When do such seasons occur? Our Mahanaims occur at much the same time as that in which Jacob beheld this great sight. Jacob was entering upon a more separated life. He was leaving Laban and the school of all those tricks of bargaining and bartering which belong to the ungodly world. He had breathed too long an unhealthy atmosphere; he was degenerating; the heir of the promises was becoming a man of the world. He was entangled with earthly things. His marriages held him fast, and every year he seemed to get more and more rooted to Laban’s land. It was time he was transplanted to better soil. Now he is coming right away; he has taken to tent life. He has come to sojourn in the land of promise, as his fathers had done before him. He was now to confess that he was seeking a city, and meant to be a pilgrim till he found it.

By a desperate stroke lie cut himself clear of entanglements; but he must have felt lonely, and as one cast adrift. He missed all the associations of the old house of Mesopotamia, which, despite its annoyances, was his home. The angels come to congratulate him. Their presence said, “You are come to this land to be a stranger and sojourner with God, as all your fathers were. We have, some of us, talked with Abraham, again and again, and we are now coming to smile on you. You recollect how we bade you good-bye that night, when you had a stone for your pillow at Bethel; now you have come back to the reserved inheritance, over which we are set as guardians, and we have come to salute you. Take up the non-conforming life without fear, for we are with you. Welcome! welcome! we are glad to receive you under our special care.”

Then was it true to Jacob, “Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” This brotherhood of angels must have been an admirable compensation for the loss of the fatherhood of that churlish Laban. Anything we lose when we leave the world, and what is called “society,” is abundantly made up when we can say, “We have come unto the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, and unto an innumerable company of angels.”

Again, the reason why the angels met Jacob at that time was, doubtless, because he was surrounded with great cares. He had a large family of little children; and great flocks and herds and many servants were with him. He said himself, “With my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.” This was a huge burden of care! It was no light thing for one man to have the management of all that mass of life and to lead it about in wandering style. But see, there are two companies of angels to balance the two companies of feeble ones. If he has two bands to take care of he shall have two bands to take care of him; if he has double responsibility he shall have double assistance.

So, brothers and sisters, when you are in positions of great responsibility, and you feel the weight pressing upon you, have hope in God that you will have double succour, and be sure that you pray that Mahanaim may be repeated in your experience, so that your strength may be equal to your day. Again, the Lord’s host appeared when Jacob felt a great dread. His brother Esau was coming to meet him armed to the teeth, and, as he feared, thirsty for his blood.

In times when our danger is greatest, if we are real believers, we shall be specially under the divine protection, and we shall know that it is so. This shall be our comfort in the hour of distress. What can Esau do with his four hundred men now that the hosts of God have pitched their tents and have assembled in their squadrons to watch between us and the foe? See ye not the horses of fire and chariots of fire around about the chosen servant of God? Jacob ought to have felt calm and quiet in heart; I suppose he was while he saw his protectors. Alas! as soon as he lost sight of them, poor Jacob was depressed in spirit again about his brother Esau, lest he should slay the mother with the children. Such is the weakness of our hearts! But let us not fall into the grievous sin of unbelief. Are we not without excuse if we do so?

In times of great distress we may expect that the forces of God will become recognizable by our faith, and we shall have a clearer sense of the powers on our side than ever we had before. O Holy Spirit, work in us great clearness of spiritual sight! And, once again, when you and I, like Jacob, shall be near Jordan, when we shall just be passing into the better land, then is the time when we may expect to come to Mahanaim.

The angels of God and the God of angels, both come to meet the spirits of the blessed in the solemn article of death. Have we not ourselves heard of divine revealings from dying lips? Have we not heard the testimony so often, too, that it could not have been an invention and a deception? Have not many loved ones given us assurance of a glorious revelation which they never saw before? Is there not a giving of new sight when the eyes are closing? Yes, O heir of glory, the shining ones shall come to meet you on the river’s brink, and you shall be ushered into the presence of the Eternal by those bright courtiers of heaven, who on either side shall be a company of dear companions when the darkness is passing, and the glory is streaming over you.

Be of good cheer: if you see not the hosts of God now you shall see them hereafter, when the Jordan shall be reached, and you cross over to the promised land. Thus I have mentioned the time when these invisible forces become visible to faith; and there is no doubt whatever that they are sent for a purpose. Why were they sent to Jacob at this time? Perhaps the purpose was first to revive an ancient memory which had well-nigh slipped from him. I am afraid he had almost forgotten Bethel. Surely it must have brought his vow at Bethel to mind, the vow which he made unto the Lord when he saw the ladder, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it.

Here they were: they had left heaven and come down that they might hold communion with him. I like the dream at Bethel better than the vision of Mahanaim for this reason, that he saw the covenant God at the top of the ladder: here he only sees the angels. Yet is there a choice pearl in this latter sight, for whereas at Bethel he only saw angels ascending and descending, he here sees them on the earth by his side, ready to protect him from all ill. How sweetly do new mercies refresh the memory of former favours, and how gently does new grace remind us of old promises and debts.

Brother, does not your Mahanaim point to some half-forgotten Bethel? Judge for yourself. Should our glorious God give you at this time a clear view of his divine power and of his covenant faithfulness, I pray that the sight may refresh your memory concerning that happy day when first you knew the Lord, when first you gave yourself up to him, and his grace took possession of your spirit.

Mahanaim was granted to Jacob, not only to refresh his memory, but to lift him out of the ordinary low level of his life. Jacob, you know, the father of all the Jews, was great at huckstering: it was the very nature of him to drive bargains. Jacob had all his wits about him, and rather more than he should have had, well answering to his name of “supplanter.” He would let no one deceive him, and he was ready at all times to take advantage of those with whom he had any dealings. Here the Lord seems to say to him, “O Jacob, my servant, rise out of this miserable way of dealing with me, and be of a princely mind.” Such should have been the lesson of this angelic visit, though it was ill learned. Jacob was prepared to send off to Esau, and call him “My Lord Esau he was ready to cringe and bow, and call himself his servant, and all that.

He went beyond the submissiveness which prudence suggests into the abject subjection which is born of fear. The vision should have led Jacob to stand upon higher ground. With bands of angels as his body-guard, he had no need to persist in his timorous, pettifogging policy. He might have walked along with the dignified confidence of his grandsire Abraham. There is something better in this life after all than policy and planning: faith in God is grander far. A cowards scheming ill becomes the favourite of heaven. Why should he fear who is protected beyond all fear? Esau could not stand against him, for Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, was on his side.

O for grace to live according to our true position and character, not as poor dependents upon our own wits or upon the help of man, but as grandly independent of things seen, because our entire reliance is fixed upon the unseen and eternal. Jacob as a mere keeper of sheep has great cause to fear his warlike brother, but as the chosen of God and possessor of a heavenly guard he may boldly travel on as if no Esau were in existence. All things are possible with God. Let us, then, play the man.

We are not dependent on the things that are seen. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live. Cursed is he that trusteth in man. Trust in God with all your heart. He is your infinite aid. Do the right, and give up calculations. Plunge into the sea of faith. Believe as much in the invisible as in the visible, and act upon your faith. This seems to me to be God’s object in giving to any of his servants a clearer view of the powers which are engaged on their behalf.