God is in this place.

Reading: Genesis 28:16.

“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

After every church service, we will all take home something different from that service, some would have seen or felt God in the worship, in the hymns, or even the readings and prayers, or maybe in the sermon, or in all of these things. Others may have seen nothing of this, mainly because their minds are not focus on God in the midst of them.

I know right now that Christ is here in the midst of us. This does not come by a vision or feeling, but because the bible says so, “Where TWO or more are gathered in the name of Jesus, Christ is in the midst of them.” So Christ Jesus the Lord is here among us this morning. I pray it will not be said of us, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

If we desire Christ most of all, I believe we will see Christ in our lives.

1^ST POINT: THE BACKGROUND TO JACOB’S VISION.

“So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep” Genesis 28:11.

Jacob was so caught up in his own thoughts and fears that he missed that God was working in his life. Jacob the heir to the promises of God, but soon his name would no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, the father of a great nation. 

But at this time the name Jacob, carried the meaning of deceiver.

1.     Jacob deceiver his own brother of his blessing and birth right.

2.     Jacob even lied to his father.

3.     Jacob then cheated on his father in law.

Now he is sleeping on the desert floor with nothing but a stone for his pillow. Jacob’s life does not cry out “man of God.”

a.      I wonder if he thought about the way in which he separated himself from his brother before he went to sleep that night?

b.     I also wonder if he regretted deceiving his father and his father in law?

c.      I imagine he wondered if God would ever be with him again.

d.     Perhaps he wondered if he would even make it out of the desert alive?

          Now lonely, an outcast, a deceiver, isolated and miles from his destination. That is where we find Jacob in Genesis chapter twenty-eight.

2^ND POINT: THE VISION ITSELF.

“Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall 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 spoken to you” Genesis 28:12-15.

At this low point in Jacob’s life, he needed nothing less than a close encounter with the Divine God. He needed a ladder. Ladders are useful devices, because we can reach greater heights, that we cannot normally reach. We use them to clean our upper windows, etc. and to get into the attic. Often, we use ladders to reach things that we would not normally be able to reach or see.

Ladders bridge a gap. They allow a person to pass from one place to another. You would not be able to get into the attic without a ladder to bridge the gap. Jacob needed a ladder. On his own, he was unable to bridge the gap between the flesh and the Divine. As a liar, and cheat, he was not able to enter into clear and regular communion with God.

He was isolated on the desert floor, without hope of divine guidance in his life. Yet, precisely at his point of need, Jacob has a strange dream, consisting of a ladder, angels ascending and descending the ladder, and God’s voice speaking forth from heaven.

God wanted to speak meaning into Jacob’s life and so created a way for that to happen. The ladder forms a bridge between heaven and earth. God chose the time and place when He would speak to Jacob. It is our responsibility to be open and available, listening for God’s voice. However, God chooses the time and place when He will speak to us. He builds the ladder upon which He will communicate with us.

3^RD POINT: AFTER JACOB’S VISION.

“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 28:16-17.

When Jacob awoke from his dream, he realizing that he had been in the very presence of God, and so, he did the only thing he could do, he worshipped God. Jacob took the stone that had been under his head and made this his altar, and then he worshipped God, and made a vow to give him a tenth of all he would ever receive.

I find Jacob’s response interesting. If I were Jacob, I think I would have been tempted to never move again. Like the disciples at Jesus’ transfiguration, I would have wanted to set camp up and stay right there at the gates of heaven. Once we have found the gates of heaven, we will find it difficult to leave.

But Jacob realized that he could not live in the “that place.” He realized that he must continue his earthly journey. Perhaps you have had the same experience in a church service. You have felt the presence of God in a real way. You felt His call upon your life, and have heard His voice clearly. But God’s call is never to stay and live life in the same place, but to go out into the world and complete His mission.

After his wonderful dream, Jacob named the place “Bethel” which means “House of God;” here Jacob remembers his revelation site. He had a deep sense of the presence of the Lord; an important turning-point in his spiritual life, for soon Jacob would be called Israel.

Jacob could never have fulfilled the call of God to have many descendants and to be a blessing to the entire world if he had stayed there. He had to leave Bethel to complete the work God had for him.

CONCLUSION:

Today, are you in need of a close encounter with the Divine God? If so, I would encourage you to pray that God would speak to you today. Take time out this week for prayer and Scripture reading, and waiting upon God to speak to you.

“For Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” …… “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Genesis 28:16-17.