Jacob's Dream
Notes
Transcript
Big Idea: Just as God will be with Jacob Where ever he goes. So will God be with his people wherever they go.
Intro: Well its been a few weeks since we have been in the book of Genesis. So just in way of review. I will review some major themes found in the book. Genesis was written to correct and inform the nation of Israel as they came out of the slavery of Egypt. Egypt was a pluralistic society of many gods and the descendents of Jacob would have been raised in this idea. So Genesis was written to correct the narrative but also to show the nation its origins and history with Yawheh God.
In the early part of this study we looked at God as the all-powerful creator and therefore owner of all creation.
We looked at the account of mankind fall into sin and the promise of eventual rescue through the one that would crush the serpents head and his seed.
We then looked at the brief account of Noah, a picture of the salvation that would come to all those who would enter into the ark of salvation.
We then began to follow the life of Abraham and the experiences with God and the promised made to him and his descendents that one day all of the nations of the world would be blessed.
Then we followed briefly the life of Isaac. Isaac was the promised child yet he was an imperfect sacrifice. God himself would one say supply the perfect lamb to be the sacrifice for the world.
Then Isaac had two son Jacob and Esau
Last we left off. Jacob had purchased Esau birthright with a bowl of stew then stolen his blessing through deceiving his blind father Isaac. Esau makes a vow to kill Jacob once his father Issac passes from this life.
This leads us to Genesis 28
So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl.
Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples.
May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Esau noticed that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to get a wife there. When he blessed him, Isaac commanded Jacob, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl.”
And Jacob listened to his father and mother and went to Paddan-aram.
Esau realized that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,
so Esau went to Ishmael and married, in addition to his other wives, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. She was the sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran.
He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.
And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.
Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”
Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it
and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz.
Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,
and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the Lord will be my God.
This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to you a tenth of all that you give me.”
Genesis 28 is one of those interesting passages of scripture that many do not really know what to do with. Jacob has this strange dream. In fact, this is really Jacob’s first encounter with Yahweh. Up until this point we do not see any interaction between God and Jacob. The only time Jacob mentions God is in a lie to his father.
So it would seem that Jacob knew of God, he seemed to have very little fear of him. Yahweh was his families God but now that he was grown. He wasn’t really his God. Which brings us to the first point.
I. Everyone must have their own relationship with God.
I. Everyone must have their own relationship with God.
Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me during this journey I’m making, if he provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,
and if I return safely to my father’s family, then the Lord will be my God.
Many in our culture today still believe family lineage determines their religion. I often hear people say, “ I’m christian, my family is christian. But the faith of your father or mother is not the same as you having chose for yourself which God you will follow.
I mean it seams pretty clear that up until this point Jacob was pretty unconvinced . It wasn’t until he had this personal encounter with God that he decided whom he would follow.
So Jacob encounters God in the strangest of places, the middle of nowhere. I have heard over the years, many people have similar experiences. They’re lives were in a sense in the middle of nowhere. With no real purpose or mission, no real destination in mind. They were going about their business and then somehow or in someway, they encounter the living God through the gospel message and then it all makes sense.
Here Jacob was homeless with nothing to even sleep on and he has the encounter with God that forever changes his path. Sometimes God will bring us into very hard situations or sometimes it will be that we find ourselves in the wilderness of our own making.
II. The Purpose of the Dream
II. The Purpose of the Dream
He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place.
And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.
Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Have you ever felt forsaken by God?
As I just mentioned Jacob is not in a high place.
Jacob lied and deceived to get what he wanted. . He is in the dessert all alone. No doubt exhausted both emotionally and physically. As he find a suitable rock for a pillow, no doubt, his mind drifts back to the comfort of living in his father’s household. As he is laying on the ground under the stars, no doubt there was fear of sleeping unprotected.
After all, of the two brothers Jacob was the one that preferred to be at home while Esau preferred the wilderness. I am sure the loneliness of his situation was only compounded by the realization that he was in this place because of his own actions. He had taken advantage of his Brother to get the birthright. Then he lied to his blind father pretending to be Esau to get his father Isaac’s blessing.
The things he was willing to do to get what he thought he wanted most landed him in the dessert alone at night and unprotected away from everyone he loved.
How often do the things we pursue, Isolate us from everything and everyone we love? Somehow the pursuit of greatness or wealth, career, health or any other thing isolates us as our passion for these things becomes greater than the passion for the right things. Jacob got what he thought he wanted most but it left him he alone, sleeping in the dessert, Isolated from everyone he knew and loved.
Yet God was There
Reed Lessing tells the story of a Native American ritual for training young braves:
"On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of his family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods. By himself. All night long. Terrifying! How out of his element the young brave must have felt. How very un-BRAVE, in fact.
Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many.
After what must have seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long. as well.
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This is how our heavenly father is with us.
look at
The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying.
Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The Lord appears to Jacob standing right next to him ans reminds him that Yahweh is God and he will not abandon the promise that he made to his Grandfather Abraham. I will always be with you. You might not sense my presence, you might feel at times that I am not there. But I will not abandoned my promise even when you mess up. I am there.
Look at Jacob’s reaction
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
God is with you but sometimes you will not feel his presences or see him working but he is there.
God made this promise to Abraham, then to Jacob, Then to Moses, Then to Joshua.
In the new testament we see that Jesus was the fulfillment of that very promise.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Which lead us to the interpretation of the Dream. The purpose of the dream was to remind Jacob of the promise. He would be with him even in the wilderness. God would fulfill his promise. But what’s with the weird stuff, angels and ladders or staircases. What does this mean.
This brings us to
III. The interpretation of dream.
III. The interpretation of dream.
And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
Did you know we find this same idea in the N.T. As Jesus was selecting his disciples there is this account where Phillip goes and finds Nathanael and tells him they have found the Messiah in Jesus of Nazereth.
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered.
Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.
“Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”
Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.”
Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
You See in Jacobs dream God was showing us yet another glimpse of the promise that through Jacob’s line all the nations of the world would be blessed. Because of our sin the world had been cut off from heaven. Yet God was showing Jacob that just as he had not abandoned Him. He would not abandon the world. One day their would be a descendent of Jacob ( 14 generations and 1800 years later) that would be able to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. That person was no other then Jesus Christ , God himself.
Jesus is the promised ladder.
