Study 8b: JACOB - Goes Back To Bethel – CHARACTER STUDY SERIES

Study 8b: JACOB - Goes Back To Bethel

Text: Genesis 28:10-28

In our first study on Jacob as the supplanter, we saw how he cunningly took Esau's birhtright, and in concert with his mother Rebecah also deceitfully received Esau's blessings as the firstborn of the family. All these offences inarred the wrath of Esau on him with the threat of murder and he had to be on the run for his life. Genesis 22:41, 28:10-28.

The Bible says: "And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth." -Leviticus 26:36

The word of God is true of everyone who does evil. So Jacob fled when indeed Esau was not pursuing.

While Jacob was on the run, it was dusk and he had to rest his head on a stone to sleep a little before continuing. As he slept, it seemed he had escaped from Esau and perhaps from God's view. This hiding place of temporary rest was called Luz. But that was the very place he met with God. (Genesis 28:10-28). God blessed him with the same covenant promise of Abraham and said: "And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." -Genesis 28:20-21 There, Jacob prayed for the first time.

It so happens that there are times a person messes up and confuses his life with all kind of sins and offences that he tries to run away from those he has offended or even from God who is the supreme Judge of the things that transpire in the affairs of men. At a time he least expects, he hears the gospel preached to him and receives salvation through Jesus Christ. The peace of God attends his heart and he is also assured of God's promises and indeed begins to enjoy his blessings. (Philippians 4:7, 19)

God indeed prospered and blessed Jacob in Haran in the household of Laban. For he was rich in flocks, asses, oxen, menservants, women servants and children Genesis 30:42-43

• (a) When Jacob set out for Haran, he was to go there to take a wife and afterwards to return. (Genesis 28: l-2).
• (b) When God met him on the way, he affirmed to him that he had given to him and his seed the land of Canaan, where he laid down to rest for an everlasting possession, He vowed to God that he would come back and worship God in Bethel if the Lord kept and brought him back there safely. (Genesis 28:15).
• (c) On getting to Haran, from which God called out his grandfather Abraham he settled there and lived for twenty years.
• (d) His long stay in Haran was not God's will for him. Remember that Abraham forbade his servant from bringing Isaac back to the land from which God had called him.
• (e) Whenever we are in a place that God has not chosen for us we are bound to be troubled. This was so in the case of Jacob. Laban, his father-in-law dealt unfavorably with him. (Genesis 31:38-42)
• (f) God in his mercy did not allow Laban to hurt Jacob. (Genesis 31:24)

Beloved! By and by God visited Jacob and said: "I am the God of BETHEL, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred." - Genesis 31:13

Figuratively, BETHEL is the point in our lives where each believer encounters God with definite spiritual experiences at which we pledge or vow to serve him with the whole of our life and substance. In the process of time, as God prospered us in a "Strange Land" we forget the "Bethel vow and experience." We allow ourselves to be carried away by worldly pursuit. Perhaps like Jacob, this is why your life troubled. But God is saying RETURN TO BETHEL.

On the way back to BETHEL, in obedience to God's word, Jacob had had a supernatural visitation in which his name was changed to Israel. Gen 32:24-28.As we return to God He will surely bless us.

MEMORY VERSE: "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." - Revelation 2:5

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