Jacob's Ladder, God's Pathway To Heaven

2024.07.28.Sermon Notes.Jacob’s Ladder and GOD’s Pathway to Heaven

William Akehurst, HSWC

BIG IDEA 1: How would you respond to GOD’s Blessing and Promise to be with you and complete what HE has begun in you? While many of us would say, So Be It LORD, Jacob answered another way. Genesis 28:1-22

SCRIPTURES: Philippians 1:6, Genesis 27:41-46, Genesis 28:1-22, John 1:51, John 14:6, Matthew 28:20, Joshua 1:9

KEY VERSE: Philippians 1:6 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;

BIG IDEA 2: Genesis 28 – Jacob’s Ladder is JESUS CHRIST, the WAY to the FATHER. GOD Blesses Jacob with HIS Promises, but Jacob’s response is apparently less than spiritual, and seemingly cautious in trusting the ALL SUFFICIENT ONE.

Recap. Jacob’s escape from Esau. A GOD Send…

Genesis 27:41-46 (NKJV)

41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice: arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 And stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away, 45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day?”

46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

ISAAC’S INSTRUCTIONS TO JACOB

Genesis 28:1-22 (NKJV)

1 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.

1-2 Isaac finally comes in alignment with the LORD’s Will that the older Esau would serve the younger Jacob, as Jacob had received the birthright. So he blesses Jacob and gives him instructions, charging him. Do not take a wife from the Canaanites, but rather from Uncle Laban.

Esau had taken wives from the daughters of Canaan, from the sons of Heth, and this displeased Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob was the one to inherit the birthright and from his descendants would come the Messiah.

THE TRANSFERENCE OF ABRAHAM’S BLESSING

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.”

3-5 MAY GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS YOU. El Shaddai in Hebrew. The All Sufficient One. The King of the Universe.

AND GIVE YOU THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM. The specific covenant blessing GOD gave to Abraham.

This was the birthright despised by Esau who gave it to Jacob. Jacob was the one to carry on GOD’s promise to Abraham. To inherit the land, to be a nation of people, and to receive the blessing of Abraham to be passed on for generations to come.

Jacob was not worthy of the blessing. The entire family acted in an unspiritual manner.

Isaac offering the blessing for food.

Esau giving the birthright for food.

Rebekah’s deception of Isaac

Jacob’s deception of his aging, near blind father.

But GOD showed HIS Sovereignty, Mercy and Grace through this family.

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.

5-ISAAC SENT JACOB AWAY. Jacob would travel to his mother’s home land. He would not see his father for another 20 years. And would never see his mother Rebekah alive again.

ESAU MARRIES MAHALATH, DAUGHTER OF UNCLE ISHMAEL

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.