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New Year’s Eve—Staying Behind

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New Year’s Eve—Staying Behind

5 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thougoest, and will bring thee again into this land...” (Genesis 28:15).

Rev. J. den Hoed, Franklin Lakes, NJ

The man whom we follow is well-known to each of us, for his name is Jacob. After twenty years, the Lord comes back in his life and speaks about the promise made to him those many years ago. “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land.” What a wonder that is when the Lord comes back in our life and speaks to us pertaining to a promise received many years ago. This was Jacobs experience, and that is why we find him by the brook.

Everything that he has in the world he has sent across the brook, and he remains behind all alone. Why is Jacob staying behind? He is afraid to go on. He remembers his sin of many years ago. If it were only his sin against Esau that now causes fear in his heart, he could put together a worthy gift and send it to him, asking for his forgiveness, but there is more. There is a breach which is standing between him and the Lord, and although the Lord made a promise in his life, Jacob cannot say that that breach is healed.


In that night it was the Lord who came. It was the Lord who held Jacob and assured him that in the blood of the Saviour there is a way open unto the heart of the Father, and with that knowledge he may travel into the unknown future.


Perhaps you know what that is. You cannot deny, when coming to the end of another year, that the Lord has spoken to you; be assured that He knows of you. Yet, you cannot pass from this year into the next because the breach has not been healed. You do not know of that blood applied. You cannot say that the blood of the Saviour is a hiding place for your soul. We read, “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day.” That Man is the Lord who has come to a sinner to hear out of his mouth a confession of guilt, to hear out of his mouth that he cannot go on unless he receives the blessing of forgiveness.

There came a Man. Here we may see that the Lord knows of Jacob in all his loneliness. In that night he may tell the Lord all that is in his heart. “And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” In that night he may confess his guilt. “And he said, Jacob.” With that name I must confess that from my side there is nothing but a ruined sinner. With that name Jacob may cry for the forgiveness that he cannot do without. Here a guilty sinner may experience what the Lord says in Revelation 3:17, “And will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written.”

When the morning comes and Jacob lifts up his eyes, he sees Esau coming with four hundred men. Here Esau sees Jacob as a man who may know that the Lord has spoken through the blood of the Saviour because only in that blood can the sin be forgiven. Esau may see his brother coming to him surrounded in the safety of a hiding place which he did not previously know. That is why, when Esau later says, “I have enough,” Jacob could say, “Receive my present; I have everything.”

If the Lord spares us, then soon we may commemorate New Year s Eve. I hope that you and I may remain behind and there, as a lonely person, may see the breach, with the longing that before it becomes the New Year, it is necessary to receive a visit from the Lord. I cannot go across, Lord; I miss the atonement for which my heart is longing. I cannot go across, Lord, because I miss the precious application of the precious blood of the Saviour pressed in upon my heart. I cannot cross into the New Year, Lord, because my guilt is ever before me, and I miss that hiding place which has been prepared for a guilty sinner. I cannot cross over, Lord, because the year that is before me could be the year of my departure, and how will I then do in the swelling of Jordan when I cannot see the door in the Valley of Achor and when I do not know that there is a washing and cleansing also for me?

For all of you who cannot just step over the border from this year into the next, let this be an encouragement. In that night it was the Lord who came. It was the Lord who held Jacob and assured him that in the blood of the Saviour there is a way open unto the heart of the Father, and with that knowledge he may travel into the unknown future.

What a comfort that will be when you may travel into the New Year knowing that it is the Lord who has sought you. Because of that seeking, there is hope for your soul. What a wonder when in this year you might be able to say with David, “But there is forgiveness with Thee; I wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning.” Remember, the morning must come because Christ died to obtain it, and in that morning we may learn that Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which the home of my eternal joy is built and resting.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van zaterdag 1 december 2012

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's

New Year’s Eve—Staying Behind

Bekijk de hele uitgave van zaterdag 1 december 2012

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's