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The God of Jacob

As we look at Jacob's life in the Book of Genesis we find we're looking at a man who had many weaknesses and flaws in his character. And yet he experienced remarkable things with God.

But these experiences that Jacob had of God did not produce the type of instantaneous transformation that we might hope to observe. Yes, God did deal with Jacob in profoundly life-changing ways but the way this principle of new life worked itself out in Jacob's life slowly and gradually and not without repeated set-backs.

All the faithlessness that Jacob displayed did not however cause God to change His mind. God maintained His commitment to Jacob. And slowly but surely Jacob was growing spiritually in his relationship with this great God. His progress is summed up for us in the NT where Jacob figures in that famous list of the heroes of the faith found in Heb.11.

There is much in this that should serve to encourage us.

First and foremost we have to do with the same God! But what do we know about this God? How real and personal is our knowledge of this God?

As we look together at Gen.35 this evening I want us to look at the God of Jacob and see just how He is presented to us.

Already on several different occasions the LORD had met with Jacob and spoken to him.

·       Before his birth even the LORD had declared that he would have pre-eminence over his older twin brother

·       He had made promises to Jacob as he fled from Esau – promises of prosperity and of protection

·       He had told Jacob when it was time to leave his uncle Laban and return to the land promised to his fathers

·       He had spoken to Jacob when Jacob had wrestled with him before crossing the Jabbok

·       Now here in ch.35 after the disastrous events of ch.34 the LORD again takes the initiative and speaks to Jacob with new commands and a renewed call

v.1 "God said to Jacob,"

vv.10+11 "And God said to him"

v.13 "Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him."

God spoke to Jacob and it is written down for our instruction!

Jacob was far from perfect and his responses to God's speaking to him were far from perfect too. Yet God spoke and kept on speaking.

Have you heard God speaking to you? I don't mean have you heard "voices" but have you been aware of God coming wanting to have dealings with you. He speaks now through His word and He presses His truth upon us. Have you responded in any positive way to His invitations, calls and commands? I'm not asking have you understood everything there is to understand. I'm not asking if you're made a complete and foolproof response to this God who calls. But I am asking have you paid any heed to His Word?

We all come the same way. None of us will ever respond perfectly to God – if we could we wouldn't need a Saviour! We must respond just as we are – as sinners. We may respond halteringly, waveringly, but our response must be genuine.

As Jacob responded and responded again to God's repeated instructions and calls Jacob slowly grew in grace. Are you responding? Are you growing?

The God Jacob had to deal with was a God who had appeared to him in a personal and real way. This did not happen just once either! The LORD God is a God who wants to make Himself known and so He takes steps to do just that and to reveal Himself to Jacob.

v.7 "and there he built an altar and called the place El–bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother."

v.9 "God appeared to Jacob again,"

Cf.32:30 "So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Let me ask you: Do you know God? I'm not asking whether you have had some type of visionary experience – that's in no way necessary at all – but have you come to know God, to know something of His character and His way of behaving? I'm not asking can you write some theological statement but have you come to some kind of personal knowledge of God? God has made some things clear about Himself in the natural world that He has created but He has revealed far more about Himself in the Bible.

Have you ever paused to consider just why He has revealed truth about Himself in this way? Let me tell you

It is because He wants us to know not just who He is but that we might come to know Him personally.

The God Jacob had come to know something about was not merely a God who spoke to Jacob but a God to whom Jacob could address his own prayers!

Jacob's dealings with God had been very practical and he had discovered that when he was in distress it wasn't his own personal cleverness or his own personal deviousness that could secure his safety. Instead he had found that in those very times when he was in total despair, the distress of his situation being so great as to be way beyond his capacity to cope, God could not only hear his cries for help but was able to deliver him from his distress.

·       God had intervened to protect Jacob when he fled away from Esau.

·       He had watched over Jacob's interests when Laban was doing everything in his power to exploit and impoverish his nephew.

·       He had intervened to change Esau's former hatred which Jacob so much feared to brotherly affection.

·       Now here in ch.35 as Jacob is scared that the inhabitants of the land will come after him to destroy him because of the carnage perpetrated by his sons in Shechem (Gen.34) and God intervenes once more in his favour this time by causing such a terror to fall upon the cities that none dare pursue Jacob.

It is one thing to affirm that God hears and answers prayer – it is another to say and believe that God hears and answers my prayers! And do I pray? Do you pray? Jacob did!

Do you see that in v.3?

"God … has been with me wherever I have gone."

Now I've been thinking recently about the doctrine of divine omnipresence. This doctrine teaches that there is no place that God is not. But when the Bible speaks about God's presence it does so meaning something far more than a mere geographical inescapability – it means God's presence to do good and to impart blessing.

Jacob looking back now on his life and probably thinking of how God took care of him while he was with "uncle" Laban:

Cf. Gen.31:42 "If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty–handed."

Do you realize as a believer you are never on your own because the LORD promises always to accompany you?

Jn.14:23 "Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

Heb.13:5 "he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Are you enjoying such communion with Him?

If a twister like Jacob could make such affirmations can not you?

This God that is spoken of here in ch.35 has already made and kept some wonderful promises to Jacob. In this chapter He reiterates and confirms in a more personal way to Jacob promises that had been given to Abraham his grandfather and to Isaac his father.

There are many wonderful promises made in the Bible. Have you come to have a personal interest in these promises?

The reason God gives promises is not to give us something to admire but something to lay hold of, something to plead, something to give us a real and substantial hope.

Do you know anything of this? Are you growing and developing in your trust in His promises?

We have already seen back in ch.32 how Jacob wrestled with God and was graciously allowed to prevail with Him. At that time God effected a profound change in Jacob's life – he was never to be quite the same ever again. To reflect that Jacob's name is changed to Israel – the twister will no longer be dominated by that trait of character but will now be known as Israel – the one who prevails with God.

But after ch.32 Jacob showed himself still to be weak and self-centred. Does his failure to live up to his new name mean that God will give up on him? No it most certainly doesn't and to underline this fact the change of name is confirmed here in ch.35.

Jacob was wrong not to have evidenced more faith, more trust and he would have done well to have evidenced greater concerns for the interests of others rather than seeking to save his own skin – but God perseveres.

If you are a believer you may well be conscious of many areas of failure and weakness. You may indeed be so aware of failure as to question whether any real profound change has taken place in your life. But this account is recorded to remind us that saints are but pardoned sinners and not yet perfected! If God perseveres with such a one as Jacob why will He not persevere with you?

And as God meets with Jacob at Bethel where Jacob has finally gone in obedience to the LORD's commands He assures Jacob that He is well able to keep any and all promises He has made to Jacob.

How?

By describing Himself not just as God but as God Almighty – His divine power is limitless, omnipotent.

Will you not place your trust in a God who is so evidently able to meet your need?

Jacob has gone to Bethel to erect an altar. He names the altar in a special way – this is El-Bethel – the God of Bethel. This is an act of worship.

As Jacob worships the LORD meets with him:

Cf.Ps 22:3 "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (AV)

And when the LORD leaves him Jacob sets up a pillar and presents offerings – further acts of worship.

Let me ask you, Does your knowledge of God and your relationship with Him lead you to worship Him? True worship is a response to who He is and not a means to try to screw blessing out of Him!

God is so great and so exalted, so majestic and so holy! How can a man or a woman ever dare to draw near to Him? I wonder do you consider this? It is a momentous thing. Jacob shows us to approach this God as he counsels the members of his own household. We'll conclude by looking briefly at just what he told them to do.

1.     They are to put away foreign gods. No syncretism, no idolatry but they must recognize that there is One True and Living God.

Now in Jacob's day this included literal physical idols such as the household gods that Rachel stole from her father Laban. In some parts of the world today it will mean primarily this too. However don't for a moment think that just because you don't have a little statue of some sort in your home that you don't therefore have any foreign gods to consider! Jesus taught that it was impossible to serve God and Mammon – this world's riches entice so many who chase after them with every fibre of their being. An idol is whatever usurps the central place in your life that rightly belongs to God Almighty.

Cowper put it like this in one of his hymns:

The dearest idol I have known,

whate’er that idol be,

help me to tear it from Thy throne,

and worship only Thee.

2.     They were to purify themselves. Now it is only those who know themselves to be impure that need purification. Have you realised your need? You can't approach God in your impurity – He is too holy to look with approval upon your sin!

This purification is not about external washings to remove bodily dirt – it is not that that defiles us before God. It is what is in the heart that defiles a man – we need to purify our hearts. But how?

Jer.13:23 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil."

The way to purify yourself is to look to Christ with faith and trust. You're not expected to sort out your own problems by yourself trusting to your own resources but made away of your need of being purified you apply yourself earnestly to the One God has provided for that very purpose – the Lord Jesus Christ who died on Calvary:

O CHRIST, what burdens bowed Thy head!

our load was laid on Thee;

Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead,

didst bear all ill for me.

A victim led, Thy blood was shed!

Now there’s no load for me.

3.     They were to clothe themselves with different garments. The old way of living must laid to one side and a new lifestyle adopted.

Do you know that there is just one type of salvation in the Bible and it is salvation from sin? There is no way that we are to imagine that we can be saved and then left to go on sinning with impunity.

Count the cost – if you are not willing to give up your sin then be certain of this, you cannot have God!

But all has been done – Come to God through Christ and if you've already come then just keep on coming.

May God bless us all, amen.