A, Easter 7 - Acts 1:6–8 & John 17:11 "Jacob and the New Israel"

Acts 1:6–8 (ESV) “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

John 17:11 (ESV) Jesus prayed to our Father, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

Just prior to Jesus’ ascension, the apostles ask Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6 ESV)

Will Israel be restored?  It all depends on what one means by “Israel”! 

The father of Israel is Jacob, the son of Isaac, the grandson of Abraham.  Jacob received the new name of Israel, when he struggled with God at the Jabbok. 

Jacob is one of the great scoundrels of the bible.  The Hebrew definition of his name is “heel grabber”.  In short, Jacob was a heel of a man!  He was born a sly trickster, holding onto Esau’s heel.  After he grew up, he and his mother Rebekah worked a plan to deceive Isaac.   To trick him into passing Esau’s birthright onto him. 

Jacob gets the birthright but has to flee to his in-laws to escape Esau’s wrath.  He marries Laban’s two daughters, Leah, and Rachel.  He works for Laban for fourteen years but deviously devises a way to get the strongest of Laban’s sheep.  So, Jacob has to flee from Laban too.

Jacob is literally between a rock and a hard face.  Fleeing from Laban back to his father’s home from where he fled for stealing Esau’s birthright.  As Esau approaches, Jacob puts a buffer between himself and Esau.  He sends drove after drove of animal gifts to appease Esau.  Then he sent his wives and children, ahead of him, across the Jabbok.  No courageous leadership here, as Jacob stays alone to see what happens to his flocks, wives and children.

It's here Jacob wrestles with God till dawn.  It appears Jacob’s shrewdness has finally caught up with him.  One would expect this heel of a man to get what he deserves, having deceived others, now coming face to face with God.  But no!  As they wrestle, Jacob realises it is not just a man with whom he struggles.

“When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.  Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”  Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”  Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.  So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”  The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.”  (Genesis 32:25–31 ESV)

Jacob the scoundrel, the heel of a man who fought with his family and struggled with God, is spared from death, and given the name Israel.  His children became the twelve tribes of Israel, and God continued to struggle with Israel, the children of Jacob.

From Jacob and his sons, the kingdom of Israel came to be.  The high point of the kingdom was in the reign of David and his son Solomon.  At this time the kingdom hit its peak in power, annexing land from the Red Sea to the Euphrates River.  The Kingdom not only was at its pinnacle politically but also religiously with the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

Most likely, it was the hope of political power behind the question of Israel’s restoration.  The apostles, like many of their era, yearned for “the good old days” of Israel’s supremacy under David and Solomon.

However, the supremacy of Israel was made complete in Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of the Father.  This was the completion of Jesus’ holy coronation.   God’s Kingdom of Heaven came to humanity in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  Born into his kingdom in the unlikely place of Bethlehem and laid in a manger. 

Jesus’ coronation began in his march to the cross, being lifted up as the King of the Jews outside Jerusalem.  After his resurrection from death, Jesus’ coronation was made complete at his ascension as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, being not only King of the Jews, but the King of Creation.

We now live in this victory.  Jesus has supreme authority in heaven.  The only place this has not been fully realised is in the created realm.  The devil has been eternally beaten, but he still has limited power in creation.  He knows he is beaten but he also knows he has limited time before Jesus returns, so he is determined to deceive and lead astray as many as possible.

Jesus said to his apostles, and he says to us, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”    We don’t know when the fullness of time will arrive for Jesus’ return.  But what we do know is he is the King and Fullness of Israel.

The man who fought with Jacob at the Jabbok, should have taken Jacob’s life.  But Jacob the heel of a man, a devil of a deceiver, was spared.   The man that fought with Jacob, was God, and we know that only God the Son could allow sinful man to struggle with him and not die as a result.  Jesus struggled with Jacob and bore all of Jacob’s sin on the cross.  It was Jesus who died, and Jacob walked away with a limp.

Jacob received the name of Israel, after struggling with God.  At the cross the struggle was completed, and Jesus Christ became the new Israel.  He overcame God’s struggle with Israel by becoming what Israel or Jacob could not be.

Before he finished this work on the cross, he prayed, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.  Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” (John 17:11 ESV)

Here Jesus prayed for the apostles.  The apostles, and all believers, have been grafted into the kingdom of Israel through the Sonship of Jesus Christ.  We now live, waiting for Jesus’ return, knowing he is the King of Creation, and the prince of this world’s time is coming to an end.  The devil roams and roars because he knows he is beaten!

To keep us in the oneness of the Father and the Son, the congregation of Jesus’ believers are given the Holy Spirit, to which the apostles were called to wait.  Once the Spirit was given at Pentecost, the book of Acts reports the apostles’ Holy Spirited witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

The Apostolic witness continues today as the Holy Spirit continues to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify those who have been brought into the oneness of Jesus Christ and the Father.  Jesus is now the oneness of Israel’s and humanity’s access to our Father.  In fact, his High Priestly prayer continues before the Father in heaven as the Holy Spirit works to protect us from the devil, the prince of this world, with the blood of Jesus, until he, the King of Kings, returns to bring us into the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.  Amen.