Go up to Bethel and dwell there.
Bethel = House of God
Dwell there= The spirit of Bethel must become a part of us, That is to say we must take the lessons of Bethel with us everywhere.
(Brokenness, helplessness, humility, distress, necessity)
Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
MAKE AN ALTAR
MAKE = to prepare, to put in order, to work, to deal with, to press, to squeeze, to use To maintain
ALTAR= To slay, a place of sacrifice, a place of death. It also represents a place of worship, literally it is the place where we are allowed to worship God because a sacrificial death has occurred.
There is no altar in your life without death. First of all there is the acceptance of Christs death
Then there is our death to sin, then there is our death to self.
(The altar is where self dies) pride, emotions, feelings, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, religion,
PUT AWAY THE STRANGE gods
Bethel represents the spirit of consecration, it is where we make (the Lord) (Our God)
gen 28 20-21 Jacob vowed a vow, and ended it by saying (Then the lord, will be My God).
Strange gods = sports, entertainment, physical appearance, religion, (prejudice, thousands of lives have been destroyed by the strange god of prejudice.
Ja. 2:8-9 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scriptures, thou shalt love your neighbor as thyself ye do well, But if ye have respect to persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Convenience, Millions of unborn babies have been slain at the altar of convenience.
THAT ARE IN YOUR HANDS: If it’s in the power of your hands you know it’s a strange god.
CHANGE YOUR GARMENTS:
Garment = wrapper, mantle, covering, ( Through the idea of covering, assuming the shape of the object beneath.
To change our garments would be to put on the attitude that speaks the disposition and condition of heart that God desires.
EARRINGS: The symbolism is that by taking away their earrings, they were preparing themselves to hear the voice of the Lord. (To remove the earring is to show respect and readiness to hear.
BENEATH THE OAK TREE: A symbol of strength, might, and pride, It means to take all the things that we rely on, and trust in, and cling to, and to put them out of God’s sight, bury them.
Put them away from ourselves, consider them dead to us.
Vs 6-12
Genesis 3:6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.
Genesis 35:7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
Bethel = the house of God. (The place we come to )
ELBethel = The God of the House ( The place we become)
When Bethel becomes the attitude of our lives, and we live in the spirit of the lessons learned at bethel, and we have learned how to dwell at bethel. (The house of God) not just a visitation but a habitation.
Then the next step is We become The Bethel.= The house of God
And God becomes not only the God we met or meet at bethel, But he becomes (The God of The House).
It’s time to move beyond the bethel experience to an ELBethel way of life,
It’s time to go beyond coming to the house of God, and becoming the house of God.
If in truth you really become the house of God, that means that anybody who comes to you or me, should be able to find God at home, They should find his love and his mercy, his compassion, his presence, his peace his joy, etc..
