Title: When Jacob's Sins Raise Their Heads
Contents
1. Words that begin
After about twenty years of running away by deceiving his brother Esau and his father Isaac, Jacob, who was weak and had good means, was successful and was returning home with his wives, children, and many livestock and wealth, and returned to gold. That Jacob had no envy, no harshness, no bondage. However, I was intoxicated with a sense of victory, and I was filled with pride and pride from my success. At least on the surface it was.
However, on Jacob's way home, the sins he had committed about 20 years ago were lurking unresolved. When the sin lifted up, Jacob was gripped with anxiety and fear. It is because he heard through messengers that his brother Esau, who had suffered damage about 20 years ago and tried to kill Jacob, was coming toward Jacob with 400 men.
2. When my sins lift their heads
When Jacob, who was returning to gold, encountered a serious crisis, he did not ask God but leaned on his head. He tried to appease his older brother Esau, who was coming with a group of 400 people. As a gift for his brother Esau, he chose many different kinds of livestock and had them cross the Yapbok Naru, which is about 9m wide and about knee deep. Instead of giving many gifts all at once, he divided them into groups and gave them to his servants to give to his brother Esau at different times. Jacob decided that the long-standing resentment of his brother Esau could not be easily dissolved just because he received a gift, so he wore his hair. He thought that if his brother Esau received many gifts twice, his resentment would be relieved, and if he received many gifts three times, his resentment would be relieved.
Careful Jacob led his two wives, two maidservants, eleven sons, and their belongings to cross the Jabbok Naru at night, just in case that method didn't work. This is a strategy I wrote in the hope that my brother Esau might change his mind if he saw his cousins and nephews who had nothing to do with it. Then Jacob was left alone.
During the 20 years Jacob had spent like that, when could he remember his sins and be entangled in guilt? however, however. Jacob's sin was looking for an opportunity to remember him clearly and completely destroy him. We often hear stories of people who became world-class figures revered and revered, and then fell into ruin in an instant when the sins of the past lifted their heads.
As Jacob's sins lifted his head on the way to return to gold, Jacob's eyes became dark. He squeezed his head into the brink of ruin and tried every means possible, but none of the humanistic measures came to the fore. No good news came. There are many problems in life that cannot be solved by the human head, power, means and methods, the lord of all things. The biggest problem is the sin that causes many problems. People who know that no human can solve any sin is nothing more than a solution if they make a punishment law for all kinds of sins and solve it by law. For example, if a murderer is released after serving 20 years in prison, what does that mean for the dead? The real solution to life's problems lies in God, the Creator of life and the judge who controls the life and death. Realizing this, Jacob was left alone. More precisely, they laid aside their sins and stood alone before God.
3. The solver of sin and its problems
A man, an angel, appeared to Jacob, who stood alone before God, and wrestled with the problem of sin, which caused many problems. For Jacob, it was a struggle of his whole body, whether all his achievements, such as building a family and wealth, would crumble in vain or shine. It was a life-threatening wrestling that determined whether they would be saved or destroyed. It was the struggle of the soul with eternal salvation through the resolution of sins and eternal destruction, which is the price of sin. That serious wrestling was a desperate prayer that I could never give up until I received an answer from God. No, it was a prayer of the spirit, pouring out all of my soul on God, who is the Spirit. Deep prayer is about pouring out all your spiritual energy.
The angel who could not overcome Jacob, who held onto him desperately until the daybreak and did not let go, struck Jacob's thigh bone, the concave part of his thigh bone, to make it displaced. Then he said, ?쏧t is dawn, so let me go.??Jacob, who was determined to receive the blessing of solving the problem even if his bones were broken, said, ?쏧 will not let you go unless you bless me.??Then the angel asked, ?쏻hat is your name???Jacob replied, ?쏧t is Jacob.??Jacob means deceiver. Jacob's answer is that he is a sinner who deserves forgiveness. Then, the angel made a surprising announcement. ?쏽our name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.??Instead of calling him Jacob, which means deceiver, call him Israel, which means that God and man fought and won.
What does it mean that Jacob wrestled with God and won? How can a relative and finite man overcome an absolute and infinite God? No, but when Jacob, who was honorably given the name of Israel, asked the angel for his name, he asked why he asked for his name, and he blessed Jacob.
Jacob's battle with God and his victory means that in solving the problem of sin and sin, Jacob received the answer of God's solution by denying everything including his head and surrendering it entirely to God. It means that we overcame the great test of life, the problem of sin and the crisis of ruin, through persistent prayer, which is the struggle of the soul. In the end, Jacob received the answer of God's forgiveness and the resolution of the problems resulting from it. The only way we can overcome the God of love is through total self-denial and total faith prayer.
Jacob saw God face to face, but because his life was preserved, the place of the wonderful blessing was called Peniel. Jacob was lame because of his hip bone, but the sun rose as he passed Peniel. This is an example of a case of reconciliation between brothers. In the second half of Genesis 33:10, it says, ?쏧 have seen your face, and it is as if I have seen the face of God, and you are pleased with me.??
4. Conclusion
Everything that is not done by faith in God is sin. People do not seriously think about it, and in addition to the religious sins, they are living their lives by committing ethical and moral sins and legal sins. A person can forget a sin he has committed, or go free from it, but that sin inevitably awaits an opportunity to remember him and destroy him. When that sin rises, even a person who has accomplished many things falls into the abyss of ruin in an instant.
May we all enjoy the glory of Peniel through total self-denial and total prayer of faith when our sins are lifted up.
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete Commentary on 27 New Testament Books/ Interpretation of Difficult Scriptures I, II/ Salvation Before Jesus Came/Paul?셲 Understanding of Man/ Prosperity Prayer/ Seasonal Sermonbooks/ Sermonbook 18. -3051)