BACK TO BETHEL
“Isn’t he rightly named Jacob [“deceiver”]? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my b1essing!"
You know the story… how the younger, wimpier, momma’s boy stole the birthright and blessing from his bigger and more macho brother.
It is a great story but I don’t have time for it today.
Today, I want to deal with the rest of the story.
Esau vowed to kill Jacob, so Isaac and Rebekah were forced to send Jacob away. The family was now divided not only by favoritism and rivalry but also by physical distance. And, tragically Rebekah never saw Jacob again.
Jacob fled from Esau to Haran, in Syria, where his Uncle Laban (Rebekah’s brother) lived.
Enroot, between Beersheba and Haran, Jacob stopped to rest for the night. The Scripture says that he used a stone for a pillow.
He dreamed of a stairway (“ladder") that came down from heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. At the top of the stairway the Lord stood and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac" (Genesis 28:13).
Notice, God did not say “I am your God" to Jacob, because He wasn’t.
Jacob’s life was a mess! He had tricked his brother out of the birthright, stolen the blessing by deceiving his father, and now he was running for his life. He was leaving the very land he had hoped to inherit by stealing the blessing. But God intervened. He came to renew the promise He had made to Abraham and Isaac.
Don’t miss this… God implies that He is willing to be Jacob’s God also.
“I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying .... I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28: 13-15).
What an amazing promise! God was telling Jacob He would stay with him, take care of him and bring him back to where He planned for him to be.
God was saying… even though you are a liar, a cheater and a schemer, even though you have messed up your whole family with your lies and deception… I WILL BE WITH YOU!
Do you think that was an amazing revelation to Jacob? Don’t you think Jacob expected judgment and punishment and threats because of his sin?
But God offers to be with him, to bless him.
That is the same way God comes to us… not with threats and condemnation
John 3:17 For the Son of man (Jesus) came NOT into the world to condemn the world…BUT TO SAVE THE WORLD!!
Just like with Jacob ----- Jesus does not want to condemn you… He wants to save you from the mess you are in… the mess you and others created.
Jacob woke up, his eyes were opened --- he saw the light
Let me tell you something… JACOB HAD A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE!!!
IT WAS REAL !!!!!!!!!! It was life changing.
He came to a point of genuine conversion. He totally committed his life to God.
How do I know? The proof is in the pudding. Listen to what he did…
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD[f] will be my God22 and[g] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28:21, 22).
HE promised to give God a tenth of everything
This was a man whose whole world was all about stuff… having stuff, having more stuff. He would lie, cheat, steal… whatever it took to get more.
The fact that he promised to tithe is dramatic evidence that he had been changed.
THE TAKER PROMISED TO BECOME A GIVER.
That meant a whole new direction in his life.
Then Jacob did something else to indicate his commitment to God.
He built an altar of worship.
This man had only one God… mammon… money… more!!!!
Now he was vowing to give up his idols and worship God.
That is a REAL change
But that is not all he did to prove his sincerity.
On that altar he poured out oil,
Why is that so big?
It was the only valuable thing he had with him. He did not have an animal sacrifice.
He simply gave all that he had.
He went beyond lip service and promising to love and serve God. He put his money where his mouth was.
He called that place Bethel, which in the Hebrew language means “the house of God."
Bethel became the most important place in Jacob’s life.
Jacob left that place with his spiritual fire burning brightly.
Jacob went to Harran, the place where his uncle Laban lived. There he met Rachel… ah, beautiful, perfect Rachel.
One look at her… and Jacob was gone… like, like… like Mogli in The Jungle Book when he saw the girl… VIDEO
He was so head over heels in love with Rachel that no one and nothing else mattered at all… not even stuff.
He asks Laban for her hand in marriage. Laban drives a hard bargain… 7 years of labor, caring for Laban’s flocks… and Jacob can have her.
So he worked seven years and then came day 2555, the last day. Jacob went to Laban and said, “OK, I held up my end, now give me Rachel.”
Let me stop right here and make a very important point. Seven years have passed since Jacob had his spiritual experience at Bethel.
Seven years and what does the scripture not record? ANYTHING SPIRITUAL
NO prayer
NO worship NOTHING
NO sacrifice
Seven years ago his spiritual flame was burning high and hot
What about now????
We don’t read about any sins or anything wrong Jacob did… but we don’t read about anything good he did to keep the flame burning.
So they had a wedding and a party, and evidently Jacob got so drunk he couldn’t see straight because Laban pulled a switcheroo and gave him LEAH… the older sister… the ugly one.
In the morning Jacob woke up and if he wasn’t sober yet, he was as sober as a Southern Baptist preacher in about two seconds when he rolled over to tell his bride Good morning Mrs…. Yikes, you are not Rachel!! What are you doing here? What am I doing here? What did we do????
Jacob goes to Laban who says, “Gotcha”
OBTW… If you want Rachel, you can have her… but the price is seven more years.
So Jacob works seven more years for Laban, and then comes day 5110, 14 years and Jacob has paid his debt and can hardly wait to leave this place.
But Laban makes Jacob a good deal… Too good to turn down… Work seven more years and you can have every spotted lamb.
BUT WAIT… 14 years have now passed, and what do we not read about?
NO prayer
NO worship NOTHING
NO sacrifice
14 years ago the flame burned bright… what about now?
The first seven years… He drifted away from God but the flame was still hot enough to carry him.
That seven years passed quickly because He had a goal
The second seven years… he drifted even farther away… so far that now
the flame of spiritual passion has died and the coldness of hatred has replaced the flame.
Now the third seven years is all about revenge and hatred… Jacob has lost his spiritual flame
Jacob reverts back to the old Jacob… the old nature… what he was like before Bethel… the cheater, the supplanter is back!
Jacob vows to himself… I’ll make that jackal pay. I’ll take both of his daughters and everything else he has… I’ll teach him to cheat me.
And for seven years he carried out a campaign of cheating and lying and stealing Laban’s flocks.
And by the time the seven years were over… Jacob had literally taken everything Laban had… Jacob was rich… and Laban was broke!!!!!
21 years have now passed since Bethel. The flame that burned so brightly… first if died down through neglect… then it was blown out by the wind of hatred and resentment… and finally it was replaced by the flame of revenge which now burned white hot against Laban.
And look at Jacob’s life. His life with his parents had been dysfunctional to say the least. Parents who played favorites, brothers who hated each other, one brother steals his brothers birthright, then deceives his blind old father to steal the blessing. Mother against father, brother against brother…
But that family looks like Ozzie and Harriet compared to Jacobs new family.
He has two wives that hate each other. He loves one and hates the other… and doesn’t hide it. These two wives engage in a baby making competition like none before. They can’t have babies quickly enough to spite the other so they bring in re-enforcements… they have their hand-maidens sleep with Jacob. At the end of 7 years there are twelve sons and a daughter. Jacob has four jealous wives and children that hate each other. He has a father-in-law that is a cheat. And Jacob is a thief who has worn out his welcome and is on the run again. This time he has no place to run… he has to go back to his father’s land and now his angry brother is on his way with an army of 400 men to kill Jacob.
Once again, Jacob’s life was a mess!
Then God appeared to Jacob and said, “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 your native land" (Genesis 31:13).
God did not literally say “Go back to Bethel,” but He knew that if Jacob were to return to his home, he would have to pass by Bethel, the “house of God."
Even though Jacob did not have revival in mind… GOD DID!!
I told you I was doing this series, “Our Family Tree” because I wanted us to see how much like them we were, and what lessons we could learn.
Can you see how like Jacob we are?
PRE-BETHEL Our life was a mess, and mostly of our own making
BETHEL But we had a spiritual experience ie: salvation, transformation, whatever
POST BETHEL Even though the Bethel experience was real and maybe very passionate…
We drift away from God
Maybe like Jacob Distracted by making a living, or our focus is on
in the first 7 years other things
We don’t mean to, we just drift away
Maybe like Jacob Because of other people
In second 7 years Or because of hatred and bitterness
Maybe like Jacob Because of revenge
In third 7 years
But just as God was with Jacob, even though he drifted from God
Even though he left his Bethel
GOD IS WITH US TOO He does not leave us
And HE WOOES US BACK TO BETHEL
Jacob packs up the family and the flocks and heads back to his home land
On the way he is filled with troubles… his uncle behind and brother in front, a life of hurting the people closest to him, messed up relationships
As he comes close to Bethel, I BELIEVE… There was a longing to get back to where he was 21 years ago, back to the worship, back to the passion, back to the relationship
If you read, that night Jacob was so troubled he could not make up his mind what to do. First he got out of bed and rounded up his two wives, both handmaidens and all 11 sons and some supplies and left the bulk of his stuff and fled across the river. Maybe he was planning on running back to Haran. Once across the river, he changed his mind and sent everything and everyone back across the river and he was all alone.
This was what God was waiting for: Jacob alone… and God came to Jacob as an angel.
We have often studied their wrestling match.
Physically… no man is God’s equal or could wrestle God to a draw. God is all powerful. Something else is going on here.
I think that may be scriptures picturesque way of describing a spiritual event that happened… Jacob wrestling with God may have been mental and spiritual… not just literal
I believe God came to Jacob to call him back to the place where he had been… to his Bethel… to remember and return
Jacob, was only interested in getting God’s help… help me, fix this
God wanted much more than to just fix things… He wanted to fix Jacob
He wanted to revive Jacob… to restore Jacob
God wrestled with Jacob to bring him to the point where he would confess and return
When the scriptures say God touched his hip and popped it out of joint… so that he limped
I believe God caused something to happen in Jacob’s heart and mind so that two things happened
1 Jacob was never the same again
2 God COULD bless Jacob
I believe Jacob represents you and me
The man represents God
The wrestling match represents God working in us to bring us to the place where we will repent and return
The limp represents how our walk will be different
WHERE ARE YOU
PRE BETHEL Life a mess, running from self
BETHEL Coming to Christ
POST BETHEL Drifted away
PENIEL Messed up again… Wrestling with God
Come back… repent… confess
