As we ended the last chapter, a decision was made by Rebekah to send Jacob to Padan Aram, where her brother lived to escape the wrath of Esau as well as find a suitable life partner. Let’s look at chapter 28 where Jacob comes to know God and is saved. In next few chapters, we are going to learn about Jacob. How he was saved, how he was sanctified, how he wrestled with God & was blessed.
Then 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 Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.3 “May God Almighty bless you,And make you fruitful and multiply you,That you may be an assembly of peoples;4 And give you the blessing of Abraham,To you and your descendants with you,That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger,Which God gave to Abraham.”5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Rebekah convinced Issac quickly who was shaken by the events of the last chapter. He finally comes to a realization that he will not be able to undo God”s purpose. Issac now repeated the blessing from the previous chapter but in words much more like those he had received from God. He specifically gave Jacob the blessing of Abraham. Please make a note here, Abraham sent his servant to find a bride for Issac but here Issac sends Jacob to find his own bride. I am not going into detail here as I want to concentrate on msg of Jacob’s salvation. If you choose to you can read Philippians 2 : 12 for further study on this topic.
6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, 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 Padan Aram. 8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
In last the chapter we learned Rebekah & Issac were not happy with Esau’s wives . Realizing his choice had upset Issac, Esau takes a daughter of Ishmael hoping to rectify the situation.This was rather pathetic attempt. Esau was spiritually blind about the issue of appropriate wife; but now he is trying to regain the favor of his parents & God. In any case, this action of Esau”s part probably does indicate, he realized his trouble were not all of Jacob’s doing. How many times we act in similar fashion? Like Esau, we try to fix the situation carnally rather than come to God with repentance and open heart. How many times we blame others or situations for problems in our life-like Esau instead of recognize our own lack of faith and relationship with God. Many of you reading are Christians and some of you might even be born again Christians and you profess your faith but how do you deal with adversity that comes in your way? Do you deal with it in spirit or are you still tackling issues in your life in the flesh. Are you still trying solve problems on your own like Esau or are you getting down on your knees and seeking God’s guidance? Please examine your faith and make the correction if needed.
10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall 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 spoken to you.”
As far as we know, Jacob spent most of his life in the family home in Beersheba. It was about 500 miles to Haran and he was traveling alone. This certain place he came to is Luz, which means separation as we will learn later in a chapter. It is at this point Jacob has a remarkable encounter with God, not when Jacob was trying to be good but when he was running away. It is often in our worst circumstances, when we have totally acted faithlessly that God comes and knocks on our door. This place is very close to where Abram build an altar to God when he disobeyed God and went to Egypt. It was on this same road ( probably) that Saul became Paul. Jacob was running from persecution, Saul was running to persecute. Both men met Jesus on their journey and they were not the same anymore. Are you running from God? Like Jacob, have you cheated your brother? Have you deceived your father to gain an advantage? Like Saul, are you going around persecuting God’s people? Like Paul, you might be a leader in church but like Saul, you are following a law of church & rituals then on your journey Jesus will come knocking like it did for Jacob & Saul.
Jacob had known God and believed God’s promises all his life. There is no doubt he worshipped the Lord. How ever God had never spoken to him as he had to Abraham & Issac but that was about to change as Jacob slept on the stone. God would appear to him for the first time and this was first of about eight which Jacob would experience during his life time. Notice the order here and again in John 1 when Jesus refers to this story, the order is angels ascending & descending which means angels roam the earth. We tend to think of angels as being in heaven. But angels hang out on earth as ministering spirits ( Hebrew 1:14) . At the top of the ladder Jacobs sees Lord. In John 1:50 Jesus tells Nathanael that He is the ladder between Heaven and earth. Jesus is the ladder which takes us to father in heaven. Jesus said, no one can come to father but through me. In verse 14 , God repeats the promise given to Abraham. The first thing God promised Jacob was his presence. Secondly, he promised him His protection. thirdly, God promised him preservation that he would return to promised land. Finally, He promised He would complete the work He had begun. what a glorious promise. Paul tells us in Philippians 1: 6 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. This is a promise of God. You might be struggling in your walk with Jesus. You might even have stumbled, you might have been disobedient but be confident Paul says, God will finish the work that he has started in you, just have faith.
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!”
How many of us come to the same realization as Jacob. Please take a note, Jacob admits that Lord was always around it is just he did not notice. Many of us are so much like Jacob that we do not see how God is working in our lives because like Jacob we are stuck in our circumstances. You might be in bad marriage, bad financial situation, bad job. But God would say to you tonight ” I am with you in this place even though you may not know it” If you find your self in middle of nowhere like Jacob, you have a choice: instead of saying God is NOWHERE, like Jacob you can look at your situation and say God is NOW HERE.
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
How do you know a person is truly converted? First, conversion of heart leads to worship. the heart of true believer will look for a way to express his love and gratitude to his savior. Examine your self, if you say you have accepted a christ but you don’t have heart for worship, if you do not attend worship service, if you do not find a place where you can join bible study or prayer group then I question your conversion. If you truly love God, you want to spend time with him, learning his scriptures, praying, spending time with other believers encouraging them and finding encouragement from them.Jacob worships God and builds a monument for him.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel;[a] but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
Now the place which was called Luz meaning separation, he calls it Bethel meaning “HOUSE OF GOD” Jacob was separated from God but now he is in-house of God.Have you moved from Luz to Bethel? What is stopping you? The psalmist says Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.
For a moment, it seems like Jacob is back to his old tricks making deal with God but that’s not what he is saying here. He is actually speaking out of faith. Now that God is with me and he is going to provide my needs, I will be able to come back to my father’s home.
22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
James tells us faith without works is dead. The second sign of true conversion is seen in one’s work. One of the most practical ways a person shows his faith is by giving tithes. All of us need to understand a tenth of whatever we make belongs to God. Please do not misunderstand me and do not fall prey to churches & preachers who tell you that you must secure your salvation by giving. Our salvation is not through works but by Grace. Please don’t confuse giving with Tithing, many people give/donate. Even those who are not Christian do many charitable works but that does not mean they are saved. Tithing is a sign of obedience and many Christians fail in this aspect.
Jacob found his salvation on road to Haran. His walk changed as we will see in next chapter. Are you BORN AGAIN? if so remember this three letters WWW. Do you have a heart of WORSHIP? Has your WALK changed? Do you have WORKS? If you lacking in any of these, get on your knees, ask God for forgiveness and commit yourself to a new relationship with God where you walking with him, worshipping him & doing his works. Amen
only savior jesus 