Sermonette: Faith of Our Fathers
Hold on for Your Reward!
#1714s
Levi W. Graham
Given 17-Jun-23; 19 minutes
description: The apostle Paul has cautioned that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12), but against "principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Wrestling is a different kind of combat, implying maximum physical struggle, the kind our father Jacob engaged when wrestling the incarnate being we know as Jesus Christ, who had visited Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promising them descendants as numerous as the stars. Jacob, whose initial concern was protection against Esau, realized that the Being who was wrestling him throughout the night (Genesis 32:24) was testing his faith, remembered God's promise to the Patriarchs (Genesis 28: 15) and struggled for all he was worth to attain the promised reward. This demonstration of persistence led Jesus to change Jacob's name (meaning supplanter) to Israel (meaning prevailer) because he had struggled face to face with God and had lived. Similarly, we may wrestle and conquer demons only to learn that we must struggle also with the Lion of Judah . Are we going to struggle as the old conniving Jacob or as the humble, yielding but tenacious and persistent Israel, holding on until we have received our reward (Acts 14:22 and Revelation 2-3)? Our Father has given us the same spirit as our father Jacob (John 17:11, 15, 16, 20), enabling us to receive a new name if we hold fast.