BIOGRAPHY IN THREE WORDS

Isaiah 44:1

A. "Jacob My servant; and Israel whom I have chosen... and Jesurun, whom I have chosen"
  1. A name in ancient Israel:
    1. Meant a great deal to a person or even to the nation
    2. This attitude by the Israelites can be traced back to the experience of Abraham, when God changed the name "Abram" to "Abraham - the father of many nations" - Gen. 17:5
  2. Jacob, the younger of the two sons of Isaac, too, had his name change:
    1. The name "Jacob" meant "supplanter - one who cheats, taking by the heel" - Gen. 25:26
    2. Said the angel, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed" - Gen. 32:27-28 B. Biography in three words
  3. It is amazing to note how divine inspiration uses a name of a person or a nation to give a complete Biography of a said person or nation
  4. The giving of a name to either a person or a nation had a dual purpose:
    1. It stood for the character of the person or nation
    2. Also, it explained the experience of a person or nation; Examples: Rachel called her second son "Benoni - the son of my sorrow" but Jacob called him "Benjamin - the son of the right hand" - Gen 35:18; Pharaoh's daughter called Jochebed's son "Moses" and she said, "Because I drew him out of the water" - Exodus 2:10
  5. Let us, from this point of view, look at the three names given in the text - Jacob, Israel, Jesurun:
    1. Jacob - this was the name of the natural man whose inclination it was to take by the heel, to supplant or cheat; it is well sometime to go back to what we once were because the old habits my still spring up here and there and trouble us. If nothing else, it helps us to see what God's grace has done for us.
    2. Israel - the Patriarch received a new name because he had become a new man. God does not trifle with such things. When he changed a name it was to indicate a definite change of the heart.
    3. Jesurun - the upright one - God uses this third name to indicate progress in the nature of relation of the person or nation C. What a biography of the experience of God's people
  6. It begins with what man is by nature:
    1. He is a Jacob - a supplanter - a cheater on that takes others by the heel. His heart is deceitful and desperately wicked who can know it? - Jer. 17:9
    2. All his righteousness is like filthy rags - Is. 64:6; Rom. 3:1-11
    3. He is a sinner within and without - Rom. 3:23; Gal. 3:22
  7. A change for the better comes to Jacob:
    1. A change of heart - Eze. 36:26-27
    2. A supplanter becomes a man of earnest prayer, and a dishonest man makes things right with God and man - Luke 18:8
    3. What a divinely inspired biography of the live of a man or a nation; revealing the transformation that takes place when a man or a nation connects with God
  8. Jesurun - the upright one; progress in the life of one who has had a change of heart:
    1. Growth in the grace of God - 2 Pet. 1:2-8
    2. More of God and less of self will develop the image of that just one - the upright one
    3. What an experience in the life of the child of God - pressing onward and upward - Phil. 3:13
  9. Dear friends, is this yours or my divinely guided biography?:
    1. By nature we are all Jacobs taking some one by the heel, supplanting and cheating
    2. But, God comes into our experience - a change takes place and He gives us a new name
    3. A new heart, a new life will lead to progress in the grace of God until Christ has formed in us a new image - His own image - Jesurun - the upright one


Design © John Bryant 2011