A Patriarch's Glimpse

by David J. Webster, Liverpool, England | Category: Lovers Of God's House | Feb 1999

Last month we looked at a definition of the house of God and saw that while it was God's house and therefore holy and special to God it was the privilege of men and women to work at it and that God was prepared to honour that work with His divine presence and glory. This month we go right back to the beginning. God had enjoyed spending time with the man and the woman back in the early days of human history in the garden of Eden.1. But sin had spoilt all that and though there had been faithful God-lovers like Noah and Abraham there was no place on earth that God could call His own place.

That first glimpse

Of one thing we can be certain: Jacob was not looking for any special revelation from God when he came to Luz to the west of the River Jordan. He was concerned with getting as far away from his brother as he could and as fast as possible. Jacob has been described as '...a man of slick manoeuvres and cunning ways. He was by nature strong-willed, ambitious, self-reliant, shrewd, and at times unethical'.2. Yet it was his privilege to get the first God-given glimpse of God's purposes in respect of His house on earth. Look at Genesis 28:10-22. Jacob dreamed about:

1.A stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven (28:12) showing to us that this special place would be a link between earth and heaven, indeed '...the gate of heaven'3. As Jacob acknowledged.

2.The angels of God ...ascending and descending on it (28:12) showing that it would be a place of two way communication - God revealing His will and His grace to earth and appreciation of God from earth arising to the throne of heaven.

3.There above it stood the LORD (28:13). God was obviously invest-ing this event with His own presence in a special way. 'The house of God is a place based on earth, and in relation to it the Lord stands above it, the One in authority over it'4. Just as in the spiritual house of the New Testament the Lord Jesus Christ is described as '...a son over God's house'.5. With great grace God spoke to Jacob regarding a land, a people, a world-wide blessing and a personal promise.

The land would be the place of rest for the people of God, who would pledge themselves to obedience and service and, down the centuries, would come the ultimate blessing to 'all people on earth' when the time had fully come and '...God sent his Son, born of a woman... to redeem... that we might receive the full rights of sons'.6. These promises overwhelmed Jacob and brought fear and a sense of reverence and respect. The concept of the house of God was a project of the greatest importance to God and He would ensure that His plans would come to fruition. As we see it was an entirely different matter from the human standpoint and when Jacob returned to Bethel he had to make changes to his life before approaching the place God had chosen.

The glimpse renewed

At his return to Bethel Jacob was a very different man. He had not only many years of life's experiences behind him in which he had been at the receiving end of some of the attitudes he had previously shown to others but he had also had a confrontation with his God. And it was at God's initiative that he returned:

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.7.

Before Jacob could get another glimpse of Bethel he had to be brought to an end of his self-reliance and, as it is to so many of us, it was for him a painful experience. And from the spiritual steps he took we can learn a lot in our desire to serve God in His house today: Jacob became aware of the old wrong in his life that needed to be put right. First there was need of Confession: 'I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown',8. then a cry: 'Save me, I pray... for I am afraid'.9. This was followed by Trust: 'But you have said, "I will surely make you prosper"'.10. Finally he found himself Alone with God and God put an end to his natural strength and self-will and Jacob clung to God for a blessing on God's terms.

Jacob's experience mirrors that of many disciples in God's house today. Brought up by parents with a faith in God and a sense of God's purpose in their lives, it is easy to seek only the blessings that suit us and ignore the corresponding responsibilities and cost. By experience we learn that a second-hand Christian faith is of no more value for us today than a hand-me-down faith in God's purposes was for the patriarchs and their families:

1.At first we are unaware of the significance of the place to which we have been introduced.

2.A first encounter leaves an impression but does not result in any great change of lifestyle, though we do become aware of God working for us and His blessing upon us.

3.There comes a time when we are made to face up to what we are; and what we find is not flattering. We are amazed to discover that God actually wants our company but also that we need to put our lives straight - wrong relationships put right, depending upon God not our own self and a lot of accumulated rubbish to be removed.

4.Only then can we find it in us to respond positively to the command to 'Go up to Bethel and settle there'.11.

Responding to the glimpse

It is the responsibility of each of us to respond to what God reveals to us. Jacob's response to the vision at Bethel is instructive:

(1)REVELATION - he realized God was saying something important to him and he needed to listen carefully

(2)WITNESS - he was moved to set up a pillar

(3)WORSHIP - he poured oil upon the pillar.

If God is to set up His house on earth to live with human beings then the idea must come from Him by way of revelation and the later history of the Tabernacle, the Temples and the spiritual house, made up of 'living stones',12. confirms that the pattern for the building comes from God too. And in Hebrews we are let into the secret why it is so important to follow the plans that God provides and not introduce even good ideas of our own; because we are in fact making a copy on earth of a reality that already exists in heaven!13. That puts a perspective on the building of God's house that helps keep us, like Moses, 'faithful in all God's house'.14.

The place that God chooses for his house is also to be a place of witness. It was always God's intention that the rest of mankind should receive blessings through God's people. From Jacob's oil onwards the place that God chose as the special place for His Name on earth was a place of worship and a place to take God's holiness seriously. Jacob vowed to give God a tenth of all his income instructing us that a place in God's house presents opportunity to give to God, even though it is only from what He has given us in the first place. Jacob gave a tenth, the Israelites offered a tithe together with sacrifices and offerings. Today God looks for cheerful giving15. and spiritual sacrifices,16. 'the fruit of lips',17. declaring 'the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light'.18.

'Ever since Jacob on his journey to Haran gave the name of Bethel to the place where Jehovah had appeared to him, hearts of God-fearing men have been turned with longing to the place on earth where the Eternal One has had a dwelling'.19. If we are to become lovers of God's house today we need to have that same longing and our will set on doing what God wants us to do and in being where God wants us to be. Writing about the place of moral determination A.W. Tozer comments: 'Jacob vowed a vow' - and it was the beginning of a very wonderful life with God. The following years brought a great many vicissitudes, and Jacob did not always acquit himself like a true man of God, but his early determination kept him on course, and he came through victorious at last'.20. May God grant that disciples today become lovers of His house and have the determination to serve in the way God directs and 'so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe'.21.

All Scripture references are from the NIV.

(1) See Gen. 3:8. (2) Davis, J.J. Paradise to Prison - Studies in Genesis, p. 241, Baker Book House. (3) Gen. 28:17. (4) Toms, A.F., Where is God's House Today? p.8, Hayes Press. (5) Heb. 3:6. (6) Gal. 4:4,5. (7) Gen. 31:13. (8) Gen. 32:10. (9) Gen. 32:11. (10) Gen. 32:12. (11) Gen. 35:1. (12) 1 Pet. 2:5. (13) Heb. 9:24. (14) Heb. 3:2. (15) 2 Cor. 9:7. (16) 1 Pet. 2:5. (17) Heb. 13:15. (18) 1 Pet. 2:9. (19) Doctrines of the Holy Scriptures, Needed Truth, 1903, p. 132. (20) Tozer, A.W., The Set of the Sail, p. 20, O M Publishing. (21) Heb. 12:28.

David J. Webster, Liverpool, England | Feb 1999
Lovers Of God's House