Life of Jacob 2: The Experience of God's Grace Peter Lim Intro: Last week we started looking at some major events in the Life of Jacob and we will continue that this week. We ended last week with Jacob stealing the blessing from Esau, through deceiving his father Isaac. This caused Jacob to flee from his homeland. We pick up the story in Gen 28:10 I have asked Art to read the passage this morning. 10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain 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[a] stood the Lord, and he said: I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham 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 offspring.[b] 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,[c] 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 household,then the Lord[d] will be my God 22 and[e] 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. A number of years ago, I was rafting down a river in boise idaho. Now this river was a very mild river, you just float along on it and there are a few rapids, a few spots where the water goes down fast but it is a very mild ride. I was there with my young handicap daughter on the raft and there were hardly any other rafters around on that day. I wasn't really paying attention to the river and I wasn't controlling the raft very well, and the current was taking it wherever it wanted. And so we got to one of those spots where there is it went over a large rock. Suddenly the raft would not move. We were stuck
there. The water is pouring over the big rock pushing the raft up against some other rocks, and we weren't going anywhere. I was holding on to my handicap daughter close to me on the raft, the water in the river was cold and about chest high. I tried to push the raft, but the current was pushing against it and it was stuck. I started to worry a little bit, but then a man appeared. I don't know where he came from. Somehow, he pushed the raft off the rocks ---I don't know how he did it. Then we started floating down the river again. When I looked back briefly, I didn't see him, I don't know where he went. But that man, or that angel, or whoever he was, he rescued us, he got us unstuck, he got us going down the river again. God is like that in our lives. We get ourselves stuck sometimes. And it's difficult to get unstuck. But God, out of his mercy and grace, helps us. He sets us free, gives us hope, gets us going again. The grace of God often comes when we expect it the least, but also when we need it the most. This happened to Jacob. In this passage that Art read, we see that Jacob also experienced of God's help and grace in his life. The title of the sermon this morning is the Experience of God's Grace. We are going to see 3 aspects involved with the
Grace of God in Jacob's life. 1. First of all, in this event in Jacob's life, we see the surprise of God's Grace. Let's remember what was going on in Jacob's life. Last week, we saw how Jacob deceived his father and got his blessing, which was suppose to go to Esau, who was the oldest. So with the blessing, life for Jacob should be going fine. He should be in his home, the next in line to be the leader of the family clan. He should have the family's inheritance and wealth at this disposal. Everything should be going fine. At least, that was Jacob had hoped for. But the reality is that Jacob had fled his home. His angry brother, who loves to hunt and kill animals, is out to hunt and kill him. His mother that loves him is not with Jacob and he will never see her alive again. Since he's not at home, Jacob has no status where he is. And he's in the middle of nowhere. In verse 11, it just say he was at a "certain place". The place didn't have a name at this time. He is out in the desert, somewhere unknown. Not only does Jacob have no status but he is dirt poor. In those days, wealth was measured in how many sheep and goats and animals that you had. And how much land you had. Jacob has none of
these things. So he is at a low point in his life. His life is so hard for him right now, he ends up using a hard stone for his pillow. He is in a hard place in his life right now. So he falls asleep and something totally unexpected happens. God comes to him in a dream. It's totally unexpected. Do we see Jacob praying to God before he went to sleep? Do we him turning to God for help at this low point in his life? Is there any mention of him looking to God as he started this journey? No, we don't see any of that in the scriptures. Why would that be? Maybe he's given up on God. Maybe he feels so discouraged --- I did what I could to try to get the blessing and this is what happens. Or maybe he feels too ashamed of himself to come to God. He tricked his brother with a pot of soup to get the birthright. Then he deceived his father to get the blessing. Perhaps God has actually given up on me, how can I turn to him now. Perhaps I just deserve all this. Sometimes, when things don't go the way we hoped for in life, we can feel forsaken by God. God has given up on me.
Maybe we messed up and we know we did wrong, and we think, God doesn't want anything to do with me now. Or maybe we feel, deep down inside, a little betrayed by God. God, I did want I thought you wanted, I went to church, I prayed to you, I thought my life was suppose to be easier now, but instead I have more troubles and difficulties than ever before. Nothing is going right for me now. I heard a saying once, and it goes: "In life, when you hit rock bottom, often you discover that God is the Rock at the bottom." What happens to Jacob, here in the middle of nowhere in the desert, is the surprise of God's grace. God surprised Jacob by coming to Jacob, by seeking Jacob. God continues to do that to you and to me. The amazing thing we see here ---- is that God seeks after people who have messed up their lives. He seeks after people who are not seeking Him, who are not praying to God, who are not even concerned about God. The surprise of God's grace is that he comes to those who are not living righteously and may even feel forsaken or unworthy before God. The story of Jacob shows us the surprise of God's grace. Not only do we see the surprise of God's grace.
2. The second aspect we see in this event in Jacob's life is the revelation of God's grace. God comes to Jacob in a dream. And what does Jacob see? v. 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." In this translation, it says a "stairway" which is a good translation. In some translations it is a "ladder" but our concept is for a ladder is a single person goes up and down. But it was a big, wide stairway because it said angels of God were ascending and descending on this stairway. It could have been hundreds or thousands of angels, we don't know how many but there were many angels. This stairway was touching the earth and the top it was touching heaven. The angels of God are messengers of God. Some were coming down from the heavens to earth and others were going back from the earth to heaven. What does this mean? These angels show that God's work and God's power and God's word were flowing out of heaven and into the world. God's authority and word were at work in the world. And also in Jacob's life.
When we look around at the world, it easy to think that God is not working, that the world is just spinning out of control. All these crazy things in the happening. And in our own life, we may wonder if God is doing anything. But in Jacob's dream, the curtain is pulled aside, and we see behind the scenes, and see that God is at work. Jacob sees God in his dream. v13 starts with "There above it stood the Lord..." All the commentaries I read say that the word "it" in Hebrew is unclear so this could be translated in 2 ways. The Lord could be standing of "it", meaning the stairway to heaven. And so the angels would be receiving their messages and instructions from God and then going out into the world. The other way it could be translated is that the Lord was standing over 'him", standing over Jacob. But the translators had to make a choice so it is often over "it". But both ways are equally possible. My approach is that both ways are not only possible but both are also true. I believe both ways are taught here. Many times, God's word is concise and thorough at the same time in explaining something. It's God's economy of language. Here IS the God of the universe, commanding all the angels, standing high and lifted up at the top of the stairway. Almighty God. But at the same time, this great God has descended to the earth. to the very
spot ln nowhere's land where Jacob was sleeping. The Lord was standing over him. Watching him as a parent watches a sleeping child. God is both great, high and lifted up, but close, near, and personal. And what does this God say, as he comes close to Jacob? He has an amazing message for Jacob. Starting at v. 13 I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham 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 offspring.[b] 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. God identifies himself. He reaffirms to Jacob --- the same promise he gave to Abe and Issac. He tells Jacob that He will be with Jacob wherever Jacob goes and that God will some day bring him back to this land. The main words for God in the OT are elohim and yahwah. Elohim is the general word for God. But God's personal name, his covenant name is Yahweh, and it is translated as LORD, Some translations have
it all in Capitals, in upper case. That's the word used here with Jacob. God is not referring to himself as, for example, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sanchez... no, I'm Sam, or I'm Jorge. He gives his intimate, personal name, and the name he used to establish his covenant with his people. In those ancient times, it was often thought that a god was just in a certain location. So the Babylonians would have their god on their land. And the Egyptians would have their god on their land. And so forth. Once you left your land, your country, and your people, it was like leaving your god behind too. Here Jacob learns that the God of his fathers, the God of Abe and Isaac was going to be with him wherever jacob went. For someone at his low point in life, God tells Jacob exactly what he needs to hear. God gives Jacob a wonderful revelation of God's grace. When you are going through the low points in your life, the tough periods in your life, that is when you really need listen to what God wants to tell you. When I have gone through tough times, God, through his word, would always comfort me. Sometimes I wouldn't feel like reading the Bible, but I would pray and tell God that. But I would not give up, and I would keep trying, and God would eventually speak to me through his Word. He would
tell me just what I needed to hear. 3. Third Point, this event in Jacob's life also tells us of the response to God's grace. v. 16 and 17 tells how Jacob responded to this encounter with God. 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. To Jacob, this place in the middle of nowhere became an awesome place. It became special because Jacob's encounter with the Lord. Wherever we are, it can become special too because of God. When we sense the Lord in a place, even ordinary, mundane places, it becomes a special place. It says he was afraid. Many times in the bible when people met angels, the angels would say "fear not". The is true when people encounter God too. Jacob was scared to death but at the same time amazed at who God is. Jacob, as far as we know, had never encountered God is this personal way. Jacob's father and grandfather, Isaac and Abe, they
encountered God personal, but Jacob had not until now. When Jacob was stealing the blessing and deceiving Isaac, he says to his father "Your God" This is in genesis 27 He does not say "our God" or "my god", instead he says to his father Isaac "your god". But now he addresses God as Lord, He has encountered God and the grace of God for himself. Every generation needs to encounter God in a personal way for themselves. Each person must do that too. Whether our grandmother was a on-fire Christian, or our mother or father was, that is not good enough. We cannot ride on the spiritual coattails of other people. Like Jacob, we need that encounter with God in our own life. Have you encountered God in a personal way? Maybe you went to church all you life or maybe you didn't. But have you personally met God in your life? Have you said, "God I don' t know much about the bible or about you but I want to know you. I know that i keep messing up my life. I want you in my life. I need you in my life."
That's how we our response should be. Jacob's response was sort of like that but not completely. Jacob put conditions on God. "if you do this for me. if you keep your promise about this...then you will be my God"... God puts no conditions on his promises to Jacob. Do you see the word "IF" when God makes his promises to Jacob? There is none. So we shouldn't put any kind of conditions on God. But God was patience with Jacob. Jacob was just beginning this relationship with God. Jacob was a work in progress. He has not arrived yet he is still under construction, spiritually. and so are we. But jacob is moving in the right direction. and so should we. This week I was with some of you from Crossroads, helping to fix up the church building and the parsonage of spanish speaking church. This is the project that Dan had mentioned before. We were scraping the paint off walls, removed shelves, fixing windows, replacing the water container thing on the roof. And there were some others from different churches helping too. Afterwards, I was thinking about it, and it was almost like a religious experience for me. It was not a religious experience just because Dan --- because Dan took up an offering --- Dan did take up an offering -- which was fine -- but more than that, it was because that we all sort like that building.
We all need a lot of work. And it takes time. God works at chipping away all that stuff that needs to be removed. Smoothing out the rough and sharp edges that we have. God often uses other people, believers from different churches or different places that he brings into our life. Even if God has been at work in our life for awhile, and has done some renovation, there is always some leaky pipe that needs to be fixed. Or some hidden closet that has garbage in it that needs to be cleaned out. There is always more to be done. We are a work in progress, under construction. Just like Jacob. The last thing we see in Jacob's response is ---- that experience showed him the "Gate of Heaven". He says in v.17, 'This is the Gate of Heaven'. What is the gate of heaven? In many ancient cultures there were a lot of stories about a gate or stairway to heaven. One bible scholar, Von Rad said: the gate of Heaven "is that narrow place where according to the ancient world, all interaction between earth and the upper divine world took place" Another Bible scholar says: "In the ancient east the names of temple gates were
significant as the gates were believed to lead into and out of heaven. The primary gate of heaven was known as the golden gate. From it, the gods ascended and descended. The author goes on to show how this gate of heaven is mentioned in ancient story of the Epic of Gilgamesh in Mesotampia and also in the ancient Egyptian writing Book of Gates, which was about RA, the Egyptian sun god. Earlier in the Book of Genesis itself, we have the story about the Tower of Babel. That's where people tried to build a tower, or passage way up to heaven. But that was based on human efforts, it was based on human pride, and it was not the right way, so God did not allow it. But here Jacob says, this is the true gate of heaven. This what all these cultures have been trying to find. But God has come down to me, God has showed it to me, and this is the true gate of heaven. We need to fast forward to the NT to get an even clearer understanding of this. In john 1:45, we read the story about Nathanial becoming a disciple of Jesus. Philip had first told Nathanial that he found the Messiah, which is Jesus from Nazareth. Nathanial was very skeptical, very critical about this. He did not believe anything good can come out of Nazareth. He did not believe it. But Philip convinced him to come and meet Jesus.
When Jesus saw Nathanial, he said. "here is an Israelite in whom there is no guile." Here Jesus is saying Nathanial is a straight-talker, he does not beat around the bush, he says what is on his mind. Nathanial said "how do you know me?" He agreed with what Jesus said about him. Jesus says: "Before Philip came to get you, I saw you under the fig tree" Then Nathanial's attitude changed, his eyes probably became wide open, the light bulb went off over his head, and he said: "You are the Son of God!" We don't know why he changed after Jesus spoke to him. We don't know the details about what nathanial was doing or thinking under the fig tree. But whatever he was thinking or doing or praying about, it was something so personal that only God could have known about it. Some bible scholars think that under the fig tree, nathanial had a similar encounter with God, like jacob did. Or at least he was thinking about this experience Jacob had with the dream. This is possible because Jesus goes on to mention about the angels ascending and descending from heaven, like what Jacob saw. But there is something special and new in what Jesus says about this. v.51 Jesus says
Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Here in this description that Jesus gives, there is no mention of a gate or a stairway. what? no stairway? that's right, no stairway. Then how do the angels ascend and decend? Jesus says the angels are ascending and descending "ON" the Son of Man. ON the son of man. ON Jesus. Do you see what he is saying? Jesus is the one who connects heaven and earth. He is the bridge between heaven and earth. He is the link between God and us. The power of God and the WORD -- the messages of God --- flow through Jesus. Later in John, Jesus says I am the gate, all who want to enter must enter through me... I am the way, no one comes to the father but through me. He is the mediator between us and God. Jesus is the stairway for us to come God and for God to come to us. Jesus is saying that the only way you can get to my Father is over my dead -- and resurrected --- body. Jesus is the way. We all know that now, we've heard this before. But at that time when Jesus said that, it was an amazing new revelation related to what Jacob had first seen in his dream centuries earlier.
Jacob was right when he responded how awesome was that place --- because of how awesome God's revelation was. Throughout this week, may God reveal himself to us through his word. And may we respond, like Jacob, by saying: how awesome is this. conclusion: So today, in this event in Jacob's life, we see his experience of God's grace. This passage teaches us 3 aspects of God's grace: 1. The surprise of God's Grace 2. The revelation of God's Grace 3. The response to God's Grace If God is speaking to you this morning, open your heart to his voice. Let him reveal his truth and grace to you. If you have questions, or if you would like me to pray for you, please come and talk to me after this service. If you are curious about become a member of Crossroads and maybe you are not sure what that is all about, please come to speak to me after the service. If you are interested in help serve in some way here at Crossroads, please speak to me or someone on the leadership team. Even if you are here for a short while, a few weeks, a few months, whatever, you can serve still help serve the Lord in some way here at Crossroads. So please, let us know.
I want to end the sermon with a moment of silence and then I will pray. Jacob experienced and responded to God's grace in his life. I would like each of you the think about God's grace in your life. And pray and ask God how you should respond to his grace in your life. Let us pray.