Steps to Christ JACOB COMES TO JESUS
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Gen. 28:17.
Jacob was a religious man. His family were church members. At the time he lived at home, his spiritual experience was not all bad. He was interested in the birthright for more than material reasons. He wanted to be able to commune with God as Abraham did. We'll have to give him good marks for that. "But while he thus esteemed eternal above temporal blessings, Jacob had not an experimental knowledge of the God whom he revered. His heart had not been renewed by divine grace."--Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 178.
Jacob had some misunderstandings of how God worked. He had been promised the birthright, but God has this persistent habit of waiting until the last possible minute. (I used to get mad at Him for that. But don't forget that God is the safest one in the universe to get mad at. If you're mad at Him, you might as well tell Him so, because He knows it anyway. But He never gets mad in return.) So God waited until the last minute, and Jacob decided that He was asleep at the switch and that he needed to do something to help God fulfill His promises. He and Rebekah got their heads together and came up with a master plan.
You know the rest of the story. Jacob got the birthright by fraud. The result was that Jacob never did see his mother again. You see him taking off through the desert sands, alone and guilty and in trouble. The whole thing had backfired. "God had declared Jacob should receive the birthright, and His word would have been fulfilled in His own time had they waited in faith for Him to work for them."--Ibid., p. 180. But they decided to do something themselves. So you see Jacob fleeing in despair. Night comes on, and he lies down after finding a rock for a pillow, and he hardly dares to pray.
He thought that all was hopeless, but he had a dream. In his dream he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Angels were ascending and descending the ladder. The ladder represented Jesus. Jesus was the connection between heaven and earth. Jesus was still there. Jesus still loved him. Jesus had come to him in his time of need, as Jesus always does when one is ready to accept the grace He has to offer. That night Jacob was converted.
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Gen. 28:17.
Jacob was a religious man. His family were church members. At the time he lived at home, his spiritual experience was not all bad. He was interested in the birthright for more than material reasons. He wanted to be able to commune with God as Abraham did. We'll have to give him good marks for that. "But while he thus esteemed eternal above temporal blessings, Jacob had not an experimental knowledge of the God whom he revered. His heart had not been renewed by divine grace."--Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 178.
Jacob had some misunderstandings of how God worked. He had been promised the birthright, but God has this persistent habit of waiting until the last possible minute. (I used to get mad at Him for that. But don't forget that God is the safest one in the universe to get mad at. If you're mad at Him, you might as well tell Him so, because He knows it anyway. But He never gets mad in return.) So God waited until the last minute, and Jacob decided that He was asleep at the switch and that he needed to do something to help God fulfill His promises. He and Rebekah got their heads together and came up with a master plan.
You know the rest of the story. Jacob got the birthright by fraud. The result was that Jacob never did see his mother again. You see him taking off through the desert sands, alone and guilty and in trouble. The whole thing had backfired. "God had declared Jacob should receive the birthright, and His word would have been fulfilled in His own time had they waited in faith for Him to work for them."--Ibid., p. 180. But they decided to do something themselves. So you see Jacob fleeing in despair. Night comes on, and he lies down after finding a rock for a pillow, and he hardly dares to pray.
He thought that all was hopeless, but he had a dream. In his dream he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. Angels were ascending and descending the ladder. The ladder represented Jesus. Jesus was the connection between heaven and earth. Jesus was still there. Jesus still loved him. Jesus had come to him in his time of need, as Jesus always does when one is ready to accept the grace He has to offer. That night Jacob was converted.
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