The next week, MJ and Precious came to Professor Ooops lab and they could not wait to see who they would meet this time! The Professor was ready for them, and he said that the next ancestor of Jesus was Jacob, so Precious turned the dial on the time machine to the name Jacob, and MJ pushed the button. Nothing happened for about 30 seconds, then the booth began to shake like a mosquito who had too much caffeine, there was the sound of thunder, and the air was filled with the sound of sheep, goats, and other animals! A man burst from the booth, looked around and saw the Professor! The man ran to the Professor and began to wrestle with him! The Professor said, “Ooops!”. The man got the Professor down on the ground and into a headlock! The Professor was screaming for mercy, and the man said, “I will not let you go until you bless me!” The Professor said, “Let me go, and I will pray for you!”
The man let go of the Professor and the Professor shakily got to his feet and said a short prayer asking God to bless this violent man. The man thanked the Professor for the prayer and then introduced himself. He said, “Hello, my name is Esau, and I will wrestle anyone and beat anyone! Bring on my opponents!”
The Professor said, “Ooops!” and hid behind a table. MJ did not know what to think so he stayed on the other side of the room and did not let this strange, violent man get too close to him. Precious was mad! She went right up to the man and stood nose-to-nose with him and yelled at him, “You are lying! I’ve read the Bible story, Esau is Jacob’s brother, and he has red hair, and you do not! We set our time machine to bring Jacob to us, and I bet that you are really Jacob! Why are you trying to trick us?”
The Professor and MJ thought that the violent man would attack Precious, and they were trying to figure out what to do. They were surprised when the man backed away from Precious, sat down, and covered his head with his robe. The man said, “You are right. I am Jacob and I am a liar and a deceiver, I do not deserve to be an ancestor of the Savior that God was going to send!” Precious ordered Jacob to sit up straight, uncover his head, and tell them his story. Jacob obeyed Precious and he told them his story:
“I have an older twin brother named Esau who is only a few seconds older than I am. He is a great hunter and outdoors man, and I always wanted to be like him, but I am not a good hunter, and I am not skillful in the wild, so I always stayed by the tents with my mother. I got into the habit of lying and tricking people to get the things that I wanted. One day Esau came in from hunting and he was starving. I tricked him into selling me his birthright for a bowl of food. Now I was going to inherit my father Isaac’s riches when he died instead of Esau getting them. Later I tricked my father Isaac into giving me the blessing from God instead of giving it to Esau. That meant that my children and grandchildren would become the nation that God blessed, and the Savior that God had promised would come from my family, not Esau’s family.
Esau was furious and wanted to kill me, so I had to run for my life! I found a safe place to live with a man named Laban. He gave me a job. He had two daughters, and the younger daughter was beautiful, and I wanted to marry her! Laban tricked me and he switched the daughters at the wedding, and I ended up marrying the older daughter, and she was not beautiful at all! Laban tricked me, and I had to work another seven years so that I could marry the beautiful daughter that I loved.
During those years, I began to trick Laban, and soon I owned all his best animals! I had become rich, and he had become poor. During these years God blessed me even though I was a liar! God blessed me with children as well as the riches. Now it was time to escape! I told more lies to Laban and secretly took my family and all my animals left! Laban gathered his servants and friends and chased me. He caught up with me and was going to kill me, but God told him in a dream to leave me alone. Laban and I made a deal, he would not kill me if I stayed away from his country. I did not want to get killed, so I agreed to stay away, and I made him promise to stay in his country and not to ever chase me again.
I was on my own and there was no going back! But there was an even bigger problem! I got reports that my brother Esau was coming towards me with an army! Now what was I going to do? I could not go back without being killed, and I could not go forward without being killed! I decided to try to be friendly with Esau. I sent him a big gift of many animals, hoping that he would forgive me and not kill me! I sent the animals ahead, and sent my family ahead. I was left alone that night, and a strange man came and challenged me to wrestle!
I soon realized that this was not an ordinary man, this was an angel, or maybe even the Son of God Himself! He was so strong that I could not beat him! I knew that my life up to this point had been one big disappointment! I was chosen by God to be an ancestor of the promised Savior, but I had spent my life lying to people and tricking people to get what I wanted. This was not how God wanted me to live, and I knew it! I knew that I needed God in my life, and this wrestler was from God! The wrestler injured me, and for the rest of my life on earth I will limp because of that wrestling match! I could not beat the wrestler, but I would not let go of him. I told him that I would not let go unless he gave me God’s blessing! He blessed me and changed my name from Jacob to Israel. The name Israel means ‘he who wrestles with God’. I had been fighting and wrestling with God all my life, and now I wanted to quit fighting God and live for Him! My brother Esau did forgive me, and I had a chance to start a new life and live for God!”
The Professor told MJ and Precious that Jacob had learned a valuable lesson; we can waste a lot of time fighting against what God wants to do in our life, but God still loves us and will bring us to the point where we have had enough of the fight and want to turn back to God again.
In the Bible in Jeremiah 29:11-14a God says to Israel (Jacob’s descendants and to us too):
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord.
Do not waste your life being a liar and a deceiver. Jacob did not turn to God until he was halfway through life, he wasted so much time! Turn to God now and live the life that God has prepared for you!
It was time for Jacob to return to his time, so he got into the time machine and MJ closed the door. Precious pushed the button. Nothing happened for about 30 seconds, then the booth began to shake like a mosquito who had too much caffeine, there was the sound of thunder, Jacob was gone!