Don’t Be Afraid: He Is with You

So Israel and all [his relatives and possessions] set out and came to Be’er Sheva and sacrificed sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night. And He said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ So [Jacob] replied, ‘Behold, It’s me.’ Then [God] said, ‘I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt because I will establish you [as] a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I myself will cause you to ascend, and Joseph will [close] your eyes.’ So Jacob arose from Be’er Sheva, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their children, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry them. And they took their cattle and their property which they gathered in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him (vv 1-7).

[Introduction]

His given name was Jacob ... a name that described his old nature as a deceiver, a cheater, a supplanter ... one who takes the place of another (Gen 27:36). But in the great wrestling match of Genesis 32, God had given to him a new name ... Israel ... which means ‘He strives with God’ (32:28). Sometimes, he is still Jacob ... a man who continues scheming and plotting to get his way on his terms in his time, sometimes through force, sometimes through strategy. Other times he is Israel ... a man who knows that God is with him, that it is God who perseveres.

We also have two natures, two names. We are sinners and saints. We have the old nature of the flesh and the new nature of the Spirit. We have our given name ... mine is William ... and our new name ... we are Christian. Sometimes we follow our old nature, and sometimes we strive in the new birth from above because we know that God is with us.

Jacob was the name of his weakness. Israel was the name of his strength. Whereas Jacob had swindled his twin brother Esau out of his birthright as the firstborn son, and then later stole Esau’s blessing by tricking their father Isaac on his deathbed, he also became the father of a great nation out of whom comes the Savior ... our Lord Jesus Christ, who like Abraham and Jacob before him, went down to Egypt ... of all places ... so that all of the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen 12:3).

1. This is the light in which Israel began his downward journey to Egypt, knowing that God would be with him to raise him up.

Change is never easy, but it is often necessary to preserve and keep us. Now remember that Jacob was an old dog who didn’t want to learn new tricks. Remember, he had spent most of his life in Canaan ... the land of the promise given first to his grandfather Abraham 25 years before his father Isaac was born. And he knows he’s dying. Remember also that, like Jacob, Abraham also was called to leave his land for Egypt in the midst of a great famine (Gen 12:10).

Sometimes we must go down before God takes us up. And that’s the context today.

Why do we resist the call of God? ... Is it because of fear? How many times has this happened to you? ... when you fear an unexpected turn? ... when you fear being called to do something new? ... when you fear leaving what is familiar? ... maybe your promised land, your church, your home, your job? How often does God open a new chapter for you?

That’s Jacob’s position in our text. Jacob is being called to change. It’s true that he knows there is something wonderful in store for him: He will get to see the son he loved ... the son (Joseph) who once was dead, but is now alive (Lk 15:24) ... the son who preserved life (45:5). But this also is a journey into a land filled with strange gods and strange idols. More importantly, Israel knows faith apprehends all the promises of God. Faith overcomes fear (v 3).

[Then] Israel and all [his relatives and possessions] set out and came to Be’er Sheva, and he sacrificed sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac (v 1). Jacob stopped here because this is a place of promise. In Genesis 21, Abimelech recognized that God was with Abraham, and so they made a covenant with each other, and Abraham called on the name of the Lord (21:33). Later, Isaac offered a sacrifice here after the Lord appeared to him and reiterated the promise that I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for the sake of Abraham my servant (Gen 28:24). Israel surely remembered all this as he too worshiped the Lord of the Covenant.

Then God spoke to Israel in a vision of the night, and He said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And [Jacob] replied, ‘Behold, It’s me.’ Then [God] said, ‘I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt because I will establish you [as] a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I myself will cause you to ascend (vv 2-4).

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do you hear the eternal promise in these verses, too?

THIS IS THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS: GOD IS WITH YOU AND WILL LIFT YOU UP

2. Christmas proves that God never forgets his promises to be with us always.

God’s covenantal promises to be with us originate in the garden with Adam and Eve. He reiterated his covenantal promise to Noah in Genesis 9[:8]. And then to Abraham in Genesis 12, and 15, and 17, and 18, and 22. And didn’t stop speaking the promise. He repeated it to Isaac in Genesis 26 and 28. And Jacob today. Don’t be afraid, God is saying. I will establish you ... I will go down with you ... and I myself will cause you to ascend, and Joseph will [close] your eyes.’ This is the same promise that was given to Moses and David and the prophets, and it is realized at Christmas.

Our lives are often characterized by the need to trust the promise of God’s loving care, his covenantal care. At times, our trust in God wavers. We let doubt creep in. We wonder how he is always with us amid all the sin and uncertainty in our lives. We then try to create our own faith, our own trust, based on our own word. We let faith give way to fear. Our doubts, our anxieties, our resistance then seem like natural responses to change ... but they are natural only to the Jacob within us ... our deceiver and our supplanter ... who tries to control our life.

And so as Christians we must confess them for what they are ... sin, iniquity, transgression ... in our life. Repent of your fear. Repent of doubting God’s promises to forgive sins. Repent of doubting how and where and when God is always with us. Then believe the promise of God, and as the Psalmist sang to us, Remember the deeds of YHWH (Ps 77:11), just like Israel.

3. God always remembers you, fulfilling his promises to lift you up, too.

After descending to Egypt, the sons of Israel ... Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin ... did indeed become a great nation. Even as they faced the fiery trials and tribulations that came upon them in Egypt for 400 years, God preserved a faithful remnant within them, so that like Peter teaches us in his epistle, we will rejoice in our communion in Christ’s sufferings (1 Pt 4:13).

Because our trust in God wavers ... because we doubt that God would actually deliver to us the forgiveness of sins through his means of grace that give us faith, sustain our faith, nourish our faith that comes only from God himself ... Jesus Christ walked the path set forth by the Father. This son of Israel, who came to embody Israel, stayed faithful when we could not.

In our Gospel lesson, we learn that just as Jacob arose from Be’er Sheva ... and went to Egypt, so too did Jesus (Mt 2:13). And when the time was right, our Lord returned to the Promised Land, just like Israel (2:20). Matthew tells us, This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt I called my son. These words of Hosea 11[:1] describe the experience of the nation Israel.

But we also learn today that Jesus fulfills what the nation was meant to be. He is the son of the promise, given in the garden, and to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He embodies Israel. Like the nation before him, Jesus too will pass through the waters of baptism into the wilderness. Where we fail to obey the Law, Jesus will be faithful. When Israel was nurtured with the bread of life every day for 40 years, Jesus reminds us that he is that bread of life, and that whoever comes to [him] will never hunger, and whoever believes in [him] will never thirst (Jn 6:35). This is the same bread given to us still today in the Supper. This is where the famine ends.

As Jesus himself reminds us, he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28). Jesus stayed faithful to that promise. He took our sins unto himself. Because the wages of sin require death (Rm 6:23), he stood in our place. Jesus is the son of Abraham that the Lord provided on the mountain of God (Gen 22:14) ... the mountain we call Calvary ... because without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins (Hb 9:22). And because he was innocent when he died and was buried, God who is faithful and just, raised this Son of Israel from the dead, giving all who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that He is Risen! ... He is Risen indeed! Hallelujah! .... will be saved.

[Conclusion]

So, don’t be afraid to follow the life God is calling you to live. That call may take you through the pit called Egypt with all its trials and tribulations. But on account of his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension ... all of which are proclaimed in baptism and the Lord’s Supper ... Behold, Jesus says, I am always with you to the end of the age (Mt 28:20). Then you can heed Peter’s word, knowing that you are blessed in this way because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you ... in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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