As believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to be different. This difference can be seen very distinctly when we have a proper attitude in our giving to God. A generous spirit in giving is stark contrast in a selfish me first world.
Jacob has an experience with God and he is changed. His name means grabber. But after this experience we refer to as Jacob’s ladder he went from grabber to giver. Before Jacob meets the Lord he is the epitome of the worlds system and a secular mindset.
Jacob is probably just like someone you know with a Godless lifestyle. We can easily identify with Jacob. His name literally means, grasps the heel or figuratively deceiver. He tries to grab everything for himself now caring about others. Jacob is the second son born of Isaac and Rebecca’s twin sons. His brother is the rugged and hot-tempered Esau.
Genesis 28:10-17
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 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. ”
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” 18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
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 will be my God 22 and 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. ”
Jacob’s grandfather Abraham brought a tithe to Melchizedek hundreds of years before the law. Now we see the principle of tithing in his grandson, another patriarch. Jacob vows to tithe. He vows to give ten percent of everything to God. Jacob went from grabber to giver because he met the Lord. It is part of the story of Jacobs Ladder.
As the secular man he demonstrated the selfish, me first attitude. It was the get ahead at any cost mindset. The me first attitude that will step on people to get up the ladder of success. It is the same thing you would find in the secular man today. The world is filled with this.
In his own selfish interest Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness. He sold him a bowl of pottage (bowl of stew) for his birthright. Esau sold his birthright. Jacob enticed his brother to sell his birthright.
Later Jacob acts out the role of deceiver. He deceives his father Isaac when he is old and almost blind. He makes him think he is Esau and tricks his father into giving him the blessing he intended for Esau. He lies and takes the Lord’s name in vain to do it.
Up to this point there is no mention of God in the life of Jacob. No talk of his prayer life, nothing about worship or the altar of God. As a matter of fact, the only time Jacob up to this point of time has even mentioned God is to take the Lord’s name in vain. Jacob is the classic secular man. Like those without Christ that you and I know.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Jacob has done everything the selfish way. His stealing Esau’s blessing has Esau threatening to kill him. On the advice of his mother, he flees. He heads to his original homeland to find a wife. He had everything going for him, but because of his selfish actions, now he is empty with nothing and divided from his family.
His selfishness has brought him to the point where he has no possessions but the clothes on his back. He has no home, no security and is living like a fugitive. He is alone and homeless. He uses a stone for a pillow.
Jacob the selfish man, whose life without God led him to desperation, reached a point where he needed the Lord. Often that is when God breaks through to a person. God spoke to Jacob through a dream. We call that dream, Jacob’s ladder.
Jacob is down and out. He reached the bottom and that is when God broke through when he was a broken needy man. His life of selfish grabbing left him empty. But then Jacob met the Lord, and his life was changed.
Genesis 28:12-13
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
God himself stood at the top of the ladder. The gulf between secular man and Holy God was bridged by the grace of God. Jacob the selfish man who was lonely and destitute experienced the grace of God. That lonely place was suddenly surrounded with angels. God was in that place.
In John 1:51
51He 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.”
Jesus uses the phrase, heavens opened about himself. The same way angels were ascending and descending at Jacob’s Ladder others will find in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith. Jesus is the only bridge, stairway or ladder where a sinful selfish man can be brought into fellowship with the Holy and righteous God. Jacob met the Living God and he was transformed. Like a person today with faith in Jesus Christ.
Genesis 28:14
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Now Jacob is a changed man. Transformed, Jacob receives the promises of God made to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is promised descendants, land, God with being with him and blessing and the coming Messiah (Genesis 28:14b).
God addressed himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac. Jacob is aware of God’s presence and his whole life is changed. From now on He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
When you find yourself in the pit of despair, stricken with grief and tragedy if you meet the Lord, if you are aware of the presence of the Lord your whole perspective will change. Jacob met the Lord and his whole life was redirected.
There is a now a devotion to God for Jacob. He made a vow, a pledge of faith to the Lord. We ought to respond when God by his grace redeems us. Now Jacob plans to honor God with faithfulness. He built an altar to God. The house of God is now important to Jacob. Now he knows as you and I know as Christians, wherever he goes God goes with him. It is awesome. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Another result of Jacob meeting the Lord is a vow to tithe. Here is the stewardship part of his meeting God. Our response to what God has done in our life impacts our stewardship. Jacob in response to God’s grace vows to tithe.
Jacob the selfish, me first man has now changed. He leaves his family a selfish man with nothing. He is running for his life. That is what the selfish, me first, grab what you can way of life did for Jacob.
Years later he leaves Haran with untold wealth, twelve children blessed at every turn. God did it. That’s what Jacob’s ladder did. God’s provision in Christ. (John 1:51)
The selfish man who grabs everything he can for himself puts his wages in a bag with holes. But like Jacob the transformed know the blessing of God. Jacob no longer lives for himself, but for God. That is the blessing.
Jesus is the only mediator between man and God. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
Do you feel like Jacob? He found God was there all along. Reach out to him by faith. Trust in Jesus Christ. Jacobs vow to tithe was a matter of his heart. It was out of devotion to God. Not part of the law. Let Christ have the complete devotion of your heart.
