See God's Vision

SEE GOD’S VISION

Genesis 28:10-22 October 27, 2002

Genesis 28: 10-22 10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a cer-tain 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 Abra-ham 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 off-spring. 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 house, 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."

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Today, we have the beginning of the journey of Jacob. To remind us, Jacob left because his brother Esau was mad with him. We think back to what happened—Jacob had tricked Esau out of his inheritance. The inheritance belonged to Esau, but Jacob had tricked him out of it. Isaac, Esau and Jacob’s father, sent Jacob to see his Uncle Laban in the land of Haran. Jacob had his father’s blessing to go on this trip. When we look at how he made this journey, we find that he was not too well prepared. He left in haste taking only his staff with him. Certainly, he was troubled with the guilty conscience that he had because of the evil things he had done to his brother. He didn’t know if his uncle was going to receive him. He did know that he was leaving behind his family and friends and going on this journey to an unknown land far away. Jacob probably felt that he was quite alone. He wondered what was going to happen next.

Again, as we see in our text, the Lord caused him to see His vision. The angels were there, ascending and descending that ladder, known as ‘Jacob’s ladder’. This reminded him that God was with him, reminded him that even though he didn’t know what the future held, didn’t know where he was going or what would happen for the rest of his life, God did. It reminds us of the Apostle Paul in Romans when he says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”(ROMANS 11:33) We don’t know what the future holds, but God did for Jacob. God made many promises to him here, just as He does for us. We want to be like Jacob, we want to

SEE GOD’S VISION

I. Observe God’s grace to you

II. Our response to God’s grace

I. Observe God’s grace to you

We find Jacob leaving his father’s home. He makes a day’s journey and when he reached a certain place we’re told he spent the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He didn’t have a pillow with him and proba-bly not much else. If he had had a cloak or a coat, we would picture him taking that coat to wrap up to use as a pillow instead of using a stone as a pillow. We get a little bit of an idea how ill pre-pared Jacob was for this journey. Certainly, we wouldn’t prepare to go on a journey like that, not even taking something along for a comfortable night’s rest.