01-13-19, Genesis 33;1-17, Reconciled, Jacob Meets Esau

Genesis 33:1-17
Reconciled
Jacob Meets Esau
January 13, 2019
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

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What’s the number one thing?

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1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do all to the glory of God.

January MemoryVerse
John 1:1 NASB
1 In the beginning was theWord, and theWord
was with God, and theWord was God.

Genesis 33:1-17
Jacob Meets Esau

Genesis 33:1-17 NASB
1Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and
behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred
men with him. So he divided the children
among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.
2 He put the maids and their children in front,
and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and
Joseph last.

3 But he himself passed on ahead of them and
bowed down to the ground seven times, until
he came near to his brother.

4Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him,
and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they
wept.

5 He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the
children, and said, “Who are these with you?”
So he said “The children whom God has
graciously given your servant.”

6Then the maids came near with their children,
and they bowed down. 7 Leah likewise came
near with her children, and they bowed down;
and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel,
and they bowed down. 8 And he said, “What do
you mean by all this company which I have
met?” And he said, “To find favor in the sight of
my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have plenty, my
brother; let what you have be your own.”

10 Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found
favor in your sight, then take my present from
my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face
of God, and you have received me favorably.
11 Please take my gift which has been brought
to you, because God has dealt graciously with
me and because I have plenty.”Thus he urged
him and he took it.

12Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey and
go, and I will go before you.”

13 But he said to him, “My lord knows that the
children are frail and that the flocks and herds
which are nursing are a care to me. And if they
are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.
14 Please let my lord pass on before his servant,
and I will proceed at my leisure, according to
the pace of the cattle that are before me and
according to the pace of the children, until I
come to my lord at Seir.”

15 Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some
of the people who are with me.” But he said,
“What need is there? Let me find favor in the
sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day
on his way to Seir. 17 Jacob journeyed to Succoth
(SUEcoat), and built for himself a house and
made booths for his livestock; therefore the
place is named Succoth.
Genesis 33:1-17 NASB

Peter Hubbard of North Hills Church,Taylors, S. C.
The Face of Grace

The Face of Grace
Genesis 33
We love stories of reconciliation.
They are joyful and beautiful.

After gut wrenching breakdown comes the
miracle of restoration.
Why do we like reconciliation so much?

It is because of God, original unity, “in the
beginning”, theTrinity, the Oneness, no rivalry,
no distrust, no anger, perfect community!
In John 17 Jesus said, “This is why I’ve come, to
invite everyone into eternal love.”

Adam and Eve wanted to define what was good
and what was evil.
God had already defined good and evil for He
had said during creation, “It is good!”
But they said, “No! We’ll decide.”

The relationship became fractured with God
and with one another.

Pointing fingers replaced holding hands; anger,
secrecy and lies replaced love and trust and
oneness.
Shame came into the Garden.
But the good news is, that’s not the end of the
story.

All through the Bible God is moving toward His
wayward creation and His goal is redemption
(buy back what is lost) and reconciliation
(bringing all things together) – to reconcile that
which is broken and estranged.

Ephesians 2 tells us why Jesus came:
Ephesians 2:14 NASB
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both
groups into one and broke down the barrier of
the dividing wall,
This is His plan of restoration and we get a
glimpse of that all the way back in Genesis 33.

Jacob has been estranged from Esau for 20
years – Jacob had fled Esau’s wrath.

God has been transforming Jacob and he was
becoming humble and was speaking true,
honest words. Jacob has been face to face with
Jesus.
In Genesis 33:1 Jacob looked and Esau was
coming with 400 men.

There was still some favoritism there as Jacob
placed Rachael and Joseph in the safest place.
God was making progress with Jacob as he was
now out in front where as he had been hanging
back.

Jacob bowed seven times as he was limping toward Esau.
Jacob now appeared as a weak, humble, broken man as
he approaches Esau.

As Jacob lifted his face (verse 4) he saw that
Esau had no sword and was running toward
him, embraced him, kissed him and they both
wept.
Esau, always the man of action, wept – unlike a
warrior – not the response that Jacob
anticipated.

God used time, Jacob’s prayers, Jacob’s gifts,
his humility, brokenness and limping (the very
thing that Jacob might have thought would not
prepare him to meet his brother may have
helped) to soften Esau’s heart.

When we feel weak, maybe that is when God is
saying, “Go and be reconciled.”
Verse 10 – Jacob said to Esau, “I’ve seen your
face and it is like seeing the face of God”.
Jacob was saying, “I am seeking to restore what
I took.”

Then in verses 12-20, the story turns.
Esau offers to travel with Jacob.
Jacob was pulling away politely and refused to
car pool with Esau.
The kids are frail, they’ll die if we push them too
hard, so you go on ahead.

Esau said, “OK, then I’ll leave some men to
escort and protect you.”
In verse 15, Jacob again said “no”.
He said, “We’re good” - but Jacob was not being
rude.

Then in the third instance, Jacob said, “I’ll meet
you in Seir -- while he actually headed out in the
opposite direction.
In verse 20, Jacob named the altar, “The altar of
the God of Israel”.

This is the first time Jacob ever said that God was his God,
not the God of just Abraham and Isaac:
He is my God!

There were three reasons that Jacob did not
end up living close to Esau:
1) A practical reason.
2) A wisdom issue.
3) A theological reason.

1) A practical reason – a militia travels
differently than a large group of folks with
children and animals travels. Jacob was
like the Beverly Hillbillies with strollers and
minivans with kitchen sinks while Esau had
Humvees & tanks.

2) A wisdom issue – for 20 years Jacob had
tension with Laban because each had their
own flocks and there were conflicts over
the available water and grass. Good fences
make good neighbors! Abraham and Lot
had learned the value of putting some
distance between their flocks.

3) A theological reason – Jacob and Esau were
reunited as physical brothers but not as
spiritual brothers. There was no spiritual
unity.

Verse 5 – Jacob thanked God for his children.
Verse 11 – Jacob thanked God for his
possessions.
Esau did not thank God even though he had
obviously been blessed by God.
His only statement was “I have enough!”

Esau’s animosity was gone but his spiritual
blindness was not gone.
Esau probably gained his wealth through
military raids which was certainly a totally
different way of living than what Jacob was
pursuing.

You must be on the move to raid places while
Jacob was planning on planting himself.
The Big Idea of this story is reunion with God
and reunion with a brother and the two are
closely linked.

That’s the theme of Genesis 33.
You cannot separate love for God from love for your
brother.

Genesis 33:4 NASB
4Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced
him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and
they wept.

Look at the verbs in verse 4:
ran, embrace, kissed.
Where else have you seen these verbs grouped
together in the Bible?

Luke 15:20 NASB
20 So he got up and came to his father. But
while he was still a long way off, his father saw
him and felt compassion for him, and ran and
embraced him and kissed him.

The Prodigal Son!
Maybe as Jesus told this parable He was
thinking of Jacob and Esau.

Esau’s response is a picture of God’s response.

People are running from God and all He wants
them to do is to turn to Him (He is following
them with a pardon in His hand).
Another example that you cannot separate
loving God from loving your brother is found in
verse 11.

Genesis 33:11 NASB
11 Please take my gift which has been brought
to you, because God has dealt graciously with
me and because I have plenty.”Thus he urged
him and he took it.

God has poured out so much grace on me and I
want to share it with you.
See the relationship there between the vertical
and the horizontal?
But the main example is in verse 10.

Genesis 33:10 NASB
10 Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found
favor (grace) in your sight, then take my
present from my hand, for I see your face as
one sees the face of God, and you have received
me favorably.

Twenty years of separation and even though
Esau was not a believer, when Jacob looked at
Esau’s face after bowing, limping, looking up
and expecting to see a sword, he swa a face of
grace.
Jacob said, “I recognize that look!”

“I’ve seen that look before!”

Genesis 32:30 NASB
30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said,
“I have seen God face to face, yet my life has
been preserved.”

John 14:7-9 NASB
Oneness with the Father
7 If you had known Me, you would have known My
Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen
Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is
enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long
with you, and yet you have not come to know Me,
Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how
can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Hebrews 1:3 NIV
3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his
powerful word. After he had provided purification for
sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in
heaven.

Exodus 33:20-23 NASB
20 But He (God) said, “You cannot see My face, for no
man can see Me and live!” 21Then the LORD said,
“Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand
there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My
glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of
the rock and cover you with My hand until I have
passed by. 23Then I will take My hand away and you
shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

That was twice that Jacob had seen the face of
God and had been delivered:
1) from God’s sword.
2) from Esau’s sword.

Jacob said:
When the sun came up and I looked at His face,
I thought I was going to be condemned, I
thought I was going to die because I knew what
a sinner I was, I know what a deceiver I am, I
know what I deserve. But instead, I saw grace!

Esau, when I look at your face – I know that
look, I see that grace – it is like looking into the
face of God! I am reminded of His look.

Every ounce of reconciliation points towards
Jesus -- the Fountain of Reconciliation!
In the beginning, God, it all starts with Him!
It doesn’t matter if it is the face of a believer or
a non-believer, all grace comes from God.
He is the Source of Grace.

Jacob had come face to face with God’s
forgiveness and God knew that Jacob had to
see his own sinfulness and had to see the
amazing forgiveness of God on God’s face
before he could recognize it in the face of his
brother.

The reason some of us are unreconciled with
others is because we don’t recognize the Face
of Grace.

If we don’t allow God to open up our heart to
our own sinfulness and to His forgiving grace,
we don’t see His look of grace and we don’t see
it in others (even though it is there) and we can
misinterpret it as another look.

Even when someone tries to show us grace, we
can abuse it, twist it.
Every drop of forgiveness and reconciliation
points toward the Fountain of Forgiveness and
Reconciliation – which is God!

God changed Jacob and gave him new eyes so he
could see grace in Esau’s face.
What is this Face of Grace?
What is this Grace Face?
The Grace Face has two ingredients:
1) Receptive.
2) Reflective.

1) Receptive – never self-generated, it must
be received, always from God -- the God of
all grace.

1 Peter 5:10 NASB
10 After you have suffered for a little while, the
God of all grace,Who called you to His eternal
glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm,
strengthen and establish you.

Luke 7:36-39 NASB
36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him
to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s
house and reclined at the table. 37 And there was
a woman in the city who was a sinner; and
when she learned that He was reclining at the
table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an
alabaster vial of perfume,

38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she
began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept
wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing
His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw
this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet
He would know who and what sort of person this
woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:36-39 NASB

Jesus said in Luke 7 that the Pharisees had looks
of disgrace, not looks of grace, and knowing
their thoughts, He told them another story
about a banker who forgave one debtor 50
pieces of silver and another one 500 pieces.

Luke 7:40-50 NASB
Parable ofTwo Debtors
40 And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have
something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say
it,Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors:
one owed five hundred denarii, and the other
fifty. 42When they were unable to repay, he
graciously forgave them both. So which of
them will love him more?”

43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one
whom he forgave more.” And He said to him,
“You have judged correctly.” 44Turning toward
the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this
woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no
water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with
her tears and wiped them with her hair.

45You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I
came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46You
did not anoint My head with oil, but she
anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this
reason I say to you, her sins, which are many,
have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he
who is forgiven little, loves little.”

48Then He said to her, “Your sins have been
forgiven.” 49Those who were reclining at the
table with Him began to say to themselves,
“Who is this man who even forgives sins?”
50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has
saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:40-50 NASB

Jesus asked the host, which one loves more?
and Simon replied, “I suppose the one that was
forgiven the most”. Jesus said, “You have
judged correctly.”
• Little forgiveness = little love!
• Much forgiveness = much love!

If I am deficient on the love side and have a face
that does not communicate grace – then most
likely I have not understood the depth of my
own sin and have not received the train loads of
grace that God is pouring out towards me.

If I haven’t seen God’s face of grace, I’m not
going to show a face of grace to others.
Jesus said the reason y’all are looking on her
with disgrace, disdain, is because you haven’t
seen your own sinful heart.

When you see your own sinful heart, it changes
your face.
That’s where a face of grace comes from.
First of all, it is receptive because we can’t
generate grace, it is not about being bubbly or
nice or putting on a fake smile.

James 4:6 NASB
6 But He gives a greater grace.Therefore it says,
“GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE
TO THE HUMBLE.”

This passage in Genesis 33 is talking about a
humility that God worked in Jacob where he
realized who he was (God asked him his name)
and Jacob thought he was going to be crushed
by God but he ended up saying, “I have seen the
face of God and it was the face of grace and I’m
still alive!

You must receive the blessing of grace, and
there is only one place to get a blessing – from
the Source, the Fountain!

Come,Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to singThy grace.

Before I have a heart that is tuned to sing, I need a
heart that is tuned to see!

If I can’t see His grace, then I am not waking up
in the morning seeing new mercies.

Oh, that day when freed from sinning I shall seeThy
lovely face.
Clothed then in the blood washed linen, how I’ll sing
Thy wondrous grace.

If I am not having ears to hear His steadfast love
through Jesus then I’m not going to sing it or if I
do sing it, it is hypocritical.
So:
1) I receive His grace.
2) I am to share, reflect His grace.

2) The face of grace is received and then
reflected!
There is a strong link between God’s face of
grace to us and then our face of grace to others,
between loving God and loving others
(Matthew 22:39-40).

In the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to forgive us
our debts as we forgive our debtors.

Ephesians 4:32 NASB
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted,
forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also
has forgiven you.
Colossians 3:13 NASB
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each
other, whoever has a complaint against anyone;
just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

I have seen the face of grace and now I’m
reflecting that face of grace to others.
What if a crime was committed?
Then it does not negate the consequences.

What if the other person does not want to be
reconciled?
Paul says to “live peaceably with all men” so my
job is not to coerce them but to receive the face
of grace and reflect that face of grace to them.

There is an urgency about all of this.
We must not be passive and say, “Well, I hope it
all works out.”
No!

Matthew 5:23-24 NASB
23Therefore if you are presenting your offering
at the altar, and there remember that your
brother (Esau) has something against you,
24 leave your offering there before the altar and
go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then
come and present your offering.

God says, “I don’t want to hear your praise
songs until you are reconciled with your
brother.
• Quit singing!
• Stop church!
• Go!
• Now!
• Be reconciled with one another.
• Don’t put it off.

You can write that letter, make that phone call,
knock on that door, but go! Now!

Jacob modeled that for us.
Jacob sent messengers ahead, he prayed, he
bowed low and he was restored to his brother.
Is God’s face towards you a face of grace?
Why or why not?

Draw a vertical line down the middle of a piece
of blank paper.
On the left side of the line write down all the
reasons that God should have a face of wrath
towards you: disobedience, drivenness,
impatience, discontent, etc.

On the right side of the line put “Jesus, I’m in Him!”
He is always patient, completely content, called vs
driven.
List what He has done: taking away all the wrath
that you deserve.
All my eggs are in His basket!

He is where all my hope is.
He is my only hope, my only plea, there is no
other basis to give me any confidence.
His face is the face of grace.

God’s face of grace shines forth in Jesus.
Look to God.
What is His face saying to you?
What part of God’s grace are you hesitant to
believe?

Are there looks from your past that blind you to
God’s face of grace?
What if you grew up in a house where you never
saw a face of grace but always looks of
condemnation, hurt, pain, hypocrisy and
emptiness?

That can warp your perception of the true face
of grace.
There are people in your sphere of influence
that have not seen God’s face of grace and
perhaps He wants you to be that face to them.

To whom this week can you reflect God’s face of
grace?
You cannot see God’s face of grace and keep it
to yourself.
It is going to shine out.
Remember Moses’ glowing face?

Somebody at work or at school or at church or
at the grocery store.
Someone somewhere needs to see the look you
give, the word you speak - to someone who is
covered in disgrace.

Oh, the impact God can have through you!
Lord, give us eyes to see, eyes to look to Jesus,
eyes not of condemnation but eyes of love.

Your eyes see through us andYou see parts of
us that we are completely unaware of.
We don’t even know ourselves likeYou know us
and yetYour look is not disdain, not
condemnation, not disgrace.

We are waking up toYour mercy, our only
standing, our Foundation, our Fountain, our
resting place, our hiding place, our boasting
point is inYou, and onlyYou!

Let us look away from ourselves toYou and see
the face of grace when we should be seeing a
face of wrath.

ButYou look at us with eyes of mercy like that
woman who walked into that house of the Pharisee
where everyone looked with eyes of disdain –
exceptYou.

Lord, open our eyes to that to receive that grace
and to be able to see the points of disbelief and to
reject that disbelief and to be honest about the
disgrace we have received from many and how that
shapes the way we think and how we run toYou and
look atYour face. From there we pray that today we
would be ministers of reconciliation, that we would
have faces of grace because our security is not in
ourselves, it is inYou and inYour grace that flows out
from us.

Take these faces of grace out into the world,
the streets, the hospitals, the schools, the
homes, the offices and that we will giveYou all
of the glory! In the name of Jesus, Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NASB
18 Now all these things are from God,Who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not counting their trespasses against
them, and He has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.

http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.YeZK4m9R0ZovA7PRca4vag&pid=15.1
Sunday

Genesis 1:27; 9:1-7;
Matthew 5:21-22
Protect and Save
January 20, 2019
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NASB
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 NASB
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father but through me.”

Romans 3:23 NASB
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NASB
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death,
died in this life to pay the penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second
death explained in Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 NASB
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable
and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and
idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death.”
Romans 6:23b NASB
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.

Romans 5:8 NASB
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Revelation 21:7 NASB
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will
be his God and he will be My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.

Romans 10:9-10 NASB
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes,
resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he
confesses, resulting in salvation.
Romans 10:13 NASB
13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE
SAVED.”

Have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at
601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/

01-13-19, Genesis 33;1-17, Reconciled, Jacob Meets Esau

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01-13-19, Genesis 33;1-17, Reconciled, Jacob Meets Esau