The main thing is to get a blessing. The angel did not gratify Jacob's curiosity when he asked his name; but he did bless him. May the same be the case with us at this time; even as it was with the disciples when they asked, "Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" and the Lord replied, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you:' We need not know the future, but we do need power for the present.
I. WHAT WAS JACOB'S BLESSING IN THAT PLACE? – "He blessed him."
1. He was saved from a great peril. Esau's attack. "For I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children" (verse 11).
2. He was forgiven a great wrong. His supplanting of Esau was condoned by his brother.
3. He was able to feel that a great breach was healed. "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept" (Gen. 33:4).
4. He had won a new name and rank (verse 28). He was knighted on the spot, made a prince on the field.
5. He was now under a fresh anointing: he was a superior man ever after. "The angel redeemed him from all evil" (Gen. 48:16).
II. WHAT WAS THE PLACE? – "He blessed him there."
1. A place of great trial (verses 6 and 7).
2. A place of humble confession. "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed to thy servant" (verse 10).
3. A place of pleading(verses 1 and 12). "There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day" (verse 24).
4. A place of communion. "I have seen God face to face" (verse 30).
5. A place of conscious weakness. "As he passed over Penuel, the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh."
All this is full of instruction to us, for we read in Hosea 12:4, "Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us."
III. ARE THERE OTHER SUCH PLACES?
1. Before the earth was created the Lord blessed his chosen people in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3-4).
See also Matt. 25:34. "Come, ye blessed of my Father," etc.
2. At the cross, the tomb, and the throne of Jesus. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18).
3. In the heavenly places. "And made us sit together heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6).
4. At conversion. "From this day will I bless you." "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven" etc. (Ps. 32:1-2).
5. In times of stripping, humbling, chastening, pleading, etc. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation," etc. (James. 1:12).
6. In times of prompt obedience. "Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord" etc., (Ps. 1)."In keeping of them there is great reward"
7. At the ordinances (Acts 8:39; Luke 24:30-31).
IV. IS THIS SUCH A PLACE?
Yes, if you are:
Go not away without a saving blessing. Believe for it. Wrestle for it. Only the Lord can give it, look to him alone for the blessing. What are means of grace unless the Lord blesses them, and blesses you in the use of them?
This blessing wherewith Christ here blessed Jacob was a divine blessing containing all other blessings within its bowels. It was that blessing of the throne which comprehended in it the blessings of the foot-stool. Jacob had got already a great store of foot-stool mercies – much wealth, wives, and children, etc. These worldly blessings would not (and indeed could not) content him: he tugs hard still, and must have some better mercy than these, even the throne mercy, to wit, peace with God; well knowing that this would bring peace with his brother, and all other good things; as Job saith, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). He knew that his power to prevail with Emmanuel himself would fill him with power to prevail with Esau. — Christopher Ness
It was with a young man a day of seeking, and he entered a little sanctuary and heard a sermon from "Look unto me and be ye saved." He obeyed the Lord's command, and he blessed him there. Soon after he made a profession of his faith before many witnesses, declaring his consecration to the Lord, and he blessed him there. Anon he began to labor for the Lord in little rooms, among a few people, and he blessed him there. His opportunities enlarged, and by faith he ventured upon daring things for the Lord's sake, and he blessed him there. A household grew about him, and together with his loving wife he tried to train his children in the fear of the Lord, and he blessed him there. Then came sharp and frequent trial, and he was in pain and anguish, but the Lord blessed him there. This is that man's experience all along, from the day of his conversion to this hour: up hill and down dale his path has been a varied one, but for every part of his pilgrimage he can praise the Lord, for "he blessed him there?'
I have here, said Mr. Fuller, two religious characters, who were intimately acquainted in early life. Providence favored one of them with a tide of prosperity. The other, fearing for his friend, lest his heart should be overcharged with the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches, one day asked him whether he did not find prosperity a snare to him. He paused and answered, "I am not conscious that I do, for I enjoy God in all things?' Some years afterwards his affairs took another turn; he lost, if not the whole, yet the far greater part of what he had once gained, and by this disaster was greatly reduced. His old friend being one day in his company, renewed his question, whether he did not find what had lately befallen him to be too much for him. Again he paused and answered, "I am not conscious that I do, for now I enjoy all things in God?' This was truly a life of faith. To him it was as true as to Jacob. "He blessed him there."-Arvine's Anecdotes