FALLING UPHILL
H. Edwin Young
Hebrews 11:20-22
May 24, 1992
We are making our way through Hebrews. We have stalled in chapter 11, as we're taking every one of the men and women mentioned in that great "Hall of Faith" and dealing with them individually. [read text]
Jacob is the best man in the Old Testament. Jacob is the worst man in the Old Testament. I think you can make a case for both statements. Because one minute you look at old Jake and he's a good guy and the next minute you look at old Jake and he's a bad guy. You can't really put him in a category. And I think that's the reason so many of us are drawn to the personality of Jacob. To tell you the truth, he's hard to study. The reason he's hard to study is we know so much about him. We know what happened when he was born. He was a twin and he was pulling at the heel of his brother. We know what happened in his early years. We know what happened in his teenage years. We know what happened in his middle years. We know what happened in his old age. We know what happened when he died. We know a lot about Jacob. We even know his motives. We've been told in the Bible about dreams that he had. And so, when you look at Big Jake, we know so much about him. It's hard to put a handle on him, but yet, we see ourselves in him.
You look at Abraham, Moses, and Elijah: they're such big names, marquee kind of personalities. They're too grand and great and marvelous and talented and brilliant and spiritual for us to really get a handle on. But you look at old Jacob - you say: I know about being a good guy and a bad guy almost in the same sentence. I think that's the reason we like Simon Peter. Very rarely do people say, "Boy, I really like the apostle John." See, John was so saintly, so pious, so divine; he was the one who loved the Lord Jesus in a steadfast way. We say, "No, I like old Peter." See, we can identify with Peter. We can identify with Jacob. And, therefore, when we look at him we can say without exagg ...
H. Edwin Young
Hebrews 11:20-22
May 24, 1992
We are making our way through Hebrews. We have stalled in chapter 11, as we're taking every one of the men and women mentioned in that great "Hall of Faith" and dealing with them individually. [read text]
Jacob is the best man in the Old Testament. Jacob is the worst man in the Old Testament. I think you can make a case for both statements. Because one minute you look at old Jake and he's a good guy and the next minute you look at old Jake and he's a bad guy. You can't really put him in a category. And I think that's the reason so many of us are drawn to the personality of Jacob. To tell you the truth, he's hard to study. The reason he's hard to study is we know so much about him. We know what happened when he was born. He was a twin and he was pulling at the heel of his brother. We know what happened in his early years. We know what happened in his teenage years. We know what happened in his middle years. We know what happened in his old age. We know what happened when he died. We know a lot about Jacob. We even know his motives. We've been told in the Bible about dreams that he had. And so, when you look at Big Jake, we know so much about him. It's hard to put a handle on him, but yet, we see ourselves in him.
You look at Abraham, Moses, and Elijah: they're such big names, marquee kind of personalities. They're too grand and great and marvelous and talented and brilliant and spiritual for us to really get a handle on. But you look at old Jacob - you say: I know about being a good guy and a bad guy almost in the same sentence. I think that's the reason we like Simon Peter. Very rarely do people say, "Boy, I really like the apostle John." See, John was so saintly, so pious, so divine; he was the one who loved the Lord Jesus in a steadfast way. We say, "No, I like old Peter." See, we can identify with Peter. We can identify with Jacob. And, therefore, when we look at him we can say without exagg ...
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