Sermon LXXII — Historical footnotes

3. Ye that are well instructed in the school of Christ, know that this Jacob is Israel too. They are two names; for they are one man. His first name Jacob, which is by interpretation supplanter, he received when he was born. For when those twins were born, his brother Esau was born first; and the hand of the younger was found on the elder’s foot. He held his brother’s foot who preceded him in his birth, and himself came after. And because of this occurrence, because he held his brother’s heel, he was called Jacob, that is, Supplanter. And afterwards, when he was returning from Mesopotamia, the Angel wrestled with him in the way. What comparison can there be between an Angel’s and a man’s strength? Therefore it is a mystery, a sacrament, a prophecy, a figure; let us therefore understand it. For consider the manner of the struggle too. While he wrestleth, Jacob prevailed against the Angel. Some high meaning is here. And when the man had prevailed against the Angel, he kept hold of Him; yes, the man kept hold of Him whom he had conquered. And said to Him, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” When the conqueror was blessed by the Conquered, Christ was figured. So then that Angel, who is understood to be the Lord Jesus, saith to Jacob, “Thou shalt not be any more called Jacob, but Israel shall thy name be,” which is by interpretation, “Seeing God.” After this He touched the sinew of his thigh, the broad part, that is, of the thigh, and it dried up; and Jacob became lame. Such was He who was conquered. So great power had this Conquered One, as to touch the thigh, and make lame. It was then with His Own will that He was conquered. For He “had power to lay down” His strength, “and He had power to take It up.” He is not angry at being conquered, for He is not angry at being crucified. For He even blessed him, saying, “Thou shalt not be called Jacob, but Israel.” Then the “supplanter” was made “the seer of God.” And He touched, as I have said, his thigh, and made him lame. Observe in Jacob the people of the Jews, those thousands who followed and went before the Lord’s beast, who in concert with the Apostles worshipped the Lord, and cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.” Behold Jacob blessed. He has continued lame until now in them who are at this day Jews. For the broad part of the thigh signifies the multitude of increase. Of whom the Psalm, when it prophesied that the Nations should believe, speaketh, saying, “A people whom I have not known, hath served Me; by the hearing of the ear it hath obeyed Me.” I was not there, and I was heard; here I was, and I was killed. “A people whom I have not known, hath served Me; by the hearing of the ear it hath obeyed Me.” Therefore, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” And it goes on, “The strange children have lied unto Me;” concerning the Jews. “The strange children have lied unto Me, the strange children have faded away and have halted from their paths.” I have pointed out Jacob to you, Jacob blessed and Jacob lame.

5. The time will come, the end of the world will come, and all Israel shall believe; not they who now are, but their children who shall then be. For these present walking in their own ways, will go to their own place, will pass on to everlasting damnation. But when they shall have been made all one people, that shall come to pass which we sing, “I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall be manifested.” When the promise which is made to us, that we “see face to face,” shall come. “Now we see through a glass darkly,” and “in part;” but when both people, now purified, now raised again, now crowned, now changed into an immortal form, and into everlasting incorruption, shall see God face to face, and Jacob shall be no more, but there shall be Israel only; then shall the Lord see him in the person of this holy Nathanael, and shall say, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” When thou dost hear, “Behold an Israelite indeed;” let Israel come into thy mind; when Israel shall come into thy mind, let his dream come into thy mind, in which he saw a ladder from earth even to heaven, the Lord standing upon it, the Angels of God ascending and descending. This dream did Jacob see. But after this he was called Israel; that is, some little time after as he came from Mesopotamia, and on his journey. If then Jacob saw the ladder, and he is also called Israel; and this Nathanael is an “Israelite indeed in whom is no guile;” therefore when he wondered because the Lord. said to him, “I saw thee under the fig-tree;” did He say to him, “Thou shalt see greater things than these.” And so He announced to him Jacob’s dream. To whom did He announce it? To him whom He called “an Israelite, in whom was no guile.” As if He had said, “His dream, by whose name I have called thee, shall be manifested in thee; make no haste to wonder, “thou shalt see greater things than these. Ye shall see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending unto the Son of Man.” See what Jacob saw; see why Jacob anointed the stone with oil; see why Jacob prophetically signified and prefigured the Anointed One. For that action was a prophecy.