Your Name Shall be Israel
Notes
Transcript
Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.
3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,
7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.
9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.
11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.
12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Why the altar?
Why was it built? To remember. Out of thankfulness. Because God said so (obedience). It is noteworthy that another one will not be built until Moses some 400+ years later.
Why was it used? Consecration is a word used in conjunction with the altar. Worship always happened there. Surrender was understood. Worship of God cannot happen if surrender of self doesn't precede it.
Why do we call this area ‘the altar’? We surrender here. We lay down things we don't need to be carrying.
There is an ‘altar of the heart’. Obviously there is no magical place for this to happen. There used to be. Incense was burned there twice daily. It was to be a sweet smell going up to the Lord. The prayers of the saints are to be the same.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
God again proves His faithfulness toward Jacob.
A terror from the Lord fell on the neighboring people. As He leads and as we are obedient to His leadership, He goes before us. He goes behind us. He hems us in.
As we deepen our relationship with Hope Station and as we reach into our community with the Gospel and as we grow real relationships with real people and as we invest in the lives of families He is leading us.
The benefit or blessing of obedience (there is always blessing associated with obedience) is: He is hemming us in. Which helps us realize the protection He offers. Which keeps the enemy at bay. Which just furthers our ability to hear and understand and obey His leading. What a great perpetual circle. The more God is glorified in me the more I am satisfied in Him. And the more I am satisfied in Him, the more He is able to be glorified in me.
Our obedience, God’s work, our obedience.
The call for consecration (cleaning up) in this story is in response to the sons of Jacob slaughtering the Shechemites as well as the presence of foreign gods.
The pattern: Consecrecration in the OT always involved Jews. WIMI gentiles were never called to consecrate. They were called to repent.
So consecration is an act of those who belong to God. It is not the method of coming to belong to God.
CIP : Jesus’ healing of the man of the Gadarenes/Gerasenes was an encounter with a gentile. But also a man who lived among tombs, cut himself and lived with unclean animals. All sins according to Jewish law. This is followed by the healing of the woman with the issue of blood who was also unclean according to Jewish law. The point is, He didn't require them to clean up BEFORE He worked in their lives, but they were clean after!
So consecration is an act for us. We belong to God. As He moves us to the next season of who we are as a church or the next season for your family. We should always be mindful of staying clean before Him and of making sure we are not holding onto idols (foreign gods). Be holy for I am Holy /Lev/Exo
We cant be holy unless we surrender to Him who makes us holy.
Why the altar?