Genesis 28

The House of God

The events that had unfolded in Isaac's home (recorded in chapter 27) had led to deep divisions within the family. Now, in chapter 28 we find Jacob and Esau marrying. Even there we see the effects of their sin - Jacob, whom God has blessed with the blessings of the covenant, marries from among the covenant family of God, while Esau marries a daughter of Ishmael, that is, outwith the promised line of covenant blessing and promise.

The narrative is now going to focus particularly on Jacob, and on God's dealings with him. The story of his dream in chapter 28 is one of the best-known Bible stories and was one of the significant points in Jacob's own story. Through the dream God spoke to him, and he realised that he had met God in this place. The name of it he changed from Luz to Bethel. Bethel means, The House of God.

There were three features of Bethel which we ought to bear in mind:

Bethel Was a Place of Revelation

God revealed himself to Jacob at Bethel. Jacob saw in his dream that a way had been opened up between earth and Heaven - he saw a ladder, set on earth with its top part in Heaven, and the angels were ascending and descending upon it. This was the doing of the Lord, and it was wondrous in Jacob's eyes. Despite the great distance between God and us, between heaven and earth, between the creator and the creature, the distance had been spanned and God had effected reconciliation.

We cannot know God except by revelation. Man cannot, by searching, find out God. But in his grace and mercy God has made himself known to us. The vision in the Old Testament era was dim, and many details were lost to the Old Testament church; yet the meaning of the vision was clear: God had undertaken to enter in to the experience of mankind, dispelling ignorance, hopelessness and fear, and opening the door of communion which man had closed by his sin. It was an angel that had been placed to ensure that there was no access to the tree of life; now the angels freely go up and down the ladder that joins these two worlds, and God, by his grace, is making himself known.

The greatest revelation of all is in Jesus Christ. There, in the Mediator of God's providing, the way has been opened. Indeed, Jesus says, he IS the way. There is no ladder to God but Jesus Christ. And there are clear echoes of the Bethel scene when Jesus says to Nathanael: "you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1:31). In Christ the fulness of the godhead is revealed to us, and the blessings of heaven itself are made over to us. He is the way, the truth and the life.

Bethel Was a Place of Confirmation

God not only showed these things to Jacob - he spoke to Jacob, confirming the promises that he had previously given to Abraham and Isaac. "I am the Lord God of Abraham ... and the God of Isaac" (v13). He would also be known as the God of Jacob too. In this subsequent generation, God was making a confirmation of the covenant. He was giving renewed assurance to Jacob that all he had promised his fathers before him he would perform - the world would be saved and his church would be built.

The Old Testament revelation builds gradually upon the foundations of these ancient covenant things in Genesis, and gradually the light of God's truth shines more and more clearly. The promises are confirmed in every age and generation, until at last Jesus comes, and when he does, the promises are sealed for ever in him. The promises are 'Yea and Amen' in Jesus Christ. He is the great covenant mediator and the one who confirms to us that the Bible and the promises of God are sure.

What a personal gain this was for Jacob in the midst of his great losses! He could not stay at home - Esau was looking for his very life. His brother was against him, but his God was for him. And if God is for us, who can be against us? If the resources of God are made over to us, then we are safe for all time and safe in every experience of life. Faith rests on these promises, and needs no other ground of confidence but this - that God has spoken, and will perform his word. May we have grace to hear, and to listen to, God's voice in the Scriptures.

Bethel Was a Place of Consecration

The meeting at Bethel was not without results. Jacob could not but be moved. He raises the stone pillow on which he had rested, and makes it a pillar which he anoints with oil as a token of his renewed commitment to Jehovah. Praying for God's protection and aid, he committed himself to God with all that he had and all that he was.

The Gospel calls no less for a commitment from us. If we have truly learnt the value of God's Word of truth, and the value of the covenant promises of God, then we have a hope and a confidence that nothing will shake. To be consecrated and committed to God, as God was committed to us in Christ, is to know the peace and blessing of God's salvation in our lives. May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob be our God also.