In order to continue to unveil and reveal the Dominion Mandate, we will have to revisit the story of Jacob (Israel), grandson of Abraham. Let me suggest, if you have not already done so, that you read or even reread the previous three articles in order to fully follow the direction of this narrative.
Jacob was the younger of the twin sons of Isaac, Abraham’s son. We find the beginning of his life story in Genesis 25:19. The Lord spoke to Rebekah (Jacob’s mother) during her pregnancy a prophecy concerning her sons found in Genesis 25:23, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manners of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” This particular prophecy was unique in and of itself in that it went totally against tradition and culture. Traditionally and culturally, the elder son would receive a double portion inheritance of his father’s possessions and would be served by all of his other brethren. In the case of Jacob, whose name means supplanter, God was reversing the order of both culture and tradition and moving him into the place of the first born. It is critically key that we understand in Hebraic culture a name denotes and reveals a nature. To supplant means to take the place of or supersede especially through force, scheming or treachery. Although God actually intended to reposition Jacob into the position of receiving the firstborn inheritance and blessing, He never intended for Jacob to receive it through treachery or deception, or any other natural means. Although Jacob didn’t use force, he was guilty of deceiving both his brother Esau (Genesis 25:29-34) and his father Isaac with the help of his mother Rebekah (Genesis 27:5-40). Because of his treachery, Jacob did not enjoy the benefits and blessing of the firstborn in his Father’s house. He actually had to endure the wrath and hatred of his brother and eventually flees the land of his nativity (Genesis 27:41-28:22). After leaving Beer-sheba, Jacob had his first encounter with God. It was during this encounter that Jacob begins to recognize the reality of God for himself and began to seek an intimate acquaintance with the God of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 28:10-22, (10) “And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. (11) And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. (12) And he dreamed, and behold a ladder setup on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. (13) And behold the Lord stood above it, and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; (14) Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (15) And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all the places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land: for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”. (16) And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. (17) And he was afraid, and said, “How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”. (18) And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. (19) And he called the name of that place Bethel(House of God): but the name of that city was called Luz at the first, (20) And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, (21) So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: (22) And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” On this journey from home, Jacob met God who introduced Himself to Jacob as the God of Abraham and Isaac and made some covenant promises to Jacob. Jacob did not yet know the Lord in a place of personal intimacy. Jacob decided to take God at His word and in turn made vows unto the Lord according to those promises and embrace Him as Lord of his Life. Jacob ended up in the land of Haran, the place of his mother’s birth and in the home of his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother.
Genesis 29-31 gives a recap of the next 20 years of Jacob’s life in the land of Haran in the service of his uncle Laban. It gives a complete overview of his time of being prepared and redeemed by God for the mandated assignment on his life and coming to the place of being able to embrace the reality of his true identity in God. During his tenure in Haran, Jacob attained two wives, became a father, was deceived, cheated, defrauded, and mishandled. Jacob learned the harsh reality of the necessity of living a righteous life. Through all of his hardships and mishaps, God kept him and the evidence of God’s hand on his life was continuously manifesting. Jacob left Haran not only a man of great substance, but a changed man now ready to return to his father’s house and be reconciled with his brother.
Genesis 32 begins the account of Jacob’s journey homeward. Genesis 32:1-2, (1) “And Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. (2) And when Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s host: he called the name of that place Mahanaim, which being interpreted means ‘two armies”. Jacob was beginning to be awakened and unlocked prophetically to understand the identity of himself and his heirs and he began to speak it into his atmosphere. Jacob then began to make preparations to meet with his brother Esau, who he had defrauded some twenty years earlier, whom he now wanted to make amends with and be reconciled to. Genesis 32:3-5, 6-8 (3) “And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. (4) And he commanded them, saying, “Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now: (5) And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I might find grace in thy sight.” The messengers returned and Jacob was taken aback and totally unprepared for the response that he received from them. (6) And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to thy brother, Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.” (7) Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands, (8) And said, “If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. Fear brings torment and a loss of rationale. It keeps us looking at life and situations from a negative connotation and perspective. It causes us to panic rather than to think clearly. It is the total antithesis (opposite) of faith. Finally Jacob began to remember the promises of God and began to pray! Genesis 32: 9-12, (9) Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to the kindred, and I will deal well with thee: (10) I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy, servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. (11) Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. (12) And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude”.
Because Jacob did not yet fully know God, even though he had experienced some encounters with him, he was at this particular time praying from a position of fear and not of faith. He remembered what God had said, and I dare to believe that Jacob believed that God could do what he said, yet he was not fully convinced that God would do what he said. Even though Jacob sought the Lord for protection and deliverance because of his fear, Jacob did not seek the Lord for wisdom and guidance on how to proceed in his situation and came up with his own plan of how to move forward. (Genesis 32:13-21).
Jacob had not fully died (renewed, transformed) to his old nature, which is an absolutely necessary process to knowing and becoming one with God!
Let’s pick up with Jacob in verse 22. (22) And he rose up at night, and took his two wives, and his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok (the place of emptying out). (23) And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. (24) And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. (25) 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. (26) And he said “Let me go, for the day breaketh.” And Jacob said, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. (27) And he said unto him, “What is thy name?” And Jacob answered and said, “Jacob”. (28) And he said, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel (Prince of God): for as a prince has thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed (overcome). (29) And Jacob asked him and said, “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, “Wherefore is that thou dost ask after my name?” And he blessed Israel there. (30) And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (the face of God): for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. (31) And as he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh.
After putting his plan in motion and getting his family settled, Jacob was being positioned to have a true encounter with the God of creation. Notice in verse 22 that in his journey of preparation, Jacob had to pass over (crossover) the ford Jabbok and the meaning of Jabbok is to completely empty out. In the case of Jacob, it would mean to be completely emptied of an old nature in order to be renewed, transformed, and take on a completely new identity. In the nature the Hebrew, of which Jacob was, there is a built in proclivity to continuously crossing over, as into new places, into new seasons, into new relationships, and into new identities. As you follow the life of Jacob and his descendants you will find that the proclivity of crossing over actually evolved into the ability of being able through their relationship with God to Passover from a death structure to a place of being able to receive the nature of eternity through Messiah.
Let’s get back to Jacob. In verse 24, we find Jacob alone and in a quiet place with no distractions. The scriptures emphatically tell us in this particular verse that there he wrestled with a man until the breaking of the day. God moves, speaks, and moves in prophetic patterns. Jacob needed to come to the revelation and realization that even though he had come into contact with God previously, his old nature was still wrestling with fully surrendering to God and embracing the identity that God had ordained for him. To get Jacob’s attention God had to wound his old nature to actually begin the process of death that was necessary to instill in Jacob his new nature.(verse 25). As Jacob began to become spiritually awakened, the wrestling transitioned into an embrace. Jacob at this point came to the realization that he was at a transitioning moment in his life, that his nature was being renewed and changed, and Jacob absolutely refused to let go of God (verse 26). In verse 27, God asked Jacob his name so that he could come face to face with his old nature and realize that was never who God intended him to be and realize that was why his old nature, Jacob ( supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler) was wrestling with God. In the Hebrew culture, a name denotes a nature, and the name Jacob was only demonstrating and manifesting the attributes of the flesh in his life. It was at this point of transitional transformation that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel (God’s Prince, Prince of God) (Verse 28). In the prophetic pattern of the name of Israel as explained in this particular verse, the people of God have power (authority) with God (Heaven), and with man (Earth). This also takes us back to the inception of creation itself where God created man in oneness with Himself. God blessed Israel in the place of his awakening. Jacob literally became the prophetic prototype of the born again experience (verse 30). He called the place of his new birth Peniel, meaning face of God. He made the declaration that he had seen God face to face and his life was preserved. The scriptures actually indicate that no flesh shall glory in his presence and he told Moses that no man shall see his face and live. Israel therefore is not an expression of the old nature of Jacob, but the new nature of God himself. This was the dawning of a new season in the life of Israel and in the life of his heirs.
In Genesis Chapter 33, we do find that Israel did reconcile peacefully with his brother Esau and we find him settling peacefully in the land of Canaan.
Genesis 33:18-20, (18) And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city. (19) And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. (20) And he erected there an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel (God, the God of Israel). Israel was becoming keenly aware of who he was, and was beginning to truly embrace his relational positioning in the Father and press into that place of oneness.
In the Hebraic culture, God is known as the King of the Universe. Look at the prophetic implication here, Uni (one), Verse (word). According to the creation narrative, that one word is Dominion, the foundation of the Kingdom (the place of the King’s dominion). In the very DNA of the name Israel (God’s Prince) is the prophetic nature Of Sonship. The Prince is the son of the King! The transitional transformation of Jacob into Israel became the prophetic doorway for the entrance of the nature of the son into the earth realm. This would eventually lead to the manifestation of the eternal Son, the Messiah, King of Israel, and the King of Glory!
God Is Calling His Sons Back To The Place Of Origin To Fulfill The Eternal Mandate Of The Establishing Of His Kingdom On Earth!
Apostle's Pen 