Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday, September 2, 2016
As he goes to meet Esau, Jacob is going to need the confidence and the courage of the fact that the presence of God would protect him.
Mahanaim means two camps or encampments which means that Jacob is recognizing that the angels had been there with him all the time even though he could not see them.
He is returning back to the land and he remembers the last time he saw Esau twenty years ago, when Esau was breathing out threatenings against him.
He's still relying on human power and human gimmicks.
Why doesn't he say, "Well the angels of God are with me, my brother Esau better not even think about messing around with me!"
Prin-Jacob's mind did not dwell on God, instead he remembers Esau's threat to kill him and therefore he decided to use some human viewpoint solutions to try and solve his problems.
The mention of his wealth was intended to imply that he no longer wanted anything from Esau and probably wants to give him even some of his own wealth and prosperity!
Like so many people today, they hurt and lie to others and when they are no longer of use to them, then they want to be at peace with them.
The messengers returned with terrible news according to Jacob's thinking.
Jacob had just escaped from one company of his enemies, Laban and his family, now another was advancing to meet him, namely, Esau with his four hundred men.
For all he knew, Jacob might be coming with a large body of fighting men to claim his promised boundaries and possessions and to overcome or defeat Esau.
We have two men thinking evil about each others' motivation and plans = transference arrogance.
The real problem here is not that Esau is coming with 400 men, the real problem is that Jacob's mind is racing in many different directions and he is filled with fear!
Fear is a mental attitude sin, characterized by panic when in a dangerous situation.
For the believer, fear is the result of failure to learn and apply Bible doctrine to the problems of life, and failure to learn and utilize the problem solving devices.
Fear is a whole system of sins which include worry, anxiety, and insecurity.
When you have a point of doctrine, you can say as David did when facing Goliath, "The battle is the Lord's," 1Sa 14:47.
1TI 1:15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
1TI 1:16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
The Bible does not hesitate to tell us the very worst about its heroes so that we may better magnify the grace of God out of which trophies of mercy are created.
This is why we have the failures of the writers of Scripture recorded for us as Rom 15:4; 1Co 10:6; 10:11; Heb 4:11-13.
1CO 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
HEB 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter into God's rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.
2Ti 1:7 "For God has not given to us a lifestyle of fear, but of power, and of virtue‑love, and of sound judgment."
True courage means sound judgment, thinking under pressure, and good judgment at all times.
1Jo 4:18 "Fear does not exist in virtue-love, but virtue-love drives out fear; for fear causes punishment. In fact, the person who is afraid has not been matured by virtue-love."
If you have personal love for God the Father and you understand His integrity, you don't need to claim specific promises for every situation, you simply just need to rest on the divine essence that He possesses and His integrity as God.
Once you have virtue-love, you're not afraid of anything whereby you need promises, for now you know the One who makes the promises.
JOH 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you!
MAL 3:6 "For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.
2KI 6:16 "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
2KI 6:17 Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
God loved us billions and billions and billions of years ago and not only elected us to be His children but also blessed us with the most fantastic blessings even imaginable.
PSA 11:7 says For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteousness;
PSA 33:5 He loves righteousness and justice;
All losers and winners have the perfect righteousness of God given to them at the moment of salvation and God's loves His righteousness.
God blesses us; He keeps us alive; He gives us some measure of prosperity; All from His love which loves His righteousness in us!
Because you possess His righteousness and therefore His justice is free to love you with an impersonal unconditional love.
"come to know" is the per-act-ind of ginosko which means to know, to perceive, to become aware of or to comprehend intellectually, to see things as they truly are.
"have believed" = the per-act-ind of pisteuo meaning to believe, to be convinced, to have confidence about something, or
to metabolize doctrine.
PSA 11:7 For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteousness;
PSA 33:5 He loves righteousness and justice;
All losers and winners have the perfect righteousness of God given to them at the moment of salvation and God's loves His righteousness.
Because you possess His righteousness and therefore His justice is free to love you with an impersonal unconditional love.
ROM 8:38 neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
ROM 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The pres-act-ind of echo which means "He keeps having love for us."
The subjunctive mood of the word confidence says maybe you will have confidence, maybe you will not.
The nominative singular noun phobos can refer to many types of fears.
Claustrophobia = fear of being confined in a room or a small space.
Acrophobia = dread of high places.
Zoophobia = fear of animals.
Agoraphobia = fear of open places.
Social phobia = the experience of intense anxiety when an individual is presented with a social situation.
Claustrophobia = a fear of being confined in a room or a small space.
Acrophobia = dread of high places.
Zoophobia = fear of animals.
Agoraphobia = fear of open places.
Social phobia = the experience of intense anxiety when an individual is presented with a social situation.
Acarophobia = an abnormal fear of mites, other small insects, or worms.
Arachnophobia = an abnormal fear of spiders.
Astraphobia = an abnormal fear of lightning and thunder.
Batophobia = an abnormal fear of being near an object of great height, such as a skyscraper or mountain.
Nyctophobia = an abnormal fear of the night or darkness.
Ochlophobia = an abnormal fear of crowds.
Triskaidekaphobia = an abnormal fear of the number 13.
People have a fear of dirt or contamination called mysophobia.
Algophobia - fear of pain.
Gynephobia = fear of women.
Xenophobia = fear of foreigners or strangers.
Apiphobia = fear of bees.
Hydrophobia = fear of water.
Dronophobia = fear of driving on freeways.
Here's one, Paraskevidekatriaphobia - = fear of Friday the 13th.