We have indeed been shifted into “God’s camp” from the kingdom of Satan (Colossians 1:13-14) as Jesus was cast outside of the camp for us on Golgotha’s hill. Instead of needing to act in fear apart from God and protecting ourselves by our own methods, we can rest against God who has our back (Isaiah 52:12b). Jesus has gone out in front of us and led the way by His victory on the cross. We do not need to pacify God to accept us when we are anxious, as did the people of the Old Covenant who sought to appease the face of Yahweh (Zechariah 8:22). Jesus has gone out ahead and slayed our enemies of Satan, sin and God’s wrath against sin and now: “leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession” (2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV). Jesus became the unfavored One at Calvary, reviled by God and man, so we would rest, nestled in the acceptance of God’s favor, looking forward in eternity’s future to seeing His welcoming face.
God has blessed all his righteous children in Christ and covered them with favor as with a shield (Psalm 5:12). Look up to the cross and see Jesus covering the distance between us and God and making us one in Christ (John 17:21), securing the paths ahead of us by the works of the powerful gospel.
3. Fear is overcome by receiving humility and faith in Christ, not through man’s pride:
We can see that the Spirit was convicting Jacob and his heart was being humbled in prayer before he met with his brother Esau:
“And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” Genesis 32:9-12
Jacob now prayed transparently to God, unburdening his soul about his fear: “Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.” Genesis 32:11). Jacob recognized his unworthiness to receive God’s steadfast love and acknowledged God’s greatness and His work in his life rather than highlighting his own works. Jacob also prayed God’s own words back to Him, reminding him: “But you said, ‘I will surely do you good” (Genesis 32:12).
As New Covenant believers after the Messiah delivered His long-promised salvation for His people at the cross, we now can kneel and dwell in the presence of Jesus, assured that He has, He is and He will always do good and bless us, as He plummeted into abject lowliness to lift us up on high. As we read in Philippians:
“Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] 6 Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!” Philippians 2:5-8 AMPC
Question 3: Would you write a prayer to God about your fear, as Jacob prayed, including the gospel of the humble servant of Jesus found in Philippians 2:5-8?
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4. Fear is overcome by wrestling with God and not with ourselves
“And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me”. Genesis 32:24-26
On the eve of Esau’s arrival, Jacob received a visit from a man who wrestled with him all night, a man in human form who Jacob later recognized was God Himself (Genesis 32:30). What a wonderful glimpse of Jesus in this Old Testament passage!
It was also a spiritual battle as Jacob sought to receive a spiritual blessing rather than stealing it from others as he did earlier in his life. This was a transformed Jacob, whose heart cried out for deliverance from the burdens he carried, for favor not from himself but from God. Jacob received a hip injury in this unusual battle with the man but as in so many of life’s struggles, such weaknesses are transformed to strengths to depend on God in a fuller and deeper way (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). This was Jacob’s experience too:
“In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. 4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there -5 the Lord God Almighty, the Lord is his name!” Hosea 12:3-5 NIV
Perhaps you have seen a wrestling match where one man throws his weight against another while his opponent responds in power to claim victory. In many ways this is the process of casting our cares onto Jesus. As we cast and throw our concerns to Him, His power lifts these cares from our hearts through the victory He has fought and wrestled to pay our punishment for sin. Jesus clenched His teeth in pain, shedding blood and tears in absolute resolve unto the finish line at Calvary (Philippians 4:6). At the final moment of His sufferings to give His life as a ransom for us, we hear Jesus’ conclusive cry from the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30).
5. Fear is overcome by living in God’s identity and not in one of our own making:
“So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” Genesis 32: 27-30 NASB
Through Jacob’s wrestling with God, he received a new name and identity that changed the very inclinations of his heart from self-sufficiency to being surrendered to God. At the place called Penuel which means ‘face of God’, Jacob saw and knew God and his life was preserved! The word ‘preserved’ means to deliver someone ‘right out of the clutches’ of the enemy, to snatch them out of harm’s way, even while in the midst of the situation, by a dramatic intervention.
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Romans 5:10
Do you see it, dear friend? While in the midst of our lives as enemies of the cross, we fashioned ourselves after the way of the soldiers who prepared Jesus for crucifixion. Our hands held the open and surrendered hand of Jesus against the wooden beam. We positioned the point of the nail into the centre of His palm and held it secure while we raised the hammer with our other hand to the best height to deliver the maximum power.
However, we did not realize that our hand held the blessed hand of our redeeming substitute. One after another, the thud of the hammer attached our sins and guilt to Jesus. One after another with each hammer blow, our sins were written on the sign above Jesus’ head on the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19). He claimed our ‘old man’ identity of iniquity and attached it irreversibly to His Name. It died and was buried in Him, and then we were raised up as new creations filled with the life raising power of the Holy Spirit.
We are now named as God’s own, no longer fearful victims of circumstance, but the recipients of a new heart of flesh with a mirrored identity card that is faced upwards to Jesus in heaven. When you look into this new identity card, what do you see? Only Jesus! Accepted, beloved, forgiven and righteous!
As we come to God in humility, in prayer and cast our cares to Him, He promises us, along with Jacob, that our struggles which started in fear have ended, and will always end, in peace: “Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
As we walk out of enslavement to the despair of fear, a question that I needed answering was: “Will I ever be totally free of fear in my life?”
The life of Jacob and the patriarchs of the bible show us that fear is part of the fallen world we live in, not totally absent, and a common experience until we receive our resurrected bodies.
However, we have a choice as to how we respond to fear. We can walk in the flesh with a worldly viewpoint, not looking to the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, we may tend to external protective wrappings to cover our worry and anxiety, as if it was a wound that needs bandaging by many methods and/or covering it from view.
Or we can walk in the Spirit with a view to the cross of our Servant King, seeing the wounds of Jesus and His love to mend our hearts from fearful self-protection and self-trust. We can choose to see with eyes of faith that we are controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit who gives us life (Romans 8:2) and who opens our spiritual hearts to worship Him, shielded in the power of God’s promises.
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you [ransomed you by paying a price instead of leaving you captives]; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.” Isaiah 43:1 AMPC