A Revelation of God by His Names part 3
I. El Elohe Israel (Gen 33:20). The name El Elohe Israel means the “God the God of Israel (Jacob). When Jacob was called back to Canaan after abiding with Laban for twenty years in Syria he encountered a strange situation that only God could deliver him from. As we begin let us rewind the story a little to provide some background on how this name was revealed. Jacob and his mother Rebekah planned to deceive Isaac with goats stew and a hairy mantle after hearing that Isaac was planning to bless Esau. Jacob under the direction of his mother told his father while Esau was hunting that he was his firstborn son Esau, taking advantage of Isaac’s blindness. There are several seed thoughts in this story, but Jacob’s name means “heal catcher, deceiver, or sinner.” He was named this because when the twin boys, Esau and Jacob were born, Jacob came out last with his hand on Esau’s heal. Of course Jacob could not deceive his father by just serving him goat stew, but he also put on a hairy mantle because he was a “smooth man” and Esau was hairy all over his body. The Bible warns us about smooth talking preachers in Isaiah, “Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us ‘smooth things,’ prophesy deceits:” (Isa 30:10). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned us of wolves in sheep’s clothing who would prey on the vulnerable, weak, and blind, and take away their blessing of going to heaven by false preaching and teaching much like Jacob did to Isaac and Esau. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matt 7:15). Jacob said he was the firstborn son (a title of Christ) Esau to his blind father. If the blind lead the blind both will fall in the ditch (the whore read Prov 23:27, Rev 17; and Hell, Matt 15:14). If the reader is not familiar with this story please read Genesis 27 very prayerfully.
It is interesting to note that God taught Jacob that he reaped what he sowed for he was deceived by his father-in-law Laban with his firstborn daughter Leah and a garment-“marriage veil.” Moreover, because Jacob had to flee from Isaac’s home due to the breach he caused by stealing his brother’s blessing he was forced to live in exile for twenty years. Many years later Jacob was deceived by his sons by a bloody garment (coat of many colors) after they sold Joseph into slavery to the Ishmaelites and the family was not reunited for twenty years. Joseph was thirty-seven when Jacob was reunited with Joseph. Joseph was seventeen when he was sold by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver (Gen 37). Dear Reader we must beware to not sow wild seed for we will reap what we sow (Gal 6:7-9).
As Jacob returned home he found himself in a fearful place on the eastside of Jordan. Jacob when fleeing Canaan stopped over night at Bethel-the house of God (Luz-Arabic- almond) to sleep. It was here in that place he saw the stairway to heaven as a ladder, and the angels of God ascending to heaven and descending to earth. He had chosen a stone for his pillow that night and God gave him heavenly dreams of his house (Isa 28:16, Matt 16:16-17). Interesting to notice is that after Jacob awoke he made a vow to God, that if God would bring him back to his father’s house in peace (reconciling the breach he created by stealing his brother’s blessing by lying) “then shall the LORD be my God” ( please read Gen 28:13-22). When Jacob returned he found himself in peril as one of his servants told him that Esau was coming with four-hundred armed men to meet with him (Gen 32:6). He separated his family into sections and then sought to find the God of his fathers that night in his trouble. Jacob crossed over the ford of Jabbok (meaning- pouring forth). It was here that this mysterious “Angel” meets with him and wrestles with him through his night until the breaking of the day (Gen 32:22-26). What can be understood through this encounter with the “Angel” is that Jacob is filled with fear of his brother from his past mistakes, and he had not yet come to faith in trusting the LORD. The “wrestling” is the flesh and spirit waring, God’s Angel or Word fighting with Jacob’s fears. Believer, have you ever been to Jabbok? The Angel smote Jacob in his thigh the strongest part of his body, that which was opposing God’s will so this Great God could fulfill in Jacob what he had promised him at Bethel. Yet when Jacob would not submit, for God will not always strive with men, the Angel planned to leave at the breaking of day, Jacob recognized this was his last chance and would not let the “Angel” go. Jacob said he wanted the blessing and so the Angel asked him What his name was? This was poignant to Jacob for in that moment he told the Angel of the Lord, “Jacob- heal catcher, deceiver, sinner” he acknowledged his fallen nature and his name was changed to Israel (Gen 32: 27). Friend have you acknowledged your sins (Psa 32:3-5):
3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
The name Israel means “prince of God,” or the son of a King, that is to say a son of God (John 1:12). When Jacob arose from that altar “he walked differently” as he halted upon his thigh and “leaned upon his staff,” the sinew had shrunk in his leg (Gen 32:32). When someone is born again (John 3:3-5) their life is transformed, they do not walk, talk, or think the way they did before their “Jabbok experience” pouring forth, or acknowledging their sinful nature (1 John 1:7-9). Paul tells us that all things are new, it is like spring after the cold hard winter (2 Corn 5:17). The Flesh shrinks in a regenerated life of a believer and as Israel they learn to lean upon the staff in their hand (a picture of the Word of God, Psa 23:4). Israel-Jacob called this place “Peniel” meaning I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved or saved. Israel had peace with God (Rom 5:1). Israel’s very next move was to repair the breach he created in his father Isaac’s house by giving Esau gifts of restitution and asking for his forgiveness (Gen 33:1-11). Much like the New Testament when a believer is saved they want to make their wrongs right, Zacchaeus after being found by Jesus in the sycamore tree said in his house, half of my goods give to the poor, and if I have stole from anyone through fraud he would restore four-fold and Jesus said that this day he had been saved (Luke 19:1-10). Restitution where possible is a fruit of salvation (Matt 3:8). Oh yes, to know one has been forgiven by God and to have peace like a river (Psa 32:1-2, Rom 5:1):
1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
This allows the born again believer to begin fixing and restoring what Christ completed at the cross. The first time Jacob builds an altar recorded in the Bible is in Genesis 33:20. Jacob is now Israel and God is his God, he has made peace with God and the Lord has brought him back to his father’s house in peace by reconciling Jacob and Esau! Jacob build’s an altar and with his new name and nature Israel he calls it El Elohe Israel-the God the God of Israel, the personal God. When reading later in the Bible about this personal God he is introduced as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is a God who is known by the person and others recognize this God who saves and sustains their lives!
Jesus is El Elohe Israel, he desires to have fellowship with you and bring you to his Father’s house in peace (John 14:1-2).
If you have never accepted or if you have fallen away from Jesus Christ here are three steps you need to take to be saved:
You must admit you are a sinner, confess your sin to Jesus, repent (turn from all you know is wrong), ask Jesus to come in your heart, and begin to follow Jesus by reading and obeying his word and go to a bible believing church that teaches his word. And tell someone what Christ Jesus Has Done For You (Rev 12:10)
May God through Christ bless you!
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