Jacob was the third generation from Abraham, who had been granted the land of Cannan (Palestine) by God, and was called Israel. It means a man who has struggled with God and overcome.

Jacob had a twin elder brother whose name was Esau. Their father Isaac favored Esau and decided to bequeath his property to Esau. However their mother Rebekah, who loved Jacob, deceived her husband, who was old with poor sight, to transfer his property rights to Jacob, who pretended to be Esau. Esau held a grudge against Jacob and attempted to kill him. Then Rebekah helped Jacob flee to her brother Laban. (Gen 27:1-43)

Jacob decided to lead his whole family, which he had formed under the protection of his uncle, and return to his hometown. When he came to the Jordan River, he sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the country of Edom. When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau and now he is coming to meet you with four hundred men.” (Gen 32:6)

In great fear and distress, Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the other group that is left may escape.” He also selected a few hundred goats, ewes and rams, camels, cows and bulls and donkeys as a gift for his brother Esau and sent them out separately. For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”(Gen 32:7-20)

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. While Jacob was left alone, a man appeared and wrestled with him till daybreak. 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. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and have overcome.” So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Gen 32:22-30)

Although Jacob overcame God, he earnestly expressed allegiance to his brother and called himself his brother's servant and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. Esau was pleased to meet his younger brother and refused to receive his presents. But Jacob entreated and said “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably." (Gen 33:1-10)

Then Jacob was blessed from God and succeeded to the land of Palestine, which Abraham offered to Isaac.

God has placed a stumble stone in Zion. One has to glorify God through grappling with the trial that God gives him and overcome it. Jesus told us, "I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge."(John 8:50)

Jacob overcame this trial through expressing his allegiance to his elder brother earnestly. After seeing the Promised Land Canaan in front of him, Moses chose to keep wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and never entered into the land. While Jesus taught us to return to our intrinsic nature which we have shared with God since before the creation of the world, the true Israelites (true persons) who will repay injury with kindness and inherit the ground of Palestine may come out from victims of the Israeli aerial bombardment of Gaza.

After The Last Supper, on the way toward an olive grove on the other side of the Kidron Valley, Jesus preached a surprising sermon, prefacing it with: "Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father."(John 16:25)

Judaism is based on Covenants of God with Abraham and his descendants. However Jesus declared that his teaching was based on the glory he had with God before the world began and demanded that we return to the ultimate love that transcended Abraham, Moses, Noah and even Adam and Eve. Jesus said, "Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined." (Mat 9:17) Indeed Jesus’ teaching transcends the world of the Old Testament. The following is the gist of John chapter 13-17.

God granted Jesus authority over all people so that Jesus might give eternal life to all those who God had given him. When Jesus uses this authority, people may know God and Jesus Christ. Then glory on earth will be brought to God.(John 17:2) Jesus had shared this glory with God before the world began. (John 17:5)

Jesus will remain in the world no longer, but his disciples are still in the world. God will protect them by the power of his name - the name God gave Jesus - so that they may be one as God and Jesus is one. (John 17:11) In that day the disciples will ask God directly in Jesus' name. Jesus will not ask God on their behalf any more. (John 16:26)

Name is the spirit of truth. The spirit of truth is the ultimate substance of Jesus, God and all things when they were one before the creation of the world. Jesus called this substance ‘Spirit of truth’, ‘eternal life’, ‘ultimate love’ or ‘glory’. When the disciples practice Jesus' teaching as Jesus practiced God's will, the spirit of truth will remain in them.

He who practices Jesus' teaching will be hated and persecuted by the world. However it is like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. (John16:21) Anyone who carries out God's will in this world may face obstacles. However, he who overcomes them will receive the glory and love that Jesus had with God before the creation of the world and will experience the full measure of Jesus' joy. Jesus made God known to people in order that the love God had for Jesus might be in the people and that Jesus himself might be in them.(John17:26) (Hensho: 2010-12-28)

According to the dialectic of the Gospel of John,

【thesis】　"A man can possess eternal life through accepting testimony of the Son of man and being baptized by him." (John 5:24)

【anti-thesis】　But "The one who comes from the earth cannot accept the testimony by one from heaven."(John 3:32)

How then can a man possess eternal life?

【synthesis】　"If you want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, you can just go back to the word which was with God in the beginning (John 1:1) and certify that God is truthful. (John 3:33)"

When he said, "You are Huichao," Zen Master Fayan thrusted vivid Self in Huichao in front of his eyes. (The Origin of Christianity P.171)