Genesis 28
Genesis 28:1-22 (NLT)
1 So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women.
2 Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters.
3 May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations!
4 May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean.
6 Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.”
7 He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram.
8 It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women.
9 So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.
10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.
11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep.
12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13 At the top of the stairway stood the LORD, and he said, “I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.
14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.
15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”
17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it.
19 He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing,
21 and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the LORD will certainly be my God.
22 And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”
Even though the birthright and blessing had been deviously obtained, their possession yet placed Jacob right in the middle of a very personal promise God had made in relationship with Abraham and Isaac before him. Surely Jacob didn’t set out to be a part of God’s fulfilled promise. His motives seemed to be far from virtuous as he determined to secure all the benefits that were rightfully his brother’s. And yet, God was already working through Jacob to accomplish His great plan. God’s interaction with his forefathers would not be enough, though. There would have to be a personal encounter where the same God who spoke with them communicated directly with him. Jacob was positioned because of them, but to fulfill his own part, he would need direct access to the One who had promised. Their promise would have to become his own personal one. While worshiping had never been on Jacob’s prior agenda, the incredible nature of the dream changed everything with its insight into the heavenly realm and transfer of declaration to him. He became the namer of places to commemorate One who had now become his very own God. This visitation was essential in taking what God had started long before into the present and future of this new and interesting actor.
While these stories of God encounters are incredible and revealing of God’s working to restore relationship with mankind, they are only the initiation of this process. God’s speaking directly to Jacob is an inspiring story, but just as God’s speaking to Abraham was regarding His eventual dealings with Jacob, so God’s speaking to Jacob was regarding God’s present dealings with each of us today. Every promise made to them of blessing and provision are directly connected with us in Christ. Even though we have nothing of our own that would position us for such a great honor, God’s promise to them has already secured it all for us. His faithfulness to them is fulfilled in us. However, it’s not enough for God to have spoken to them and for us to benefit from it. For each one who will fully experience the continuation of God’s promise to Abraham, there must be a direct reception in a personal encounter with his God. It isn’t until He becomes our own personal God, speaking directly to us, protecting, and providing for us, that Abraham’s promise is fully transferred to us. Until we are converted into worshipers who begin commemorating places of visitation as pivotal times of life that what God is already doing becomes something He is doing in us. To be an actor in God’s fulfilled promise requires transformation into a worshiper of Him alone.
I think this is an interesting turn of events in Jacob’s life. He went from the younger brother, to the thief and the liar that tricked his father Isaac into blessing him, to the one who God made a promise to!
What a precious story for us to remember that no matter what God’s calling and plan for us, are irrevocable. They are for us to come back to when we miss it, and there to guide us as we choose to serve Him, just as Jacob did.