Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends as we begin another week in a world on edge in so many parts of our world, but especially the middle east. In the shadow of the recent turmoil in Israel and while beginning our journey with Joshua and the Israelites coming out of the wilderness and crossing the Jordan river, (Joshua 3,4) we’re spending several days seek to answer the question “WHO has the right to claim the region of modern-day Israel as their ‘homeland’ and WHY?”
I left you yesterday with Isaac, his wife Rebekah and their twin sons Jacob and Esau in the place they’ve named “Beersheba”. God and Isaac had just completed a significant encounter as recorded in Genesis 26:1-5 in which God has reconfirmed the Abrahamic Covenant to Isaac. Isaac had then moved to this new place and had another encounter with God as recorded in Gen. 26:23-25, and here Isaac had built an altar of worship; pitched his tent declaring this home; and his servants had dug a well to assure that they’d have water for them and their animals. Genesis 27 is the sad glimpse into the dysfunction of Isaac and Rebekah’s family and the deceitfulness of Jacob in stealing his brother Esau’s birthright and blessing. As a result, Jacob had to leave home and move away from his brother Esau who now hated him and his father Isaac whom Jacob had badly deceived.
Genesis 28 is the remarkable story of Jacob’s run from his home and family in Beersheba, several hundred miles north to the homeland area of his mother Rebekah. On the first night of that trip, Jacob lay down exhausted to rest in a field and had his first, life changing encounter with God recorded in Gen. 28:10-15. Prior to this we have no record of how much Isaac has told his sons Jacob and Esau of their grandfather Abraham and his journey with God, nor about the Covenant promise of both land and a nation of people whom God would bless.
But it’s very clear that on this night, out in a field, Jacob, on the run for his life, heard God’s very clear proclamation: “Jacob had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on earth, with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder. There above it stood the LORD God and He said: ‘I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east, to the north and south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land...” (Gen. 28:12-15)
Do you see God’s very clear identification of Himself and the personal relationship He had with both Jacob’s father Isaac and grandfather Abraham? Do you see God inviting Jacob into a similar very special relationship with God? Do you see God’s continuation of the Land Covenant now to Jacob, the third generation? Do you also see God continuing His promise that a great nation of people will descend from the family line of Abraham, Isaac and now Jacob?
Knowing the story of the nation of Israel and our world, over the past 4000 years, I wonder what you can see that God was promising to Jacob and how it has been fulfilled in the history of planet earth and the human race over these centuries? Clearly, the Jewish people, descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have in fact spread out and lived in every part of the world, and very clearly the world has been greatly blessed by the Jewish people in so many ways.
But also, we celebrate that the greatest blessing which has come from Abraham’s descendants is the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, born into the line of King David and Abraham. (Matt.1; Luke 1,2) We also celebrate that the world has been greatly blessed by the Bible itself, written mostly by Jewish men inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.
That encounter with God changed Jacob’s life and the record says: “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD God is in this place and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and in awe said, ‘How awesome is this place!” (Gen. 28:16,17) May I ask you my friends, when was the last time you had a profound encounter with God which left you in awe of God? I wonder if Jacob slept anymore that night or did he gaze up at the night sky full of stars pondering the significance of what God had said and reflecting on his life, which to that point had not been very God honoring!? By morning first light, it appears Jacob was determined to never forget this experience and to let it affect him the rest of his life: “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 the top of it. He called that place ‘Bethel’.” (Gen. 28:18,19) As you may know my friends, “BethEl” means ‘the house of God’.
So moved was Jacob by this experience, the next verse tells us: “Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God…” This tells me regardless of what Jacob had heard from his father Isaac about the spiritual heritage of his family it was here, at this place of encounter with God, that Jacob was redefining the rest of HIS LIFE to be a follower of the God of his father and grandfather! And do you see Jacob was apparently convicted about his reputation and home and asked God to help him one day return home and reconcile with his family?
Jacob, of course, had no way of knowing what the rest of his life would hold but my friends, it is one of the most amazing life stories in the entire Bible! Genesis 29, 30 and 31 cover a bit more than the next 20 years of Jacob’s life in which he settled in with his mother’s brother and their family and ends up with two of Laban’s daughters as his wives and a huge family of 11 sons and 1 daughter! God also greatly blesses Jacob as a rancher of animals and when finally in Genesis 31 Jacob leads his wives, children and all their animals and belongings away from Laban, beginning the long journey back to his homeland, it is a huge migration of a very large family and bounty! You might enjoy listening to the audio dramatic Bible rendition of these three chapters as it comes alive to you. It won’t be difficult to put yourself in the middle of this drama!
I think this is a great place for us to pause. While Jacob didn’t know it, his journey SOUTH from Haran with all his family and belongings was very, very similar to what Joshua did as he led the 1 million descendants of Jacob and his large family from the wilderness in the south across the Jordan river into this same land more than 400 years later, after Genesis 31! As they headed south, Jacob was very concerned about one thing… what would happen whenever and wherever he would finally encounter his elder brother Esau who undoubtedly had been planning retaliation against Jacob for more than 20 years! Let’s meet back here tomorrow and we’ll look at that remarkable event described for us in Genesis 32.
As I close today, look back over the past 20 years or so of your life. What has God been doing in your life, your family, your extended family? How has your relationship with God grown over these years? Who are you today as compared to who you were 20 years ago? And here’s a worship song to help us consider these important life questions…
Today’s Scripture is Gen. 28-31.
Choose below to read or listen.
Genesis 28-31 Genesis 28
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Genesis 29
Genesis 30Genesis 31
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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