Genesis 28
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Turn to John 1.
Turn to John 1.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
We’ll come back to that. Now turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis 28.
We are moving right along in Genesis.
We have made it now to the third patriarch, Jacob, and he is about to hear those most important words that the other two have heard so far.
Look here in verse 1.
Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. 4 May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
This is the second time Isaac has blessed Jacob.
But this time it is different.
The first time Rebekah and Jacob schemed together to deceive Isaac into blessing Jacob.
And so the blessing was tricked into being given.
Here, the blessing is given on purpose.
In this chapter as well, you have a specific mention of the Abrahamic blessing there in verse number three and four.
Read that with me again
God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”
So a couple things here…
Isaac here implicitly acknowledges that God is the one that bestows the blessing of Abraham.
Already in this passage we have an acknowledgement that apart from God blessing, there will be none.
This is something that happens not by virtue of just being Abraham’s grandson or great grandson. It is something that happens by virtue of God’s grace.
But having said that, Isaac indeed is praying for that to happen.
Issac knows that it was God’s choice and grace that brought the blessing to Abraham and its was God’s choice to give the blessing to him.
And so he prays this over his son.
And I want to point out one thing, very quickly…
In verse 3, Listen again to what he prays over him..
3 God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
Now, the ESV translates this “company of peoples”
the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew text, uses the word, “Ekklesia” which in the New Testament is used in reference to the church.
Those who have been called and collected from the nations.
In other words, Isaac’s prayer reflects the promise of God to Abraham, that God’s people will not just be a Jewish people, but they will be a gathering of people from every tribe and nation, and in a small way, you and I sit here today as a part of the fulfillment of this prayer and promise.
I thought that was interesting and wanted to share it with you.
And in this chapter is where we see Jacob enter into the narrative of Scripture as the third patriarch.
From this point forward in Scripture, Jacob will be listed among his grandfather and his father, as those who were the fathers of Israel.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But as we move into verse five, we see that Jacob is sent away.
And this is a dark and lonely time for Jacob.
There seem to be two reasons at play here as to why Jacob is sent away.
The first is for his own safety because his brother Esau has vowed to kill him.
It is probably best for him to get away to put some space between him and his brother.
The other reason is he needs to go and get a wife. But he doesn’t need to get one from among the Hittite women.
That is the command he is given from his father.
And so, Jacob is sent away to both protect the covenant (by marrying within the right family) and to preserve his life (by escaping Esau’s wrath).
God in His providence uses both of these issues in his life in the unfolding plan of redemption that would come through Jacob.
So Jacob is sent away to Laban. And don’t miss that reference… the text is preparing us for a future showdown between Jacob and his future father-in-law.
Jacob, the successful deceiver and trickster of his brother and father, will meet his match with Laban, and not trying to spoil the story here, but Jacob gets Jacobed.
You’ll see that next week in chapter 29.
But then here in the chapter, the story picks back up with Esau.
What is going on with the angry brother?
The last time we saw this brother, he was begging his father to bless him, and he was breathing threats against his brother when he father told him his blessing had been given to Jacob. .
We find him at the end of chapter 27 in a desperate situation.
He feels hopeless because the blessing that was supposed to be his has been given to Jacob.
He feels betrayed by his brother and overlooked by his father.
Now in chapter 28, we see Esau is still trying to win the favor of his father…
Look in verse 6 and following.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
So— summary here— Esau hears that his brother has been sent away and told not to take a wife from among the Canaanite women.
But if you remember back in chapter 26, Esau had already done this.
When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.
Esau had took a wife from among the Canaanites.
In fact, Multiple wives from among the Hittites…
And those wives made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah…
But here in verse eight, it says that he saw that the Canaanite women did not please his father,
And so he goes and gets another wife.
Now, what is interesting here is that this seems to be a surprise to Esau?
Almost as if he didn’t know that taking a wife from among the Canaanites displeased his father.
You have to wonder if Isaac and Rebecca had failed to teach this important lesson.
Why is he so surprised?
How is he just now learning this?
I think this is a point worth addressing that as parents, we can be faithful to our children and they go astray.
That is always a possibility.
We pray that our children will be faithful, and we teach them things of God. We hope that they will go in the direction that they have been taught.
But there’s always the reality that they may or may not go in the direction that we have pointed them.
Now, even if that’s the case, we can steadily point them in the right direction and they can know that if they do go astray that they are going against what we have said.
If our children do go astray, we want them to know that they are very clearly walking away from the Lord that we have led to worship.
However, there’s a big difference in that and when children go astray because they have not been taught.
If they have not been taught the right way or shown the right way, we can’t expect them to go the right way.
Esau here seems to now be aware that his wives displeased his father..
And so he tries to make it right.
But actually, he just ends up making things worse.
And he makes things worse, because he marries the daughter of Ishmael..
And so essentially, he goes from the frying pan into the fire.
He doesn’t marry a Canaanite, but he marries into the rejected line of Abraham in Ishmael. Which is essentially the same thing.
These are not the people of god.
You ever met those people that they have good intentions and they try really hard, but they just cannot seem to get out of their own way
This is Esau.
Now contrast that with what happens next with Jacob…
While Esau is scrambling to earn his father’s favor by human means, Jacob leaves Beersheba..
Verse 10 opens a new scene, but it also shifts the tone entirely. Esau is busy trying to secure blessing through performance.
Jacob, has been exiled… He is alone, but in the middle of all of this, god graciously shows up.
Jacob receives a divine vision and even a divine visit and, ultimately, this is the answer to the prayer above from Isaac…
As God comes to Jacob with a reaffirmation of the covenant promises.
God meets him in the wilderness—not because of what Jacob has done, but because of who God is.
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
So we have what is probably at least somewhat familiar to you.
Sermon
Most of us have probably heard of the story of Jacob’s ladder .
You may have even sang the song growing up we are climbing Jacob’s ladder, and I’m not really sure what that means.
And I hate to be the bearer of bad news and to be the burster of bubbles tonight, but in reality what we think of as a ladder is probably not what is actually being seen here. And we are most certainly not the ones climbing it.
You do see here Jacob comes to a place that he rested for the night.
At this point, I think it’s important for us to see that Jacob is away from his family, running from his brother.
He’s alone he’s on his own.
There’s no indication that Jacob is seeking the face of God at this point in time
He just gets tired and so he finds a rock for his pillow.
You have to remember here Jacob does not have a wife yet and so he doesn’t have 50,000 pillows in his home laying around for him to use.
And so he has to use a rock.
He goes to sleep and he has a dream, and the translators do translate this ladder.
But if you do any study at all what you find is that it’s more likely the vision was more along the lines of a stairway.
And the stairway links, heaven and earth.
And so it is a structure that comes down from heaven his bottom reaches the Earth.
And then angels, who are God’s messengers and those who carry out the will of God, are ascending and descending on the stairway or ladder.
Then verse 13 says the Lord stands above it.
Now, who has a footnote in verse 13 beside the words “above it.”
The footnote says that the alternate reading or the other possible translation is ”beside him.”
And so whatever translation that you take here, the point is the same. God comes down to meet with Jacob.
In fact later, Jacob will say that the Lord was in this place.
He will call it the house of the Lord.
Then, as the Lord stood above it or beside him he then delivers the promises that he had given to Abraham years prior to Isaac.
Look again and listen to verses 13 through 15.
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Listen to what is promised in these verses—
Land
Offspring
Expansion
Blessing
God’s Presence with him
God’s Protection of him
Return to the land
God’s Faithfulness to do all that he says.
All of these connect Jacob with Abraham.
the very things God personally promised Abraham, now, God has personally promised them to Jacob.
God has descended and has hand delivered his promises to Abraham’s grandson.
Before we move on to discuss Jacob’s response to all of this, I want to emphasize the grace of God here.
That God condescends to give these promises.
Jacob is wandering, alone, not searching for the Lord, he is searching for a wife.
And God in His grace descends.
In this you see God’s sovereign seeking grace.
God comes to Jacob uninvited, not because Jacob sought Him, but because God sovereignly sought out Jacob.
You see God’s Covenant Grace:
God reaffirms the covenant made with Abraham and Isaac—not because Jacob earned it, (no he has done anything but that) but because of God’s unchanging faithfulness.
You see God’s Personal Grace:
God comes down directly to Jacob, calling Himself “the Lord” and giving Jacob a personal assurance of His promises.
You see God’s Comforting Grace:
In fear, loneliness, and exile, God meets him with words of presence and protection, not condemnation.
You see God’s Promising Grace:
God promises land, descendants, and blessing—a future Jacob doesn’t deserve and cannot secure on his own.
Unconditional Grace:
There’s no condition placed on Jacob—God declares, “I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Now, for the rest of the time tonight, we will start to see God’s Transforming Grace:
This encounter begins the transformation of Jacob.
God’s grace doesn’t leave us where we are.
The rest of the text proves this..
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
Jacob’s Transformation – Genesis 28:18–22
Jacob’s Transformation – Genesis 28:18–22
You have what seems to be a regenerated mind.
Jacob is now aware of the presence of God.
Genesis 28:16–17 – “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it... How awesome is this place!”
Not only is he aware, he is now willing to Worship
He sets up the stone that he had slept upon and anoints it.
18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
Personal Commitment
Jacob makes a vow to follow God:
Genesis 28:20–21 – “If God will be with me... then the LORD will be my God.”
Even though it is a Growing Faith, its there.
His faith is conditional but sincere:
Genesis 28:20
Finally you see a Promise to Tithe
Jacob promises to give a tenth back to God:
Genesis 28:22 – “Of all that You give me, I will surely give a tenth to You.”
There is a change here wrought in Jacob that is accomplished by God- you see worship. Faith commitment.
Before this encounter, Jacob lived by deception and self-reliance, manipulating others to secure blessings… At Bethel, he begins to turn toward God with reverence, worship, and a personal vow of faith…
Now let’s go back to where we started… literally, centuries later, Jesus stood before Nathanael and he said this.
51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
What Jacob saw in a dream, Nathanael saw in a person.
Jesus was telling us something profound: He is telling us that he is the means by which heaven and earth are connected.
Not a structure, but a Savior.
Not a ladder, a Lord.
Not a dream, but the divine made flesh.
Jacob’s ladder symbolized God reaching down to man.
Jesus is God coming down to man — the only bridge between heaven and earth.
In Christ, heaven is not just open — it is accessible.
The grace Jacob received in a desert place now comes to us through the cross and resurrection.
Just like Jacob, we don't climb up to God. He comes down to us.
Just like Jacob, we aren’t seeking Him — but He seeks us.
Just like Jacob, we are flawed, fearful, and wandering — and yet grace finds us.
So the question becomes:
Have you met the One who stands at the top and bottom of that ladder — the Son of Man who brings heaven to earth?
And like Jacob, will you respond in worship and surrender?
Let us not just marvel at the ladder in Jacob’s dream. Let us worship the one to whome the ladder points in Jesus Christ — who opens heaven, brings the promises of God to us, and invites us to follow Him into transformation.
