Responding to God with Faith - Genesis 28

March second, today marks the beginning of our spring session that will cover the second half of the book of Genesis. The prime focus of this study will deal with two contrasting personalities—Jacob and Joseph, father and son. The name 'Jacob' means 'cheater' and it is one that fit him well and was earned early in life when he cheated his brother Esau out of his birth right with a bowl of red stew and later cheated Esau out the blessing from his father by using a disguise that fooled their ageing blind dad into thinking he was blessing Esau when it was really Jacob in disguise.

Jacob spent much of his life in conflict with his father and brother, then with his Uncle Laban and ultimately in conflict with God that terminated in a wrestling match with God that lasted all night ending, as you would expect, with God the winner [Gen. 32:24]. Jacobs life gives us a picture of things we should not do if we are truly Christian and it tells us that we can always be successful at the end if we learn the lesson well that we must yield our will and accept God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Jacob finally learned.

Joseph [which means ‘to add’] was the youngest of Jacob and Rachel’s sons; and he was a blessing that God added to this family in old age. ‘To add’ also means to accumulate and his life amounted to one that grew from near nothing to a man of great wealth and power with both man and God. This man stands as a stalwart of faithfulness surpassed by few if any including Abraham and Isaac. Moses was despised by his twelve brothers because of the favoritism shown to him by his father. The coat of many colors marked him as dad’s favorite, and served as the blood soaked proof that he had been killed by a wild beast; the truth was that his brothers sold him to and Egyptian trader to be his slave and made up the story of his death. Joseph never lost sight of God, and persevered through many trials before he was finally recognized as a great leader, became wealthy and was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage and during their forty year journey in the wilderness on the way to the land of Milk and Honey.

These men are gone; as are all other patriarchs and even the writers and disciples of the New Testament. Some of you may enjoy reading history but that is not whey we are studying men who are recorded in the Bible. We study prominent men of God in order to find what God would have us do in our journey through life. Stop now; and ask “Where am I in my spiritual journey?” Which of these men do you best identify with? Have you learned the hard way, like Jacob, cheating and failing until you finally realized that you can only succeed by yielding your life to God and letting him lead you? Or have you kept the faith and remained persistent, honest and trustworthy through difficult and even unfair circumstances as Moses did? God wants us to learn what we should and should not do by giving us examples of strong and weak, winners and losers, God and Godless people. Do not waste good council! You must study God’s word to show thyself approved. We learn from our own mistakes; but it is less painful and much more profitable when we are able to learn from the mistakes that others make. It is never wise to replicate the mistakes of others; and foolish to do so expecting better or even different results. Many of the examples of failure come from disobedient Christians and this should not cause our faith to waver because we are all sinners, saved by grace, and at times we come short of God’s expectations.

Do you respond to God with faith? Some are even prone to doubt the need for faith. Some will even argue that faith is not a true entity because it is an abstract term that can not be identified, seen, smelled or cable of being touched or felt. Regarding this argument, I would like to ask each of you—have you been able to specifically identify wind, do you see it? No! But we know that wind is present because of the effect it has on leaves, trees, and even houses as they are blown away. Faith is the evidence of things unseen, just as moving leaves is the evidence of wind unseen but definitely present.

You will not find the word faith used as a verb in the English version of the gospel. In the translation from Greek and Hebrew the verb ‘faith’ is usually translated to mean ‘believe.’ When we believe in a fact known to us—it is a mental agreement or acknowledging something as truth. However it is more than mental agreement and requires action. For example, you may believe that a boat is safe but the truth of your faith in the boat is not proven until you are willing to get in the boat and thereby you trust it to do what you have believed [faithed] it to do. You may say that you have ‘faith’ in God, but is not faith until you have trusted him to do what He has promised. He has told us that his grace will save us…therefore we are saved by his grace through our faith. Read the 28th chapter of Genesis.

Jacob was saved in the same way that you and I are saved, and we now come to the most important event in this man’s life which includes his conversion experience and is explained by Moses beginning with the tenth verse of this chapter. When Eliezer went back to the homeland to find a wife for Isaac, he left with camels to ride and with a bundle of riches and escorts to help him succeed. He located Rebekah, Jacob’s mother. His leaving home is much different from old Eliezer and he goes to Paddan Aram to find his own wife. He has to slip away on foot, under cover to hide from his mad brother Esau and he was broke and alone in his search. He stopped at night to rest, using a stone for a pillow, and during the night God made his first appearance to him through one of the best known dreams recorded in the Bible. We often refer it to Jacob’s ladder. In the mind and heart of men of all ages there has been a longing for some kind of connection between heaven and earth. Not long ago we studied about the nation that built the tower of Babel by which they expected to ascend into heaven and trust their own gods. There is one vast difference between the tower of Babel and Jacob’s ladder and that is this; the tower was built on earth reaching up toward heaven—while the ladder originated in heaven and was reaching down to earth. That should be a lesson for us to remember. Any time you read about God reaching down—or you view a picture of God’s arm reaching down toward man—the author or artist has true knowledge and understanding of God’s nature.

I have wondered about the meaning of dreams like this…one thing for sure they are not just some strange stories that are usually explained somewhere in God’s word. This was the beginning of Jacob’s conversion and the ladder he saw was God’s way of communicating with him. John teaches us in his gospel that this ladder represented Christ—He is the connection between heaven and earth and through him angels are able to ascend and descend between heaven and earth. Angels are God’s helpers or witnesses that are mentioned in both the OT and the NT and their function as His helpers are much akin to the work that the Holly Spirit does for us.

In Jacob’s dream, if we will accept it as a picture of one way that God communicates with man—it ceases to be a mystery and becomes a grand reality for any Christian believer. You must remember that earth and heaven had been separated by sin that was committed in the Garden of Eden and every inhabitant of earth including you and I are conceived, born and live under that curse—man was separated from God—and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that we can do for ourselves to earn salvation. It was only by God’s grace that the chasm was spanned by the coming of Jesus Christ our redeemer. He is our bridge across the chasm! He is our ladder, and He is the only means by which we can climb up into heaven. Christ said: “No man can enter heaven except by me.”

In John 1, Jesus said: “Hereafter you shall see the angels of heaven ascending and descending upon the Son of man,” showing that The Son of man [another name for Christ] fulfilled the type of Jacob’s ladder. When Jacob awoke from his dreaming sleep, he said: “Surely Jehovah is in this place,” and he called the name of the place Bethel. “And Jacob vowed 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 raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah shall be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Listen carefully dear student—this is the statement of evidence that proves that Jacob had repented of his sinful life. Herein lays the evidence of his conversion. Until this time in his life, he had been interested in cheating his way to the top. It was a bowl of red soup for his brother’s birthright; or appearing in disguise, wearing his brothers clothing to cheat his brother out of his blessing; and there surely was never any thought of returning anything for his gain.

I have been asked to explain the difference in Esau’s “birthright” which he sold—and his “blessing” that Jacob stole from him by deceiving their father. In all of Israelis history the oldest son always inherited all of the father’s wealth and also any special blessing, power, or covenant that God had extended to the father. In this case God made a covenant with Abram [Abraham] assuring him that he would be renowned as the father of many nations—that his family would expand until they would out number the sands of the sea or the stars in the sky. {This simply means that they would be in great numbers, too many to count.} Abraham was ‘blessed by God.’ This was his special blessing. Abraham’s son, Isaac inherited Abraham’s wealth and blessing. He took his fathers place in history. Abraham had never owned land…he even had to buy a burial plot for his wife. However, he was able to mass a great amount of wealth including animals while living in Egypt. Isaac inherited his father’s wealth

Isaac had twin sons—Jacob was holding on to Esau’s heal at birth, so Esau was the eldest son and by law was in line to inherit Isaac’s wealth and blessing. When Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of red soup, he gave up the right to all the wealth owned by Isaac. When Jacob cheated him out of his ‘blessing’ Esau lost his rightful position of being known as the “father of many nations”—he lost the special blessing that God had originally given to his grandfather, Abraham. Dear ones, do not condemn Jacob nor feel too sorry for Esau…just remember that in all the maneuvering minds of men—God has always been the architect that drew the plans. Careful study of the blood line from Abraham—through King David to the birth of Christ was God’s plan for the coming Messiah to be according to the prophecies as recorded throughout history.

Note: Sorry for the two paragraph distraction; now let us go back to Jacob’s conversion.
I want to make a special appeal to anyone that worries about the tithe belonging to God. Here is a man {Jacob} that had lived a selfish life, without the benefit of parental training [both parents had disobeyed God and neither one was an example worthy of a child’s respect] but somehow he knew that it was the will of God that all who follow him owe one tenth of their income to his cause. Immediately upon his conversion his first promise was that he would return unto God the tithe [10 %] that was his. This is the second time that the Bible teaches tithing, both before the establishments of the law on mount Sinai. The first mention of the tithe was when Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek. In so far as I know, the Bible had never mentioned anything about a tithing at the time of this incident.

Conversion is more than a stated belief. Conversion contains faith or belief first, but it is followed with action that proves the faith is real. Faith may seem like an abstract word, but like the word ‘wind’ it must be proven by seeing something moving in your life. The presence of wind is proven by watching leaves move. In your life, faith is proven by watching you change your life style; no cheating—but giving your tithe instead; and this includes you time, talent, and witness. When you are spiritually converted you do not loose your abilities, or shrewd business sense; instead of loosing, one gains the daily presence of the Holy Spirit to protect and guide in righteousness.

From this study about the family of Jacob and Esau we have been warned again about the consequences that can continue for generations when parents show favoritism…or when they differ or exhibit conflict with each other regarding disciplining of their children. Many families have been damaged, even destroyed, because of parental differences. Some parents will argue that it is impossible to keep these conflicts out of the everyday life of the family. I will agree that it is very difficult to prevent problems from arising, but I do not believe it is impossible. As my last thought for today, I want you to think about this. We believe in the trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit and they are three distinct spiritual beings—however they are only ONE. They work individually with man, each at different times and under different circumstances—but their instructions to man never disagree, and always support each other.

The Bible teaches us that a man and woman make a sacred marriage vow and they become ONE. If they will commit their lives to the true teachings of the triune God they will be able to work individually with their children at different times and under different circumstances—but their instructions to their children will never disagree and they will support each other. Families, who PRAY TOGETHER — work, play and STAY TOGETHER.