The Grace Place
Today, I want to tell you about Anna, but first…
Review
Yesterday, I spoke to you about Shechem, and briefly mentioned another important place, Penuel. Penuel, meaning “the face of God,”(1) is where Jacob wrestled with the Lord all night, received his transformation and new name, Israel (Genesis 32). He then went to Shechem, where he demanded that all of his family members bury their idols. Yes, they had idols.
Why did Jacob choose Shechem as the place to bury them? He was finally connecting with and honoring the covenant God had made with his grandfather, Abraham. This was the place where God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham (Genesis 12). Jacob was honoring his covenantal roots when he buried the idols at this significant place.
He also built an altar there, which he named El-Elohe-Israel, meaning “God, the God of Israel.” In naming it this, Jacob was not referring to the nation of Israel – that did not yet exist - but to himself. God had just given him the name Israel, after his transformation at Penuel.
When Jacob wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord, he was demanding the blessing of protection from Esau, based on the Lord’s promise to him at Bethel (Genesis 28). Actually, God had every intention of keeping His word and providing this protection; His purpose for the wrestling was something else entirely. The Lord was wrestling with Jacob’s nature, and was determined to transform him from being a conniving, what’s-in-it-for-me, manipulator to a man with a pure heart…a man He could use.
A Look Back to Bethel
Penuel wasn’t God’s first meeting with Jacob. The two had met 20 years prior to this at Bethel, which means “house of God” (Genesis 28). Here, the covenant Yahweh had made with Abraham, then continued through Isaac, was passed on to Jacob. In essence, the Lord said to Jacob at Bethel, “I am going to bless you, and I am going to bless the world through you.” How would God bless the world through Jacob? Messiah would come into the world through his lineage, just as promised to his grandfather, Abraham. Though he didn’t grasp the revelation of God’s ultimate intent, Jacob did realize this encounter at Bethel was important, and that the place was special, a “gate of Heaven,” (Genesis 28:17).
It is important and somewhat surprising to know that at the time of Bethel’s visitation, Jacob was not honoring and serving the Lord as the only true and living God. Yahweh was simply the God of his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac. There were many gods worshiped in that region at the time, and Jacob had not yet made up his mind which one he would serve. It had been almost 100 years since Abraham had met with the Lord and built an altar there at Bethel. Over time, the importance of the place, the covenant Abraham had with the Lord, and his special friendship with Yahweh had lost its significance with Jacob. He didn’t even realize he was in one of the places Abraham had met with the Lord.
Two things let us know that Jacob had not yet decided which “god” he would serve. First, after the visitation at Bethel, Jacob actually said, “If you do all of these things you just promised me, I’ll make you my God.” (Verse 21) Secondly, over the next 20 years, six times Yahweh is referenced as the God of Jacob’s fathers, but never is He called Jacob’s God. (See Genesis 28:13; 31:5, 29, 42, 53; 32:9) This did not change until after Jacob’s transformation at Penuel. It was then and there that his self-serving nature was overcome, his name was changed, and he gave his heart and allegiance to Yahweh. The altar he then built at Shechem was a public statement and declaration that the God of Abraham and Isaac was now his God - the God of Israel.
This was the change God needed. It is not enough for us to have a “Bethel encounter,” where we enter God’s house and family. That will get us to heaven, but it won’t impact earth. Holy Spirit wants to renew our minds, teach us His ways, then connect us with His heart at Penuel. Only then can He use us to partner with Him in releasing Yeshua to the world. He must be our God, not just our fathers’ God. The synergy of the ages is vital, but it only occurs when Yahweh has truly become our God, not just the God of our forefathers. America is filled with “Christians” who have been to Bethel - they are part of God‘s family - but they haven’t experienced Penuel where they meet Him face-to-face and their hearts blend with His. Many remain self-serving believers, with what’s-in-it-for-me mindsets. The coming outpouring will be a “Penuel revival” and will change this.
Christ’s Birth
Now to Anna. She was a prophetess, so devoted to the Lord that for decades she had spent all her time in the temple worshiping and praying. After hearing Simeon's prophesy over the newborn Messiah (Luke 2:25-32), we are told, “While Simeon was prophesying over Mary and Joseph and the baby, Anna walked up to them and burst forth with a great chorus of praise to God for the child. From that day forward, she told everyone in Jerusalem who was waiting for their redemption that the anticipated Messiah had come!” (Luke 2:38 TPT)
Would you be surprised if I told you Anna had a special connection to Penuel? Her name means “grace, favor.”(2) Her father’s name was Phanuel,(3) who was from the tribe of Asher,(4) one of Jacob’s/Israel’s sons. Phanuel is the Greek spelling of Penuel (“the face of God”), Jacob’s place of transformation. Penuel was perceived as so important in Jacob’s life that hundreds of years later his descendants were still being named Penuel. And one of them had produced Anna.
Through this miraculous series of events and names God is showing us that “grace and favor” (Anna) flow to us when we seek His face (Penuel), just as they did to Jacob. Revelation also flows when we seek Him - Anna was one of two who received a revelation that the Christ-child was the Messiah.
Seek Him. Do not seek first for wealth, success, or earthly possessions. Do not follow after religion, religious leaders, or churches. Seek His face. One lexicon actually said Penuel means “facing God.” Turn your face to Him; He has much to show you. He will enable you to trade your weaknesses for His strengths, your self-serving ambitions for His great cause, and a temporal destiny for an eternal one - just as He did Jacob. But most importantly, He will reveal Himself to you, and you will find He for whom your soul longs (Song of Solomon 3:4).
For America, my prayer is that she will find her way to the wrestling mat of Penuel. There, she will find Cape Henry’s cross, the Mayflower’s compact/covenant, the Wesleys’ fire, Finney’s repentance, and William Seymour’s baptism of power. She will once again love the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength, and carry Messiah to the ends of the earth.
Pray with me:
Father, the blood of Jesus saves us, bringing us into Your family. We are Bethel people. Your Word and presence shape us into Your image from glory to glory, through the power of that same blood, making us a Penuel people. So we face You today, knowing that Your heart is love, that You are for us as our Abba. As we turn our faces to You in worship, and as we feed on Your Word, our hearts will become one with Yours: We’ll want what You want, love what You love, and hate what You hate. We declare that like Jacob, “we won’t let go until You bless us” with this.
We repent for asking You for all the benefits of being in Your family, while ignoring the portion of the promise that says You want to bless the world through us. Please give the church in America this revelation. Grace us with it as you did Anna, and her grandfather, Jacob.
And we pray that America would find her way back to Penuel. Our nation exists to make Your name known in the earth. You blessed us, just as You did Abraham, and that blessing was not intended to be only for us. We are carriers of Yeshua. He is IN us and wants to be revealed THROUGH us. Give us a revival that wrestles our nation to her knees, causing us to walk with the blessed limp of Penuel. We ask for this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Our decree:
We decree that America will make it to Penuel.
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1. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 6439.
2. Ibid., ref. no. 451.
3. Ibid., ref. no. 5323.
4. Ibid., ref. no. 836.