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CHRIST WRESTLES WITH MAN AND SIN
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. (Genesis 32:24)
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. (Genesis 32:25)
And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. (Genesis 32:26)
And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. (Genesis 32:27)
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. (Genesis 32:28)
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. (Genesis 32:29)
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (Genesis 32:30)
And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. (Genesis 32:31)
  As Jacob on the earthly side wrestled with Christ through the night, so Christ, on the cross wrestled with sin through the night, so that He could be the Savior of man and perfect man in His own image. Jacob is the perfect example of man wrestling against God over man’s sin. Jacob was born the supplanter, and until he met God on that fateful night, he wrestled all of his life against the purpose of God. It was the sin within Jacob that caused him to wrestle through the night. The example is given to us to show us the depth of sin within us that it is THAT sin and the presence of that sin that wrestles against God, and that sin prevails until God supernaturally touches us and changes us to walk with Him. Jacob looked on the face of God IN Jesus Christ and wrestled through the night. His sin was so strong that Christ had to touch him in a supernatural way and in that touch, Jacob became Israel, a prince with God. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. (Genesis 32:28) Even the wrestling of the manifest image of God could not overcome the sin of Jacob; supernaturally the Spirit of Christ had to touch Jacob in the hollow of his thigh, the place of power and strength, and in that transaction, the spirit of Adam in Jacob was replaced by the Spirit of the Living God as Jacob looked on the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (Genesis 32:30) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2nd Corinthians 4:6)
  The symbolism in Genesis Chapter 32 is fulfilled in the manifest image of the invisible God on the cross of Calvary when darkness came over the face of the whole earth while Christ hung on the cross, He wrestled with the sin of the supplanter, He wrestled with the sins of all man, and He wrestled through the darkness until a new day dawned; a day unlike any other day for the manifest image of the invisible God had removed sin and defeated death and the works of the devil.
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:Â (Colossians 1:13) In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14) Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16)
  In verse 24 of Genesis Chapter 32, the manifest image of God (Jesus Christ) met Jacob in the night and wrestled through the hours of darkness until the rising of the sun. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And even then, Jacob prevailed. This is to show us the power of that sin within us that it can only be taken away by the divine action of God in the new birth. A man must be born again. Through this encounter of the manifest image of God with Jacob we would get a glimpse of the long path of sin and the end result of God’s divine action when Jacob was changed to Israel, a prince with God.
  Jacob had traveled through the wilderness of sin. And as with all man in Adam, we wrestle against God because of that inherent sin that Adam passed on to us. We wrestle against our own salvation. God declared that Christ died for the ungodly, and that He removed the sin of the world and that God’s love is open to man through believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, yet there few who give in to the love of God. Most men continue to wrestle with sin and their lives become a continuous night of wrestling with God until they draw their last breath. For those whom God touches they are changed from the temporal to the spiritual in their new birth; therefore, they now have strength over sin, so we must remember that the strength of sin is death. When the day breaks and shadows flee away, we step out of the darkness of sin as a new creature in Christ, we now have a new heart, a new spirit, a new name, and a glorious salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ and we see God face to face in the spiritual world. And we have become a prince with God IN Christ waiting till we will be transformed into His very image. I like to think of our transformation when we have been glorified in the presence of Christ as a return to the glory that Adam once had. And yet, it is still yet a GREATER glory, for now, through the love of God Christ has redeemed us to God. We know the fullness of God’s love and as sin is taken away, we no longer wrestle with God. We are embraced with a love eternal that through His divine power He cannot let us go. He will keep us until the very moment that we are transformed into the image of Christ by His love.
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1st John 3:1) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1st John 3:2) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1st John 3:3)
  It is the love of God that could not let us go. The love of God touched us through God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. From our birth, He wrestled over our sin. The spirit of man in Adam reviled Him, and the spirit of Adam wrestled through the night until daybreak and the shadows faded into the sunshine of our new birth.
  They took Him by night from a garden and brought Him before the chief priests to abuse Him, to beat Him, and to mock Him. The very ones who had been given the authority of God mocked their very Creator. They spit upon Him. They pulled out His hair. They beat Him viciously about His head. The sinful seed of Adam mocked the Lord of glory. They wrestled with Him throughout the night, condemning their own souls by refusing their very Creator and God. And then through their counsel, not willing to bear the responsibility of the death of the Man Jesus Christ, they delivered Him to the court of Rome. As Pilate’s hands could never be cleansed, so their hands also would be soiled with the blood of Christ. God in the flesh had not called a legion of angels. He had not brought down fire from heaven although He would despise the cross, He suffered at their hands for the JOY that was set before Him. When He was reviled, He did not return their wickedness upon them. Even with Jacob as He wrestled the whole night with man’s sin He reviled not against Jacob, instead Jacob left His presence as a prince with God. Thousands of years have passed since He wrestled with Jacob, and then at the cross of Golgotha He wrestled with the seed of Jacob and the seed of the Gentiles in the fullness of time. When God informs us that Christ was made of a woman and made under the law in the fullness of time, we must understand that as Christ would climb to the top of the mountain and hang upon the cross that sin also had come to the fullness of time. He bore that sin and the fullness of that sin upon His own Body on the tree. Christ wrestled with the weight of our sin and its penalty which is death, He wrestled with all the evil that could be produced from the knowledge of good and evil back to that tree in the garden and through the history of mankind, past, present and future, He wrestled through the darkness and then the darkness passed. The light brought forth a glorious new day, and although He was still suffering on the cross, He could say in His Spirit with all the power of God, It is finished. The finality of His work was finished. The wrestling over sin was finished. He commended His Spirit to God the Father for all righteousness was complete in Him. As He had promised at the Jordan, speaking to John the Baptist, He had completed God’s righteousness.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. (Matthew 3:13) But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? (Matthew 3:14) And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3:15) And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: (Matthew 3:16) And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)
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