3927. 'And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed' in the highest sense means [the Lord's] own power, in the internal sense temptation in which a person overcomes, in the external sense resistance offered by the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wrestlings of God' and of 'wrestling' as temptations, since temptations are nothing else than the wrestlings of the internal man with the external, or of the spiritual man with the natural, for each desires to have dominion over the other. And when there is any to-do about that dominion, conflict takes place, which in this case is portrayed as 'wrestling'. As regards 'prevailing' meaning overcoming, this is clear without explanation.

[2] The reason these words in the highest sense mean His own power is that when in the world He was in the [infirm] Human the Lord suffered all temptations by His own power and overcame them by His own power, unlike any human being who never endures any spiritual temptation by his own power and overcomes in it; only the Lord residing with him does so. But see what has been stated and shown already concerning these matters:

The Lord suffered the severest temptations, much severer than those suffered by others, 1663, 1668, 1690, 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1813, 1815, 1820, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2813, 2816, 3318.

The Lord fought and overcame by His own power, 1616, 1692, 1813, 3381.

And the Lord alone fights in man's conflicts, 1692.

[3] As regards 'the wrestlings of God' and 'prevailing' meaning, in the internal sense, temptations in which a person overcomes, this is clear from what has been stated immediately above. But the reason why in the external sense resistance from the natural man is meant is that no temptation is anything else. For as has been stated, in spiritual temptations there is a to-do over who is to have dominion, that is to say, who is going to have the power. Is the internal man to have it or the external - or what amounts to the same, the spiritual man or the natural? For they stand opposed to each other, 3913. Indeed when a person undergoes temptations his internal or spiritual man is governed by the Lord through angels, but his external or natural man by spirits from hell. And the conflict that takes place between these is experienced by that person as temptation. When a person both in faith and in life is such that he is able to be regenerated he overcomes in temptations, but when he is such that he is not able to be regenerated he goes under in temptations. The resistance offered by the natural man is meant by Rachel's statement that she had wrestled with her sister, for Leah, to whom 'sister' refers here, means the external man's affection, but 'Rachel' the internal man's, 3793, 3819.

2816. That 'Abraham put forth his hand' means temptation even to the final degree of power is clear from the train of thought, for the subject is the Lord's severest and inmost temptations. The verses preceding this have dealt with the preparation of the Divine human for admission into and endurance of those temptations, the present verse with the actual occurrence of them, which is expressed in the sense of the letter by the words 'Abraham put forth his hand'. By 'hand' is meant power, see 878, here the final degree of power, for nothing was absent apart from the actual experience. The teaching of the internal sense is that the Lord's Divine led the human into the severest temptations, for 'Abraham' is used to mean the Lord as regards the Divine; and this was done by the Divine even to the final degree of power. The truth of the matter is that the Lord allowed temptations into Himself in order that He might cast out from Himself everything that was merely human, doing so until nothing except what was Divine was left.

[2] The fact that the Lord allowed temptations into Himself, even the last which was that of the Cross, becomes clear from the Lord's own words, in Matthew,

Jesus began to show the disciples that He must suffer many things and be killed. At that point Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, Spare Yourself, Lord; let this not happen to You. But He turned and said to Peter, Go away behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to Me, for you do not savour the things of God but those of men. Matthew 16:21-23.

And more explicitly in John,

No one takes My life ¹ from Me, but I lay it down of Myself; I have power to lay it down and I have power to receive it again. John 10:18.

And in Luke,

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

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