Outline // Monuments #5: The Man, The Monument, The Christ

Hosea 12:3-4:
“Even in the womb,
    Jacob struggled with his brother;
when he became a man,
    he even fought with God.
4 Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won.
    He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him.

Genesis 32:24-28
24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”
But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 “What is your name?” the man asked.
He replied, “Jacob.”
28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

Genesis 28:12-22 
12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19 He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. 22 And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

Genesis 32:6-8 
“After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Jacob and reported, “We met your brother, Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!” 7 Jacob was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups. 8 He thought, “If Esau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”


He’s making decisions out of an incorrect identity. Incorrect identity breeds fear.

Correct identity [God’s identity] gives life.

Jacob’s enemy wasn’t his brother. It was NEVER his brother. Not back when they were kids & Esau was just hungry, not when he was adult & Esau was busy hunting, not when he was in the womb & Esau got BORN first.....Esau was never the enemy!

Jacob’s enemy was himself.

Justification is God declaring us righteous based on Christ’s righteousness. It’s forensic—like a legal verdict. It’s instant and complete the moment we believe. We are RIGHT with God, because He says so. Jacob didn’t grasp that the first time he met with God.  

Sanctification is God making us righteous through the Holy Spirit. It’s progressive—over our lifetime. Justification changes our position before God. Sanctification changes our practice. Justification is once-for-all. Sanctification is ongoing.

Genesis 33:18-20
18 Later, having traveled all the way from Paddan-aram, Jacob arrived safely at the town of Shechem, in the land of Canaan. There he set up camp outside the town. 19 Jacob bought the plot of land where he camped from the family of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of silver. 20 And there he built an altar and named it El-Elohe-Israel. 

El-Elohe-Israel means: God, the God of Israel

God had finally become HIS God.  And GOD’S IDENTITY FOR HIM, had finally become his own as well.


THE CROSS is our monument. Jesus erected that monument out of our pain, and sin, and failures, and deceptions, and fear and struggles…and he built something BEAUTIFUL.  Something to remind us just how BIG and graceful our God is. He gave us a new name.