Gen 28
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Headlines
Prayer
All right! So good to be back in our journey in the book of beginnings, Genesis. Last week we saw the heartbreaking story of meddling parents and deception in the lives of Jacob and Esau to the point that Esau wanted to kill Jacob.
The story ended last week with Rebecca sending Jacob some 400 miles east back to her brother Laban to allow Esau to cool down and potentially for Jacob to find a wife from Rebecca’s brother, Laban’s daughters.
If you are familiar with the story you know the intrigue is just beginning so lets stand as we read from Gods word.
1 So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
2 “Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3 “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.
4 “May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.”
5 Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,”
7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.
8 So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac;
9 and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth.
So as a result of what had happened in chapter 27, Jacob is now sent by his father Isaac to go to his mother Rebecca’s family to find a wife. Keep in mind we are not talking about a man in his 20’s, here Jacob is nearly 80 years old.
Esau on the other hand seeing Isaac send off Jacob to get a wife from within their family realizes that his first choices of wives, the daughters of Heth, were not pleasing to his parents. You see, Esau was a man of the flesh, dead to the things of the spirit. We all know people like this. The things of God don’t matter even a little bit.
Some of us were like that once. But now, Jesus Christ and His Word are the most important things in our lives.
So now Jacob begins his journey.
10 Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.
Map - Jacobs journey to Haran
This is no short trip. It is estimated to be 500 miles. Notice he starts from the far south in Beersheba. It would be like walking from Murrieta to San Francisco.
So here in verse 11 Jacob stops along the way to rest for the night. The verse calls it a “certain place.” A nondescript seemingly unimportant place on a map or in time. We have all had these moments in time when something outside the ordinary happens to us.
So our verse says that Jacob took a stone used it as a pillow and went to sleep.
If it is true that a clear conscience makes a soft pillow, it is appropriate that Jacob slept on a pillow of rocks, for, after cheating Esau out of his birthright and blessing, Jacob’s conscience was anything but clear.
The idea of stones and rocks has many of meanings in the scriptures.
David often refers to God as our Rock.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Jesus is called the stone.
22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief corner stone.
A stone was used to seal Jesus’ tomb.
We are called living stones;
1 Peter 2:4–9 (NASB95)
4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For this is contained in Scripture:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
“The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the very corner stone,”
8 and,
“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;
for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Stones were used for capital punishment.
27 ‘Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.’ ”
Regarding the rock, Paul very interestingly says;
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
So I find it interesting that in a certain place Jacob chose a “certain stone” to rest his head on and there God met him.
You never know when you will have one of those moments. What seems to be coincidental is really the direction of the Holy Spirit.
9 The mind of man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.
So here Jacob on his own has travelled some 30 miles to place in the wilderness, a rocky place. He doesn’t know anyone or anything about his destination, except what he has been told. There is no navigation or map just some very general directions. He is running from something, his brother who wants to kill him, and to something, a wife and a future who he has never met or been.
Consider, How much courage it took to live in those days!
12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
In Jacobs dream he sees a ladder stretching up to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it, and with YHWH at the top.
Jesus referenced this vision in His conversation with Nathanael.
43 The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.
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 any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to 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 and said to 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 and said to him, “Because I said to you that 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 the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Video- Nathaniel meets Jesus/The Chosen /Season 2, 2:22
Here of course Jesus is saying I am the Ladder. Jesus is the Way, there is no stairway to Heaven. There was a Christian artist named Roby Duke who wrote a song, “There is no stairway to heaven only a bridge divine.”
So here Jacob, is envisioning the Gospel message itself.
Genesis 28:13–16 (NASB95)
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.
14 “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants 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.”
So here in the dream YHWH gives the Abrahamic blessing to Jacob, promising the land of Israel to His descendants, and that He would bring Jacob back from Haran to fulfill His promise.
Jacob then awakens a changed man. This being his first encounter with the Living God. He exclaims;
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) (Genesis 28:16)
“God is here, and I didn’t know it.” Why wouldn’t Jacob know this? Because of his circumstances. He knew he was nothing but a conniver, hiding out in a seemingly God-forsaken, rocky region.That may be your story today. You may feel like you’re stuck in a rocky situation, a rocky marriage, rocky finances, or on a rocky road. But God would say to you tonight, “I’m with you in this place—even though you may not know it.”What can separate us from the love of God? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (Romans 8:38, 39).Why? Because there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). There is no separation because there is no condemnation. Why is there no condemnation? Because Jesus Christ, our Hero, our Lord took all of the stuff that would separate us from the Father—the stuff we did last year, the stuff we’re doing today, the stuff we’ll do tomorrow—and paid for it all.If you find yourself in a rocky situation, you have a choice: You can either say, “God is nowhere”—or, like Jacob, you can look at your surroundings with new eyes and say, “God is now here.” On what basis? On the basis of grace.
Someone listening tonight may be feeling the same way. God has His own ways of touching us and when He does you know it. Sometimes its through a miracle, a healing, a financial blessing, a specific word of knowledge given to you. Its always very personal, so personal you just know it is God.
Like Jacob, we are not always in tune with Gods spirit and we have no expectation of His presence but we must begin to expect His presence and then wait on Him to show up. He will!
Learn to listen for His voice and learn to watch Him move in the world and people around you.
Jacob then exclaims;
Genesis 28:17 (NASB95)
17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome (dreadful/fearful) is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
This is how most of us react but the place has not changed only our awareness of His Presence has changed.
18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.
19 He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.
So he takes that very stone pillow and makes an altar and calls the name of the place, Bethel, meaning House of God. Beth (house) El (God). The very place that was named Luz, which means Separation, has name become the House of God.
Jacob now makes a vow to God as a result of this vision;
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear,
21 and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.
22 “This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
So here Jacobs vows, but its important that we understand what is meant by the word “if.” We can understand this in what is called the indicative case, reality, or the subjunctive case, case of possibility. So here Jacobs vow is from the case of reality or “since” God will be with me… He will be my God. As opposed to on the chance that God will be with me I will then be with Him.
So for us let us, like Jacob, see with the eyes of faith believing the promises of God.
Prayer