Welcome to Journey from Jacob. From our first
breath to our last heartbeat, we are all on a
journey. Jacob was a biblical character whose
journey is documented for our benefit. Like all
of us, there were unforgettable moments along
the way which required decisiveness. One of those
decisions determined his destination. We will
not only discuss Jacob's journey, but Israel's
as well, right up to date. May this podcast inspire
you to make choices along your way that will
benefit others and guide you to the destination
we all long for. Welcome back to Journey from
Jacob, a podcast produced by Comfort My People.
I want to take this story back to its origin.
The from Jacob part kind of sounds confusing
because you don't journey from and tell a story.
you're turning in two to tell the story. But
the biblical story starts beyond the beginning
of the Bible even, because God created you and
I in his mind before the creation of the world.
And so this story is known to him before it even
happens. So this story is an intersection between
spiritual world and the natural world, the world
we live in and the world we don't see, but we
experience it. And if you're born again, that's
the only way you can actually understand it according
to the New Testament. And the Old Testament bears
it out because there's a frustration, there's
a tension there that people are being told something,
but they don't seem to get it. They don't seem
to get it deep enough to actually contribute
to the story. And then it goes off course. So
that's something common to men and we have to
be very mindful of it. as we're following on
this journey. So this journey has to be your
journey in order to make sense. So it's an intersection
between the seen and the unseen, the natural
and the supernatural. But it can't be told unless
there is this intersection and they travel together.
So we've seen some of the hardships already.
We have seen over and over again, not just with
Jacob, but going back now into Abraham. But you
got to see something else that's going on is
that there's this affection that's coming from
God to the participants, the human participants,
like you and me. There's this affection he's
trying to communicate throughout the story. And
sometimes when we read the words or heard the
words spoken, taught or preached, it's this oftentimes
a harshness to it, like This is a command, this
is God speaking and He's authoritarian and you
better get it or you're going to end up in trouble.
And that's not how it is. There's times when
God is very strong. There's no doubt about it.
And there's times in the future when we're going
to see His arm unbeared. It's going to be just
visible. And He's muscular, let me tell you that.
It's spiritual, but we're going to see the effects
of His power. If you're a believer, you will
see it and it won't be directed towards you.
But it will be directed to make final the opposition
in the spiritual realm that has caused us living
in the natural realm to suffer. Now, consequences
are the result of wrong choices. So it's not
just Satan. We don't do this. We don't start
blaming everything on him because we are responsible
for our actions. And we're going to see the decisions
that Abraham made. and Sarah made and Abraham
compliant with her, are going to cause trouble.
They do cause trouble. And it's not to our advantage
to just go over and say, boy, Abraham was a real
dunce. How could he do this? God speaks to him
personally. And yet we miss the point because
we're supposed to be reflective as we read, not
condemning. Jesus did not come to this world
to condemn the world, but that this world, in
this world, we would have life and life more
abundant. So I want to take you back to the place
where the story really has its roots. Even though
we are going through Genesis right now, God makes
something very plain sometime later. I don't
know the exact number of years, but from Abraham
to Moses, He's living in the wilderness and God
approaches him and tells him about his task in
this redemptive story, which is going to be the
revealing of the law, for one thing, main thing,
but also just living it out. He's 80 years old
when God calls him and he spends 40 years in
the wilderness before he dies. He saw the promised
land but never entering it. So this is what he
told him in the beginning when he first met Moses
and Moses first met him and he said, This unto
Moses, you shall say to the children of Israel,
the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob
has sent me unto you. This is my memorial unto
you and your descendants for all generations.
He mentions, this is what I want to point out,
that this is how I'm going to be known and this
is how I want you to let me be known in your
sons and daughters and grandchildren. that I
am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This
is my name forever, and this is what should be
told to all generations. And I just want to promote
you to think about that. When's the last time
that you taught, whether you're a teacher or
just in conversation with a friend, a believer,
or your own children, that the God of... We believe
in Jesus. We believe Jesus is God. But he's the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob. He wants us to know that. And so in
order to know that, we have to know the story
regarding this continuity, this continuous sense
of descendancy from Abraham, Abraham and Isaac,
Isaac to Jacob. Because when he starts this,
which we already read about, God's saying, I'm
going to bless you. I'm going to bless all those
who bless you. I'm going to curse those who curse
you. But in you, all the families of the earth
will be blessed. and your descendants forever.
So Abraham's had no kids by that point. He's
still called Abraham. So we're going to continue
on. If you have just starting with us, I recommend
you go backwards. Start backwards a little bit,
but hopefully this you can start right here as
well and get it. So we went through this incredible
spiritual episode that Abraham went through in
Genesis 15, following on the heels of this satanic
meeting after he came back from winning a war
that he fought for his nephew -in -law. So here
we are in chapter 16, and it says here that Abraham
went into Hagar and she conceived. Now why would
he go into Hagar? He thought his wife's name
is Sarah. Well, the problem is, Abraham's been
living in the Promised Land now. for 10 years.
And Sarah said to him, look, this is, now I'm
paraphrasing my version. He says, she still has
no kids. They've been there 10 years. God promised
that I'm going to give you kids like the stars
in the sky and the sand in the sea, but they
don't have no kids. And it's 10 years. Think
of 10 years ago where you were with God. And
you're wondering, when is this promise, when
is his word going to materialize in my situations
I've been crying out to? And so Sarah was in
that place. And she said, Abram, go to Hagar,
my handmaid, and have kids with her. So Abram
did not argue with her. He just figured, OK,
I'll do that. So what was he doing, really, in
the sense of we step back a few yards, and Abraham
was not stopping to pray, number one. And the
other thing is he thought in his own mind, he
leaned on his own understanding that maybe this
is it, maybe this is why Hagar is here. And so
he complicitly says, okay, now this is the same
scene that happened in the garden. When Eve was
tempted by the serpent, she bought into the apple,
it's not an apple, but she ate it and then she
gives it to Adam. Adam didn't say a word about
not eating it, but they were commanded not to
eat it. So the whole story starts on the wrong
foot. So here we are, a similar thing happening
hundreds of years later, and Hagar conceives
and she bears a son. But before she had her son,
who will be named Ishmael, God told her that
his name would be Ishmael, because the Lord listened
to her affliction. Now this is important because
we're really not hearing much about Hagar's story,
but right now when he names her, who names her
son, which is yet to be born, because I hear
him. Ishmael means I hear. The Lord hears. God
hears. And so he wanted to comfort her. So God
loved Hagar and he loved Ishmael. So this is
the story behind the story that God's love is
going to pour out promises into the people that
are not part of this covenant. So he went in
to Hagar. She conceived. But here's the big part.
When she saw that she had conceived, she looked
with contempt. on her mistress. Who's her mistress?
Sarah. She had contempt for her mistress. What
did Sarah do? She didn't do anything. She just
said, why don't you just go into Yagar? She's
young, she's pretty, and maybe you'll have a
child through her. Abraham doesn't argue, and
he has a son, and he names him Ishmael. So this
is 10 years after they're in Canaan. Ishmael
grows up. 12 years later he has another son,
but this one through Sarah. Now this is the crazy
thing is Sarah had given up. She's living a miserable
life. I mean this is how I'm picturing it. For
12 years she's like, what? Why did we ever listen
to God in the first place? I can picture that.
Now I'm not condemning her for that, but there's
a long period of time. Ten years, she has a son
that's not in her house now, who's not her own.
And her mistress is basking in the fact that
she's the one that the promise is coming through.
So, now we're in chapter 16 still, and this anger,
this hostility begins to grow between Hagar and
her mistress, Sarah, until God shows up. Now,
that doesn't take place until the next chapter.
But before that, I want to just say something
regarding her son Ishmael. Because this is going
to tie in right till today, God describes something
to Hagar. And it's a prophecy because he's not
born yet. He says, He shall be a wild donkey
of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's
hand against him. And he shall dwell over and
against all his kinsmen. So what is that about?
Now I've heard people say this. who are clearly
replacement theology teachers, and not all of
them, but Ishmael was the father of the Muslim
faith, and he was the promised son of Abraham.
This is how their Quran deals with this. And
it doesn't deal with this part though, that he
shall be a wild donkey of a man. But when they're
told this, this is the answer the Mullahs will
give, the Muslim teachers will say, This wild
donkey of a man means he's going to be a hard
worker. He's going to bear the burden. He's going
to live in difficult places, in wilderness, in
deserts where there's no water. And everyone's
hand is going to be against him. Now, oh really?
What a hard way to live. But that's not what
it's saying. His hand is being against everyone.
And in return, everyone's hand is against him.
Everyone means the people around him. And he
shall dwell, and this is interesting and important,
he shall dwell over and against all his kinsmen.
Now this isn't condemnation, this is biblical
prophecy. If we fast forward thousands of years
now into our day, the Muslim world, which are
the descendants of Ishmael, have trouble getting
along with each other, in case you haven't noticed
that. And a lot of the fighting is in -fighting
within the different sects of Islam, even within
their own sect. If you Look closely, which most
people don't, at what's going on in Gaza right
now is that Hamas is killing fellow Gazans who
are Muslims. Why? Because they disagreed with
them. Because there's fear that they have been
spying on them or giving intelligence about them.
And they just kill them in the streets. Like
not an ounce of compassion. Why? Because Islam
means submission. And so submission means you
who are in charge have to maintain your position.
You can't give it up. And this is what we're
seeing. His hand is against everyone. But there's
much more to be spoken about this. And so then
if we go on to Genesis 17, God starts to make
this clear. So Ishmael is 12 years old. Abraham
has a son through Sarah. And God says this to
him in Genesis 17. I will establish my covenant
between me and you. Now this is before Isaac
is born. between me and you and your offspring
after you throughout their generations for an
everlasting covenant. To be God to you and to
your offspring after you. Now offspring there
is a wide term. So Abram is going to have a lot
of kids, but he has to be more defining for this
to be understood. So when God said this to Abram,
right before it, God appeared to him. Now Abram
is 99 years old and God appears to him now. After
all this time, he's appeared to him previously,
but after all this time he's starting to define
this covenant with his son that's soon to be
born. And when he said these words I just read
to Abram, it says that Abram fell on his face.
I mean, this is an incredible picture there.
of humility and maybe answered prayer and so
he says behold my covenant is with you and you
shall be the father of a multitude of nations
now with you you can easily glance over that
but can also mean within you my covenant is already
within you i inserted it with the promise in
genesis 12 he doesn't have to quote where it's
located but i inserted that into you and into
your DNA that it's going to continue on through
you. So he says, no longer shall you be called
Abraham, but your name shall be called Abraham,
for I have made you a father of a multitude of
nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful
and I will establish my covenant between me and
you and your offspring after you for an everlasting
covenant. And I will give to you and your offspring
after you land and so journeys all the land of
Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will
be their God so this is future all the land that
they conquer and this will be through Joshua
and later David but it's even more than that
because they didn't fully conquer the land that
God promised it's gonna be theirs forever their
possession get this straight Abraham but none
of them are born yet and Abram's like okay well
it sounds good but um how's this gonna happen
And so it's an honest question. So then this
interplay goes on, and Isaac is yet to be born,
but God says to Abraham, further down in chapter
17, verse 15, God said to Abraham, and asked
for Sarai, your wife. She shall not be called
Sarai anymore, but Sarai, which is princess,
shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover,
I will give you a son by her. I will bless her,
and out of her shall become nations, kings of
people. shall come from her." And then Abraham,
now remember, he fell on his face in the beginning
of this conversation, and now this conversation
is continuing for a period of time, and it says,
Abraham fell on his face. Same words, but what
did he do? He laughed. He laughed and said to
himself, shall a child be born to a man who is
a hundred years old? And Sarah, she's ninety.
How is she going to bear a child? And he's laughing.
He thinks it's funny. So Abraham said to God,
Oh, let Ishmael live before you." And God said,
No. Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and
you should call his name Isaac, and I will establish
my covenant with him. So now he's getting focused
with this covenant. for an everlasting covenant
and for his offspring after him. So no more are
any of Abraham's children going to be recipients
of this covenant. Not that they won't benefit
from it, but this covenant is specific. Why?
Because God's going to trace this seed, remember?
This is Arad, the descendants, right from the
lineage of Seth. We're already up to Abraham,
and it's going to be through them. It has to
be. And this is why this is a continuous story.
It has to be. So he says, And as for Ishmael,
I've heard you. Behold, I blessed him, and I'll
make him fruitful and multiply him. He'll be
a great nation, which Islam is incredibly large.
And he shall father twelve princes, which talks
about the Muslim nations. There's one Jewish
nation, but many Muslim nations. But I will establish
my covenant with Isaac. and she shall bear a
son next year at this time." So, God went from
Abraham and started to live his life out. And
we follow this story, which we're not going to
go much further here, but we'll see that when
Abraham is visited by an angel of the Lord, it
seems like, to him at first, and then he finds
out it's actually God. and two angels alongside
of him and they meet and they have a meal together
and Sarah prepares it and in that process she
still hasn't had a child and so she hears Abram
speaking to these two angels and God she doesn't
recognize that they're who they are and but she
overhears them talking about Sarah will become
pregnant and she will bear a son and his name
shall be Isaac and Sarah laughed it's like how
can this be come on how can I who I'm so advanced
in my years, how can the way of women, the way
of pleasure, which would mean becoming pregnant,
be with Sarah? She's saying this to herself.
And she says, after I am worn out and my Lord
is old, shall I have pleasure? And then God shows
up in the conversation and says, to Ibram, why
did Sarah laugh? And then Sarah says, oh, no,
no, no, no, I didn't laugh, for she was afraid,
it said. She realizes that these people are authoritative.
Jesus is feeding Emil too. And God says, no,
but you did laugh. Now I've heard this say like
God was angry at Sarah because she laughed at
him. But, you know, let's get the human side
of this thing straight. She's been faithful to
her husband to the point of disgrace. And yet
she's still married. She's still his wife and
she's still serving. He says, come on, let's
go. We ought to make some food for our guests
here. And yet she laughed. I mean, she's on...
She's passed the way of women. And at this age,
you expect me, I'm 90 years old. Am I going to
have pleasure? I'm worn out. Now, what would
you do if you were in her shoes? But she laughed
at least. She didn't get mad. She didn't throw
a tantrum. She didn't throw a fit. So why did
God show up and tell his son from Sarah is going
to be called Isaac when the son from Hagar was
called Ishmael? Well, Ishmael just means that
God hears. Isaac? means laughter. Now that might
seem like, you know, just a play on words because
Abraham laughed and then Sarah laughed and then
Isaac's going to be called laughter. To me, I
think that's honor and it's respecting their
human response to an impossible promise. And
it is extremely impossible. Have you ever been
in that position where you've been waiting and
waiting and expecting, planning, doing things?
putting other things aside so something else
could take place and it seems impossible, it's
not going to happen. And there's a deadline to
it and it just keeps growing. I know exactly
what that feels like. In fact, I'm in that place
now. But God wants us to laugh at the impossibility
of our life as we follow Him. It's no less difficult.
This is an emotional struggle. The wrestling
match that we saw earlier with Jacob, which will
actually be later in this story, That was difficult.
He wrestled the Angel of the Lord, which turns
out to be God. He didn't know at the time. He
wrestled through the night, through the darkness
of night. That's a long time. And sometimes this
is what we have to do. We need to wrestle out
unbelief and allow God's promise to take its
place. And this is what laughter does. Let me
just tell you this about laughter. It's somewhat
of an anomaly. for people that have struggled
so much through life. By the way, I want to go
back to Jacob's name because his name was Jacob
and God changed it to Israel. So this becomes
the Israel of the people today and the land today.
His name represents both people and land and
promise. It's rooted in the promise. But his
name was changed from Jacob, which means struggling
against God, struggling against truth. And Israel
means struggling with God. It could also mean
Prince with God. But the struggle part has not
disappeared. This is what I want to bring out.
The path of the righteous oftentimes feels like
a struggle. And the struggle means we're going
against the grain of humanity, against the grain
of this kingdom of darkness that prevails in
this world so often. unless we take authority
over it, unless our belief conquers our unbelief.
The key thing is believing, trusting. Do not
lean on your own understanding. Look what happened.
When Abraham was facing, the land of Israel was
in the Canaan at the time, was having a famine.
So Abraham heads towards Egypt because it's green
there. He hears that it's fertile there. And
they go. Well, that's all well and good, it seems
like. But the way of man seems right sometimes.
but it ends in a dead -end street or destruction,
even worse. So they go to Egypt. And in the place
of Egypt, God still blesses him and he blesses
the Pharaoh through him. But it's not right.
He shouldn't be there. He should have continued
on with God until God told him. If he told him,
go to Egypt. But he didn't. He made a decision
to go one way and he could have gone the other.
So fast forward to their return. They leave Egypt
and they leave Egypt with a ton of cattle and
livestock, and things seemed to be going good,
but they also left there with people, servants.
So guess who one of the servants was that came
out of Egypt with Abraham and Sarah, a young
lady named Haggai. Why is she coming with us?
Well, because you took her, and because you came
to Egypt when you probably shouldn't have, and
now this trouble has begun. So this trouble,
the consequence of this, did not affect Abraham
in the beginning. but has affected all of mankind
at this point. Because things don't naturally
get better on their own. It's a matter of a built
-up consequences of wrong decisions. And we're
in that place now where the sons of Ishmael and
the sons of Isaac are not getting along too well.
And it's causing grief throughout the whole entire
world. I'm not saying it's the only cause of
grief, but it's one cause of grief that we have
to pay the consequences for. Now, do you curse
Abraham in that process? No, not at all. you
recognize that these things are taught to us.
These things are written on our behalf, upon
whom the end of the ages have come, that we might
learn from it. This is from the New Testament.
It's quoted differently in Romans and Corinthians.
So we need to learn. This is it. If you want
to know why is the purpose of the Old Testament,
or more properly, the Hebrew, Bible is that we
would learn from it and grow from it and appreciate
our ancestry. If you're a believer this is your
spiritual ancestry and so it's our opportunity
to take it and take it kind of lightly at the
same time the difficulties show up and find faith
something that's exciting to live by. It's a
gift. I can't understand boredom, let me put
it that way, but I knew what boredom was growing
up. But when I got saved there was no more. And
I honestly say that there was no more boredom
because I was living for Jesus and I knew what
it was like what to live without him and it was
painfully harmful for me and people around me.
And so this light -heartedness is what we're
supposed to live by because Jesus said, my yoke
is easy, my burden is light. So this laughter
is the fruit, literally the fruit of the Abrahamic
Covenant, the first fruit of the Covenant. fruit
meaning descendants, was Isaac. And God named
it that way. This covenant has a likeness to
it. And why did he bring laughter into the world?
Because the world needed laughter. And here's
another thing. The Jewish people have this DNA.
I know that sounds suspect. Oh, and here we go
again promoting the Jews. It's not that way.
It's God has given the Jewish people a certain
particle of you. It's microscopic. We can't see
it. It's not measurable. But where This capability
of laughing through hardships has been part of
the history all along. In fact, there was an
article in Time magazine, Why are the Jews still
laughing? And this goes way back. And in that
article, it said that if you were to count the
number of Jewish comedians in the world, then
I really don't remember when it was written,
but it's in my lifetime for sure. that there's
far more Jewish comedians per capita than any
other people group in history. Why is that? They're
asking this question. Why is it? And there's
no other answer. It doesn't make sense. They're
the ones that have gone through the hardships
like no other people, have been persecuted and
kicked out of countries like no other people,
and ultimately the final solution, Hitler thought,
was in his hands to execute, but he failed. And
he failed because God has made eternal promises.
And in that promises there are stories you can
read about activity in the Holocaust, during
the Holocaust, that were horrible, absolutely
horrible. But there was also a sense of humor,
not everywhere. I'm not saying it was a funny
thing, but that just flowed. And it was to keep
them alive, this element of laughter. You know,
it's good. The Prophets say it's like medicine.
to laugh. So it's a gift from God. And embrace
that gift. Not the kind of laughter that's dark
and at the cost of putting someone down. That's
not God's laughter. But the laughter that is
just because this world is actually kind of a
funny place to live in. So take that to heart
and then begin this recognition, if you haven't
already, that we live a naturally supernatural
life. And that's for our benefit and the benefit
of others to want what we have. Shalom, shalom.
We bless you for taking the time to consider
this message. May it cause you to be fruitful
and effective and lead others along the way with
confidence and determination. Check out our website
at comfortmypeople .com to become better informed
and equipped to restore righteousness to the
people of Israel, America and beyond. Please
consider sharing this and visit us on social
media. Shalom and blessings.