hebrews 13 in regard to daily provision i will never leave thee nor forsake thee now that's one of the verses and perhaps the only verse in the bible i think which you can read both ways.

I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Thee forsake nor thee leave never will i. And so it's a promise of god that can be read either way. And it means the same. And god made that promise right down through the old testament.

And it's in the new testament for us tonight 16 to 22 jacob awakes. And as he awakes he says this is bethel the house of god the place of the divine presence. Now the house of god is the place of the divine presence.

And that's still the same today. This is an embryo here. Here's a picture of the house of god. And jacob said it's marked by the divine presence. It's his dwelling. It's the house of god. It's god's dwelling place.

And it's the place where the divine presence is. And you see even a little room like this and the assemblies gather together. It's god's dwelling place. And it's also the place of the divine presence.

We can claim that where two or three are gathered together in my name there am i in the midst of them. And then of course we find that it says it's the gate of heaven. So it's not only the house of god where god dwells.

It's not only the place of divine presence. But he says it's the gate of heaven. What's the gate of heaven. Well that's divine administration. It's the place of divine administration. It's the place where divine order is the gates in the old testament always spoke of administration.

We haven't time to think about the different instances like boaz going up to the gate. You see the place of administration the gate of heaven. And it's a place of testimony anoints the pillar there and he pours the oil upon it.

So you've got a divine dwelling divine presence divine administration. And the divine testimony as jacob makes then tremendous statements at the end of this chapter. And then it says that he rose up he lifted up his feet and he went on his way.

Now in this chapter jacob is able to appreciate certain truths about the house of god but he's not morally suited to it. That's the problem with him. He is not morally suited to it. And there are many people who appreciate the doctrines of scripture and the doctrines of the house of god but they're not morally suited to it.

And that was jacob here. He was not morally suited to the house. You notice at the end he couldn't rise any higher really after all of this than food and raiment. Verse 20 jacob vowed a vow saying if god will be with me.

And then notice it's i i i i go and i will give. He says so that i come again. And he constantly is reiterating things about himself. He does not rise any higher than his own blessing and he's not morally suited to the house.

Jacob's Discipline Under Laban

He felt completely out of place. He said this is a fearful place this is a dreadful place. And he felt completely out of place at that point. Now let us move on and look on the next section where we thought about his second pillar and you'll notice that in this second pillar it's the point where he has been in the house of laban.

You notice how that he travels 400 miles and he gets to the very spot and he's standing by the well and god has brought him to the very spot and he's at the very well. And they said you know anything about laban.

And he said well yes we know him and they're all waiting for the stone to be removed from the well's mouth. And just at that point you remember that rachel comes down and immediately he is brought into contact and he falls in love with that woman and she makes known the thing to laban that he goes into the house.

And as he comes into the house you remember that he's moving into the school of god and he comes into the place where the discipline of god is going to be upon him. Now you remember that when laban in chapter 24 and verses 29 and 30 saw the bracelets and all these riches and treasures that had come from the household his eyes opened and he was very interested in what was going on and what he would receive of that.

And you see he's a man who was a very crafty person and a man who bargained and jacob was the same. And now in these chapters you find that here are two men two giants meeting in the arena and you've got jacob the man who of deception and the man who's crafty and the man who can drive a bargain.

And then of course you've got laban in the same situation and here they are. They're going to battle it out and put their wits against one against the other. But you see it's really god that's overruling.

And jacob is in the school of god and he's going to be under the discipline of god. And discipline in the scriptures is formative. God disciplines us in order to form christ in us. And it's also educative says the hebrew epistle we can be educated by discipline and jacob was educated by discipline.

It can also be punitive and we can reap what we sow. And so here we find jacob and laban the two great giants and they're going to battle it out. And the first question is in verse 15 what shall i wages be.

What shall i wages be says labor. Well seven years for rachel. And the bargain was struck and the trap was set and he was the labor for seven years. And at the seven end of the seven years you remember that the great feasting took place at night and the wedding took place.