“When Heaven Comes Down…Our Regret Is Replaced”
Gen. 28:1-22
In the movie Forrest Gump, Forrest has a lifetime friendship with Ginny. In one scene, when both of them are grown and Ginny is just beginning to retreat from her lifestyle of sex and drugs, they are walking down a dirt road. Soon they come to the shack where Ginny lived as a little girl - the shack where she experienced abuse. As they come up to it her face contorts with hatred and anger. She reaches down, picks up a rock and flings it towards the shack. It chips off some of the already deteriorating paint. She picks up another rock and fires again, this time crashing through an already broken window. She picks up and hurls another, and another, and another - all with reckless abandon. Finally, she falls exhausted to the ground. Forrest gazes down at her and says, “I guess sometimes you just don’t have enough rocks.”
There was more to what Forrest said than what he probably knew. Surely she could have thrown stones all day and never destroyed the shack. That was obvious. But not so obvious was the deeper meaning of the scene - throwing stones all day would never abolish the abuse, or demolish the effects of it. Throwing stones would never bring her torment, her agony, her misery, her anguish to the ground.
And we’ve been there - we’ve thrown the stones - at situations, at people, at memories. And it’s never relieved the agony, destroyed the misery, or lessened our anguish. It has never eased our torment. So Ginny’s question is ours – When throwing stones won’t cut it, what do we do? This morning we delve into the life of Jacob for our answer. Jacob, after all, had a HISTORY OF REGRET.
It went all the way back to his birth. Isaac and Rebekah were the proud parents of twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The first born, and the heir to the family fortune, was Esau. Jacob was born second. The two brothers were as different as night and day. Esau was the gifted athlete, the rough and tumble outdoorsman; Jacob was the brilliant student, the soft hearted compassionate child. As one person put it, Esau was first on the track, Jacob was first on the test; Esau brought animals home for food, Jacob brought animals home for pets; Esau was Sylvester Stallone, Jacob was John Boy Walton. And Isaac was proud of Esau while Rebekah was proud of Jacob. And in this volatile mixture the stones flew.
Eventually Rebekah and Jacob conspired to steal the inheritance due to Esau. When Isaac, old and blind, pronounced the blessing on
his son, it was not upon Esau, as he thought, but upon Jacob. When Esau discovered the dreadful deed, he vowed to Kill Jacob as soon as Isaac died. Dysfunction at its best! Certainly, in his best light, JACOB WAS A SORRY SCOUNDREL. He was the type of person who would give the shirt off someone else’s back! He deceived his father and defrauded his brother. To this day the descendants of Esau and Jacob are at odds! Now, at the threat of death, Jacob flees town, filled with regret. He had everything he wanted, yet nothing he really wanted.
But THROWING STONES IS COMMON. We’ve thrown them and been hit by them. There are victims of abuse here today who know all too well Ginny’s feelings in Forrest Gump. And we all know marriages and relationships where the primary means of communication is stone throwing – and the mates have real good aim, knowing just what to say and when to say it. Then, too, there are young and old children who know just what to say to, what to throw at Mom and Dad. Certainly there are parents who rock their children, with words, through neglect, through favoritism. Consider the youth, in epidemic proportions, who are distraught, depressed, and hopeless because they’ve been bullied. Employers and employees throw stones; even churches and pastors throw stones. Don’t we all really live with a history of regret? Maybe you’ve even tried to flee. Like Jacob.
So Jacob fled. Night falls and he lays his head on a stone to sleep. He expects nothing but a good night’s sleep. But then he dreams. He had forgotten there was a HEAVEN TO RECOGNIZE. There was a ladder with messengers and with the Lord. Heaven came down to earth. God came down when unanticipated and transformed Jacob’s sense of reality. God redefined everything. Notice GOD OPENS ACCESS NOT TO A SAINT BUT TO A SCOUNDREL! Jacob now knew he was being pursued not by Esau but by God, not by vengeance but by grace. Isn’t that just like God? He even pursues us!
Where you are right now may well be the place where God wants to meet you. No matter what you’ve done, how many stones you’ve thrown, how much regret you harbor, or how much bitterness you hold, He has not crossed you off his list! The ladder is always there. Just look at Jesus; He’s the ladder from and to God. In John 1:51 we read: “He then added, I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” He is our access to heaven. GOD SENT JESUS TO TRANSFORM OUR REALITY. We need not live in regret, fearfully fleeing into the night. Jesus is involved with our lives. He meets us as God met Jacob, even when and where we least expect it. And when He meets us, He has a message for us, just like he had for Jacob (13): “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” He was giving Jacob a HERITAGE TO REMEMBER. After reminding him of the promises made to Abraham and Isaac, and thus to him as the heir, God binds himself to this treacherous fugitive. Jacob is starting to understand that there is an alternative to his lifestyle. THE DREAM DID NOT RESURRECT A SHAMEFUL PAST BUT RAISED UP A SHINING FUTURE. God was being true to his word, faithful to his promises. How is it we sing? “As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness.”
And yet, amazingly, God goes beyond this. In verse 15 he extends a new threefold promise to Jacob. First, “I am with you.” heaven will stay with him. Wherever. Whenever. Forever. This wonderful promise of God’s presence was later uttered to Jeremiah; and to Israel; then through Jesus, Emanuel; “God with us”; Then finally Jesus reiterated it to us as He ascended: “Lo I am with you always…” Even in flight and exile, God will not abandon us. In Jesus heaven came down to prove it.
The second new promise was “I will watch over you wherever you go...” Literally it says God will keep Jacob. Wherever. Whenever. Forever. Unlike pagan gods, who were territorial and only promised protection to those within their boundaries, God promised His presence wherever Jacob went. God not only is with us, He keeps us - safe, sound, secure.
The third new promise was “I will bring you back to this land.” Jacob will go home again! The displaced will have a place. Fugitives will be freed from themselves and others!
Certainly this is not what Jacob deserved. But then, isn’t that just like God? He doesn’t give us what we deserve. IN FACT, AT CALVARY THE FATHER PUT UPON JESUS ALL THAT WE DESERVE SO THAT HE MIGHT PUT ON US ALL THAT JESUS DESERVES. We are joint heirs with Christ! “He who did not spare his own Son .. will He not also give us all things with Him?” What a heritage! And it’s ours!
So God got through to Jacob. After heaven came down he woke up and knew everything would from now on be different. There was now a HOLINESS TO REVERE. Verse 16: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. ... How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” So he placed the stone which had supported his head as the foundation of an altar to God, and called the place Bethel - the “house of God.” Catch the significance? JACOB STOPPED THROWING STONES AND STARTED BUILDING WITH STONES. The stones went from destruction to construction, from weapons to worship. It was no longer an issue of fearing man but of revering God. His lifelong struggle to overtake Esau ended when he was overtaken by God. So this Bethel became a permanent place of remembrance and recommitment for Jacob. In fact, years later God said to him (31:13): “I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to you native land.” Bethel always marked a new beginning.
So let us never forget our Bethels, those times and places when heaven comes down and God graces us with his presence and encourages us with His promises. Sarah Adams has penned those immortal words: “Though like the wanderer, The sun gone down, Darkness be over me, My rest a stone; Yet in my dreams I’d be, Nearer my God to Thee. There let the way appear Steps unto heaven; All that Thou sendest me In mercy giv’n; Angels to beckon me Nearer my God to Thee. Then, with my waking thoughts Bright with Thy praise, Out of my stony griefs, Bethel I’ll raise; So by my woes to be Nearer my God to Thee.” WHEN WE RELINQUISH REGRETS TO GOD WE CAN MOVE ON WITH LIFE. We can take the emotion, the anguish, the hatred, the misery, the pain, the bitterness and build an altar and give it all to God. Whenever we do, it will be a new beginning. God will deal with us and with the relationships. He excels in doing so. And we, too, will soon say, “How awesome! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
And an amazing thing happens when we build altars; we realize instead of stones to throw there is HONOR TO RENDER. Jacob promises to let God be his God, to use the altar at Bethel, and to pay a tithe of all God gives him. Whereas he had earlier exacted an oath and stolen the inheritance from Esau, he now offered an oath to God. He would now reshape his existence by making decisions under God. IT WAS NO LONGER WHAT HE GOT BUT WHAT HE GAVE. And he would give to God. He yielded and reoriented his life. As one author graphically writes: Jacob “attempted to dominate others in order to control his unknown future. Now he adopts a different approach to the future. He binds himself to a God he cannot control, trusting that God will be faithful to the promise God has freely made to him. The future is not thereby totally determined. It remains open to all manner of unforeseeable events. But whatever may happen, it will occur within the covenantal horizon of God’s promise and Jacob’s vow.”
I’m reminded of Paul. He had dedicated his life to wiping out the Christians. But at the stoning of Stephen his heart was cut to the quick. Soon thereafter God struck him down and claimed him. Paul yielded his life. He turned over his regrets. He served the Lord. Is it any wonder he could write: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. ... Do not take revenge ...If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Isn’t that a description of Jesus? He took the stones which put Him on a cross and built a throne for heaven; he took the stones of a tomb and built an altar of victory.
We began by asking “When throwing stones won’t cut it, what do we do?” Do you know the answer by now? WHEN THROWING STONES WON’T CUT IT, BUILD THE STONES INTO AN ALTAR. George Matheson did it. As a young man he was ready to marry the love of his life - but she jilted him when she learned he was going blind. 20 years later he was alone on the day of his sister’s wedding. He writes, “Something had happened to me which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high.” It was his Bethel. And what did he write?
“O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be.
O Light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead, And from the ground there blossoms red, Life that shall endless be.
Rather than throwing stones, he built them into an altar. He didn’t know what his future held but he knew who held his future. And he trusted Him. God is trustworthy. So you have regret. Will you throw the stones? Or build the altar? The choice is yours.
