Jacob’s Dream, God’s Grace

Text: Genesis 28:1-22

Introduction

The story of grace continues in Genesis 28. Jacob has up to this point been disobedient to God, selfish in his decisions, and dishonest even with his own family.

While Jacob is reaping the consequences of his own sin—alone, homeless, and with uncertain prospects for his future in an unfamiliar land—God is meanwhile pursuing Jacob with his gracious purposes. God breaks into the dream Jacob has formed for himself—which is looking more and more like a nightmare—and God gives him a new, heaven-sent vision.

Jacob will succeed because God is gracious, because God will give him—not what he has earned—but infinitely better than he deserves.

I. Jacob & Esau Go Separate Ways (vv.1-9)

1. vv.1-2 Like Abraham, Rebekah & Isaac at least agree on one thing: they do not want Jacob to take a wife from among surrounding pagan Canaanite women.
   1. So, in vv.3-4, Isaac sends Jacob away, and once again reiterates his prayer/blessing that God’s covenant with/Abraham be continued through Jacob.
      1. Included in this blessing are the 3 familiar elements of: inheriting the Promised Land, a multitude of descendants, and a Promised Seed/Savior.
   2. Although Jacob is sent on his way with Isaac’s blessing, this is actually a lonely, difficult time in Jacob’s life. Where he had family, familiarity, and comfortableness, he is now sent out to face his future, alone in foreign lands.
2. vv.6-9 We have already seen Esau despise his birthright, and disregard the heritage of his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham by taking pagan Hittite wives from among the surrounding nations.
   1. However, as Esau hears Isaac blessing Jacob, he is reminded of the folly of these actions, and seeks to remedy his situation by taking yet another wife, this time from within the family of Abraham’s son Ishmael.
      1. Esau here goes from being an example of those who utterly reject the good revelation and promises of God, to being an example of those who try to earn God’s favor by their own works/efforts.
      2. There is no mention of repentance here, or of seeking God’s help; only of  trying to work his way through an external check-list in order to please his parents and perhaps God thru them.
   2. Thus, Esau misses the point entirely and choses a wife from Ishmael’s household, not considering the fact Ishmael and his descendants have been rejected from inheriting Abraham’s promises.
      1. Esau is still not trusting in God’s promised Seed/Savior, who was promised to come thru Isaac, not Ishmael.

II. God Preaches the Gospel to Jacob (vv.10-15)

1.  Jacob is here divinely visited in a dream. Of course, dreams are not a medium for divine revelation any longer; the canon of Scripture is complete and God’s revelation of his plan of redemption is found in God’s sufficient Word, the Bible.
   1. In Jacob’s dream, there is a ladder, or staircase, stretching from earth all the way to heaven, with angelic messengers coming and going btw earth and heaven on it. There is access—by means of this staircase-like bridge—to heaven from earth, and to earth from heaven.
      1. Jesus, speaking in the NT to Nathaniel identifies himself as this ladder bridging earth and heaven (Jn 1:45-51).
   2. What the rebellious population of Babel had sought to achieve thru their own labors in Ge 11, God communicates to humanity in Ge 28—a bridge is built that reaches between heaven and earth.
   3. And against the backdrop of this way/ladder/bridge, God speaks to Jacob and confirms that all the promises to Abraham and to Isaac will be true of Jacob.
2. Jacob had heard of the one true God before, had grown up in a home where both parents trusted in God, and had even heard the ‘gospel’ numerous times—in the form it currently took of God’s covenant with Abraham. He had left home with his faithful father praying over him.
   1. Yet up to this point, Jacob had not been personally affected by it. But there comes a point in the life of every child of God, when the Lord takes the external message of the gospel and drives it supernaturally and spiritually into the heart.
   2. What was once only information is now salvation!

III. Jacob Responds to God In Faith (vv.16-22)

1. vv.16-19 The first words out of Jacob’s mouth are: ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, although I didn’t even realize it at first!’
   1. ‘I thought I was alone and homeless in the wilderness, but it turns out God was with me and watching over me, moving toward me all along!’
   2. So he calls this place ‘the house of God’ and ‘the gate of heaven.’
2. In vv.20-22 Jacob makes a vow to God, the first and longest vow recorded in Scripture.
   1. While some see this as bargaining with God rather than trusting in God, I think rather this is Jacob responding in awe, in appreciation, and in faith to God’s revelation to him.
      1. Jacob basically echoes God’s promises to him and says in effect, ‘In light of  these promises, and as sure as they will come true, just as surely then the Lord shall be my God.’
      2. Jacob is making a vow, but one based in the sureness of God’s promises.
   2. This is, I think, why Jacob voluntarily vows to tithe of tenth of all he receives from God as his gift to God in return (v.22). This does not seem to be the kind of action the former, swindling Jacob would have volunteered.
      1. This is why Jacob sets up a pillar of remembrance here, because he feels that he here met the one true God and found himself—unexpectedly and unlooked for—in the presence of God, sitting in the gateway of heaven, worshipping in the house of God.
   3. Jacob already called this place ‘the house of God’ in v.17, and has already  even named the spot Bethel (which also means ‘house of God’) in v.19.
      1. So Jacob’s statement in v.22 does not seem to be saying ‘if God will do all this for me then this place will become the house of God.’ He is saying, ‘these’ promises are going to come to pass just as surely as this place will be the house of God and as surely as God will be my God.’

Conclusion

1. Did you perhaps come here today feeling like Jacob did in this story? Perhaps feeling like you were stuck in/limited to the American dream? That finding happiness and passing it on to others is entirely up to you, is dependent on your efforts?
2.  But perhaps you, like Jacob, have today seen God break through with his own, heaven-sent dream! My prayer is that you, like Jacob here in Ge 28, will discover in your lonely, selfish, self-dependent wilderness the unexpected and undeserved hospitality of heaven. May your eyes be opened to see the way, the only way, that heaven’s blessings can come down to earth—or earth’s inhabitants ever have access to heaven.
3. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the bridge that God has built to accomplish our salvation. Jesus is the Way. And wherever his name and work is proclaimed, in that place there is a ‘gateway of heaven.’