GREATER THINGS THAN THESE
Genesis 28:10-22
WHO WAS JACOB?
Verses 10-11
Was he a traveling salesman?...why was he going from Beer-sheba to Haran?
1.He was looking for a wife. He was told by his father not to take a wife from the Canaanite people, so he had to go north to Padan-aram.
2.Secondly, he was running. He had deceived his father; which I am sure, despite the blessing by Isaac; was not fully resolved. I mean …. Can we really believe that Jacob was not thinking about the effects of deceiving his father and all that was associated with that?
And he had, through trickery, subverted his brother’s birthright and blessing (27:35-36). He had been told by his mother that Esau his brother, was going to make himself feel better by killing Jacob. …. And that he should make himself scarce for awhile until Esau forgets what he had done to him (27:42, 45).
APPLICATION: Anyway, Jacob was no traveling salesman, but had some real issues in life just like we do. Just within his family, we see what can happen when his father Isaac favors one child and his mother Rebekah favors another. Both Jacob and Esau were affected for the rest of their lives because of the way their parents raised them. Rebekah actually plotted against her husband to secure better things for her son. (Now, I know that this is unheard of….) In fact, these historical stories of real-life people help us look at the similarities between them and ourselves.
TRANSITION: Just so you’re aware, I used some of the following from some notes I had from one of John MacArthur’s sermons. He asked the question: What kind of people does God use? Just stained-glass saints? Just about anything that is in our world, we have to qualify for (jobs, a NASCAR race, a driver’s license). So what kind of people does it take to qualify for God’s work? The answer is: Nobody is qualified. ….God uses the unqualified! Look at some of the people that God uses the people in the Bible………….Noah was drunk and naked; Abraham laughed at God’s plans, lied about his wife, and committed adultery; Jacob extorted the birthright from Esau, deceived his father; Moses was a murderer; Aaron led the people in idolatry and orgy; Gideon who had no confidence in himself or God’s power; David married every women he liked, an adulteress; Timothy who was ashamed of Jesus…..but God used them all and more. They all had problems and they all had sins.
APPLICATION: In John 1:43-47, we find a man named Nathanael. Bartholomew was his Hebrew surname meaning “son of Tolmai.” Nathanael means “God has given.” Nathanael “was as a student of Scripture and a searcher for the true knowledge of God; although he had strong spiritual interests and had been faithful, diligent, and honest in his devotion to the Word of God; he was human. He had certain prejudices. In his saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he revealed sin in his life. Nathanael, one of Jesus’ disciples! “Here again we see that God takes pleasure in using the common, weak, and lowly things of this world to confound the wise and powerful (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:27). He even calls people from the most despised locations. He can also take a flawed person who is blinded by prejudice, and He can change that person into someone used to transform the world. In the end the only explanation is the power of God, so all the glory goes to Him.”
BUT “The most important aspect of Nathanael’s character is expressed from the lips of Jesus. Jesus knew Nathanael already. So His first words upon seeing Nathanael were a powerful commendation of Nathanael’s character. Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” (or guile, KJV) (John 1:47).
Can you imagine a more wonderful thing than to have words of approval like that come out of the mouth of Jesus? Jesus did not mean that Nathanael was sinless, but he did mean that Nathanael earnestly wanted to know God and live for Him. He was going to make mistakes, but in God’s presence, he would do everything possible to walk with God. Remember, this is not the case with everyone! His friend Philip had not grasped this truth yet! Two years later, in the upper room, Philip says, “Show us the Father” (John 14:8–9). You see, “what Philip didn’t get until the end, his friend Nathanael understood at the very start.” So ask yourself, “Do you qualify among the unqualified?” Do you have purpose in doing what your Creator has called you to do? Do you know who He is?
So we know Jacob, Nathanael, and how we are like them, and in similar situations like them. It says in verse 11, that he took some stones and made a pillow.
A MYSERIOUS LADDER AND A PROMISE
VERSES 12-15
I will not skip over the meaning of the ladder in this dream; but first I want to talk about God. Because above the ladder is the LORD. In the passage we find two words that are used of God in the Hebrew language…éÀäåÄä and àÁìÉäÄéí .
Many have thought that this is a stairway instead of a ladder, I think mostly because a ladder would need to have something to lean on and because it went into the heavens, it is supposed that it was a stairwell. Anyway, the ladder reaches into the heavens and the bottom is at the earth; Hebrew àÆøÆõ meaning land. God identifies himself as the God of Abraham and Jacob’s father Isaac, and then he reaffirms the covenant He had made with them.
If you will notice, if verse 13,14, and 15; He promises land; a multiplied seed (huge family); and most of all God’s personal presence.
Wiersbe said, “Visions apart from the Word of God can be deceiving, so God spoke to Jacob to assure him. A person is not saved by angels or visions; he is saved by faith in God’s Word.”
So, what about these promises:
THE LAND (v.13): was the first promise given to Abraham (13:14ff) and was reaffirmed to Isaac (26:1–5). The Holy Land belongs to the Jews, even though they did not possess all of it. Obadiah says, “But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Which brings me to a question: What does the land promise really mean? I think it means that…. in Christ, immaterial things are materialized. In other words, God’s promise was not some pie-in-the-sky thing….that had no substance. The land promise is the things that Obadiah says it is: deliverance, holiness, and possession.
A MULTIPLIED SEED (v.14) seems to mean that Jacob would have a wife after-all, otherwise he could not have descendants that God promised. (see also 13:16 and 22:17). Balaam later said in Numbers 23:10, “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? because of the great numbers of them. …. and God was not finished yet!
Finally, in verse 15; GOD’S VERY PRESENCE : God had a plan for Jacob’s life, despite who Jacob was; and God would see to it that His plan was fulfilled. And God has a plan for you in Christ Jesus! Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” and Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Here is where we see another truth: “goodness” is strongly related to being conformed to the image of Jesus! And just like the hard years that Jacob had ahead of him in reaping the consequences of his sins, so we reap the same. But also with an enormous benefit! God is with us to protect us and bless us, just as he protected and blessed Jacob.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Jacob gives us his own commentary on what the ladder is: he says it is none other than the house of God and gate of heaven. He was awe-struck about what he had seen. Paul could identify with Jacob’s condition when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:7: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” Certainly, Paul would not boast before the Lord! Matthew Henry says, “The more we see of God the more cause we see for holy trembling and blushing before him. Those to whom God is pleased to manifest himself are thereby laid, and kept, very low in their own eyes, and see cause to fear even the Lord and his goodness,” Jacob said, “How dreadful is this place!” “The appearance of God in this place is never to be thought of, but with a holy awe and reverence.” In fact, it was so important to Jacob, that he later erected a memorial and called the place where he was at Bethel….or ‘the place of God.’
Not only was Jacob in a condition of dread, and respect; but he also said in verse 16; “Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not.” It was not that God’s omnipresence was unknown to him; but that God should be there out in the middle of nowhere! That god should be out in the middle of the desert! And that finally, God should be with him of all people! God was not in a place of worship, near to his father’s home, but God was with him!
TRANSITION: When God promised Jacob in verse 15 that “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest….” He emphasized one of the greatest themes in Genesis: that God is faithful to His people, despite their unfaithfulness. This theme is further supported by what I want to conclude with today! You see, the ladder in Jacob’s dream means more than what Jacob seemed to say about it.
ASCENDING AND DESCENDING
The ladder is a connection between heaven and earth; or God and his people. It represents the blessings of God descending from heaven. It illustrates angels…..or ministering spirits, messengers and ambassadors. And some even say, that the ladder “symbolizes Jesus Christ. Jacob is a perfect picture of the lost soul—in the darkness, fleeing for his life, away from the father’s house, burdened with sin, and ignorant of the fact that God is near him and wants to save him. The ladder pictures Christ as the only way from earth to heaven. He opens heaven for us and brings heaven’s blessings to our lives. And He alone can take us to heaven. Jacob thought he was in a lonely wilderness and awakened to discover he had been at the very gate of heaven!”
But to help understand the ladder even better, let’s turn back to John 1:48-51. In these verses, Christ Jesus recognizes something about Nathanael that Nathanael thinks he should not know. But, the point here is that despite Nathanael recognizing that Jesus was omnipresent; Jesus told him he would see even greater things! Jesus would pictured as the ladder. “Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.’ Not long after, he would see heaven open and miracle, after miracle, after miracle!
TRANSITION: Now notice that when Philip came to Nathanael about Jesus, he didn’t say to him, “I found a man who has a wonderful plan for your life.” He didn’t say, “I found a man who will fix your marriage and your personal problems and give your life meaning.” He didn’t appeal to Nathanael on the basis of how Jesus might make Nathanael’s life better. Philip spoke of Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, because he knew that would pique Nathanael’s interest.
That’s what I have to say to you today! Your greatest need is not somebody that has a wonderful plan for your life or somebody to do marital counseling or even give you the meaning to life. You need salvation! You need Jesus!
When God made the promises to Jacob, he said; “I WILL GIVE ….” He affirmatively states that He chooses to be with us, chooses to watch over us, and will never leave us until everything that He has purposed to do is completed. But, the ladder is much more than just the blessings of God; it is the provision of God in Christ Jesus!
Matthew Henry says, “He is this ladder, the foot on earth in his human nature, the top in heaven in his divine nature: or the former in his humiliation, the latter in his exaltation. All the intercourse between heaven and earth, since the fall, is by this ladder. Christ is the way; all God’s favours come to us, and all our services go to him, by Christ. If God dwell with us, and we with him, it is by Christ. We have no way of getting to heaven, but by this ladder; if we climb up any other way we are thieves and robbers. To this vision our Saviour alludes when he speaks of the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man (Jn. 1:51); for the kind offices the angels do us, and the benefits we receive by their ministration, are all owing to Christ, who has reconciled things on earth and things in heaven. Col. 1:20 says, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” ….and made them all meet in himself, when in Ephesians 1:10 it says, “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”
What is our response?
Jacob responded in worship through several different aveneues. One was by making a memorial, and one was a vow. In fact, concerning the memorial that Jacob made, Warren Wiersbe said, “It is a wonderful thing that by faith a believer can turn a “pillow” into a “pillar”! So the broad area that I want you to concentrate on today is WORSHIP!
One of the most infamous freethinkers of England was a man by the name of Anthony Collins, who died in 1729. He was author of the well-known “Discourse on Freethinking.” This Collins one day met a poor working man on his way to church.
“Where are you going,” asked Collins.
“To church, sir,” answered the workingman.
“Is your God a great God or a little God,” asked Collins in an attempt to confuse the mind of the poor fellow. But the church-goer gave him the perfect answer:
“He is so great, sir, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, and so little that He can dwell in my heart.”
Collins later admitted that this simple but sublime answer of an uneducated man had more effect upon his mind than all the volumes of argument he had read in favor of religion.
Jacob allowed what he believed to influence his life. He tithed, which was different in this case than the way tithing is taught today in some places; but he “realized that his dedication to God meant nothing unless his material goods were under His control as well.” Jacob did not always live up to this vow in the years that followed. He “met his match” in Laban, who was a schemer himself! For twenty years the two of them tried to outsmart each other, but, in the end, Jacob had been disciplined and God had kept his promises. Jacob is an illustration of the conflict between the two natures, for he was always battling the flesh and trying to depend on his own abilities and plans. How good to know that God watches over His wayward children!
