Our Achilles’ Heel – The Crack in the Armor That Opens the Door
Written by Elinor Montgomery – emontgomery@cogeco.ca
August 14, 2005
Jacob struggled all through the night with a Man he did not know. He had sent his family ahead to meet with Esau, bearing gifts to him in hope of reconciliation. The gifts of animals were delivered in separate and successive droves, with some distance placed between them. They were to go ahead, before Jacob was to come into a face-to-face encounter with his brother, Esau, who had wanted the inheritance, which he had previously treated with so little regard or gratitude. Once he had lost it to Jacob, he said in his heart that he would kill him, when the days of mourning his father were at hand.
Jacob met with the Man alone so that this encounter involved no one else – a solitary battle of man against the unknown. It was at a time when he felt great fear, concerning the forthcoming meeting between himself and his brother. He hoped that the row upon row approach toward the meeting would ease the actual final moment when he would confront him. Over the centuries of the church age, the Lord sent out row upon row of witnesses to the salvation and restoration of Jesus for their brothers of the world, before the true Israel would come face to face with the Antichrist, the beast and father of the brothers who have rejected their birthright.
The period of wrestling with the unknown Man took place during the darkness of night. Jacob’s fears were for himself and the mother and the children. It were as though he skipped over the nation in prophecy, going directly to the bride who, as the mother, would birth the man child and true son of God, the true Jew. The Man said, “Let Me go for the day breaks.” In other words, the battle would be all over at the dawn of a new day, after this wrestling period of the dark night, with either victory or failure belonging to Jacob, who represents all men.
It would appear the Man was losing against Jacob, so He touched his hip to weaken his strength in order to take the victory. This wrestling with Jacob represented God’s struggle with mankind to save it by weakening men until they would lean on Him; then, both God and man would be victorious. Jacob had to be broken in the way that a young racehorse needs breaking before the rider and the horse can enter into the race as a single-unit team, striving toward victory together.
Spiritually speaking, the battle between Satan and God for man’s soul has been the dark period in which God has been struggling with His own people Israel. Jeremiah, the prophet was given insight into this struggle of God with both Israel the nation, and spiritual Israel, represented by Judah. It was not a pretty picture of the future for either one of them, as was revealed to him. Jeremiah was given insight into the conditions of both Israel and spiritual Israel, neither of which seemed to be seeking God. Both appeared to be lost to religious idolatry with Satan loosed to seek entrance into the very being of man, wherever he could find a crack in their spiritual armor. It appeared that mankind was losing the battle by refusing to be broken to the point that it sealed up the cracks in its armor. It was that same wonderful armor, which King David wore into battle as a young boy facing the Philistine giant, Goliath, centuries later.
Jacob was a man of determination, which he revealed when all the odds pointed to the dawn coming and the battle soon being over, with the victory either won or lost. But the important message was this; Jacob wanted the blessing of this Man he did not know, as much as he had wanted his father, Isaac’s blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau. He would not let go of the battle or the Man, without first receiving His blessing. He was in a battle that pitted him against the pre-incarnate risen Lord and God, Jesus, Whom he was facing without understanding Who He was. And the Lord described Jacob, the symbol of all men with whom God strives to bring into the kingdom, as being the one who prevails unto the end to gain the victory and the blessing of God. Henceforth, such men would be called the true Israel.
Jacob represents all men in a life and death struggle between God and man, with the question, which we need to ask ourselves, being, “Will I let go of God toward the dawning of Jesus in my life, for He will dawn in every man’s life, or will I cling to Him for the blessing of salvation?” To cling to Him for salvation is the only route or way to the kingdom, and that way is the way of Israel. Jesus, not Peter, is the cornerstone and High Priest of the church. To cling to pagan Romanism, the root of Christianity, will bring sure defeat in the battle ahead. The blessing that belongs only to Israel is clearly described in Genesis, written into this Scripture forever.
The man who clings to Jesus will be called Israel, and his blessing makes him part of the house of God, the house of Israel, the house of salvation. Victory comes only with the necessary breaking of every racer who runs the good race. This struggle is required before coming into relationship with the Lord, while still in the darkness of man’s captivity on earth, as sons of the beast.
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus to Paul, the apostle, is the dramatic picture of a face-to-face encounter in which the Lord literally asked him why he struggled against the goad, with Jesus being the goad that goads the animals in the right direction. The Lord was asking Paul if he did not understand that all his works of trying to kill the believers were for the purpose of religion, and that he had been coming against the very God he thought he was serving as a religious Pharisee of Pharisees. Paul went through his own night of Jacob’s trouble, his period of blindness, during the struggle between God and man to free him of the darkness of religion, before the dawn of the Sabbath day when Jesus will return. We simply have to be in a position of rest, limping and ready to go forth by leaning on and clinging to Him in our brokenness.
Jacob called the place of battle “Peniel”, meaning ‘the face of God’, for he had seen God face to face, and by choosing to cling to the preincarnate Jesus, his life had been preserved. Once his hip had been touched and had been put out of joint, he could no longer walk in his own strength; religion could carry him nowhere. Unless God breaks us to this point, there is no alternate solution offered to us, which will save our lives. Scripture says the sun, ‘Penuel’, rose on him and so he went forward, in the light, into his inheritance for no other reason than the fact that he clung to the Lord for the blessing. He did not receive it because he was still playing deceitful games. He received it by an encounter that changed the natural inheritance of his earthly father into a spiritual inheritance from God the Father.
And this brings us to the time of darkness of the whole world when the Sabbath rest is about to dawn. If we are to limp into the kingdom, having been broken in the struggle, then we must do so from a position of rest in our lives before the confrontation with our brothers who want nothing more than to kill us. Coming out of the darkness of the six millennia means that the light of the Son, Penuel, will shine upon us when on the Day of the Lord the struggle comes to an end. Israel will at last become a light in the darkness, as she reaches her potential for being a burning torch to all the world, as she witnesses to the truth (see Genesis 15:17). The dawn of the seventh day will not produce a nation of harlotry descending from Eve, as did the two sisters of Israel, and spiritual Israel, called Oholah and Oholibah. The children of harlotry are going down with Babylon the Great, the mother of all harlots who believed the lie that they did not need God in the equation of their lives.
In Jeremiah 17, we receive this important message to go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem. These are the gates of entry for the bride into her eternal dwelling place, where she will rule and reign forever as the sister and spouse of Jesus. Remember well that these are two-way gates, by which one can enter into and exit from the city. They are opened by the grace of God, permitting us to choose entry into or departure from such an incredible blessing. If the door is opened in our lives, Satan stands right at the gate of entry and departure, with the lure on the outside, which is placed there according to our weaknesses.
The message of utmost importance, both here in Scripture and written in the Commandments, is to bear no burden on the seventh day, nor try to bring a burden into Jerusalem. Now, this is the burden of religion of which God stripped Paul, even though he was reading the Word and was religiously and legally carrying it out in his life. He would have been an honor student in the class of the best teacher of his day, having been taught the Law and the written Word, which, in all probability, he could recite verbatim. Yet, Jesus saw him as one fighting the goad and an enemy of Christ. The same could be said of great Christians today who do not really know Jesus in a face-to-face relationship, for they have neither entered into nor endured the struggle.
There are other burdens that cannot enter into Jerusalem, which are those of pride, envy, jealousy and offense. They will take us back into a position of leaning on ourselves and not on God. He has a plan for every life that is far greater than anything we could ever imagine. Oh that we would cease from struggling in the dark and begin to cling for the blessing!
What was the problem with the nation’s fathers, as was revealed to Jeremiah? They were stiff-necked, they would not incline their ear to the prophets, determining beforehand that they would not listen to them nor would they receive instruction. Pride would always cause them to say words such as these to themselves, “Look at me and what I can do. That man is only another man, and why would God speak to him and not to me?” The response to this is that God has equipped only His prophet to be His messenger, and has prepared only him for such a job.
The prophet knows his job description well, which requires of him that he put the Lord ahead of family, friends, position, money, or any of the claims that the world might put upon him and his time. If the prophet were young, it could mean that he might never have a normal lifestyle, such as was the case with Jeremiah, whom God forbade to marry or have a family. For the prophet has but one purpose in life, and that is to serve God. If he should be older, it could mean his dark time is behind him, and he has come to a place of rest. This was the situation with Moses, who could hear God’s voice and then obey Him, not in his own strength, but rather in the strength of the Lord.
If they heed the message of the prophet, then kings and princes in the line of David of the line of Judah shall enter through the gates, accompanied by the princes of the nations (Ishmael’s line of the saved), to inhabit heaven as the Israel of God, remaining forever with the Lord. Jeremiah tells us that the inheritor of the kingdom will come from the land of Benjamin, as the true full brother/sister of Jesus. This is the same message as that which we received in Genesis, when Benjamin was separated from all of the other brothers to receive a special blessing over and above all of them. The cup of Joseph was placed only in the sack of Benjamin, who would, one day, drink from his cup.
Such obedience, as was displayed by the prophets, is used by God to serve His purposes for all mankind. The faithfulness of Anna, the prophetess, in doing nothing more than waiting for years on the steps of the temple, served God’s purposes in this way. Her place in Scripture opens up a diamond of prophecy, which brings special understanding in the book of Luke for the church in the latter days. No life is too insignificant to be used by God, unless we prevent it by clinging to such things as pride and offense, refusing to be broken of them. Let go of the burdens, turn them over to Jesus, and then sit down and wait upon Him. As in the example of Anna, her waiting became an act of serving.
God warns us, here, by giving the last message that is all-important about the Sabbath rest. If we ignore this message about bearing burdens on the Sabbath, then we risk the fire of judgment at the gates by which we choose to enter into Jerusalem. The palaces of Jerusalem, or the temples and the churches, which have housed religion, have, at the same time, kept the people captives to the system. Even the elect, if it were possible, would be devoured with the others by a fire, kindled right there at the gates. The message is very frightening, indeed, for those who are not part of the clinging body of Christ. This is a fire that will never be quenched (see Jeremiah 17: 27).
If we are opening the doors in our lives to Satan, even if it is just a crack by which he can gain entry, then he will. He will see to it that our minds become warped, as he plays upon our weaknesses, such as anger, offense and pride. He will find our sensitive areas, left by the wounding of our youth that has not been dealt with, which has scarred and left us vulnerable. We will settle for the devil’s temporary relief while, at the same time, ignoring the eternal solutions of the Word. We will love our positions too much to leave them, and popularity with man will cause us to lose our acceptance with God.
Clinging to an offense will gratify our wounded souls, with words placed into our thoughts, which might sound something like this; “How dare he/she slight me and think that he/she can get away with it? I will use the silent treatment and then he/she will be sorry.” And so on, and so on, go the inner messages of Satan that keep offenses and anger alive. They should be dealt with before the sun sets upon such thoughts of offense and anger. Each and every one of us has been there at one time or another. It allows the evil to take root, giving Satan the opportunity to keep saying those words over and over in the replay of our minds. If we do not put a stop to responding to the lies in such a manner, then we will become just another victim of Satan and another trophy for his wall.
We have an awesome duty to understand the Word and to not waste our time on frivolous activity, which keeps us from the knowledge and meaning of the truth. Until we know thoroughly and understand the contained messages of the Word for us, then we can never truly say that we know Jesus. He is struggling with us, as we, in turn, are struggling with the open doors, which allow Satan access to our lives. Truth will seal the cracks, which religion and the lie have opened. “Go into your chambers and close those doors until the indignations of our lives pass” (see Isaiah 26:20).
It is only in a close relationship with Him that each one of us will come to see and understand our own weaknesses and struggles. It is up to us to then take full responsibility for dealing with them. They cannot be dealt with by making excuses or by pointing to others as the source of our problems. We need to look back to Adam and Eve to see the havoc caused in their lives by refusing to take responsibility for their sin and to then repent of it, instead of blaming another. No one but they opened the door to death in their lives, for which no one else could be held responsible. But the seed of corruption permeated the fruit of their marriage so that, henceforth, all men were rejected by God, in the same way that one might throw away a rotten apple.
The question remains, which we must ask of ourselves, whether or not we have sealed up and closed the cracks in our armor, which allow Satan entry into our lives. He will always lead us away from the truth of the Lord and directly into the lie, which will separate us by death from an eternity of life with Him.