Part of a series, The Man God Mastered:
Perhaps the best of C.S. Lewis’s insightful books is one called A Pilgrim’s Regress. It is inspired by John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and tells the story of a young man’s journey to find the great dream of his life. It starts with him chasing women, but progresses to other things. Each stage of the journey represents a philosophy of life that Lewis himself had been drawn to: a philosophy holding out some answer to the mystery of life. As we continue our journey with Jacob we also will meet with some of the great questions of existence.
This morning we come to perhaps the greatest question: where can God be found? There can be no doubt that many are looking – in the sanctuaries of gilded churches, before the shrine of a favourite saint, in the River Ganges, in Mecca, Jerusalem. I can still see that desperate Indian woman clutching her baby to her bosom, placing flowers before the great black bull in the Hindu shrine at Pune. Not far away was an ashram that was visited by many Australians looking for a transcendental experience of ultimate reality and thinking Raj Nish had the answer.
There are many competing answers, so much so that many mock the whole idea of finding God, and declare him a fantasy of human imagination: the only reality, they say, is that uncovered by Science. “Religion is the enemy of truth: the grand delusion.” So let me say at the outset that Jacob found God; that is why his story is so important.
Jacob sets out on a long journey, from Beersheba in the Negev (negev means “south”), north through modern Israel, right through Syria and into Turkey. He seems to have been alone. I suppose he had a donkey. It was a journey of some 1000 kilometres, that would take many weeks. But something will happen early in his trek which will change his life forever, and as we have begun to see, change the course of world history as well.
I want us to follow the story closely this time. Up to now I have been cherry picking the Genesis story, but it is good sometimes to look at a whole chapter and see what the book is doing. You can look it up in Genesis 28.
Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddan-aram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take as your wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” 5 Thus Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. (Genesis 28.1-5)
Something has happened to Isaac. Blind he may be, but his inner eyes have been opened. Here is the man who for many years has refused to accept Jacob as his heir, now freely bestowing his blessing, accepting him as the bearer of the promise of Abraham, and the head of his future family as the owners of the promised land. And one other thing: notice those words, “God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.” I said that every time the promise is restated something gets added. Previously Isaac had said, “Nations will serve you and peoples bow down to you,” thinking he was blessing Esau. Now he speaks of a “company of nations”. That word, “company” is special. You could say “church of nations”. The Hebrew is qahal. It was translated into Greek as ecclesia. It is the word the first Christians chose to name their assemblies and mark them out from the synagogues. If you wanted to explore the biblical idea of church you would begin with this blessing. Four thousand years ago Jacob is promised that he will become “a church of nations”.
I don’t know why Jacob has to take a wife from his own people. It is obvious why Isaac and Rebecca don’t want him to marry a Canaanite. The Cannanites were idol-worshippers. But were their relatives on the other side of the Euphrates River any different? They worshipped idols too. But perhaps there was a difference, running back to their ancestor Shem. As the human family spread out after the flood, Canaan’s family was cursed. This has nothing to do with the black races; it had to do with the fate of the Canaanites. They were a doomed race, doomed by their own godlessness. It explains why Isaac and Rebecca would not have wanted their children to intermarry there. Perhaps there was a memory of the creator God among their own people, even as they too were descending into idol worship.
We are told next how Esau realizes how displeasing to his parents were the Canaanite woman, and marries a daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar.
Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac his father, Esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth. (Genesis 28.6-9)
Maybe Esau thought it was because of his wives that he was passed over. Possibly he doubted whether Jacob would ever return. Perhaps he thought there was still hope for him as his father’s heir. Whatever the explanation, we are meant to see his new marriage as a positive thing; he is not altogether absorbed into the Canaanite population. The Bible is interested in more than the story of the Jews. Here we are learning about the future of another nation. Esau’s descendants were the Edomites. They will have a history long after the Canaanites have been swept away. Do not be put off by that statement, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau I hated”. Yes, Esau was passed over in favour of Jacob. And providence placed Esau in a difficult land, compared with Jacob’s land, flowing with milk and honey. But God showed his love morning by morning to the Edomites, and no doubt has a place for some in his kingdom. They do not disappear from history until after New Testament times. King Herod the Great had an Edomite father.
And now Jacob sets out on his journey.
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood above it 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 to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28.10-17)
My Dad used to boast about sleeping in the snow with a rock for a pillow. I think he was kidding, though I believed him at the time. The two worst things about sleeping on the ground are a place for you hip (you need to dig a hole) and something to raise your head. A stone is better than nothing, provided you can put something soft on top of it. Jacob may have hung around home, but he is no wimp. Having your head on a rock all night would be enough to give anyone bad dreams. Jacob dreamt!
But it wasnt an ordinary dream. Most dreams are meaningless bits and pieces that swirl around our unconscious, but this one came from God. It was a revelation. And it revealed an answer to our question, where God may be found, or more precisely, where is the place where earth and heaven are connected? This was a real question back then. The Tower of Babel was an attempt to connect with heaven. Those huge pyramid-like ruins in Iraq, with stairs on the outside leading upwards, were attempts to communicate with heaven. And now God is showing Jacob that there is a place where heaven and earth meet: a staircase reaching from earth to heaven with the angels of God going up and down. When Jacob wakes up he is afraid. He knows that God has spoken to him. He understands that there is something holy about the place. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. He calls the place Beth-el, God’s House, and years later he sets up an altar there when he returns from the north.
But we need to be clear that apart from the fact that this was where this revelation took place, there is nothing special about Bethel. What is special is the land around it: the land of Canaan, the promised land. God makes that clear when he tells Jacob that he is going to give him and his descendants “the land on which you lie”, and that his descendants will spread abroad to the east and west and north and south. Canaan is where God is going to meet with human beings – not in some temple in Egypt or Babylon. And he is doing it right there, speaking to Jacob.
But now notice what we have seen again and again. Once again God makes it clear that this is not just for the Jews, but ultimately for the whole world: “In you and your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” “Salvation is from the Jews.” Jesus said. Whatever you may think of them, they were God’s chosen means of bringing his salvation to the world, and the promised land played a big part in that; maybe it still has a part to play, but not the part some think.
Many people still travel to Israel seeking an experience of God. Holy Land tours are popular. I spent a month in Israel and the West Bank in 1977 doing a course at St George’s College in East Jerusalem. There were about forty of us from many parts of the world. We had devotions together each morning, though not all were Christians. We took it in turns to lead and I had one of the first opportunities. I had recently read Bishop J.B. Lightfoot’s essay, “The Christian Ministry”. I quoted from his opening words:
“The kingdom of Christ, not being a kingdom of this world, is not limited by the restrictions which fetter other societies, political or religious… It has no sacred days or seasons, no special sanctuaries, because every time and every place alike are holy. Above all, it has no sacerdotal system. It interposes no sacrificial tribe or class between God and man, by whose intervention alone God is reconciled and man forgiven. Each individual member holds personal communion with the Divine Head. To him immediately he is responsible, and from him directly he obtains pardon and draws strength.”
“No sacred days, no special sanctuaries!” How revolutionary is that! You can imagine the effect what I was saying had on people who had come to Israel believing it to be a holy place and preparing to visit its especially holy sanctuaries. They were not pleased. But being young and stupid, I charged on.
I shared a room with an English theological student. We were sitting on our beds that afternoon when he said, “Well, I don’t care what you think, I’m going down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.” I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Fine!” I had nothing against visiting these places, only about thinking you would find God in them – more than anywhere else. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where Jesus was crucified and buried and rose. It is the holiest shrine in Christendom.
When he returned he seemed shaken. I asked him how it was. He told me he had been homosexually propositioned by a monk there. You cant get away from sin, no matter where you go. You will not find God in the sanctuary of a church any more than anywhere else.
Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated that in Israel’s own history. The passage we are studying bears witness to the fact that at an early stage of Israel’s history Bethel was seen as a very holy place. Abraham had lived for a time and had a place of worship near Bethel, and now God has revealed himself to Jacob there. So it was a brilliant piece of political strategy for Jeroboam I to chose it as his royal sanctuary when he broke away from Judah after Solomon’s reign, and needed an alternative to Jerusalem. So it comes to be known as Beth-aven, the House of Evil, rather than Beth-el, the House of God. And a similar thing happened in Jerusalem.
So where is God to be found – now? Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar that a great change was about to take place, associated with the coming of the kingdom of God. (John 4) She asked him where was the right place to worship. The Book of Deuteronomy is clear that there was to be one official place of worship and sacrifice in Israel. Later on Jews and Samaritans had a standing row about whether that place was Jerusalem or Mt Gerizim. But Jesus answered that it was neither, which must have been a shock, for it went against what might be seen as the plain teaching of the Bible, and against all their culture and conditioning. And remember that Jesus said this when the temple in Jerusalem was at its most glorious: the most wonderful building in the world. And the Samaritans were still sacrificing at Mt Gerizim. No, said Jesus, “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” With these words Jesus announced the greatest revolution in the worship of God that has ever been dreamed of. Bishop Lightfoot was right: true Christianity knows no holy places. That is because the time of symbolic ritual has passed. God has come to dwell amongst his people – in Jesus, and now the Holy Spirit. God is now with us. The kingdom of God is at hand. “God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
But Jesus does not say it all. The person who seeks for God may still ask, “Where is God to be found?” So I would draw your attention to one more thing. Right at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when he was still gathering his disciples, Philip brought Nathaniel to Jesus, and Nathaniel was doubtful whether he could really be Israel’s promised king. Jesus spoke to him and revealed things which took Nathaniel’s breath away. I wonder do you remember Jesus’ final words to Nathaniel: “You believed because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1) When Israel was one man God revealed that he was going to deal with mankind in a particular place, Canaan, in Israel, the promised land, the Holy Land. But now heaven and earth are connected not in some holy place, but in a holy Man, the Son of Man, Jesus, the one who is both God and man, the Mediator between God and humans. So, if you want to find God, go to Jesus. You will not find him anywhere else.
Jacob has now met God, and I want us finally to consider his response.
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” (Genesis 28.20-22)
There is a right way and a wrong way of reading this. The wrong way is to see Jacob as still dealing, this time trying to do a deal with God. “OK God, if you do that for me, I’ll do this for you.” Bargaining! Many people do it. It’s like saying to someone very rich, “If you set me up in my own house, I’ll be your friend.” You wouldn’t bother to try. No, God has declared his mind to Jacob: “I will give to you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth … All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your seed. 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.” This is breathtaking: a promise from the Creator of the Universe of protection and a safe return home, as well as the gift of the future world. Who has ever had anything like this? Jacob is not doubting God or trying to do a deal. He is responding the kindness of it. “Well Lord, if that is what you are going to do with me, what shall I say, and what shall I do?” And Jacob swears allegiance to this God: “Yahweh shall be my God.” “This place where God has revealed himself to me will be my place of worship.” And, here Jacob sees himself before a king, the king of everything. “And of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” Jacob is a nomad; from now on he will pay taxes; he will pay them to God. Jacob has found God, because God wanted Jacob to find him.
Before we leave this I would like you to think of yourself in Jacob’s shoes. None of us has had a special revelation like him. He stands at the source, and we are a long way down the river. But it is critical that we grasp the fact that we are part of the same river. When we find Jesus we become heirs of Jacob’s blessing, and so, in some way it is right that we see ourselves addressed by the one at the top of the staircase. We can follow Esau, of course, and dismiss the gospel as a thing of no practical value, but my thought is that you are hearing what God said to Jacob like he was saying it to you. If you are hearing the gospel, he is addressing you! While ever we think we have something to offer God to gain his favour – while ever we think we can do a deal with God – while ever we think we can have God on our terms, we will never find him. But if we hear his promise – if we understand that what is being offered us is forgiveness, a place with God, his guidance and protection through life, and that he will bring us home at last to our true and eternal home – if we hear these things and are overwhelmed by the grace of it – the sheer kindness and mercy, then we will answer him in some such way as this: “If you are going to do all this for me, then you will be my God, and Jesus will be my Lord, and all that I am and all that I have will be yours.” That is Christian believing. That is the beginning of worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. That is the beginning of life. But as we shall see next week, it may also be the beginning of hardship.