The Life of Jacob (18): Jacob Meets Esau (Genesis 33:1-16) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Main Lesson
II. The Brotherly Meeting
John Owen: "Surely when Jacob wrestled with God on the strength of such promise, Gen. xxxii. 12, he little thought of any question whether it were in the power of God to perform it. Yea, and the event showed that there ought to be no such question, chap. xxxiii.; for the Lord turned the heart of his brother Esau, as he doth of others when he makes them pity his servants when at any time they have carried them away captives, Ps. cvi. 46. See, also, the same powerful operation required to the execution of his judgments, Job xii. 17, xx. 21, etc. In brief, there is no prophecy nor prediction in the whole Scripture, no promise to the church or faithful, to whose accomplishment the free actions and concurrence of men are required, but evidently declareth that God disposeth of the hearts of men, ruleth their wills, inclineth their affections, and determines them freely to choose and do what he in his good pleasure hath decreed shall be performed; — such as were the prophecies of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity by Cyrus, Isa. xlv.; of the conversion of the Gentiles; of the stability of the church, Matt. xvi.; of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, chap. xxiv.; with innumerable others" (A Display of Arminianism," The Works of John Owen, vol. 10, p. 42).