Genesis 35:9-15
The Blessing of Jacob

Jacob's Return
1. He Has Finally Come Back
  1. This all happens when Jacob "came from Padan-Aram."
  2. Where's that? That's the region where Laban lived.
  3. But Jacob left there LONG ago, didn't he?
    1. He left when Dinah was a baby
    2. And he settled in Succoth on the far side of the Jordan
    3. Then he crossed the Jordan and settled in Shechem.
    4. By this time Dinah is old enough to receive a marriage proposal
  4. Why not say he came from Shechem?
  5. Because the full journey, however long it takes, is from Laban's land to God's.
  6. He left Padan-Aram at least 15, maybe more than 20 years before.
  7. But his journey is not complete until he heeds God's call to come to Bethel, into the presence of God.
  8. Only here can he put the world fully behind him and seek fully the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.
  9. Only here can he fully be an example of faith to you
    1. He testifies to you across the ages
    2. By faith he lets go of what he has in this world and grasps at things hoped for and lays hold of things not seen.
    3. Here he holds the eternal kingdom before himself and values nothing else
2. God Appears to Him and Blesses Him
  1. Again, God deals graciously with him.
  2. Again, God appears before this sinner and this sinner lives.
  3. Again, the blessing is based on God's gracious choice and not on anything in Jacob, just as it is with God's blessing of you.
  4. And the blessing is not a new one, but a repetition, a summing up of what God has held out to Jacob since his first appearance at Bethel some 40 years before.
    1. Jacob has been slow to lay hold of these promises, but God has not retracted them.
    2. God is faithful
  5. Let us look at this blessing, then, and see how it looks back to Isaac, to Abraham, even to Adam at the creation.
  6. And let us see how it looks forward to Christ, and to you.
  7. Do you understand this?
  8. This blessing that Jacob here receives is of great interest to you, for it is this blessing that is given to you in Christ.
God's Blessing
1. The Giving of Names
  1. You are Israel (10)
    1. Your name was Jacob = Deceiver
      1. You were dead in trespasses and sins
      2. You were like the devil, the father of lies
    2. Now I remind you of your new name
    3. Israel = "God strives"
      1. Because he has striven with God and men and lived.
      2. An two-edged name
        
        On the one hand he strove against God and lived.
        
        On the other hand he struggled to lay hold of God and was granted eternal life.
      3. So the name speaks both of the grace God has shown to Jacob, his enemy, and it speaks of the faith by which Jacob counted the blessing of God more precious than gold or silver.
      4. It is an awesome name. It says he has been rescued from wrath (which he deserved) and given an inheritance in heaven (which he had no way to earn).
    4. Oh Christian, shall I remind you of your new name?
      1. Christian = Little Christ
      2. The world mocked us by calling us by that name, but we took it as a badge of honor.
      3. You bear the name of Christ
        
        His name speaks even better things than the name of Israel.
        
        You were God's enemy, struggling bitterly against him. Yet God showed you grace in Christ. Christ bore the wrath you deserved for that bitter struggle.
        
        You had nothing to offer God, yet you pleaded with him to have mercy upon you and receive you. And when he received Christ he received all who bear the name of Christ.
        
        What a name you bear, O Christian!
      4. No longer are we Gentiles, enemies of God, creatures of darkness.
      5. Now we bear the name of him who sits in heaven at God's right hand.
      6. Let us walk as Christians, then, as little replicas of Christ
        
        We are unafraid to suffer, for Christ suffered and then entered into glory.
        
        We love one another with a love that is not of this earth.
        
        For what man has loved his friends enough to die for them?
        
        But God commends his love toward us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
        
        How much more then may we, having been reconciled to God, lay down our lives for one another.
        
        Let us give preference to one another's needs even as Christ has given preference to us.
        
        Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up the body, for it is Christ's body.
        
        Let no lust for worldly goods overcome you, for you bear the name of the one who has ascended into heaven.
        
        Let no one deceive you with empty words. Why should you be a partaker of evil with fornicators and the greedy (who are idolaters)? Because of such things, God's wrath comes upon the disobedient. But you have been rescued from that wrath and brought up to heaven in Christ. Therefore bear the mark of his Name in your lives.
  2. I am God Almighty
    1. God's name has not changed.
    2. This is the name he took for himself before Abraham when he confirmed his covenant with him
    3. So the promise has not changed either, as we shall see.
    4. He is God the all-powerful
      1. Anything Jacob needs, he can provide
      2. Any enemy Jacob has had better tremble, while Jacob has nothing to fear.
    5. This name has been given to you, O believer, in Christ
      1. What did he say when he rose again? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
      2. The name of Jesus is the name of God Almighty. You have nothing to fear.
      3. He will certainly provide for you all these blessings which were given to Jacob and have come down to him, to your Savior, to Jesus.
      4. So let's look at the blessing and see what is given to us here.
2. The Promise of Descendants
  1. Be Fruitful and Multiply
    1. First given to Adam (1:28)
      1. Adam was made in the image of God
      2. And he was to fill the earth with those who were in the image of God and thus bring God's creation into perfect order.
      3. But once he sinned, what was the point of being fruitful and multiplying?
      4. All he will do then is populate the earth with sinners who will pollute and defile it.
      5. Do you see the dilemma?
      6. Do you see how wonderful it is, then, that this command is repeated to Jacob?
      7. God is saying, it's not hopeless, Jacob! There's a reason to bear children. I will restore in them my image. I will make them mine.
    2. All this looks forward to the coming of Christ
      1. At his resurrection, this command to Jacob - Be fruitful and multiply - will find its proper and final recipient in our Savior.
      2. He, who had no earthly wife, must bring many children into the world - children of God.
      3. By the power of his Spirit, vast multitudes will be born again, born from above, bearing the image of God which is restored to his people in Jesus Christ, His Son.
      4. Be fruitful and multiply, Christ Jesus!
      5. Bring in nations, tribes, and tongues who are children of Jacob not according to the flesh but by faith in the one descendant of Jacob who brings us near to God!
    3. Given to us by Christ
      1. The Great Commission - this command, this blessing of bringing into the world those who bear the image of God, comes to us when Jesus says, go make disciples.
      2. Does this mean you don't fulfil this command by having children of your own?
        
        No!
        
        But it does call you to raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Make disciples of your children.
        
        Then your physical children are your spiritual children as well.
        
        The world is full of violence and corruption and sin.
        
        Some say it is cruel to bring children into such a world.
        
        And that's true … if you leave your children here.
        
        But do not be afraid. Christ has overcome the world.
        
        Bring your children into this world that you may point them to the next.
        
        Be fruitful and multiply!
      3. But it also means that those who never have physical children can fulfil this command of the gospel
        
        Go and make disciples.
        
        Spread the good news of Christ's appearing
        
        And you will have children too.
        
        (Tell Hudson Taylor story)
  2. Nations shall come from you; Kings shall spring from you
    1. Fulfilled literally according to the flesh
    2. But more important by far is the spiritual fulfilment in Christ
      1. He is the king who will come from Jacob's loins
      2. And he will redeem for God a mighty nation composed of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.
      3. YOU are a part of the fulfilment of God's promise made millennia ago to Jacob.
3. The Promise of Land
  1. Now Isaac's blessing on Jacob as he left the Promised Land is fulfilled
  2. Gen 28:3,4 - May God Almighty [sound familiar] bless you [he just did], And make you fruitful and multiply you [he just commanded this and will give what he commands], That you may be an assembly of peoples; [Nations shall come from you] And give you the blessing of Abraham [the land I gave to Abraham and Isaac], To you and your descendants with you [I give to you and your seed], That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.
  3. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you
  4. And to your Seed
  5. You have inherited this land in Christ
    1. Let us therefore walk as citizens of this heavenly kingdom
    2. The Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds
    3. But your minds have been renewed in Christ Jesus
Jacob's Response
1. Jacob Sets up a Pillar
  1. Across millennia, Jacob testifies to us by faith
2. Jacob Names the Place Bethel
  1. It's name has not changed
  2. God has not moved

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Genesis 35:9-15 The Blessing of Jacob

Genesis 35:9-15
The Blessing of Jacob