to God's holy and inspired word. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and 400 men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants, and he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept. And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, who are these with you? And Jacob said, the children whom God has graciously given your servant. Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last, Joseph and Rachel drew near and they bowed down. Esau said, what do you mean by all this company that I met? Jacob answered, to find favor in the sight of my Lord. But Esau said, I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself. Jacob said, no, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. For I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. Please accept my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. Thus he urged him, and he took it. Then Esau said, Let us journey on our way and I will go ahead of you. But Jacob said to him, my Lord knows that the children are frail and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. Let my Lord pass on ahead of his servant and I will lead on slowly at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children until I come to my Lord in Seir. So Esau said, let me leave with you some of the people who are with me. But he said, What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. But Jacob journeyed to Sokoth and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore, the name of the place is called Sokoth. Amen. May God bless the reading of his word. Let's go to him now in prayer as we seek his spirit's help in understanding this passage. Let's pray. Lord, again, we seek your face. We call upon your name. We pray that you would hear us as we seek understanding of your word. Give to us an abundance of your spirit that he would take this passage of scripture and shine it like a light into our minds and hearts. And indeed, he would use it, O Lord, to convict us in our sinfulness, to comfort us with the truths of the gospel of Jesus, your son. and to equip us as your saints, and then to, Lord, lead us to rejoice in your ways. Lord, be with us this morning as we consider your holy word, as we pray this all in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. No doubt you know that sickening feeling in your stomach as it rises to your throat, when someone you have offended is coming to meet you to talk about the offense, to hash it out, to try to deal with what happened. Many of us know that disunity between ourselves and other people, when you really care about it, it is miserable. It's a terrible feeling when you've offended someone or they've offended you and the relationship that was once perhaps good is now Well, not good. A source of sourness, a source of strife, a source of difficulty. Now, Jacob and Esau's relationship wasn't ever really a good situation. Even back in the womb, they fought with each other. Their mother could barely stand it. They have always been at one another's throats. They've always been seeking ways to outdo the other, not in good deeds, but in perhaps swindling one another. Jacob takes the reins in this. His very name, Jacob, means one who snatches at the heel. They have been no good to one another their entire life, up to the point that Jacob sees hold of and grabbed at and obtained Esau's birthright and his blessing from his father. If you remember the story, Esau was beside himself with rage and only found solace in the fact that soon Isaac would die. No, he was wrong on that account, by the way. Isaac would live far longer, but that it looked like Isaac would die soon, and when he did, Esau would rise up against his brother, just like Cain against Abel, and would take him out. That was the one thought that gave Esau peace in his heart. And Jacob knew about it because Esau's plans were overheard somehow. And he fled, remember he fled to Laban, his uncle, where he met Rachel and Leah and subsequently married them. And through them and their servants have raised up now 11 of the 12 patriarchs of Israel. Israel being the very name that Jacob receives from God himself after the wrestling match in the middle of the night preceding this meeting with Esau. That's what we saw last time we were in Genesis. as Jacob is again in this state of like stewing perplexity and sort of anxiety over the soon meeting with his brother Esau and the possibility that his life could be facing its end. All swirling in his heart together with the promises of God, which were that God would bring him back to the land and peacefully and safe and whole and blessed Jacob wrestles with the Lord in light of these things. A very strong match lasted the whole night long. It was not, as we saw when we looked at the passage, it was not a metaphorical wrestling. It was not a vision. It was not a dream. It was an actual down and out physical fight that left Jacob with a limp. Yet he prevailed. He prevailed over the one he wrestled, who is identified with God himself. And as he held on to this opponent, he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And the Lord does bless him. Jacob receives the name Israel, one who strives with God, and then they part, and that's where our passage begins. Jacob lifted up his eyes, and on the hills of this victory against this opponent in the night, with confidence, yes, but still with that bit of concern. He sees Esau coming, 400 army soldiers with him. This is an army that Esau is traveling with. And 400 is no small number. Remember Abraham routed five or so of the kings of the land with just 318 men. And here we have 400 of men as well. Maybe some of them descendants of those soldiers that Abraham used. And they're coming at Jacob, and so he sees this and is rightly concerned. And so what does he do? He divides his family. He divides the children up between the four mothers, Leah, Rachel, and then the two female servants, and he spreads them out, and he goes before them all, seeking to be the first one to meet with Esau. And we see four things in this meeting unfold. And I apologize, they're not in your bulletin, but I'll give them to you here. The first thing we see is a surprise reconciliation. The second thing we see is a gospel proclamation on Jacob's part, followed by a humble restitution. And then finally, a reminder for us all to be people who strive for peace. I'll reiterate those as we go through the passage. First, we see a surprise reconciliation. Esau's army is with him on the horizon and Jacob is awaiting this meeting. And what does he do? He's the one who takes He's the one who makes the first move, so to speak. He himself goes on before his entire family, all of his possessions behind him, and he travels towards and the direction of Esau, but stopping seven times along the way to bow himself to the ground, which is a show of great humility. It's a recognition of the lordship of Esau. It's what a, what's called a vassal king would do to a suzerain king. A suzerain king is like the king of the land, like the most mighty king. A vassal king is like a sort of subpar king. It's like the major leagues and the minor leagues. And the vassal would declare his allegiance to the suzerain by bowing seven times in progression. in meeting his better king. And that's what Jacob is doing here. He has in his mind, driven by the promises of God, this thought, he says back in chapter 32, perhaps I may appease Esau with the present, the blessing that goes on ahead of me, and afterwards, perhaps I will see his face and he will accept me. And Jacob is now seeking that rightly. This is not him groveling before Esau, this is him rightfully respecting his older brother. Well, Esau sees Jacob in verse four, and what does he do? No, stop. What would you expect him to do? Given all that you know of the situation so far, what would you expect would come from this clash, this meeting now? You would expect there to be, if not an actual drag-out, knock-down battle, the 400-minute Esau coming in and just taking everything from Jacobs. You'd expect at least some passive-aggressiveness maybe, a little bit of bite in the tone. You'd expect there to be a little bit of harshness, like, huh, you again? But there's none of that. There's a surprising, gripping change in Esau here. What does he do? He runs to Jacob. He embraces him like a full body sort of hug. He falls on his neck, his head leaning down. He kisses him and they wept. That is surprising, even just reading it, knowing the story, preparing it to preach, even just reading it here this morning again, it sticks out to me as very, very un, like you don't see it, it's very surprising, it's unconventional, it's out of the ordinary. Esau stands out here in the reconciliation that he grants to his brother Jacob, who has very much swindled him and taken what was rightfully his. This, is a surprise reconciliation between brothers. And notice it's on both of them, Jacob and Esau, verse four, they wept with one another. This is an embrace that you would see later on in the book of Genesis. And another account of reconciliation between brothers who at one time sought the death of one of their own, between the brothers of Joseph, And then Joseph himself, when Joseph finally reveals his identity to his brothers, they break down and they weep and then they celebrate. Here is a surprising reconciliation that gives us a hint, a foreshadowing of that, which is to come. Now a few things come out of this verse that is very surprising. One is in light of our scripture reading, our first reading of scripture, the language here in verse four is very, very, very close to the language of the reception of the prodigal son's father, of the prodigal son when he comes home. He sees him from far, he runs to him, he embraces him, he falls on him like in a warm embrace. wholehearted brace of acceptance. It's the same language here. And here we have what we've had in Genesis so far in a number of occasions where A and N unbeliever, one who is outside of the covenant grace of God, like Esau, even though he displays great kindness and compassion to Jacob here, ultimately we read, if you read in the book of Hebrews, the very section that we read Hebrews 12, 14 from, it deals with Esau as one who is outside of the covenant people of God, who never fully repented of his sins and never received the grace of God in Christ. Yet he is here in light of the fullness of Scripture and Jesus in Luke 11, or Luke 15, Esau is an example of reconciliation, of God, who shows sinners grace and compassion and welcomes them. That's actually what Jacob confesses here, isn't it? For Jacob says to Esau, down in verse 10, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. And Jacob had just seen the face of God in wrestling with him. And he's saying now to Esau, you are like God himself in the way you have received me. A number of points about that. That adds to the surprise, I think. Why is an unbelieving, non-covenant member here an example of God himself in receiving sinners who humbly approach him confessing their sin. Well, like I said, this is not something new. Something we've seen at least on three previous occasions. One is in Genesis 12. Pharaoh himself is the just one who seeks justice, who acts righteously, when it's Abram and Sarai who twist the truth, who tell a lie, who seek to preserve their own lives by acting out of accord with God's covenant demands. Say you're my sister, Abram tells Sarai. So things will go well with us. And it's Pharaoh who said this should not be done. It's Pharaoh who doesn't touch Sarai. It's Pharaoh who plays the part of the righteous one. And later on in the same situation, two other times in Genesis 20, Abraham with Abimelech, same unfolding of the same event. Say you're my sister. And it happens again. It's found out that Sarah, Sarah by that time is actually the wife of Abraham. And so it causes a stir. And Abimelech says, you have done what ought not to be done. He does not lay a hand on Sarah and no one is allowed to. And Abraham is blessed. at the hands of a pagan king who does what is right when God's people don't. And the same exact thing happens with Isaac in Genesis 26 with Abimelech. Maybe his son, or the son of the first Abimelech, Abimelech was like Pharaoh, it's a name given to kings in that area. Same thing happens. The ungodly one is the righteous one. This is given to humble God's people. It should humble us. should have humbled Israel, definitely humbled Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, here, that one who is not even in the covenant people of God shows what God's covenant mercy looks like. This is to motivate God's people, you and me even, as we consider the reconciliation that Esau grants to Jacob. It should motivate us to be zealous for peace with all people, even unbelievers. It should humble us, it should motivate us, it should be a reminder, a steadfast reminder that our faith, our life, our salvation, our blessing, our reconciliation with God is not on the basis of our good works. That's one of the things this teaches us, is that if it were on the basis of our good works, if our salvation was, then while Jacob would never be one who is saved, neither would we. If you counted our iniquities, oh Lord, Psalm 130 said, oh Lord, who could stand? And that's a rhetorical question, meaning no one can. This shows us here the fact that in God's providence, an unbeliever here is used to illustrate what covenant mercy looks like and what reconciliation looks like. It's meant to humble us, to motivate us into seeking reconciliation for, if an unbeliever shows this, how much more ought we, as those who are God's covenant people, be driven to show reconciliation, to love the kindness and mercy of God as we show it to others. And likewise, it should show us that our acceptance before God is not based on our good works. It's based on God's grace, which is exactly what Jacob confesses, as we see in our second point here. As Jacob comes to Esau, he humbly and yet wonderfully proclaims, in a way you could say, the gospel itself. He has grace as his theme. Look at what Jacob says to Esau. Esau lifted up his eyes, verse five, and says, what is all of this? And all that I met along the way as like present after present after present came to him from Jacob. What is all of this? And Jacob says, the children, all this that you see, this is the children whom God has graciously given your servant. That's his confession. He doesn't say this is, Well, this is what I earned when I swindled Laban. Remember Uncle Laban? Remember how he was? Well, I got the best of him. It wasn't that. It was, this is all that God has graciously given your servant. Actually, the word here, gracious, or used for grace, it's also used in various verses, like verse eight, and following, it's favor, grace and favor. It's found in the book of Genesis 17 times. a full third of which is here, in just this chapter. This shows us that grace is truly what motivates Jacob. Now, he had to be humbled into seeing the hand of God's grace. That's what those 20 years or so of labor under Laban's heavy hand produced in him. A Godward humility that recognized all that he receives, all that he has in his possession, and it is a lot, is truly from the hands of the Lord. This is Jacob professing the faith before his brother Esau. All that I have is God's gracious gift to me. Even in verse 11, we see it again. Jacob says, please accept my blessing. We'll talk about that in the next point. That is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough. Jacob recognizes that the true source of his giftedness and his blessing and ultimately his life and salvation is all due to the undeserved, unmerited, actually demerited, favor and mercy of God. For that is what his grace is. It is not something that is earned. It is something that is actively demerited, actively opposed by our actions. See, mercy is getting just what you don't deserve. Grace is getting in the place of what you deserve the complete opposite of something far, far better. That's how it works with the gospel. We receive the grace and mercy of God. We deserve wrath and condemnation for our sins, for we have risen in high rebellion against the king and supreme creator and ruler of the universe, who has shown us tremendous good. And we have, in all of our puny powers, salt. to take his place and to put him down along the way, spitting in his face, slapping him, cursing him. So what we deserve is condemnation and death. We deserve not only the grave, but hell, punishment, judgment for our sins. But because of the faithful and good and covenant mercy of Jesus Christ, it's not only that our slate is wiped clean, It's not only that we don't get hell, we don't get judgment, but we get the complete opposite. A kingdom of righteousness. Life. Not just that we haven't ever sinned. We don't go back to like a net zero on our sins. We actually get, by virtue of the gospel itself, the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. put in the place of our lack of righteousness, in the place of our sinfulness. That's grace getting the complete opposite of what you deserve, and that's what Jacob confesses before Esau here. He has already received from God's hands the complete opposite of what he deserves. He recognizes, just by invoking the language of grace, that nothing is due to him. except while giving his condition for judgment and death. That's why he seeks from Esau the same sort of grace. I've come to seek grace in the sight of my Lord, verse eight, or favor in the sight of my Lord. Or verse 15, let me find favor or grace in the sight of my Lord. Because he recognized before Esau, he would be facing judgment in the hand of his brother. Now it wouldn't be right for Esau to take Jacob out, but he recognizes that. You know, Esau has his reasons and had at one time planned for it. And so he's saying, give me the complete opposite. with what I deserve, life instead of death. He's proclaiming the gospel in ways that are shadowy and filled with types, but yet still is truly the gospel. And God gives us, by grace, through faith, a salvation we could never have earned and have never merited and do not deserve. But because of his mere good pleasure, he provides it for us through his son, Jesus Christ. So we see a surprise reconciliation here. a gospel proclamation, and thirdly, a humble restitution. And what Jacob is doing here is he is seeking to return the blessing that he had stolen. And this is a godly act. It's actually, as you read in God's law, in a number of places you see that when someone has defrauded someone else of things, whether it's through stealing or misuse or neglect, they must make restitution. A few examples of this in God's law is Exodus 22. A few verses in that chapter, we read there in verses one and Then verses three and six said, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. And it says, if a thief is found breaking in and is struck before he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him. But if the sun has risen on him and there shall be blood guilt for him, he shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. If a fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain of the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution. Later on in that chapter, verse 14, if a man borrows anything of his neighbor's and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution, it was hired, it came at a hiring fee. There's also Leviticus chapter six, which likewise illustrates and calls for God's people to make restitution when they have wronged another. Leviticus 6 verses 2 through 5, I believe. If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a manner of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor, or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely, in any of all the things that the people do and sin thereby, if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery, or what he got by oppression, or the deposit that was committed to him, or the lost thing that he found, or anything, about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full, and add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt." In other words, finders, keepers, losers, weepers isn't biblical. There is a restitution that is to be made when we have sinned against another. Zacchaeus, that wee little man, shows us the very same thing. Jesus says, today salvation has come to this house because he received the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And what did he do? As a tax collector, as one who had swindled the people, he restored it. He gave back what he had stolen from those from whom he collected taxes, and he restored it fourfold, even going beyond what was required. Because those who recognize their guilt in their repentance make a humble restitution. Jacob does this here. He does it in showing honor to Esau, in the way he bows before him seven times to the ground. He does it in the gifts that he provides for Esau, restoring what he had taken. He does it when he says to Esau, literally in verse 11, please accept my blessing here. Let this take the place of what I stole from you. take this blessing back. He is, as one commentator said, he is recognizing the futility of using fleshly means to secure what only God can give, namely the blessing of the covenant. Jacob is making a humble restitution. Now there's an encouragement for us in this. If we have wronged others, then it is good and godly for us to make restitution. to give back, and sometimes to give back more. If we have spoken evil of someone else, of a family member, of a friend, a brother, a sister, parent, grandparent, child, daughter, cousin, whatever, then saying sorry and confessing the sin is good. but then going back and correcting what you have said and say, hey, I said this about so and so, it wasn't true, I made it up. Like, that is required. It's a part of the fruits of repentance. Restitution is a humble thing, and boy, it is humbling, is it not? You think this is humbling for Jacob here? Absolutely. Yet it's good. Well, this leads us to then our main application point and our last point. That is our need to strive for peace. As our verse for the law of God, strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one can see the face of the Lord. You see how that's wrapped up in this whole seen with Jacob and Esau. Actually that verse comes from the section of Hebrews 12 that deals with Esau and tells the people, the Hebrew Christians to whom the book of Hebrews is written, do not be like Esau who sold his birthright for a bit of soup, of porridge, who himself was sexually immoral, who spurned God's covenant. Do not be like that man. It's in that context that we hear, strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Reconciliation is the main theme of this passage. And it's the reconciliation that God makes with his people that should drive them to seek reconciliation with each other, indeed with everyone whom they offend. The cross itself is a place we see this most beautifully. Where the cross is God seeking out those who have sinned against him and making right the relationship. That's what the cross is. It is an act of reconciliation. God reconciling the world to himself, God giving his only son to go at that cross and to bear the just penalty against sinners, against his people, to bear in their place the guilt and the condemnation of their sin, thereby repairing the breach, thereby bringing now peace where there was once warfare between God and man. It's a vertical reconciliation that happens at the cross, and that can only happen there. There's no other way to be reconciled with God and through Jesus at the cross. That's why the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 and 6, we are God's ambassadors, and we are pleading on behalf of the Lord, be reconciled to God. God has already made and healed the relationship. Now, receive the gospel of good news in Jesus Christ. No longer is there condemnation. No longer is there enmity for those who trust in the Lord. But the cross is also the place where a horizontal reconciliation can occur as well. Indeed, the only place where true reconciliation unfolds between man and man, or woman and woman, between people is the cross itself. Think of the cross as affecting and being the point of vertical reconciliation with God, but also horizontal reconciliation with mankind. And we see this most clearly in the book of Ephesians, where the two most at-war factions in the early church, Jews and Gentiles. where their relationship itself is healed and brought together in the cross, where the one man died, making one people together unto the Lord. Paul labors to stress this in Ephesians 2 verses 11 and then really through into the beginning part of chapter three, speaking that Jesus is our peace, and that through the cross, he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God in one body, killing the hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to you who were near, to Jew and to Gentile, and it's in his cross that we are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, with Jesus Christ being the cornerstone of that house, that house being a whole temple that grows unto the Lord made up of Jews and Gentiles. And that can be applied to the very reconciliation that God delights in and desires on behalf of his people, regardless of what it is that is causing the hostility between them. And in many cases in our world, and in perhaps even this congregation, it's not something like, well, you're a Jew and I'm a Gentile. It's more of the sense of like, well, I'm just mad at you because you said this about me, or because you acted this way to me. Or it's a grudge that is held and nourished. It's a root of bitterness that has sprung shoots and is bearing rotten fruit. I know that there are people in this church. I know that there are family members. I know that there are friends at one time. I know that you have people you know, that you love, that are your neighbors, that you work with, that you are not reconciled with. And you should be. And you say, well, I'm just waiting for so-and-so to make the first move. Well, in the Bible, we have the example of both the offender and the offended making the first move. Here, Esau is the offended one, and what does he do? You see Jacob coming to him, and he runs to him, making the first move, well, unto reconciliation, you could say, even though Jacob had sought all the presents along the way and everything, too. And so maybe it's a joint effort in their case. What Jesus even says in Matthew 18, if your brother has sinned against you, go to him, you who are the offended one, and humbly seek reconciliation. Go to them, and not with a heavy hand. You must repent, because you did this to me. But go to him and say, I long for there to be reconciliation between us. Go, even as the offended one. You have the cross as the power to work Reconciliation in your life with those who either are offended at you or you have offended. Seizing hold of the grace that is yours in Jesus Christ. Seek to make reconciliation with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Indeed with anyone to whom you have offense. Now this is not to say that if someone is against you and you've done all you can, and it's not yielded any fruit, that then things are just hopeless. This is Romans, which is very, we read it, I think, two weeks ago. Romans 12, verses 16 and 18 is very helpful. The Apostle Paul says, strive for peace with everyone. He uses the same language, pretty much. But he says, insofar as it depends on you. It is, sincerely do what you can, and then leave it in the hands of God. Don't back it up within vengeance. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, the Lord says. leave it in the hands of the Lord, and seek to do good to the one who has sinned against you, ultimately by praying. Pray for your enemies, Jesus said. He did. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Seek the good of those with whom you are not reconciled, sadly, at least by prayer. And then Romans 12 goes on to say, by seeking their good, you will keep burning coals of fire on their head, which is not a way of saying, well, if you can't actually hurt them physically to seek revenge, well, at least by doing good, you can hurt them, maybe, you know, burning coals aren't pleasant, that's purifying. It's that your good works could be the cause that leads them to consider their ways and to seek then reconciliation and peace. All this is to say, it is a blessing and a delight and brothers dwell together in unity. And here you see, at least in an outward way, Esau and Jacob reconcile. They don't share, sadly, the reconciliation that is deep and everlasting and is found only in the cross of Christ and humble repentance unto the Lord. Their children will continue to fight one another. But they are a portrayal of godly covenant reconciliation. They remind us of what Christ himself has done for us. Let us look to our savior and his work on the cross. Let us enjoy the reconciliation we have with God and seek it with men. Amen.