Bethel, The House of God

Genesis 28:10-19a

When were you last in the House of God?

Are you sure?

Is it possible that you were there and did not know it?

Could it be that you are there now?

Did you ever wake up in the morning, look around, and see something you didn't expect you would come to the place where you slept in the night.

You had slept.

You had dreamed.

You had tossed and turned in your bed.

Now you are awake.

The room looks different. The world looks different. It is a new day. It is a new place.

The story I'm about to tell you is not paralleled in that experience exactly.

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Heron, according to Genesis 28: 10 through 19.

He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night because the Sun had set.

Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and laid down in that place.

I have often thought that must have been uncomfortable. I have often wondered how a stone could be a good replacement for a pillow. Once I took a nap on a rock. The place where I laid my head was slightly elevated and slightly hollowed out, and it was a perfect pillow.

While Jacob was asleep, he dreamed. In his dream, he saw a ladder. The ladder had its feet on the earth. The top of the ladder reached to heaven. The Angels of God were ascending and descending on the ladder. It was then that a voice came to him.

The Lord stood beside him and said, "I am the Lord. The God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and your offspring. And your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad and to the West and to the east and to the north and to the South. And all of the families of the Earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring."

It was a renewal of a promise. The promise had been made to Abraham. The promise had to have been reiterated to Isaac. The promise was now being made to Jacob.

I will bless you, God says. I will give you land. I will give you an inheritance. But most important. God said to Jacob, in you, that is in your person, in your heritage, through your life, you will be a blessing to all people.

Your offspring, your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren, all the many generations after you, will be a blessing.

God continues.

God says, "Know that I am with you. Know that I will keep you. I will keep you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

It was at that point that Jacob woke up.

He awoke from his sleep, and he made this declaration. It is a declaration that we may have made from time to time when we have found ourselves in a place where we did not realize we were in the presence of God.

Jacob said, "Surely the Lord is in this place."

But he followed that statement with these words, "And I did not know it"

I did not know it.

God is here.

God was here.

God continues to be here.

I was not aware.

When have you been in the presence of God and knew it not? When has God been speaking to you and you were not aware? When has God been tapping you on the shoulder and you did not realize that it was God?

Jacob said, "How awesome is this place? This is none other than the House of God. This is the gate of heaven."

Jacob arose early in the morning, he took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar and toiled and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel.

The name of the city originally was Luz. But now he called it Bethel.

The word "Beth" is house. The word, "El" is God.

Jacob put a rock down. It was a rock, a stone, that had supported his head.

Now had marked a place in the Earth of special significance, a place where the presence of God had been revealed to him.

He called the place Bethel. He called the place the House of God.

The House of God is that place where God meets you.

It is that place where God speaks to you.

It is that place where God reassures you of God's promises.

It is that place where God calls you to be blessed and to be a blessing.

It is that place where God promises to be with you all through your life.

It is that place where God promises to fulfill his purpose in your life.

It is that place where you meet God, and your life is transformed forever. It is that place where you may set a stone. It is that place that you will name the Bethel of your experience with God.

Art Description from the Top of the Page

Jacob's Ladder; as in Genesis 28:12: "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."; illustration from the 1728?Figures de la Bible; illustrated by Gerard Hoet (1648–1733) and others, and published by P. de Hondt in The Hague; image courtesy Bizzell Bible Collection, University of Oklahoma Libraries