Does the Bible encourage us to wrestle or just watch wrestling? (Genesis 32:24).

Does the Bible encourage us to wrestle or just watch wrestling? (Genesis 32:24)

Question: We see Jacob wrestling with the Angel of God (Genesis 32:24). Is there any harm in us watching wrestling on TV?

Answer: NO! The Bible never teaches us to love the world. In fact, it repeatedly tells us not to love the world or the things in it. If we love the world and its things, then the love of God is not in us (1 John 2:15).

Wrestling is one of the worldly things, along with ball games!

Now you might ask, why did Jacob wrestle in Genesis 32:24?

Jacob didn’t sit down to arrange a match with the Angel as if they were entertaining themselves or testing strength. No! That was not the case. What happened was that the Angel of God visited Jacob in human form, and after finishing what brought Him there, when He wanted to leave, Jacob held Him back, wanting to receive a blessing from the Angel.

So when the Angel tried to leave, Jacob grabbed Him and pulled Him back. This turned into a wrestling match, but not for fun or to harm each other, or just to test strength, but rather as a form of struggle to receive a blessing!

Genesis 32:24-30
“24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
26 Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’ But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’
27 The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Jacob,’ he answered.
28 Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.’
29 Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.’”

However, wrestling seen on modern TV is completely different—it is the devil’s work 100%. That’s why you see wrestlers often half-naked and promoting worldly things.

Therefore, we should not engage in meaningless worldly wrestling. Instead, we should wrestle spiritually, which leads to blessings. Let’s pursue the blessings written in God’s Word (the Bible). And let us also fight by trampling the enemy, Satan, under our feet.

Ephesians 6:12-13
“12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Maranatha!

Please share this good message with others. 

Do you want me to do that?

Print this post