GENESIS
Chapter 28
JACOB – A PICTURE OF GRACE
Genesis 28:10-22
Blessed is that man who possesses the key with which to open the Treasure Chest of Holy Scripture. That key is Christ. No one understands the Word of God, in whole or in part, who does not understand that the Book of God is all about the Son of God (Lk. 24:27, 44-47). In our Lord's days upon this earth the religionists, those who claimed to believe the Word of God, kept sabbath days, and zealously defended their religious traditions, doctrines, and practices, were totally ignorant of the message of the Old Testament Scriptures which they claimed to believe. When he who is the Truth stood before them and told them the truth about God and themselves, they hated him, persecuted him and ultimately crucified him. Why? The Lord Jesus himself tells us, and you will see the reason - "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John 5:46-47).
Things have not changed in the least. Like the Pharisees of old, the religious multitudes of our day, standing upon the Book, the blood, and the blessed hope, have missed the message of the Word of God. The message of the Bible is Jesus Christ himself. Every word written in Holy Scripture is inspired of God and intended by him to reveal who Christ is and what he did.
Our Savior said, "Moses wrote of me.". The history, laws, types and pictures, visions and dreams, of which Moses wrote in the first five Books of the Bible, were designed to reveal the redemptive purpose and work of God's grace in Jesus Christ. The events in the life of Jacob illustrate this beautifully. I grant that there are many things about Jacob which are difficult to understand; but the one things we do know about him is the fact that he is a picture of God's grace. Jacob was a man loved of God and chosen by God to be an heir of eternal life (Gen. 25:21-23; 35:9-13; Rom. 9:10-13).
His name means "supplanter," one who takes the place of another through force or plotting (Gen. 27:35-36). That well describes Jacob. He tricked his brother Esau into selling him the birthright (Gen. 25:29-34). Then, through his mother's influence and help, he deceived his father Isaac, and tricked him into giving him the blessing reserved for the first-born (Gen. 27:19-24). He supplanted his brother Esau. After such wicked, deceitful behavior, being a coward by nature, Jacob took the birthright and the blessing and fled from his father's house, hoping to escape the wrath of his brother, Esau (Gen. 27:41-44).
As he fled from Esau, when he was alone in the desert, God met Jacob in grace. What a night that must have been! There, in the desert, God spoke to Jacob, promised him his presence and his covenant mercies, and revealed to him the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to God, the only way of salvation, grace, and eternal life. Everything Jacob experienced that night in the desert, between Beersheba and Haran, portrayed the work of God's sovereign, saving grace upon chosen sinners.
A LOST SINNER
Verses 10-11 reveal Jacob's lost condition. Here is Jacob, alone in the desert, afraid and helpless. He has no pillow upon which to lay his head, but the cold, hard rocks of the earth. There is no more time for plotting, scheming, manipulating, and supplanting. He is alone, isolated, and weary. There are two reasons why Jacob was in such a horrible condition.
First, Jacob was in the mess he was in, because of his sin. The same is true of all the sons of Adam. We are what we are, proud, covetous, unhappy, and depressed, because of our sin; and we are where we are, separated from God, under the curse of the law, without help, without strength, and without hope, because of our sins. Lost man has no one to blame for his lost condition, but himself! "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you" (Isa. 59:2). Like us, Jacob was completely unworthy and utterly undeserving of God's grace. God is just in condemning sinful men. He is altogether clear when he judges us (Psa. 51:3-4). Do you understand this? It is essential that you do. God will never save a man until he brings him to know his lost condition, until he stops his mouth, and causes him to take sides with God against himself, justifying God in his own condemnation.
Second, Jacob was brought into this lowly, hopeless condition, because God was about to be gracious to him. The time of love had come, and God was about to speak to his heart (Hos. 2:14). Therefore, he brought Jacob down. God knows how to bring sinners down (Psa. 107). Like the prodigal, Jacob came to the end of himself. Blessed is that man whom God bring down. If he abases, he will exalt. But he will exalt none, except those who are abased by him. He strips; and he clothes. But he will clothe none with the righteousness of Christ, except those whom he strips of self-righteousness. He kills; and he makes alive. But he will make none alive in Christ, except those whom he slays by his law.
A SAVING REVELATION
The Lord revealed his mercy to Jacob in a dream (vv. 12-14). When it pleases God, he reveals his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ in his people. In his Son, he reveals his mercy, love, and grace (Rom. 5:6-8); and that revelation brings life to chosen sinners (Eph. 2:1-7). Here is Jacob, the sinner, quiet and still, at last subdued by sovereign grace. God deals with him. There is nothing for him to say or do. As God spoke, he revealed a ladder set up upon the earth, reaching into heaven, That ladder is Christ.
1. The ladder was set up upon the earth, but the top of it reached into heaven. So the Lord Jesus Christ, although he stood upon the earth in the flesh, never left the bosom of the Father. He became a man. Yet, he never ceased to be the most high God (John 1:14, 18, 33-34; Phil. 2:6-8).
2. The angels of God went up and down on the ladder. As the ladder represents Christ our Mediator, so the angels of God ascending and descending upon it tell us that the only way sinful men and women can ascend up to God and find acceptance with him is by Christ the Mediator (John 14:6); and it is only by and through Christ that God comes to us. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself."
3. The Lord God stood above the ladder and made all his rich promises of grace to Jacob (v. 14). All the blessings and promises of grace, eternal life and heavenly glory are made and given to sinners in Christ and for Christ's sake (Eph. 1:3-7; 4:32; 2 Tim. 1:9). As all the blessings of God come down to us by Christ, all our praise goes up to and is accepted of God through Christ (1 Pet. 2:5).
Those promises which God made to Jacob (v. 15) are the promises of God to all the sons of Jacob, the promises of God to every believer; and the promises of God are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Here are four things promised to God's elect, four things every believer can be assured of by faith in Christ.
1. "I am with thee." God is with us, always with us, in covenant mercy, redemptive grace, and constant love (Phil. 3:3-4). He is with us to save us, protect us, and do us good in all things (Rom. 8:28-39).
2. "I will keep thee." Not one of those sinners chosen by God in eternity, redeemed by Christ at Calvary, and called by the Spirit in grace shall ever perish. We are kept by the power of God (Mal. 3:6; John 6:37-45; 10:24-30).
3. "I will bring thee again into this land." Canaan was a type of heaven. Christ, our Surety and good Shepherd, will bring God's sheep home to glory (John 10:16). There is plenty of room in heaven for all who will to enter in by Christ Jesus; but when all things are finished and time shall be no more, there will be no vacancies. Every place prepared by Christ will be occupied by the one for whom it was prepared (John 14:1-3).
4. "I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Of Christ it is written, "He shall not fail…The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand" (Isa. 42:4; 53:10-11). "He shall save his people!" (Matt. 1:21). (See Phil. 1:6 1 Thess. 5:24). God's elect are secure in Christ, as secure as the very throne and veracity of God himself!
Verses 16-19 describe Jacob's awakening and conversion by the grace of God. As soon as Jacob was awakened he sensed the presence of God and was filled with the fear of God. He found himself in the house of God, at the gate of heaven. There he built an altar for the glory of God and worshipped.
Jacob called the place where he was Bethel, though the name of the place before was Luz. Luz means "separation." Bethel means "House of God." God calls us to separation from the world, but as we leave the world we enter the house of God (1 Cor. 6:14-7:1). That is a blessed separation, a separation by which we lose nothing and gain everything.
The House of God is the place of God's presence. The house of God is not brick and mortar stacked together in ornate, stately buildings. The house of God is God meeting with his people in any place. The church of the living God is the assembly of Christ with his people. Our Lord prayed and preached in private homes, in the open air, on the mountain side, by the seashore, and in a fishing boat, as well as in the temple and synagogue.
Today, we place far too much emphasis upon the place of worship and far too little emphasis upon the presence of God. Until the third century, there was no such thing as a "church building." God's saints gathered wherever they could, and God met with them. Nothing makes any place sacred but God's presence. Wherever God is present with his people, that is the house of God! In the days of its apostasy, God brought this indictment against Israel - "Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples" (Hos. 8:14). It is an indictment which might well be brought against the church of our day. The House of God is the place of God's presence. If we have that, we have everything! If we miss that, we have nothing. The house of God, the assembly of his saints is the place of worship. It is a place of reverence for him. It is the very gate of heaven!
A VOW MADE
Jacob's vow of consecration (vv. 20-22) is the first time in Scripture we read of a vow being made to God. It is worthy of our notice. This vow of consecration was made by Jacob in response to what he had seen, heard, and experienced in his soul of God's sovereign, saving grace in Christ. Believer's baptism is a good parallel to this. Symbolically, when the believer rises up from the watery grave, he consecrates himself to walk with Christ in the newness of life (Rom. 6:4-6).
The word "if" is poorly translated in verse 20. Jacob is not here laying down mercenary, legal conditions upon which he is consecrating himself to God. The word should be translated "since". It is an argumentative word. He is saying, "Since God has promised such grace to me, I'll live for him" (! Cor. 6:19-20). His vow of consecration was remarkable (v. 22).
"This stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house." He was saying, I will worship the Lord God of this house and him only (Gen. 35:1-7). He had many faults, but Jacob kept his vow.
"Of all that thou shall give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." He vowed to honor God with the substance of his increase. It is written, "Honor the Lord with thy substance, with the firstfruits of thine increase" (Prov. 3:9). The law of tithing had not yet been instituted. Jacob was under no obligation to give a tithe, except the obligation of love and gratitude. This was a voluntary act of his heart (2 Cor. 9:7). It was directly connected with the worship of God and the house of God. Here, God's servant, Jacob, teaches us some very important, needful lessons about giving.
2. In giving the tithe, he demonstrated his faith in God to supply his needs.
3. The tithe was given to maintain the worship of God wherever he went.
4. What he gave, Jacob gave for the glory of God, the God of Bethel.
Jacob stands before us as a picture of grace. What a good picture he is. He was lost by nature. Christ was revealed to him and in him. He was possessor of all blessedness by the promise of God. This lost sinner was converted by the grace of God. Being converted by the grace of God, Jacob consecrated himself to the Son of God.