Heaven Meets Earth

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 119:65-72

Psalm 119:65–72 ESV

You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Scripture Memorization: Genesis 50:19-20

Genesis 50:19–20 “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Scripture Reading: John 14:15-21

John 15:15–21 ESV

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Sermon:

Good Morning Church! I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

One of the fun parts of going through the Book of Genesis Is that you get to take a look at stories that are familiar, stories that are wonderful, but stories that are often - if we're being honest - taken out of context and just told as a fascinating stories.

We spent a few weeks looking at Noah's Ark, which is a wonderful, fantastic story of God's judgment, but also his grace and mercy. God's desire to work in and save and call a people.

It was a wonderful story, not just a story with a bunch of cute animals that you can paint pictures of and put in a children's nursery.

The story of the Tower of Babel we saw in context and saw how God was calling a people and, and though there would be Division and strife because of sin, God would come in and he would save one.

We saw Abraham. We've seen many great stories. And then here is a story that is, though not as famous as maybe others, still a rather famous story. Certainly, it is A rather important one. And a rather beautiful one. It Will be the story of Jacob's dream of a ladder It's top extending into heaven. As God speaks to Jacob as he flees from his brother. Esau.

Our passage for today will be Genesis chapter 28, verses 10 through 22. So, the end of chapter 28, we're just. Plowing through in the Book of Genesis, making good time. But as we prepare our hearts to hear God's word, let's just remember where Jacob is, we'll do our context stuff before we read as opposed to what we often do which is remember it after.

Jacob has swindled his brother out of his Blessing and his Birthright, and his brother wants to kill him. Jacob has lied to his father to take the blessing. And to his father's credit. He seems to have understood that this was what God desired all along. And so he sends him off. Jacob is on his way from his homeland. To his uncle's house to go find a wife. He cannot marry a Canaanite woman.

But unlike, if we remember back? Isaac found a wife from Haran well. From this area … but it wasn't actually Isaac who went. if we think back, Abraham sent a servant. The servant went on behalf of Isaac. The servant went with a whole Entourage of camels and goods, and all of these things, and he went. And he found Rebecca, and then he came back to Isaac with Rebecca.

Jacob's Journey to haran is much different than the one his father didn't take. Jacob is by himself. There's no Entourage. He's fleeing from his brother, who wants to murder him. He doesn't have with him camels and gold. It seems he's fleeing in the cover of Darkness. And this is the context for what we read today.

Genesis 28:10–22 ESV

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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 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. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 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, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 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.”

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open our time together with the word of prayer.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for your goodness and your grace. We thank you that you are the God who calls us, who saves us who redeems who looks to us and because of the great love that you have, you would send your only begotten son. We thank you. For this precious gift, we thank you for the spirit at work within us, enlivening us, drawing us to repentance and salvation. Helping us to see clearly all that you are and all that you have done. May the spirit be a work within us. I ask this morning that as we open your word, you would speak to our hearts. May we be a people changed. By the power that is here. I ask this morning that you would speak through your servant. In Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Amen.

Jacob traveling from Beersheba - The place where his family had settled - to haran, the place where his uncle lived.

And he dreams an incredible dream. One with which God presents to him blessing and goodness and Grace, generosity, provision protection. All of this and more Jacob. Finishes the the circle if you will. One commentator says it this way, he says “in spite of Jacob's Behavior...” And we can acknowledge it has not been good up till now. “In spite of his behavior. He is a link in the chain.” He's a critical link. How important, well, from NOW, since he appears to Jacob here ,from NOW to honestly eternity. God will be known as the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Something profound here. Changes in Jacob's life. His whole life changes. From one who's seeking to grasp and take and trick and earn the blessing. To one where in some ways… he is the blessing. And he is the one blessed. And this whole story starts really. With a vision.

VISION

Jacob. Is on his way, and he's in the middle of nowhere. This is what we'll talk about in Grace group this week, but? Though, this place has a name, “LUZ”. It's just called “a place” verse 11. He came to a certain place, and he took one of the stones of the place, and he lay down in that place.

It's just a place... it's somewhere. Jacob is somewhere, and the point here is that somewhere could be anywhere. He's in the middle of nowhere. With nowhere to lay his head. He's on his way to find a wife, but first, before he finds a wife before he's able to continue this thought of Abraham will have many sons and they will grow into a nation... before Jacob is in a place where he can find a wife to continue that part. He doesn't get to find a wife till he finds God.

And even saying it that way is a little wrong. The way this story pans out, Jacob, doesn't find God. God finds Jacob. And he finds him as Jacob has this Vision.

Jacob laying there, his head on a pillow. Probably not getting rest. Hard to imagine your pillow being a rock promotes much REM sleep where he would have this dream, but dream he does.

In his dream, there's a ladder. Now, there's a lot of debates. That I am not the person to answer. What exactly is the nature of this ladder? Is it an actual ladder? Like, when we think of a ladder? Probably not. Because it's at least a two-lane ladder. Angels are ascending and descending upon this ladder. Some people make comment to ancient ziggurats. Right, pyramid-shaped buildings that had stairways going up But this one though reaches to heaven.

I think we're supposed to intentionally think back to the Tower of Babel if we were to go back in Genesis chapter 11 to the Tower of Babel, the people said. We're gonna build a tower. It's top stretching into the heavens so that we can. We can put ourselves, they were saying, in God's place.

Here in Jacob's dream God. Over the course of one dream builds a ladder from the earth to heaven. and upon this Stairway are angels. They're going up and down. They are God's workers, his helpers, his Messengers… These are all the words that angel means. And they are going up to heaven, taking the requests of God's people to him and coming down, performing the will of God here on Earth.

In this Vision, Jacob sees that God is working and in the midst here, even. In this place. Even this “PLACE”. God is here. Jacob knows this as we get to the end. “Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” he says in verse 16

Wait, wait! This place was God's place. This Vision speaks to Jacob and teaches him the truth of who God is. In particular, though to us, we would say, well, God's everywhere to Jacob. He is communicating, not just who God is, where God is.

He sees this ladder. That's a symbol of actual tangible, interacting Betweeen the God who created the Earth and his creation. There's Fellowship between God who is in heaven and his people here on Earth. It's a beautiful, wonderful Vision. Capped. Most important part of this Vision. Verse 13 and behold. The Lord. Stood above. A vision of a ladder. It's, it's based on Earth. It's top reaching into heaven with angels going up and down. It is not enough. Instead, this Vision reaches its climax. Its full, powerful, wonderful. Apex. As he looks up his eyes, you sort of imagine in this dreamlike state... he's there. And in his eyes, he opens his eyes. He sees a ladder. And his eyes are slowly drawn up and Angels up and down up and down, performing the work of God. And as Jacob's eyes get to the top, behold standing above it. He sees God.

Not just was God ordaining the works of man. With angels going up and down. God's presence... He's here. This Vision teaches Jacob that God is close. No matter where he goes, no matter where his head lays. God, is there? And so in this Vision. He sees God. And then he hears. A voice.

VOICE

It is the voice of God verse 13. Behold, the behold, the Lord stood above it, and the Lord said, I am the Lord.

Note here, at the very beginning I said that from this time forward, he'll be the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But here I am, the Lord, the god of Abraham, your father, and the god of Isaac.

The same God who came and made Covenant with Abraham, who promised him blessings land who promised him all of these things, the same God that watched over that provided for Isaac. The same God that he saw that Isaac saw it as he was meditating in the wilderness, the same God that Isaac went to when his wife was Barren, and couldn't have kids that same God. It's the same God is now meeting with Jacob.

That's who I am.

And we might expect. Honestly, we might even want. Right, our our Earthly sense of justice and rightness. We might want God to come and just lay the hammer down. Jacob you scoundrel. Maybe he corrects, you know, you've been doing things your way? You've been doing things the way you want. You've been tricking and lying. That needs to stop. You don't get that. He does not rebuke Jacob at all.

Instead of rebuking him instead of correcting him, God just now hits Jacob with blessing after blessing after blessing. He starts: “The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.”

This place. This certain place, it's yours. Your Offspring that you don't have any yet. You don't even have a wife yet, but your Offspring. Shall be like the dust of the earth. Remember, The promise that I gave to Abraham... because I'm the god of Abraham… well now I am Promising it to you, too, Jacob. Because I'm the god of Jacob.

You shall spread abroad to the West to the east to the north to the south.. We're here supposed to remember when God told Abraham, after lot had taken What lot thought was the choice portion, God comes to Abraham and says, Abraham. Look to the north, the south, the east, and the West. That's all yours.

Here the same promise. Your descendants shall spread to the west to the east to the north to the South. And in you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Land descendants blessing God is reiterating… it wasn't enough for Isaac to reiterate these blessings to Jacob here, God himself comes. Says, I am the Lord. I am Yahweh, God of Abraham, your father, the god of Isaac. I am the god of Jacob.

Verse 15, behold, I am with you and keep you wherever you go.

You may go to some unidentified certain place. God's there. He's with you. You may go to some powerful place. God's with you God's there any place you go. For the people, reading this as Moses would have been writing. This story is they're about to head into the promised land. They knew this keenly. They were down in Egypt. God heard the cries of his people God's with you wherever you go. Here they're on the precipice of entering into the promised land. Is God going to be in the promised land God's with you wherever you go?

For all of us. We need to hear this hear the voice of God. There is nowhere on Earth we can go to escape him. He is with us. Always. God promises this to you.

God continues: For, I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

God says, I will do this. We should note the one who's doing this. Six times. In this passage, God's the one who's doing the work?

He says, I am, he says. I will protect. I will return. I will not leave you. I have done this. I promised you. God is the one who's saying, I will do this. The God Who is the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who will be with you always is the one who will care for you is the one who will multiply you is the one who will bless you is the one who will bring you back. God will do it.

The voice of God says. I will do this.

We should note that This is the first personal encounter that we read of Jacob having with God.

We've read multiple times of Abraham meeting with God. God Covenanted with Abraham, Abraham in profound and incredible ways gets to interact with God. Abraham is there as God tears apart the the animals, except for the birds and then walks between the deceased carcasses making Covenant with Abraham.

Isaac has interacted. We've seen Isaac praying and going before the Lord on behalf of his wife.

We've even seen Rebecca, God coming in and giving a prophecy to Rebecca about the twins that are in her womb. This is the first time we read of Jacob. Now, interacting with God. And this is important because No longer is God, the god of his parents... Or some God that is distant or far away to him. He's now face to face with God.

God, is there and God is blessing.

I'm beating a dead horse here. I know… but this dead horse need to be beaten… he's repeating the blessing to Abraham because this is how the blessings flow from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. And it's not enough for Jacob to just hear it from whomever. He hears it from the very voice of God. I'm with you. I will keep you wherever you go. I will do this, God says.

So, Jacob awakes and he starts building.

BUILDING

He awoke and said, surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn't even know it.

The light bulb goes off for Jacob. Wait a second, even here. Even. In the in the dark of night in some random place in between home and where I'm heading, even there.. God is there. I didn't know it. How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God. This is the Gate of Heaven.

So early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it.

He consecrates this place.

Here's the realization Jacob has: God's here, even here. Even here, some certain place, even here in the middle of nowhere. This is the house of God. This is where he resides. This is where his angels go. This is where he has set up his footstool.

And Jacob begins to grasp at what scripture will then Proclaim that all of the Earth is God's footstool that all of this belongs to him that God is with us always.

So he sets up the pillar, what had now what had once been his pillow? Now becomes a pillar. Where he had once laid his head is now a reminder to him. God is here. Jacob is transformed as this place is transformed.

This story is filled with with the transforming power of God. A pillow. Becomes a pillar.… A certain place is now the house of God.… That's what Bethel means BETH - house, El - God, House of God.... A man running away trying to get lost Is now a man finding God... The god of his parents. It's now the god of Jacob.

Jacob iss transformed. This place is transformed. All by the power of God.

He's filled with awe and wonder. Surely God's here. Jacob knows this is not just some weird dream. He has experienced the goodness, the provision, the protection, and the promise of God.

He's filled with on wonder and worship. And then, for me, the most difficult part of this story. Because I'll be honest. This is a hard one to know exactly what's going on here. And I picked out a word at the beginning of the week. And I liked it. And it matches. It starts with a B, so I like the flow two V's two B's. Then they got to like the middle of the week, and I hated it. And then I got to the end of the week. It's better....

This is where I've landed. It's not perfect, but it gets the point across, so we're going to stick with it. The story ends with Bartering.

BARTERING

Jacob. Makes a deal with God.... Kind of.... At the end of the day the question is, how much credit do we want to give to Jacob?

And where I've landed is he doesn't deserve much, but I want to give him more... Does that make sense?

It's one of those. Maybe, as parents, we can recognize this sort of situation. We see good in our kids. We see growth and maturity, and we want to see that. But we've also seen this before, and we've seen the three steps forward four steps back sort of situation before.

So we wil keep the word bartering, but give to Jacob some benefit of the doubt… It's bartering because as Jacob makes a vow it's not a vow, like God, I promised to do this because it starts with an “if”.

So, it's maybe not the traditional Vow of like, I promise to worship you… I promise this or that… It starts with an “if” verse 20: If God will be with me. And if he will give me bread to eat. And if I come again to my father's house… IF… THEN...

Then you shall be my God. So, when I first read this and there's commentaries that agree here, like this? Jacob's still trying to like control and and be sort of sovereign over this situation. Okay, God, I got you. This is what's going to happen. If you do this, this and this? And so it feels maybe a little disingenuous.

But he makes some pretty big promises. The Lord shall be my God. This stone will be God's house, he says. And I will tithe of everything.

It's like, well, if… then, okay, this is bartering. I liked it,

But then as I, I read some more. I'm, like, well, you know? He follows through.... When we hear with a lot of people like making a deal with God is like God, if you deliver me, I'll serve you forever, and God delivers them. And then they don't serve God, right? We see that all the time.

Jacob.… he follows through… God is the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So he shall be Jacob's God. He does tithe, he he goes through with this.

And so this is where I've landed. I'll thank again one of my commentaries here.… honestly I leaned heavily on commentaries this week because In a lot of ways, the “easy” stories quote unquote are the hardest ones. We know them so much its easy to miss the point...

but here is what they said, It's not so much that Jacob is striking a deal with God because… ultimately God's the one that Jacob is striking a deal with.

And so the “ifs” Of God. Should be viewed as “since"s. In other words, with God there is no “if”

God will do what he promised. Okay, God? Well, if you're gonna keep me well, God's going to keep him. So, instead of reading, if you keep me, we could read it “since you have kept me”. Because the promises of God are sure. It's not. Well, if God will give me bread, no God has promised. So God will give me bread, and so he will be my God.

It isn’t Well, if I come back, God has promised.. so you will come back. You'll be blessed. You'll be multiplied. We can go back. This is what God promised. It is sure to happen.

He who calls you is faithful. HE Will surely Do it.

So, yes, Jacob comes, and he makes vows, and he's sort of bartering with God, but because it's God, he's bartering with, the outcome is secure.

And so this is really the point. The promises of God Are sure.

More sure. Then knowing that the sun will rise tomorrow is this: God's promises will be true. More sure than I will wake up tomorrow is this: the promises of God remain forever. More sure than anything. In all of Heaven and Earth is this: the promises of God will come true!

And so, for us to come and make a deal with God, he will always hold up his end of the bargain… and show Grace to. When we fail. To hold up ours.

Jacob will not be perfect. Here he has his vision. We might think, man, from this, you have a vision you dream this dream. There's no way you struggle with doubt and difficulty for the rest of your life. Well, turns out this Vision's not be good enough. God's going to have to come down? And wrestle with him. Dislocate his hips so he walks with a limp for the rest of his life. So that he can get the point.

But don’t just write him off because he's starting to get the point, the promises of God still are sure.

And so this Vision that he sees the voice of God that he hears this, this pillar that he builds. And this deal that he strikes with God… the point is not lkook how awesome Jacob is, it is that we should see that God's the one working God's the one, saving God's the one ordaining.

Jacob's going to need to learn to trust in this God?

But this is a pretty good foundation.

Here, he slept. In the house of God.… There's more to that picture. And we could mine this for all that it's worth. If he's asleep in the house of God, he's there under God's provision and protection. To be in God's house is to be under his care and oversight. To be visiting God in his house means God's the one who will provide every meal every. Moment of your life will be. Cared for by God. He will Comfort. He's the god of Abraham. God of Isaac. God of Jacob.

The he is our God!

Let's pray.

Communion:

John 1