Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #7 of Genesis 32, and we are going to read Genesis 32:13-23:

And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

I will stop reading there.  Once again, the spiritual picture is of Christ, typified by Jacob, presenting the offering (the atonement) which satisfies the Law’s demand.  And the Law is represented by Esau and the 400 that are coming from mount Sier or Edom.  The word “present” is translated numerous times as “offering” or “meat offering.”

And the word “appease” was used in verse 20: “I will appease him with the present (offering) that goeth before me.”  The Hebrew word “appease” is #3722 in the concordance, and it is the typical word for “atonement” in the Old Testament, so that confirms that this “present” to Esau is the “atonement.”

Esau is representing the Law, and the Law identifies with God.   Just to confirm this even more, let us look at the next chapter when Jacob and Esau finally meet, and notice what we read in Genesis 33:8-10:

And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

You see, it is not that I am saying that Esau’s face is as though it was the face of God.  It is the Bible that is saying that, and the face of God was pleased, as it were, which would fit in with God’s salvation program, as Ephesians 1 tells us that we are predestinated according to God’s good pleasure – He is pleased.  And God is pleased with His elect due to the finished work of the Son in the atonement performed at the foundation of the world.  As the Lord Jesus was baptized at the river Jordan and He rose up out of the water, God declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  There is the satisfaction of the atonement in view because payment had been made.

Going back to Genesis 32, it said, “I will appease him with the present (atonement) that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face.”  We discussed how the wicked flee from the face of God.  God’s face is against them that do evil, and so forth.  And that is why it was necessary to send the present first to appease an angry God with the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ before you see His face.  And if Christ has indeed died for your sins, and that offering has gone before, then you can see God’s face.

We looked at Revelation 22:4:

And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

All is well.   There is no more condemnation.  There is no more opposition between God and His elect because of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So that is what is in view, and it is really a very clear spiritual picture.  By God’s grace, He opened my eyes to see it (and I hope He has opened your eyes to see it), and now we can read the chapter with understanding, and we can say, “Oh, yes, it is obvious.”  But I remember that just a few short weeks ago I was struggling with it, and I wanted to get past this chapter as fast as possible.  I just did not understand it, and I did not feel qualified to teach on it because I did not understand it.  But this is what happens when the Lord is guiding us into truth, and when we wait upon Him.  You know, there is one problem when we are doing a Bible study like this and have obligated ourselves to do a study on a daily basis, putting some time constraints on it, but I am grateful to the Lord that He has opened up this information.

Again, it says in Genesis 32:20:

… and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

Again, the acceptance is based on the atonement, on the offering that has gone before.  Spiritually, it is based on the Lord Jesus Christ, but God will not accept of any man based on their own works.  That was the problem with Cain’s offering.  Abel’s offering was acceptable because he was not trusting in his work but in the One that it pointed to, which is Christ.

Let us go on to Genesis 32:21:

So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

That is, Jacob, a type of Christ, sent the present over before him, and Jacob remained with his family, the children of spiritual Israel.  So he is interceding on their behalf, and he is with them: “and himself lodged that night in the company.”  So Jacob was with his family, and we are told in Genesis 32:22:

And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

So he was in the company of his four wives – the two sisters, Rachel and Leah, and the two women servants.  There were four, and the number “4” identifies with universality, or the furthest extent of whatever is in view.  In this case, it represents the elect of God, the bride of Christ.  And the children themselves are another spiritual picture.  They are the children of Israel, and the 12 sons will become the 12 tribes of Israel.  And this was the company with whom Jacob lodged that night. 

We read something similar in Joshua 3, which is the closest verse I could find to what we are reading here, as Joshua is also a type of Christ.  We read in Joshua 3:1:

And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.

Here, Joshua and all the children of Israel lodged there.  He is a type of Christ, and he is with all the children of Israel, and they lodged at Jordan before they passed over.  So there is some similarity between this verse and what we are reading in Genesis 32:21: “So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

And the reference to “night” in this context would point to Judgment Day, the prolonged time period of Judgment Day, as “Judgment Day” is the term God uses to refer to the entirety of the judgment period.  It has lasted several years already, and according to biblical evidence, it will be several years longer before we come to the end of the Judgment Day period, and it is all typified by “night.”  The word “night” can identify with judgment itself, so we could read of the word “night” where the judgment in view is the judgment on the churches, or some other type of judgment, like the judgment on sin.  So the word “night” is similar to the word “midnight,” and when it identifies with judgment,  it will be the context that determines which judgment happens to be in view.  What we are reading here is a continuance from the previous chapter in Genesis 31, with the spoiling of Laban’s house and the coming out of Haran, and we went into a lengthy discussion about how it is a type and figure of the final judgment of Satan and this world, and the salvation of all the elect. 

If you have noticed, we have not read many time references in Genesis 32, but we actually can know it is happening at the same time because Jacob spent 40 years in Haran.  He entered Haran at the age of 60, and 40 years later would make him 100.  We also know that at the end of this chapter, from verse 24 to the end of the chapter in verse 32, Jacob is going to wrestle with God, and his name will be changed by God to “Israel.”  That was when Jacob first became “Israel,” and the timing of this – as we look at the timeline of history in the biblical calendar – is that Jacob’s name was changed to “Israel” in the year 1907 B. C. when he was 100 years old.  And that is the same year he came out of Haran, so the events of chapter 32 follow one another, historically, and it is a continuing situation where days, or maybe a couple of weeks, had passed from the time when Laban and his servants caught up with Jacob and his family and flocks at mount Gilead.  So it is the same spiritual  picture.  It is Judgment Day, and the “night” would identify with the final judgment of the world. 

Let us look at a verse that proves that “night” does relate to the final judgment.  You can read 1Thessalonians 5:2:

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

So as the Lord came on May 21, 2011, it was “as a thief in the night.”  Therefore the night had come, and we can tie that in to what Christ said about there being “twelve hours in a day,” and then comes the evening.  The hours 6 a. m. to 6 p. m. would be the 12-hour work day, and then 6 p. m. brings the “night when no man can work,” as the Lord said in John 9.  It is Judgment Day, and Christ has come as a thief in the night.

Let us go back to Genesis 32:21:

… and himself lodged that night in the company.

All the wives are with him.  We had read earlier that Jacob divided himself into two companies, so at that time he must have sent some of the servants off with some of the flock, and he stayed with his wives and his sons, and the rest of the flock.  And that would have been the separation of the two companies, because it says here that he lodged that night in the company.  All the wives and all the children are in view, so this “company” that he lodged with typifies the elect company of all that God has saved.  Another way of putting it is that it is the whole company of the saints.  The elect are left on the earth in the Day of Judgment.  Again, the day of salvation has ended, and we have entered into spiritual “night,” and the sun is darkened, and the moon is not giving its light, spiritually.  It is a thick darkness that has taken over the whole earth.  The “smoke of the pit” has risen up and darkened the sun.  Again, and again in the Bible, the language indicates spiritual night.  It is dark, and that identifies with death and hell.  So all the “night” God’s people are left on the earth, just as Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den all the night.  The “den” or the “pit” was sealed, and Daniel was alone, seemingly.  Remember that the king would not listen to instruments of music, and he spent the night in great concern (for Daniel).  We read in Daniel 6:16-17:

Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.

The stone laid upon the mouth of the den was the shutting of the door to heaven on May 21, 2011.  It is sealed.  There can be no entry or escape from that den into the kingdom of God because the door is shut.

Then it says in Daniel 6:18:

Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

He was completely focused on Daniel.  His mind would not go to sleep, and there was no music or entertainment.  He would not eat.  He wanted to consider and ponder about Daniel.  You know, this is a historical parable, and it is about as close a picture as God can paint regarding this human king, especially an unsaved man.  There was great concern in this king, and this man was typifying God here, and we know that God’s eyes and His presence is everywhere.   Daniel is in that pit, and there is darkness – it is the spiritual night of Judgment Day.  The seal of God is upon it, and God cannot open it until the proper “time and season” arrives and we come to the very last day of this judgment period.  And yet, throughout the “night,” His mind is on us, and His thoughts are toward us, and His care is for us.  That is what we see here, and then we read in Daniel 6:19-20:

Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel…

And then Daniel responded.  It was “very early in the morning,” at the first possible instant.   That is when that king came.  The law of the Medes and Persian cannot be changed, and he must carry it out, but at the first possible moment, he came to take Daniel up out of the den.  So too, God will come at the first instant possible after completing the time for Judgment Day, and we come to the end.  There will be no more, and there is nothing in the Bible that will extend the time any further than that last day of Judgment Day.

So Jacob spent the night in the company.  So too, the Lord Jesus who indwells all His people is in the elect children of God that are alive and remaining on the earth, going through this grievous period of time: “…himself lodged that night in the company.”