Encounter God (Gen 35:1-5)

1. 도입

Hey guys~ Let me ask this question now.

When did you encounter God first in your life? Or when was the time when you met God most deeply?

Your answer will be all different.

In today’s story, Jacob appears again.

The time when Jacob encountered God personally and deeply for the first time was when he was fleeing from Esau, not in today’s text but in Genesis 28.

On his way to his uncle Laban to avoid Esau’s revenge, He met God deeply at a place.

So he named the place Bethel which means the house of God. <PPT>

The word Bethel occurs many times in today’s text. For Jacob, Bethel is very important place. It’s the place where God appeared to Jacob and met with him.

The time of today’s text is more than 30 years after the time when Jacob met God first at Bethel.

After that, many events happened in Jacob’s life. There were a lot of distresses. But Jacob could bear them with the help of God.

Then one day, God speaks to Jacob.

2. 본문 설명

1) 하나님이 야곱에게 말씀하심

<< Gen 35:1

벧엘로 올라가라 Go up to Bethel! <PPT>

거기서 제단을 쌓으라 Build an alter there to God! <PPT>

2) 야곱이 가족들에게 말함

벧엘로 올라가자! 거기서 제단을 쌓을 것이다!

<< Gen 35:3

3. 추가 설명

1) 벧엘은 어떤 곳? <PPT>

- God ordered Jacob to go up to Bethel. And Jacob is about to go to Bethel.

- What kind of place is Bethel?

- As I mentioned a while ago, Bethel is the place where God appeared to Jacob, and where Jacob met God deeply.

- So, for Jacob, Bethel is the place or the word that reminds him of God or the experience of God.

나의 이야기 My story

Most of Christians have images like Bethel.

For me, the number 22 and the word Military are things like those. <PPT>

In my life, I met God especially deeply twice. When I was 22 and when I was in military.

Although I believed in Jesus before that, the experience of God at those two times were especially deep.

The common feature of the two experiences is that I was having hard time.

When I was 22, I was troubled becaused of the anony of future. And in the military, I hurt my lower back. It was severe, so I felt down and depressed.

But, at those points, I encountered God personally and deeply. It was really special and sweet, so the experiences in those times are still influetial to my spiritual life even now.

So, for me, those times are like Bethel. 22 & military

For Jacob, Bethel was the place like that. The place where God appeared and spoked to him, the place where he experienced a deep fellowship with God.

Now the God is saying to Jocob to go there and to build an alter for God.

2) 제단을 쌓는다? <PPT>

EX: 그림 보여주기 <PPT>

It means to worship God.

What is the God who Jacob was about to worship like?

3) 야곱이 만난 하나님은? 야곱이 고백하는 하나님? <PPT>

<< Gen 35:1 도망하던 때에 나타나셨던 하나님

<< Gen 35:3 힘들 때 응답하셨고, 야곱이 어디를 가든지 그와 함께 하셨던 하나님

!! For Jacob, God is a God who appeared to him and met him and answers him especially in distress and is with him wherever he is.

This is the God who Jacob confesses.

4. 본문 설명 2

1) 벧엘에 도착해서 예배드림 <PPT>

<< Gen 35:6-7

- How would Jacob feel when he worshipped God again there?

- Jacob would recall the encounter with God and the situation thirty years ago.

- Also, his previous whole life would flash before his eyes, worshipping God there.

- When Jacob encountered God first thirty years ago, Jacob was a hopeless runaway.

- He was a person who suffered from a lot of harships. His life was a series of deceiving and being deceived.

- He suffered from labor exploitation by his uncle Laban for 20 years.

- Being deceived by the uncle, Jacob had to marry a woman who he did not love.

- All these were the results of the sins he committed.

- However, gratefully, God was still with him and made him overcome the difficulties. In addition, he got many blessings from God.

- EX: He had many children, many properties, many wifes (?).

- And with the grace of God, he made up with his brother Esau.

- After thirty years, worshipping God at the same place, Jacob would give thanks to God about the grace he received.

- At the same time, Jacob would desire for the grace, the deep encounter with God, again.

2) 다시 나타나신 하나님 <PPT>

When Jacob worshipped God, God appeared to him again.

<< Gen 35:9

And God blessed him and spoke to him

God spoke to him of three things: (1) a new name; (2) a nation and a community of nations; (3) a land

We know that all of the words of God were fulfilled actually.

After talking with him, God went up from him.

3) 야곱의 반 응 <PPT>

Through this experience where God appeared to him again, Jacob’s faith in God was restored again.

<< Gen 35:14-15

This action is the expression of Jacob’s faith in God. His confession of Bethel means that he met God again in the house of God.

No longer was Jacob a swindler like his name. God gave him a new name, Israel, a glorious and most popular name.

5. 적용

1) 벧엘의 경험이 있는가? Do you have the experience of Bethel? <PPT>

Do you have the experience where God appeared to you and met you and spoke to you?

I am not saying that you should literally see God with your eyes and hear God’s real voice with your ears.

I am asking of whether you have experenced God personally and deeply to the point that you cannot deny that God exists and that God is present with you.

This is a kind of experience where you fully feel God’s love for you. And sometimes, you feel like God is speaking to you personally through the Bible, sermon messages, or the Holy Spirit. The message is so clear that you cannot deny that it is God’s personal message toward you.

This is a very personal, deep, and sweet experience that only you and God know. <PPT>

>> If you don’t have this experience, long for this! Pray for this!

Without this experience of Bethel, you cannot overcome by faith the difficulties you will face in your life.

Through this personal, deep and sweet experience, God becomes your God, not the God of your parents, your teachers, nor your pastor.

>> If you have this experience, long for that encounter with God to happen again just as God appeared to Jacob again in today’s text.

Return to that time when you enjoyed the sweet fellowship with God. It’s possible

EX: A few months ago, I was in a kind of spiritual depression.

I felt down. I was not pleased to read the Bible nor to pray to God. What matters is that my relationship with God was not close. My heart was like a cold ice. My heart was chilly to God.

By the way, when I was reading Genesis 35 at that time, the part that God appeared to Jacob “again” was touching my heart.

So, an eager desire for this kind of experience in this text arose in my heart, so I knelt down to pray to God at the place. I prayed earnestly. Grateful, at the place, I experienced very sweet and glorious grace that is indescribable.

We can experience again the best grace we experienced in the past, if we desire and pray for it.

2) Our God is like this.

Our God is a God who appears to us and meet us.

Our God is a God who answers us especially in our distresses.

Our God is a God who is with us and speaking to us.

>> Long for this God and worship this God

3) Especially, the text says that we must worship this God. <PPT>

Building an altar means to worship God.

Through worship, we can experience God and hear God’s voice.

Unless you can experience this through worship service, it is much harder to experience it in life.

>> So, desire to meet God in worship time!

- Especially, I am praying for the summer retreat!

- I am not sure of the detail. But we will proceed in a safe way as much as possible.

- It is very important to encounter God deeply through the times like retreat when you are young.

>> Use all opportunities including sunday service, prayer time, and retreat to encounter God.

>> For that, build your altar of worship, altar of prayer!

6. 결론

We all need this experience of Bethel. We must experience God.

The one who have this experience seeks God again because they know the sweetness.

I bless that God may appear to you guys and you may encounter God.

“meet God personally and deeply” “Encounter God” “God will appear to you”

한사람 한사람 이름 불러가면서!