HEBREWS 11:21 “JACOB WORSHIPPING UPON HIS STAFF”
A) Jacob was a man whose whole life had been changed by the grace
and mercy of God.
* He began his life as a deceiver, stealing the birthright of Esau – Later on, he was
converted as he wrestled all night long with the Angel of the Lord .......
* Until finally, at the break of day, he was given a new name, a new nature and a
new purpose. (Gen. 32:24)
B) From that time on we see a new Jacob.
* He is now a man of faith, love and charity – He is a man with the call of God,
and a purpose for living and a promise from God that would stand forever.
* He had come to understand what it meant to walk with the staff of God on his side.
C) God has a staff – It’s a staff that all of us must carry if we’re going to live a
life by faith that’s pleasing to God.
* Let me explain what a staff is before we try to continue – What is a staff?
D) A stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a person walking;
a support; that which props or upholds.
* A stick or club used as a weapon – An emblem of authority or a badge of office.
E) What can the staff mean to you and me, and what did it mean to Jacob?
* There are other times in the Word of God where carrying a staff was a part of the
call of God upon the life of someone.
(1) ONE OF THOSE WAS DAVID
A) Most of the time when we talk about David and Goliath, we only talk
about the smooth stones and the sling that David carried.
* But I want to read 1 Sam. 17:40 and let you see that there was something else
that David carried into that battle.
B) The stone that was thrown by his sling, representing the Rock, Jesus Christ,
as David’s Savior and Deliverer, became the instrument that killed Goliath.
* But before the sling could be used, and the rock could be thrown, David needed
his staff.
C) There is a TV commercial of a major credit card company that says,
“Don’t leave home without it.”
* It seems that God is saying to David about his staff, “David, don’t face the giant
without it; and don’t try to defeat the enemy without it.
* David you need your staff.” – 1 Sam. 17:40 says, “And he took his staff .......”
D) David had to have that staff with him ... It was not just an instrument to
be used as a weapon of offense or a weapon of defense.
* It was not just to be used to help him get down from the mountaintop and go
down the rocks and into the valley below to face Goliath.
E) That staff was much more than just a stick – It was a support, and a symbol
of David’s trust in the power of God.
* It was a symbol of the promises of God ... It was a source of strength for David,
for in that staff was the symbol to David of the very presence of his God.
F) David counted on that staff – David never lost sight of that staff.
* His staff was one of the most important possessions in his life.
* Later on, that staff was transformed from a shepherd’s staff to a king’s scepter,
but it was still a staff in his life and David never forgot what it stood for.
G) Later on in David’s life, he wrote many Psalms of praise to God.
* Listen to what he had to say in one of them – Psa. 23:4 “Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art .......”
THE SHEPHERD’S STAFF AND SCEPTER WERE SYMBOLS
A) The shepherd’s staff and the king’s scepter were both symbols of
David’s trust in God.
* They both held up the banner of David’s God and they both became the emblem
of David’s faith in God and his badge of authority in God.
B) Another man in the Bible who knew what that staff meant was Moses.
* It was the staff that became a serpent that swallowed the serpents of Pharaoh’s
magicians and that parted the waters of the Red Sea.
* Everywhere that we see Moses, there is a staff present.
C) When the Children of Israel were getting ready for the passing of the death
angel in the last plague of Egypt when all of the first born of Egypt died .......
* God gave Moses some very specific instructions – They were to prepare the Passover
Lamb.
* The blood of that Lamb was to be applied to the doorposts of the house where every
Hebrew lived as a sign that caused the death angel to pass them by.
D) They were then to cook that lamb and eat it and this is how it was to be done.
* Exo. 12:11 “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes .......”
E) Why did God require them to be dressed for traveling, eat the Lamb in haste,
and keep the staff in their hand?
* God was getting ready to perform a miracle of deliverance.
F) Pharaoh would finally be convinced to “let God’s people go” and when the
order came to leave; Israel was ready to go.
* They had prepared for the journey, prayed for deliverance and now, by holding on
to the staff of God’s promises, their time had finally come.
WHAT THE STAFF MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE
A) The staff may not have looked like anything as we look at it, but a shepherd’s
stick, but it represented so much more to Moses.
* It was his “ever present help in time of need.” – Whenever he needed a weapon to
fight off the wolves it was there.
B) Whenever he needed a weapon to attack the enemies of the sheep it was there.
* Whenever he needed help in going down or climbing up, it was there – And he
wasn’t about to leave it now.
C) It was a symbol of the very call of God on Moses’ life.
* It was a symbol of God’s protecting power and God’s badge of authority in
Moses’ life ... Moses too, couldn’t leave home without it.
* Moses leaned on that staff – Moses lived by the things that his staff stood for;
and that was the very presence of God in his life.
ELISHA ALSO KNEW WHAT A STAFF STOOD FOR
A) Another man whom we can read about who knew what a staff stood
for was Elisha.
* In 2 Kings 4:8-17, we have the story of Elisha and the Shunammite woman.
* Because of her faithfulness to the man of God, God gave the Shunammite woman
a son when she had been barren.
B) Then the son fell dead, apparently from a heat stroke, as he was with his
father working in the fields.
* That Shunammite woman didn’t lose faith in the face of death ... Instead she
remembered the Man of God.
* She left her dead son and ran to get Elisha ... Now listen to what happens next
as Elisha begins to see her and hear her story – 2 Kings 4:29-37 .......
C) Elisha knew what that staff stood for – It was the symbol of God’s presence,
God’s promises, God’s faithfulness and God’s power in the prophet’s life.
* He knew it wasn’t the stick – The stick was just a stick – But it was the power
behind that staff that counted.
D) Elisha had depended on that staff all of his life.
* He carried that staff everywhere and it never left his side.
* In his life too, that staff was an ever-present help in time of need.
NOW LET’S GET BACK TO JACOB
A) Jacob had his staff also – He never left home without it.
* Now he was nearing the end of his life and he was reflecting upon the life that
he had lived – He remembered the time that God changed his heart and his life.
* He remembered the Promised Land and God’s promise that Jacob would return
to his home.
B) Jacob called Joseph’s sons to his side and made his final request to be
carried back into the Promised Land to be buried with his fathers.
* When the arrangement was made, Jacob knew it was time to go.
* He knew that his faith in God had not been in vain ... And so se read in
Heb. 11:21 “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both .......”
C) Jacob’s final hours were marked by faith.
* God included this man Jacob, who had been such a deceiver in his early years,
as an example of a man of faith in his death.
* But to “die” by faith, Jacob had to first live by faith and his faith was
represented in his staff.
D) Jacob’s staff was more than a stick to him too.
* It represented the presence of God in his life – It represented the power of God
to change his heart – It represented the faithfulness of God.
* It represented to Jacob the coming Messiah of Israel and the Savior of his people.
E) Jacob depended completely upon that staff and so, at the end of his life .......
* It’s no surprise that he should make his final arrangements with his family,
then lean on the top of his staff and then worship God.
CLOSE
A) Do you carry that staff today?
* Oh, I know you don’t carry around a shepherd’s staff, or a king’s scepter in your
hand, but you still carry what that staff represents.
* The only difference is that you don’t have a physical emblem in your hand to represent
what the staff represents – Instead, you carry that staff in your heart by faith.
B) What is that staff in your life? – It’s the Cross of Calvary.
* It’s the badge of honor and of victory over my sin and your sin that Jesus bore
upon the cross when he shed his blood for us.
* It’s the badge of authority by which I claim victory over sin, power over the devil,
and deliverance from every power of darkness.
C) It’s the cross upon which I lean and depend for my salvation.
* It’s the symbol of the very presence of Jesus Christ in my life.
D) It’s a symbol of God’s very present help in my time of greatest need.
* It’s the cross that became the weapon that Jesus used to defeat all the powers of Hell.
* It’s the cross that gives me the victory and brings to me eternal life when I find myself
in the Valley of Death.
E) It’s that Rod and that Staff that comfort me in times of sickness.
* The Cross of Christ is the Staff upon which I lean.
F) And when this life is over and the time has come to call us home, let us go
home to be with Jesus while we are leaning on the top of that staff.
* Let us face that hour by placing our faith and trust in the Cross to bring us
home through the shed blood of the Lamb.
