The God of Jacob

Let me invite you guys to turn in your Bibles to Genesis 28. Genesis 28 for our time of study and the word. This morning, if you want to give a title to the message today, it would be the God of Jacob. We're gonna look at the last verse of Genesis 27 and then try to cover through the full length of Genesis chapter 28, just an amazing account that we find in these verses.

every young person who is raised in a Christian home. must come to a point in their lives when their faith becomes their own, when God personally visits them in His mercy, and His grace, and they then respond to Him in that visitation, and saving faith and making God their God. Until that day of divine visitation comes, it's easy for a young person to casually examine the claims of Christianity and intellectually evaluate the merits of their parents' religion. It's even easy to be critical of the imperfections of other Christians and feel justified in holding it all at arm's length.

That's what I did. Until the evening of November 13th, 1982, when the Lord showed up. One evening and visited me in His mercy. In that moment, God's presence was so powerful and so real and his beauty was so palpable to me and his invitation to me to come to him was so compelling that it was no longer about what I thought regarding anyone else.

It was suddenly only about God and what I was going to do with Him. And at 11:15 that night, I sat on my bed in my bedroom and I wrote out a prayer of surrender. To God and yielded everything in my life to Him. It's that moment.

That comes for Jacob. In Genesis chapter 28 today. Describing Jacob as he is at the beginning of Genesis 28, the commentator JB Phillips says the following. He says it would seem that at that stage of his life, Jacob was as yet an unsaved man.

He had been brought up in a believer's home. His father and his grandfather were both men who knew the living God. Jacob himself knew the value of spiritual things, and in his heart, he craved after the spiritual realities known to Isaac and Abraham. But so far, he had no personal encounter.

With God The narrative of Genesis would actually incline me to agree with what JB Phillips says here. In Genesis 27, we saw how Jacob exploited his father's blind condition and how Jacob engaged in the first act of identity theft in the Bible. Wearing Esau's clothes and wearing goatskins on his hands and on his neck, deceitfully. Telling his father that he was Esau so that his father would give him the blessing that he had intended to give to his brother Esau.

And in the process of doing this, Jacob sins against his father and he sins against his brother. Jacob even invokes the name of Jehovah in his deception, deepening his sin against God. Jacob is not in a good place with God in Genesis chapter 27, but this will begin to change in Genesis 28. It is in this chapter that Jacob experiences the most merciful visitation from Jehovah, from the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and it is in this chapter that Jacob will learn that The God of Abraham and Isaac is also the God of Jacob.

Jacob will not become a perfect man after what happens in our chapter today. He will need many more encounters with the living God. In fact, he will experience 6 more encounters with God in the coming chapters. But this Genesis 28 is the chapter where Jacob begins to turn a corner with God and maybe even experiences his conversion.

The way we'll break down our study of this passage is we'll observe 5 developments in this account of God visiting Jacob and revealing Himself to Jacob as the God. Of Jacob Let's watch these developments as the story unfolds. Development number one, Jacob's father commissions him to take a wife from his mother's family. And this is why we need to look at the very end of Genesis 27 this morning as we start.

We saw a couple of weeks ago how it was that once Esau discovers Jacob's theft of the blessing that Isaac intended to give to Esau, Esau resolves to kill Jacob. Rebecca catches wind of Esau's murderous intentions and tells Jacob to get out of Beersheba and to go to Haran, which would have been about 500 miles northeast of where they're living right now. And she said, just go there until Esau calms down and doesn't want to kill you anymore. But Rebecca knows that she can't just send her son away like this without getting Isaac on board with the plan.

She needs to get Isaac to agree to this plan, but how will she accomplish this? Well, we learned back in Genesis 26:35 that the two wives of Esau brought grief to Isaac and Rebecca. And Rebecca decides to harness that grief in this moment in order to put into Isaac's mind the idea of sending Jacob away to Haran to find a wife. Observe what she does in verse 46 of Genesis 27.

Rebecca said to Isaac, I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth, whom Esau had married. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from the daughters of the land, What good will my life be to me? Isaac is the head of this family. But on this occasion, Rebecca is the neck that turns the head so skillfully and the direction that she wants it to go.

As Bruce Walke, the commentator says, this is manipulative language designed to prompt Isaac to send Jacob to the very location that Rebecca had already told Jacob to go to. And her strategy worked. Isaac immediately comes up with a brilliant idea. of sending Jacob to Huron to get a wife from there, imagining that it was his own idea, just as Rebecca knew.

That he would think. So observe what Isaac does starting in verse 1 of chapter 28. So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padaram, to the house of Bethhuel, your mother's father, and from there, take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

Notice that Isaac is charging Jacob here. This is no light matter at all. He tells Jacob first where he is not to get his wife from, and that is from the daughters of Canaan. This is exactly what Abraham had demanded with regard to Isaac many years prior back in Genesis 24, even making his servants swear that he would not get a wife for Isaac from the daughters of Canaan.

Isaac then tells Jacob to go to Padaram, which is another name for Haran. And to get a wife for himself from one of the daughters of Laban, who was Rebecca's brother, and we met Laban back in Genesis 24. We're gonna see in coming weeks that These members of Abraham's family up in Harran. They are not a perfect family by any means, but they were descendants of Abraham's brother Nehor, who had left of the Chalde after Abraham did, and they bore the imprint of Abraham's influence and belief in Jehovah.

And there was, there was even belief in their hearts regarding Jehovah as indicated by Genesis 24:50 that we looked at a number of weeks ago. You can write that reference down, Genesis 24:50 where they speak of Jehovah. As they're evaluating a situation. So Isaac sends Jacob to Iran to get a wife from among.

His mother's family, but he wants Jacob to go with the blessing of God. And this leads us to the second development in the story of God revealing Himself to Jacob as the God of Jacob. Number 2, Jacob's father blesses him and sends him off. To find a wife.

The blessing that Isaac spoke over Jacob in Genesis 27 was not intentional. He thought he was talking to Esau when he spoke the blessing over Jacob, but in fact, he was speaking to Jacob instead of Esau. And Isaac decided in Genesis 27 to allow that blessing that he spoke over Jacob to stand. But here, He now does a redo.

And intentionally speaks words of blessing upon Jacob with the full knowledge that it is Jacob who is right there in front of him. And this is as full throated of a blessing as you will ever see anywhere on the pages of scripture. These are the best words that Jacob ever heard from his father. And what follows makes it clear that Isaac has done a complete 180.

And now fully embraces Jacob as the son upon whom the blessing of Abraham will reside. Listen to what he says to Jacob in verse 3 May God Almighty, El Shaddai. Bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. And Jacob will indeed become a company of peoples to the 12 sons that he's going to have, who will each be the father of a whole tribe of Israel.

Isaac continues in verse 4. May he, El Shaddai, also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you that you may possess the land of your sojournings which God gave to Abraham. It's here, guys, that everything becomes official with full intentionality. Isaac is passing on to Jacob the very blessing of Abraham.

And he's giving Jacob the blessing of Abraham in order that Jacob may possess. The land of their sojournings at the present time, the land of Canaan. Having spoken these Amazing words of blessing over Jacob. Isaac then charges or he commissions Jacob.

Look at verse 5. Then Isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Padanaram, to Laban, son of Bethhuel, the Aramaean. The brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob. And Esau The coming verses will show that God fully wants to meet.

With Jacob, but he must first get Jacob thrust out of his home. And out of his comfort zone, away from his overprotective mother. And away from his dad and everything else that he was used to relying upon. And here Jacob is being sent away, thrust away by his father to a place that was 500 miles away.

Sometimes it's hard for us as parents to let our children go, but sometimes it's what we must do in order to give God the opportunity to visit our children in His mercy. Isaac doesn't know this, but Jacob has a rendezvous with God in a place about 58 miles north. Of Beersheba And it's important that Isaac send Jacob from the household in order that Jacob will be at the right place at the right time when God wants to show up. And visit Jacob in his mercy.

But before we look at that and before the narrative continues with Jacob, the camera briefly turns to Esau and lets us know how Esau responds to what has just happened. And this brings us to the 3rd development in the story of how God reveals Himself to Jacob as the God of Jacob. Number 3, Jacob's brother Esau responds by marrying a daughter of Ishmael. Keep in mind that Esau has already married two women, two Canaanite women.

But look at verse 6 and following. Now, Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Pedarre to take to himself a wife from there. And that when he blessed him, he charged him saying, you shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. And that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Parim.

So Esau basically observes all of this, 4 things. He observes that Isaac blessed Jacob willingly. He wasn't tricked into saying what he's just said to Jacob. He observes that Isaac sent Jacob away to Pananara to find a wife from there.

He observes that Isaac firmly charged Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. Like Esau had done, and fourthly, he observes that Jacob actually is obeying his father. Amazingly, it's only now that something dawns on Esau. Look at verse 8.

So Esau saw or realized that the daughters of Canaan, whom he had married, displeased his father, Isaac. This may be an indication of how poorly of a job. Isaac had done in communicating his displeasure to Esau prior to this moment or perhaps maybe more likely. Isaac's displeasure was clearly communicated, and Esau was just clueless.

And uncaring Until now. It is now that Esau is fully realizing how much Isaac hated the fact that he had married two Canaanite women. Upon observing and realizing all of these things, Esau Acts, look at verse 9, and Esau went to Ishmael and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahaleth, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabiot. Nothing is said here about Esau coming to his dad and saying, man, I realized I've made a mistake.

What would you counsel me to do? No, he just comes up with his own solution based on some stuff he heard his dad say. It's still his own idea. Isaac told Jacob to go get a wife from his mother's brother and Esau tries to do one better than that and goes and finds yet a third wife from His father's half brother.

Ishmael. Esau is hoping to gain some favor with his father in doing this, but it doesn't work. He's hoping that perhaps doing this might change things and qualify him for the blessing of Abraham after all, but it won't. God had told Abraham that it would not be through Ishmael that his promises.

would be fulfilled. So in the end, Esau here just in these verses is something of a pathetic figure on the sidelines of God's redemptive plan, doing his best to come up with his own counterfeit substitutes and trying to stay relevant, all to no avail. Anyway, Jacob leaves as his father had told him to do and takes off on his journey to Harran or Padaram. This trip is no casual trip.

It's 500 miles away as we've said. He's leaving Beersheba because his brother Esau wants to kill him. And some of us already know that a very crafty Laban awaits. Jacob in her run.

Which means that Jacob has reasons to be concerned that he doesn't even know about. Laban is as much to be feared as Esau. As one commentator says, back in Beersheba, Esau lies in wait like an angry lion. Ahead in Haran, Laban waits with his spider web to trap and suck the life from his victims.

And in between the lion. And the spider Jacob is traveling alone, leaving all that he once found comfort in and heading into a future full of uncertainty. Imagine being Where Jacob is right now. And he's traveling alone largely for 500 miles.

This man we've learned earlier was a homebody. And a mama's boy. And not used to making such trips. Practically speaking, Jacob is right now utterly alone and friendless, embarking on a long, perilous Journey And he doesn't know it, but he's about to have an encounter with the God of Abraham and Isaac.

He's right where God wants him. And this leads us to the 4th development in the story of God visiting Jacob and revealing himself to him as the God of Jacob. Number 4, Jehovah reveals Himself to Jacob and makes promises to him. Observe what happens in verse 10.

Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place. And spent the night there. Because the sun had set, and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place.

Notice the three times we see the word place. In this passage, Jacob thinks he's just happened upon this place by random chance, but God has ordained that Jacob arrive at this place where he could meet with God. What seems like an ordinary nameless place at this point and a simple rock will not remain ordinary because of what is about to happen. By the way, we're gonna learn later that this place is going to be named Bethel by Jacob, and we know the location of Bethel, which is 58 miles north of Beersheba.

So this would have been about the end of the 3rd day of Jacob's travels to Iran that he's arriving at this place and the sun is going down and so he takes a rock and lays his head on this rock to go to sleep. He falls asleep and while sleeping, look at what happens in verse 12. He had a dream. And behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it, and behold, the Lord stood.

Above it. The language being used by the narrator of Genesis could not be more dramatic. We see the word behold three times, and each of these times it functions as something of an exclamation point. Clearly these are startling things, and this is the day.

Of divine visitation for Jacob. In this dream, Jacob, it says, sees a ladder. This is probably not a ladder as we think of a ladder, but a stairway. A towering stairway.

And translating the Hebrew literally, it's this, the stairway was placed toward the earth. Implying probably that the stairway emanated from heaven and came down toward the earth. And we're told that the top of this stairway was reaching to heaven. Back in Genesis 11, we see the builders of the Tower of Babel trying to build.

A tower that started on earth and reached up to heaven and God destroyed that project in Genesis 11, not because he did not want men to reach him, but because he already had a plan to provide another stairway that originated in heaven and came down toward the earth. That's the only way. In God's plan, anyone will be able to reach him, and that is on a stairway that comes from heaven to earth provided by God. And in Jacob's dream, he observes that the angels of God or the messengers of God are ascending and descending the stairway.

And at the very least, these ascending and descending angels represent an image of, of commerce and communication between the divine and the human realm, between God and man, between heaven and earth. Evidently God has not left heaven unreachable. For people on Earth, nor has he cut off the earth and it's fallen, broken state. As one commentator, Leopold says, the latter symbolizes the uninterrupted communion between heaven and earth mediated through God's holy angels and instituted for the care and the needs of God's children.

On earth, it is good news. That there is a ladder that connects heaven and earth. And that there are messengers of God going up and down that ladder. In verse 13, the text tells us that Jehovah stood above it.

And the Hebrew could mean that Jehovah stood above the ladder, the stairway, or it could be. It could mean that Jehovah stood above Jacob. Either way, wherever the Lord is standing, he speaks to Jacob now and the first thing he does is he introduces himself to Jacob. Look at verse 13 and what he says there.

And he said, I am the Lord, I am Jehovah, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God will often describe Himself as the God of Abraham. And the God of Isaac.

And the God of Jacob. And this is the moment that God reveals Himself as the God of Jacob. And his first promise here to Jacob is to give the land of Canaan to him and to his descendants. But God promises even more.

Listen to what he says in verse 14, your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth. And you will spread out to the east and to, or to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. The promise regarding Jacob's descendants being like, the dust of the earth is the same problem or promise that God had given to Abraham back in Genesis 13:16.

And the word spread out here is actually the Hebrew word that speaks of the future day in which Jacob's descendants will come upon the land of Canaan like an army and take possession of it and spread out and settle in every direction. This is what God is promising. For Jacob and his descendants. And then God promises Jacob that in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

God had promised Abraham 3 times. That through him and his descendants, all the families of the earth will be blessed. He made the same promise to Isaac in Genesis 26:4 and now here God is making this same promise. To Jacob, this is the 5th time this promise in particular shows up.

And I hope you see from this, that this is not some throwaway line in God's string of promises. This is not an afterthought in God's plan, it's in the heart of God from the outset to bring blessing not just to Jacob or Abraham and Isaac, but to all of the families of the earth. And the reason God has chosen Abraham. And chosen Isaac and chosen Jacob is so that he can put into operation this redemptive plan.

To bring blessing to all of the nations of the earth. The plan that would reach us here in this room. And reach anyone that we're reaching out to and sharing the gospel with. This promise that God is making to Jacob is still being fulfilled today.

God continues his promises to Jacob. Listen to what he says in verse 15. Behold, now this is very personal, behold, I am with you. And we'll keep you wherever you go, and we'll bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

God here promises to be with Jacob. Meaning that he will be his friend. This is relationship. And that he will provide for him and protect him wherever he goes.

His promise to be with Jacob is the most intimate of all of his promises. To Jacob. It's also God's way of saying that I, I stand with you, I identify myself with you. I am with Jacob.

This is a wonderful grace that God would cast His lot with Jacob. And say in this moment, And forever thereafter, I'm with Jacob. Jacob did not deserve this now and his subsequent behavior shows that he does not deserve this later, but God here is going on the record saying, I'm with you. This is God's greatest promise to Jacob, and it is this promise that actually undergirds all the other promises.

That he gives to Jacob. Many of us I know would have looked at Jacob right now. At this point in his life, and we would have never said I'm with him. But God does, because God is the God for sinners like Jacob and like you.

And me, God's own reputation is going to take a hit, a number of hits, because he's identified with Jacob. But he's willing to sustain that. He says to Jacob, I'm with you. Not just I will be with you on the road ahead, I'm announcing to you that I've been with you.

Even when you went to sleep, even when you arrived in this place. God is also promising to bring Jacob back to the land of promise in a future day, and he promises, I'm never gonna leave you. Until I've done all that I have promised. And in saying that he's not saying, and then I'll leave you after I've done all these things.

He's just saying, just count on it. I'm never going to leave you. I am committed to keeping my promises to you. So God has revealed Himself in a very personal way and spoken some very precious promises to Jacob and how does Jacob respond to this?

Imagine having a dream like this and God is speaking to you and you see this ladder and angels going up and down and the Lord above the ladder or above you speaking these promises. Observe how Jacob responds. Verse 16, then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely Jehovah is in this place and I did not know it. But Jacob is realizing.

is not just that God showed up in his dream. But that God was in this place even before he fell asleep. And Jacob didn't even realize that God was in this place. It was just some random place to Jacob, a place to stop for the night.

It was coincidence that the sun was going down and here's a rock I can lay my head on and I'll sleep here. He had thought at the time that he was all alone, running for his life, little realizing that God was with him in this solitary place as the sun went down. R. Kent Hughes.

says this, and I love the way he says this. He says Jacob was astounded because he was like the rest of us who naturally forget that God is present when we are in trouble, especially when it is our own fault. Surprise, fleeing sinner, God is there. Surprise, sinful sufferer, God is there.

Surprise, evil schemer, God is there. And that's what Jacob is discovering here. And this is a powerful moment of gracious discovery for Jacob. And it's comforting It's a comforting truth to discover that God is present with you like this.

But when you stop and really think about that, it's also a truth that can freak you out. And that's what it does to Jacob. Look at the response that begins to sweep over Jacob in verse 17. It says in verse 17, he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place.

In the Hebrew, the text reads this way, he feared and said how fearsome is this place. It's the same word in both of those places. He feared and said how fear inducing. Is this place.

Jacob's fear may surprise some of you because Everything God has done and said to Jacob in this encounter has been good and gracious and encouraging. But guys, this is the way that people respond who've had a true encounter with the living God. Jacob is encouraged and he's comforted by the presence of God and this encounter with God, but he's also left very much afraid and we know from Solomon in the book of Proverbs, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right?

And that's what Jacob is feeling right now.

Someone who truly experiences God experiences. A healthy fear of God. And it's this fear of God that sets them up actually to appreciate the grace that God is showing them. Fear of God and gratefulness to God for His grace are two of the earmarks of someone who's had a true experience of God.

Some writers suggest, and I think rightly that perhaps Jacob is afraid here because he's thinking about the wrongs that he had done. He exploited his father's blindness and lied to his father and even used the name of Jehovah in his deception. Back in Genesis 27, and here, Jacob falls asleep because he's exhausted, and he could not have been. More vulnerable to Jehovah's judgment.

If Jehovah had chosen to smite him for his sins. Yet Jehovah appears to Jacob. And what does he do? He speaks to him in mercy, and in grace, and in promise.

And promises nothing but good to Jacob. This is the last thing that Jacob deserves and, and he knows it. He's thinking about what could have been. What might have been.

Had God treated him as he deserved. Jacob doesn't realize it, but this fear of God that he is feeling right now is actually what will eventually rescue him from all other fears. You see, when you have a fear problem, The solution to that fear problem is for you to be seized with an even greater fear. A fear of God himself, and to realize that God through Christ is merciful to you, and he's kind and forgiving towards you if you believe in His Son.

And guys, when grace teaches your heart to fear, the true and the living God, and that becomes your greatest fear. And then grace relieves that fear through the grace of Christ. Then after that, you're honestly left thinking, what else is there to be afraid of? Sadly, Jacob is going to forget this lesson on the road ahead.

But he gets it right now. He's no longer even thinking about Esau and afraid of Esau and what Esau might do to him. He's thinking of the true and the living God, and what this God could have done to him in his sleep. Yet he's clearly appreciating how God has revealed Himself to him in goodness and in mercy and in grace.

Jacob continues in verse 17 and says, this is none other than The house of God. And this is the gate. Of heaven Here's Jacob away from his father's house and getting further away by the day. He would have said to people, my house is in Beersheba, and yet he finds a house of God 58 miles away from his father's house in Beersheba, and Jacob is feeling the awesome welcome from God.

Into God's house. Thrust away from his earthly father's house 3 days prior, Jacob is now being welcomed by God into God's own house. God is happy to have them. On top of that, Jacob says, this is the gate of heaven.

He's realizing there's such a thing as a heaven. There's a heaven to go to. There is a reality, there is a place that transcends this world which governs the affairs of this world. And Jacob is blown away by the privilege that has been given to him to be welcomed into the house of God and to be brought to the very gate.

Of heaven How does he respond to this epiphany? We've seen that he recognizes that God is real and that he's in this place. We've seen that he recognizes that he has encountered the living God, but Jacob also responds in an additional way. And this brings us to the final development in this account of God visiting Jacob and revealing himself to Jacob as the God of Jacob.

Number 5, Jacob responds by vowing to make Jehovah his God. Observe what Jacob does in verse 18. So Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. This is no longer just a pillow.

This is a sacred object. And then pouring oil on this stone, he's consecrating. The stone Setting it apart as holy. And he called the name of that place.

Bethel, which is the Hebrew for house of God. In other words, he named it House of God. However, previously the name of the city had been Luz, in case any of you wanted to know that. The city will become a city of great religious significance to the Israelites in the coming centuries because of what happens to Jacob on this occasion.

In fact, in Judges 20 we will see that Bethel is a major religious center where people offer sacrifices and where the Ark of the Covenant. is being kept at that particular time in Israel's history. Until sometime later, it was moved to Shiloh. In the book of First Samuel, and then later to Jerusalem.

Jacob continues and here comes in verse 20 the very first vow in the Bible. And it also happens to be the longest vow recorded in scripture. Verse 20 then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, notice how mundane his concerns are on this journey. And I return to my father's house in safety, then the Lord will be my God.

This stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God's house. And of all that you give me, God, I will surely give 110% to you. To appreciate what is happening here, we do well to remember. What one writer says, and that is that in most places in scripture, vows, they're, they're not merely contracts or limited agreements, but they are yieldings or surrenderings that reorient a person's life.

So in making this vow, Jacob is completely reorienting his life and reorienting the journey he's on. As one writer says, this journey had originated as flight to avoid assassination and a trip to find a wife suitable to his parents. Now, however, Jacob's journey becomes a pilgrimage with theological content. And commitment Jacob's going to be thinking about this vow for the rest of his journey.

Now some of you who are sharp may have already started thinking about this and so I'll address it here. Commentators are divided. To, to a small degree over how to read Jacob's vow to God. Some commentators don't like the if, then.

Structure of this vow. They see this as a sinfully conditional vow and they interpret Jacob basically as saying, with doubt in his voice, if God actually comes through and fulfills his promises and does everything he says he's going to do, then and only then will I make him my God. But this hardly fits. With what we've seen in the last few verses.

We've already seen that Jacob is experiencing the fear of God. Jacob already sees and declares that God is in this place. He already has announced that this place is the house of God. And that he has seen the gate of heaven.

So clearly something true and good. has happened in Jacob's heart. He's had a true experience of God and he does not have a shred of doubt about that. So I would agree with the majority of commentators on this passage who suggest that we should understand Jacob's vow not as an if then but as a since then.

Thou And the Hebrew of the passage totally sustains this. Understood in this way, Jacob is thinking out loud and he's saying, since God has set himself to doing all these things such that I now know that they will be done, then starting today, the Lord will be my God. This stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God's house. And of all that you give me, Lord, I will surely give a 10% back to you.

Jacob's wording here actually proves my point, I think. When Jacob says this stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, he's not speaking of waiting until a future day to decide whether or not it's going to be God's house. He's laying the first block, laying the first stone of God's house. He's consecrating this pillar right now.

And he's already declared the place to be God's house back in verse 17 and in verse 19. Yes, he will do these things also after God shows himself faithful to his promises, but Jacob is assuming God's faithfulness and he's acting accordingly even now in the moment. And that's why most commentators understand Jacob's vow with the sense then structure as I've just described. And because of that, many writers see this as perhaps the moment of Jacob's conversion.

Though he still obviously has a long way to go. And responding to this visitation from God, Jacob promises three things. Number 1, that God will be his God. Number 2, that the stone itself will mark the location of God's house.

And number 3, that he will give a 10th of all that he receives to God. In the days to come And what's amazing about this guy is that God has asked nothing of Jacob at all. All of God's promises that he's just spoken to Jacob were unconditional. He doesn't say, hey, if you tithe, and if you do this and that, here's what I'm gonna do.

No, all God did was spoke out of his goodness and made these promises of goodness to Jacob, and they were all unconditional. Yet Jacob, on his own responds by vowing to do these three things for God. The last of which is to give a 10th. Of all that he has to God, God did not ask for a tithe from Jacob.

He just told Jacob what he was gonna give him. But Jacob is volunteering this. Something clearly wonderful has happened in Jacob's heart. As one writer says, Jacob is no longer a grasper.

But a giver And it is this personal and gracious visitation from God that has melted his heart, changed his orientation. And changed him Notice that Jacob says at the end of verse 22, of all that you give me, I will surely give a 10th to you. Surely indeed. Not probably He's purposing strongly in his heart to do this, and he says, of all that you give to me, I'm going to give you 10%.

Jacob recognizes that everything he will receive in the days to come is going to be from the Lord. And in giving to the Lord, all Jacob is doing is returning to God 10% of what God has given to him. People who give most freely to the Lord and His work. are those who recognize that all they possess.

has been given to them by the Lord in the first place. To them, giving to the Lord is not you giving God some of your hard earned wealth. I've earned this, I've gained this, how much will I give to God? No.

It's God has given this to me in His grace, and I may have worked for it, but he gave me the ability to work for it. God has blessed me with this. And I will simply return to him a portion of what he has given to me. Jacob has a lot to learn from this point forward, but here he is experiencing God coming to him and making amazing promises of goodness and grace.

Lavishly promising all that God intends to give to undeserving Jacob and Jacob now realizes that he doesn't have to connive and scheme and grab to get what he wants anymore because God's gonna be with him. And God will give him what he needs, just as God does for all those who are his children. And it changes Jacob from a greedy grabber into a grateful giver. And that's how that salvation has come to Jacob's heart.

Jacob doesn't give here in order to experience God's grace. He gives because he has experienced God's grace, and that grace is beginning to change him. And Jacob is determining upfront before he even knows how the rest of this trip is going to go. He's 58 miles into a 500 mile trip and then all that awaits him after he arrives in Iran.

There's so much he doesn't know, and he's determining upfront that he's going to give a 10th of all that God gives him back to the Lord. This would go for all of you, but especially you young people that are early on in life's journey, I encourage you to do the same. Determine in advance. What you're going to do with the wealth that God gives to you, and start doing that now.

With whatever little amount God gives you. Don't wait until you start making over $30,000 a year. Before you then figure out what you're going to do with the wealth that God gives you. Decide now what you're going to give to God from your income now.

Decide that before you graduate from college. Decide that before your student loans are paid off. And begin doing that now. And I promise you, you will discover that you just can't outgive God.

And I dare you to try The story in Genesis 28 also encourages me as a parent, and I know it would many of us as parents. It's easy for us as parents to want to keep our children at home. Where they are safe, we think. But this story shows us that God can show up and meet our children wherever they go after they leave our home.

Isaac and Rebecca were probably discouraged over, in fact, I know they were discouraged over how everything had transpired with Jacob. And Esau and now Jacob's out of the home. Isaac and Rebecca probably felt like total failures. Little do they know.

That on the 3rd night after Jacob left home, God is showing up and putting the very gate of heaven in front of their son Jacob. Just like God can do for our own children, wherever they are. And that's what we as parents can pray for, for our children. God can do that to our children when they're in our home.

I'm not denying that. I'm just saying he can also do that when they're out of our home. Finally, it may surprise you guys to know that Jesus actually uses Language from our story today and describing himself in John chapter one. When Jesus first met Nathaniel, he spoke to Nathaniel as if he already knew Nathaniel.

And Nathaniel was amazed by that. Nathaniel was amazed that Jesus knew already that he had been sitting Under a fig tree. At a prior moment. And Jesus sees Nathaniel's amazement and listened to his words to Nathaniel.

John chapter 1 verse 50, Jesus answered and said to him, because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. And Jesus said to him, truly, truly, and this is the first truly, truly in John's Gospel. Truly, truly I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

what Jesus is saying there? He's saying, I am Jacob's ladder. Jesus is the link between heaven and earth. He is the means by which the blessings of God are brought down to earth and he is the means by which people are brought from earth to heaven.

He is the way, he is the one mediator between man and God, and all the infinite ministries and activities of the mighty angels depend upon and are clustered around him. Jesus is the stairway. To God. He is the gateway to heaven.

And if you have Jesus, you have everything that Jacob had in this moment. When he saw the stairway to heaven. In his dream Jesus entered human history and lived the life that we failed to live and died the death that all of us deserved to die on the cross, and he was raised from the dead and ascended up to God. He descended from heaven at the beginning and he ascended back to heaven at the end and he makes himself the stairway to heaven for anyone who will believe in him.

What we see in our New Testaments. is a better dream. Than what Jacob dreamed. And guys, it's real.

It's historical. And it is this Jesus who presents Himself to you and to me, even in the service this morning. He is the way to heaven for sinners who are on the run, like Jacob was. And he will meet you wherever you are at.

And be the gate of heaven and the way to heaven. For you. And all that's needed is for you to behold him. And believe in him.

And lay claim to him and call upon him to be your Lord and Savior. And if you do that, you will find that Jesus is the way to heaven. And you will find That the God of Jacob Is your God too. Let's pray together.

Lord, if you are visiting anyone in your mercy, even right now. As you visited Jacob. In our story today, I pray that you would put within The the ability to respond to you. And say, This is who God is and what He has done for me through Christ.

He will be my God. I'm gonna live in his house. And my life will be all about giving. To him from all that he has given to me.

And only you can accomplish that in the heart of a schemer like Jacob and Only you could do that in my own heart. And in the heart of any person in this room in which this decision needs to be made. But I pray that you would put within them to respond decisively. To you And say I'm with you, Lord.

I'm with you And you will be my God. We thank you for your word and for all the ways that it speaks to us, your truth and your goodness and Your grace. Thank you for the privilege that is ours to represent. The truth of this and the goodness of this to others through the lives we lead and the words we speak to others as we share Christ with them.

Help us to do that, Lord. We thank you for this opportunity to give to you this morning. So appropriately to just give in this offering and to return to you a portion of what you have blessed us with. Make us cheerful givers who delight to give not under compulsion, but eagerly.

And with joy To give to a God who has given of Himself for us and for our salvation. And take everything we give in this offering, Lord, and use it mightily for the glory of Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray, and all God's people said,