by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Genesis 28:10-22

Our text for today is a rich compendium of God’s plan for the ages to come:

• Verse 13 shows the Sovereign, the owner and giver of land to Israel;
• Verse 14 speaks to the redemption of the gentiles, reaffirmed through the seed of Jacob
• Verse 15 affirms the covenant of protection and preservation in time;
• Verse 16 shows the house of God as the place of revelation, where God speaks directly, no longer by information related through third parties, in this case the parents;
• Verse 18 teaches the difference between a memorial and an idol, being that the worshiper has a direct revelation of who God is.

Our principal admonition comes from verse 20. Jacob did hear and remember the covenant spoken in verse 15. While repeating the same, his reframing of what he heard reflected the uncertainty in the heart of a man who had not experienced the COVENANT KEEPER.

Doubts arising from my lack of knowledge of Him will not deter Him from being faithful to His word. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:13. You may have been raised in a believing home and yet do not know Him. You need your own encounter with God to transcend from head religion to heart religion. Most important is not to be what Jacob was at that point in His life. By Jacob’s confession, food and raiment, not God’s purpose regarding land or heritage, was his priority. Beloved, the truth expressed in Romans 14:17 remains unchangeable. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Seek the Lord for the kingdom of God is at hand. Selah.

Photo by Ruben Mishchuk on Unsplash