November 2, 2025: Reconciled and Home - Genesis 33

If you have a copy of your Bibles this morning, if you

would please turn to Genesis chapter 33.

Genesis 33 · chapter mention

We good to follow along in the text as we continue to advance

this series and title Legacy of Blessing.

We have been in suspense all week to wonder how this is going

to resolve, as we have heard that Jacob's brother Esau has

400 men to meet him. That is military language that

is very scary. The last time they were

together, he saw was murderously angry with his treacherous

younger brother who stole the blessing.

So we come into this place and continue to ask, as we do every

week, our most basic questions, fundamental human questions,

fundamentally religious questions.

What am I? What does it mean to be human,

created in the image of God? Who am I, Where does my identity

come from, and why am I here anyways?

Is there a purpose or a meaning to life?

As we read through Genesis, we hear God's promises repeated to

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, promises to give them the land,

to make them a great nation, and to give them the means to bless

the nations, that they will be a blessing to the nations.

And we can note that these promises apply to us as well,

that the Lord has promised to give us a place to make of us a

great people and to give us holy work to do and give us a

purpose. We note as we read through

Genesis that sin has a devastating effect in all three

of these areas. We see Adam and Eve exiled from

their home, and in the Jacob narratives we see Jacob on the

run out of the promised land to flee from his angry brother Sin

Rex home. We also see sin make the closest

relationships war against one another as this.

As was the case with Cain and Abel, Cain murdered his brother.

And in this text, Esau is murderously angry.

Or at least that's the last we knew of him.

And so instead of having close brotherly love, we have threats

of murder. And instead of being a blessing

to one another, our sin makes us selfish, deceptive, greedy,

hesitant to reach out, to give, to bless, to heal.

So we have curses instead of blessings.

As we said, Jacob thieved twice, and finally his brother's so

angry he has to run away. But God comes to him in his

great need and gives to him a vision, a stairway to heaven,

and an Oracle that repeats the blessing, promising to be with

Jacob wherever he goes as he leaves the promised land.

And it's in spends 20 years in exile with his wicked uncle

Laban. But in that text, before any of

that happens, Jacob swears A vow.

This is what it looks like. Then Jacob made a vow saying, if

God will be with me and will keep me means protect me in this

way, that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to

wear so that I come home again, so that I come again to my

father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.

And so we see that because of God, because of his grace,

because of his grace, gracious purposes in our lives that these

things can be restored, that He will give us a home, that He

will give us a people or a family where we belong, and He

will allow us to bless instead of curse.

Friends, we, we desperately need peace, don't we?

We'll give up just about anything to have peace on the

one hand, and yet we war against one another in our sin and our

selfishness. On the other hand, we

desperately need peace. Think of that relationship that

broke. Think of those people that you

just can't talk to without misunderstanding.

Think of those people that you just can't engage with without

it going off the rails. Maybe it just happened.

Maybe it's been decades. We need peace, but we also need

a place to call home, don't we? When Dorothy says there's no

place like home, there's no place like home, there's no

place like home, that's not sentimental drivel.

It's true. Think about it.

Home is where you experience or you should experience peace,

unconditional love, belonging, mutual knowing, table,

fellowship, laughter, joy, celebration.

We need home. We need home.

And these two ideas, these ideas of peace and home go together so

tightly, don't they? We need peace.

We need home. Our sin makes these things

impossibly difficult. But praise be to God, he gives

us peace and he gives us home. Let's talk about peace first.

As we look at the text together, verse one, you're getting the

scary setup. It's reminding you where we are

in the story. Jacob lifted up his eyes and

looked and behold, he saw was coming.

And 400 men with him. That's scary.

Those are armed soldiers. It's a reason why Jacob in the

earlier text was terrified. And he sends wave after wave of

gifts to precede him meeting his brother to hope to appease him.

Remember the story? Then he spends the night

wrestling with a mysterious visitor and is given a new name

and a hip injury. And he engages now in this scary

situation. But perhaps he's a new man.

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. Perhaps you see favoritism even

in the ranking of the way he orders these people, and it

foreshadows the Joseph narratives that are coming.

But for now, you see him putting them there.

This is the last group and before where we saw Jacob in the

back. Now the text says that he goes

on before. Perhaps he's gained courage

through his encounter with the Lord with his new name and the

reiteration a blessing because now he goes in front of them.

Verse three, he himself, Jacob, went on before them, bowing

himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his

brother 7 times as a number of completion.

He is going to fully humiliate himself toward his brother.

Where he was the grasping, deceitful younger brother.

Now he is bowing down before his older brother as he approaches.

What's going to happen? Will there be a slaughter?

Is Esau still mad? You get to verse 4 and you have

a stunning plot twist. And as you've been reading

Genesis, you don't know what to expect because remember Cain did

kill Abel verse 4, but Esau ran to his, ran to meet him and

embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they

wept. It's a very warm text. 1

commentator said. It's one of the warmest texts in

all of Scripture where you have two bitter enemies after 20 long

years. You're in suspense about how

this is going to go. And they embrace one another as

brothers continues in warm tone. Verse 5, when he saw lifted up

his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, who are these

with you? I love that.

I love that because it reminds me of family reunions where I

met grand aunts and uncles who didn't know me but who love my

parents. And we all come up in a group to

be introduced and they say, now who are these?

What's your name? So you have Uncle Laban saying,

who are these? And Jacob answers so warmly, the

grasper, the greedy one, the one who does things for himself.

He says this how he introduces them the children whom God has

graciously given your servant. Something's happened to Jacob

over 20 long years and divine oracles, and to 20 years of

getting a taste of his own medicine, taste of his own

medicine, dealing with an abusive uncle who's a bigger

trickster than he is, and dealing with the rivalry in his

wives, the rivalry in his own heart for the taker.

And the liar now says, I receive God's grace.

The children are from God. 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.

Interesting text. It's as though Jacob is trying

to make amends for the crime he committed against his brother.

And if you remember the language of Isaac, their father, when he

thought he was blessing Esau, but it turned out to be Jacob in

disguise. He said your children will bow

down to his children and hear Jacob has his whole family bow

down to his brother. He's making amends and it's

going to continue and it's going to be expensive.

Keep reading, Esau said. What did you mean by all this

company that I met? Remember wave after wave of

gifts of livestock? Jacob answered.

To find favor in the sight of my Lord, Notice how he uses that

humble language refers to Esau as my Lord.

But Esau said I have enough for 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.

This is offering language. It's language of restitution,

like someone who's bringing an offering before the Lord, asking

for forgiveness and repentance. Jacob brings an offering to my

Lord, Esau. Asking for his favor is a sign

of repentance. Please accept my present from my

hand is a sign that we are reconciled.

And then, my friends, this next phrase resounds with biblical

echoes throughout the Bible. For I have seen your face, which

is like seeing the face of God. Remember, face to face, we've

seen this before. It's a sign of reconciliation

because when you are upset with somebody, you don't want to see

their face. The floor suddenly becomes

interesting, or the ceiling anywhere but eye to eye, super

uncomfortable. To reconcile is to see face to

face, to weep with joy and a warm embrace.

And it's 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, graciously

with me. That's the second time God's

grace is mentioned because God has dealt graciously with Jacob

in the vertical relationship. Now Jacob can extend this grace

to his brother. Because I have enough.

Then he urged him, and he took it.

Jacob has enough. Greedy grasping.

Jacob finally has enough. Finally, he has learned that the

reconciled relationship with his brother is more important than

all the things. It's so interesting to contrast

him with Laban. Uncle Laban.

And their final parting says all of this stuff that you see is

mine. Your wives, your children, it's

all mine. And they have a meal together

and patch up a boundary, and that's the best they can do.

They have to leave. But here Jacob doesn't say all

this is mine. He says I have enough Luther,

Martin Luther, that Luther so beautifully comments on this.

He says it's as though Jacob is saying, because I have God and

you my brother as friends, I am rich, I have enough.

Thus he urged him and he took it.

He received it. Verse 12 Then Esau said, Let us

journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you.

But Jacob said to me, My Lord knows that the children are

frail and that the nursing flocks in 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

servants, and I will lead on slowly at the pace of the

livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of their

children, until I come to my Lord in Seer.

So Esau said, let me leave with you some of the people who are

with me, But he said Juanita's there.

Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord.

So Esau returned that day on his way to Seer.

But Jacob journeyed to Sakoth and built himself a house and

made booze for his livestock. Therefore he named the name of

the place is called Sakoth. Esau graciously offers escort

with these armed men. Perhaps the place is dangerous.

Jacob says we're slow, go on ahead.

He said, well, I can leave some men with you.

Will you come down to see her with me?

And some, some will interpret this to wonder if they don't

quite trust each other yet. And that's a possible reading.

But the text doesn't say that they didn't eventually meet

together there, and the text will deliberately show that

Jacob is returning home first. The overall tone is very warm

and good in my opinion. So let's talk a little bit about

the fact that God has given Jacob peace so that he can give

his brother peace. I want you to know that that's a

gracious and bilateral miracle. God has been working in Jacob,

and God has obviously been working in Esau.

Somehow. Often reconciliation takes time

because our hearts are hard. In this case it takes 20 years.

We see speeches of reconciliation and expensive

gifts. Reconciliation is expensive.

The sacrificial language in here reminds us that the

reconciliation that it cost God to have reconciliation between

himself and humans cost him his Son.

And often reconciliation in these horizontal relationships

is extremely expensive as well, humbling ourselves sometimes

financially expensive as well, to miraculous exchange and

miraculous change in both brothers.

In both brothers, but especially for the Grasper.

Indeed, his grief and envy in this text seem to be totally

gone. As I mentioned, Laban said all

this is mine. Jacob instead says I have

enough. Why?

Only because of God they are face to face.

And this, this phrase about how Esau ran to meet Jacob and

embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they

wept, is probably repeated or alluded to by the words of our

Lord and possibly his most famous parable of all.

Do you know what I'm thinking of?

The story of the prodigal son? The younger brother leaves home.

He wastes everything. The father can't follow him

there. There are boundaries that have

to be kept, but eventually son comes to his senses, comes down

the road. The father's been watching and

the text says, Jesus says, and he arose and came to his father,

but while he, the younger brother, was still a long way

off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced

him and kissed him. This vertical reconciliation

leads to horizontal reconciliation.

Receiving forgiveness means that we extend for forgiveness.

As Hudson was praying. Therefore, the Second

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 5, Second Corinthians chapter 5, beginning

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

in verse 17. Let me read to you.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.

All of this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to

Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to

Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and

entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His

appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of

Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake.

He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might

become the righteousness of God. Jesus has more to say.

Matthew chapter 5. Beginning in verse 22 and

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

following Jesus says, I say to you that everyone who is angry

with his brother will be liable to judgement.

Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and

whoever says you fool will be liable to the fire of hell.

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there and

there, remember that your brother has something against

you. Leave your gift there before the

altar and go first. Be reconciled to your brother

and then come and offer your gift.

Reconciliation may take a long time because our hearts are

hard, but friends, there is urgency to do everything that

you can, as much as it depends on you, to reconcile quickly.

To be a Christian that keeps short accounts, that doesn't

hold grudges, that can do whatever they can to reconcile

why it's because of God. First John chapter 4 verse 19

1 John 4:19

and following we love because he first loved us.

If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar

for he who does not love his brother, whom he has not seen,

whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen in

this commandment we have from him.

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

We have tremendous resources in the gospel to extend the

forgiveness that we have been given.

Now the Bible is very careful and qualified in the way it

presents this doctrine. As we noticed even in these

nearby texts, the the closest reconciliation that the abusive

Uncle Laban can have with Jacob is a separation, A contractual

agreement to not harm. But if both parties are willing

and able, we can have so much more than a boundary and a

separation. We can have true reconciliation

like what we see here. Paul says in Romans chapter 12

Romans 12:18

verse 18, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live

peaceably with all. Sometimes it's not going to be

possible my friends, and you're going to experience relational

brokenness that you can't change.

But we are still obligated to do whatever we can on our side to

live peaceably with all. You may need counsel to know how

to navigate very difficult, tricky situation.

Seek that counsel. We receive his peace so that we

can be peacemakers. We receive his peace so that we

can be peacemakers. Second part of this text has

Jacob coming safely home. This is true for us as well.

He brings us home. God brings us home.

So Esau said, Let me leave with you some of the people who are

with me. But he said, What neat is there,

Let me find favor in the eyes of my Lord.

So Esau returned that day on his way to Seer.

But Jacob returned to Sukkoth and built himself a house and

made booths for his livestock. Therefore he named that the name

of that place is called Sukkoth. And Jacob came safely to the

city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way to

Padan Aram. And he camped before the city.

And from the sons of Haymore, Shechem's father, he bought for

100 pieces of money build the piece of land on which he had

pitched his tent. There he created an altar and

called it El Alohi Yasrael. What's going on here?

Jacob once again is in his father and his grandfather's

story. If you check the names of the

places, Father Abraham is in this place erecting altars.

Remember with these stories are our stories often with so much

similarity. He purchases, He finally returns

home in peace. And if you remember as he was

making his vow, if the Lord protects me and gives me

provisions and I return home in peace, then the Lord will be my

God. And here he erects an altar.

And what does he call it? El Alohae.

And then he uses his own name here, Yesrael.

Why is that significant? If you look earlier, Jacob

refers to God, the God of Abraham, in the fear of Isaac.

And he says if I return here, the Lord will be my God.

Here he uses his brand new name. Name's the altar L Elohi Israel,

God, the God of Israel. So the text is taking you full

circle and it's a beautiful high point, but it's also a hinge for

the next section where we descend into madness once again

and terrible dysfunction. Because this is Jacob and not

Jesus. He'll give us glimpses of our

Lord, but it's not the high def image we have in the glory of

the Son. Let's talk for a couple of

minutes about Jesus. Jacob had to leave home, didn't

he? Chased out by an angry brother.

Jesus too left home, chased by no one, out of his own volition,

sent by his Father, he left his home.

Jacob for a time was homeless and had to be taken care of by

his uncle. Jesus too stylizes himself as

homeless. The Son of Man doesn't have a

place to lay his head. Jacob's returning home.

Our Lord, after his death, burial and resurrection,

ascended home to heaven. Now you see in this text Jacob

building a house for his family. And we are told in Holy

Scripture that Jesus is preparing a place for us,

preparing a home for us in the new heavens and the new earth.

We need peace. We need home because of sin.

We experience a type of homelessness, a type of

wandering, a type of exile, don't we?

Which means conversion is a homecoming, a type of return.

Because of sin, we are homeless, but because of God we are

homeward bound. And the Bible introduces and

give us gives to us kind of a strange paradox Christian,

because we're supposed to be just a passing through as aliens

and strangers going through a strange place in a strange land.

This land is not our true home. And we're just a passing

through, as the old song says, And yet.

And yet, because we don't make idols out of our homes, and

because we are longing for the unshakeable Kingdom, our true

home, because of those interesting truths, we are able

to make our homes a foretaste of heaven, aren't we?

Have you ever been in a home of peace?

You walk into the door and you sit down and the wave of

hospitality just makes you feel at rest and you think, ha, this

is beautiful, We're just a passing through.

But this isn't. This is a glimpse of heaven.

And you don't have to be rich to do this.

One time Deidre and I were so poor in seminary.

So poor. But the environment of home is a

relational reality. And so when people came in and

they felt attended to, they would say remarkable things

like, your home is so peaceful. I'm like, well, that's weird.

Why did you tell me that? Probably because the tragic

reality is because of sin. For many, many, many people,

home is not a peaceful reality at all.

It's broken, it's dysfunctional. There's abuse, there's

hostility, there's the most emotionally racked, problematic

situation imaginable. And Christians with our high

view of home are able to make this little place of respite.

And if it isn't that way, we ask God to fix it.

But more importantly, when we enter into this house, this

sanctuary, hopefully by God's grace, you enter into a whole

new home. So no matter what you're

experiencing behind your closed door, when you come into these

open doors, there's warmth and belonging, hospitality, the food

of reconciliation and fellowship so that you can lay your burdens

down, so that you have the resources to reconcile with your

enemies. So you can pray for them, though

you hate them, begging God to do a work in your heart as you need

them to also have a miracle on them as well in order to make

peace. So in the first movement we have

to receive his peace so that we can be a peacemaker, and in the

second movement we receive his home or His hope of home as we

sojourn so that we can make be home makers like Jesus be

peacemakers and home makers. Let us pray.

Father in Heaven, we need you more than we can possibly

imagine. You've been so generous to us to

offer us peace by the blood of your Son.

Lord Jesus, thank you for sacrificing yourself on our

behalf. We receive your peace now.

We pray that you would do the work of making us peacemakers in

our relationships. Lord, we need home.

We look forward to our future home, and we pray as we're

passing through that You would help us to be people of

hospitality and peace, warmth of kindness and belonging.

Do it in us. By your Holy Spirit, we pray one

God forever blessed. Amen.

Would you please?