HOW DID JACOB PREVAIL?
Genesis 32: 24-30
Hosea says that by his strength Jacob had power with God and over (with) the Angel (the Son of God) and prevailed. How does a sinner have this strength? What is this strength? In Genesis we read that the Lord came to Jacob and wrestled with Jacob. When the Lord saw that Jacob prevailed NOT with him then the Lord touched Jacob revealing to Jacob the Power and Wisdom of God. The effectual result was that when the Lord began to withdraw himself then Jacob held to the Lord, pleading for the Lord to be merciful to him; he confessed he was, "Jacob, supplanter, a sinner in need of mercy." That is exactly how Hosea says Jacob prevailed, "he wept, and made supplication unto him" (Hos 12: 4; Ps 34: 18; 51: 17). The sinner's strength with God and with men as a prince is when God reveals our own utter weakness and his glory in the face of Christ Jesus so that our power and strength ceases to be ourselves and becomes Christ Jesus, the Power and Wisdom of God, the Prince of peace. That is how all God's Jacob's prevail with God. Genesis reads, "And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."