Jacob’s Dream (Gen 28:10-22)

Daniel L. Arter

Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

Genesis 28:10–22

0 ratings

· 3 views

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Please open your Bible to Genesis 28:10-22.

Last week we left off with Jacob sent off to Paddan-aram and Esau attempting to squeeze his way into his family’s favor. We made the realization that Issac and Jacob were starting to come into line with the covenant and Esau was essentially trying to force his way into the covenant.

This week, we’re following Jacob as he makes his way to Paddan-aram, but before he gets there, he experiences a rather unique situation in the form of a dream. Remember that during last week’s message, I pointed out that though Isaac had made the realization that Jacob would be the one through whom God continues the covenant, God hadn’t actually extended that covenant to Jacob, yet. Whereas, Isaac made it clear to Jacob that that’s what seemed clear to him—God has yet to make the statement that the covenant is now expanded to Jacob,

All that is about to change in Genesis 28:10-22 in a dream that has some interesting imagery.

Genesis 28:10–22 ESV

10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made 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 clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

As we study this passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Dream from God (10-15) and (2) Jacob’s Response (16-22). In the first section, we see the setting, which includes the fact that Jacob is asleep during part of this text, an image of a ladder or what we would call a staircase, and God, Himself who gives a direct message to Jacob. In the second section, we see Jacob awake after the dream and how he chooses to respond to the dream. In addition, we’re going to reflect on a statement that Jesus makes in John 1 just prior to the application, which will help us to piece everything together. Ultimately, I’m going to argue that the promises given in Jacob’s dream from God when considered from the vantage point of their fulfillment in Jesus Christ are essentially given to us as well and are still fulfilled through Jesus Christ, but we’ll talk more about that near the end.

Today’s sermon will intentionally show the significance of not just the promise itself, but the imagery utilized in the dream. When we think of this passage in terms of what Jesus states in John 1, it gives us a greater appreciation of what God accomplished through Jesus—or at least, it ought to.

Prayer for Illumination

The Dream from God (10-15)

Our text starts with Jacob leaving Beersheba and traveling toward Haran. (10-11)

Remember, he’s traveling to Haran for two reasons:

He’s running from his brother Esau, whom he tricked and deceived out of not just his birthright, but also the blessing meant for the firstborn.

And, he’s going to try and find a wife for himself from amongst his family’s lineage—to please his parents and to continue in his future.

Of course, as he travels, he’s either walking or riding an animal—remember the time period that he lives in. So, of course, when the sun sets, he can’t go any further. So, he stops.

You’ll notice that’s the entire reason why he stopped in v. 11, “he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set.”

And you’ll also notice that he wasn’t really prepared for this stop whatsoever—the Bible says that he took a stone to use as pillow and he simply lays on the ground to sleep.

As he sleeps, he has a dream and it’s a dream that has a profound meaning both here and in the New Testament (12-15)

As he dreams, the Bible says that “there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.”

Note that the word translated ladder can also be translated as a stepped ramp—what we would call a staircase.

This staircase starts on earth and reaches to heaven, but if you notice, that’s not the only important part of the staircase.

What is important about the staircase is found at the end of v. 12 and the start of v. 13. First, we see the angels of the Lord ascending and descending on the staircase and second, we see the Lord standing above it. Let’s talk about those ideas:

Let’s deal with the angels first—the Hebrew word translated as angel is malak and it literally means messenger. Likewise, the Greek word that we translate to angel is ανγελος and it shares the same meaning—messenger.

With God standing at the top of the staircase, what we see in this passage is God in heaven and man on earth—with angels walking up and down the staircase to act as divinely sponsored messengers—except, in this situation, the angels don’t speak.

Rather, God speaks directly to Jacob.

This idea is very significant—and you need to keep the idea of the staircase in mind with God at the top and mankind at the bottom because Jesus speaks about it and we’ll see that a little later this morning..

So, Jacob’s in a dream and he sees God and God speaks to him in vv. 13-15, this is what He says to Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised.”

God starts by announcing who exactly He is—that He is the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac—I think He does it intentionally. Remember, Jacob is sleeping, he’s dreaming. He could see this unusual scene and just assume that it’s part of the dream—after all, we all have weird dreams that we don’t assume to be real.

In this case, God makes it abundantly clear that He is speaking to Jacob, which means everything that’s about to happen in the dream has a profound meaning—this isn’t a random dream—this is God speaking directly to Jacob.

God then gives the statement that Hew intends for Jacob to have—and it’s rather simple because it’s just a reiteration of the covenant originally give to Abraham and then extended to Isaac and now to Jacob and God reiterates the same ideas to Jacob.

God will give the land to Jacob and his offspring

Jacob’s offspring will be like the dust of the earth—there will be so many of them that you can’t possibly number them and they will spread throughout the land.

His offspring shall bless all the families of the earth.

And—God will be with him wherever he goes, God will not leave Him, and He will indeed keep His promise to Jacob.

All of these ideas are exactly the same ideas that were originally given to Abraham, then extended to Isaac, and now Jacob—and that’s intentional. God never changes—He’s immutable, thus, His covenant still exists even when the original covenant holder enters into eternity.

With that said, Jacob’s in a unique situation that most people don’t experience—a theophany through a dream. And in this dream, He speaks directly to God who extends the covenant initially given to Abraham and Isaac to him. The question is, what will Jacob do now that he has heard from God in this way? And that’s what vv. 16-22 answer—let’s re-read those verses.

Jacob’s Response (16-22)

Genesis 28:16–22 ESV

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made 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 clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Jacob’s initial response after he wakes from the dream is to acknowledge that he did indeed meet God, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (16-17)

There’s an element here in which Jacob makes an acknowledgement that being in the presence of God is an awesome thing.

The Bible says that he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! There is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

I think we ought to learn from this—in the sense that though we have unfettered access to the Father through Jesus Christ, there should still be a recognition that God is God.

When you’re in the presence of God—you are in the presence of the almighty, incomparable, all-knowing God who created all things by the very power of His own voice—He spoke and all things came into existence.

With that said, genuine awe is the right response—anything less, is sinful.

And that’s how Jacob responds, through fear and awe.

And in his fear and awe, Jacob does two things—he builds an altar and he makes a vow. (18-22)

We see the construction of the altar in vv. 18-19. After he awakes, he takes the stone that he used as a pillow and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.

The construction of altars isn’t really a new thing—remember, Abraham did the same in Genesis 12 and 13 and so did Isaac in Genesis 26. These pillars were utilized really to symbolize the individual person’s dedication to the Lord and to commemorate different aspects of their spiritual journey.

And just to clarify, they weren’t worshiping these pillars—they’re not idols or anything like that, so don’t think that Jacob believes this to be an idol worth worshiping.

The pouring of oil was a symbolic gesture utilized throughout the Ancient Near East—sometimes to consecrate something to the Lord, sometimes it was done as part of a ritual of sanctification, and it was often utilized for the anointing of kings. In this case, I believe it’s done primarily as part of consecrating that pillar for the Lord.

Note also, the change of name for the location—despite the name of the city originally being Luz, he remains it Bethel, which means the house of the Lord.

The text then ends with a vow from Jacob as he considers all that he had dreamed and witnessed. He makes a vow with three promises based on who God is.

He starts by making the statement that “If God will be with [him] and will keep [him] in this way that [he goes,] and will give [him] bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.”

Notice the contingencies that Jacob lays out are all things that God had already promised him—God had already said that He would be with him, that He would keep him, that He would provide for him, that He would bring him back home safely.

So, don’t think of Jacob saying all this in terms of a demand or anything like this—in fact, it’s probably better understood in times of a correlation. Because God said He would do this—-He will be my God.

After making that statement, Jacob says that the Lord will be his God, “and [the] stone, which [he has] set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that [God gives him he] will give a full tenth to [him.]” Let’s talk about the elements of his vow. Because he recognizes Yahweh as his God:

He sets up a permanent location to both remind everyone of the occasion, but also to be a place to worship the Lord—he essentially vows to tell others of what all God has done and to worship the Lord as his God.

And he makes the statement that he will give a full tenth to the Lord—this is what later is called a tithe. Let me point out a few details about this tithe as a sidenote:

You notice first and foremost that it is a tenth, which might sound like a lot, but when you recognize that everything that you have is only yours because God has given it to you, giving a tenth really isn’t that big of a deal.

You’ll also notice that the tithe is a completely voluntary ordeal—God did not demand it in this situation, Jacob decided to return this to the Lord.

Now, we often don’t talk much about financial giving in our church today, but I do want to point out that there are two primary reasons that tithing and offerings exist:

(1) it’s an act of worship. We give back to the Lord what He gave to us not because He needs the money (after all, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills), but because through our giving, we show a reliance in God and a recognition that He has already provided for us.

(2) We give because the work of the ministry—what the local church does requires the financial means to keep it up.

So, while we’re no longer required to give a tenth under the Mosaic Law, let me encourage you to see what financial giving really is—it’s an act of worship that helps our local church to continue proclaiming the Gospel, reaching the lost, and worshiping Jesus together.

Essentially, after witnessing God through his dream, after being the new recipient of the Abrahamic Covenant, Jacob decides that he will follow the Lord—that he will worship Him, that he will trust in Him, that he will give to Him and it’s really a beautiful account of God redeeming someone who was known for deceiving, for trickery, and lies—not because of Jacob, himself, but because God loved him.

Now, before we talk about application, I want us to consider one more passage of Scripture in the New Testament. We see this idea of a ladder or staircase to heaven in another passage. If you can join me in the New Testament, let’s look at John 1:43-51. In John 1:43-51, Jesus calls His disciples to come and follow Him when He meets Nathanael. Let’s read what John 1:43-51 says:

John 1:43–51 ESV

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

The first eight verses of the text deals with Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael (43-50). While it’s important, it isn’t our focus for today. I just wanted you to see the overall context.

In the overall context, Jesus is calling his disciples and when Jesus tells Nathanael that before Philip called him, Jesus knew Him.

And in that statement, “before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Jesus reveals His divinity—that like God, He knows and sees all things.

Of course, for Nathanael, that revelation from Jesus causes him to respond in surprise, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel,” but Jesus’ response is a little more telling and it’s in that statement that we see something vitally important because it reveals more of who Jesus is.

In v. 51, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

You hopefully see the similarity between John 1 and Genesis 28—you see heaven opened up, you see angels ascending and descending. In John 1, you don’t necessarily see God at the top, but the imagery and ideology is still there—the messengers of God are going back and forth between heaven and earth on behalf of God.

However, there is a key difference and it deals with a major point—whereas the angels in Genesis 28 ascend and descend on a ladder or a staircase, Jesus says that the angels will ascend and descend on the Son of Man.

That title, Son of Man comes from the book of Daniel. Daniel has a dream and this is what he saw, “Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to [the son of man] was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

The title Son of Man refers to the Messiah, Himself and Jesus is that Son of Man—the Messiah, Himself.

What Jesus is saying in John 1 is that just like the ladder acted as a bridge between the Father and mankind, He, will be that bridge between the Father and mankind—and that’s a very significant point if you think through it, which we’ll do in our application.

In our last few minutes, let’s talk about how we can best apply a passage like this.

Application

In Jacob’s dream, we clearly recognize that initially God comes to us and not the other way around.

Note that I’m saying initially God comes to us and not the other way around—meaning, in our natural state (in our sin nature) with no intervention of the Holy Spirit, we don’t try to find Him whatsoever—we don’t even bother looking, but rather, He finds us first.

We see this ideology in several different passages including the one that we’re in now—throughout Jacob’s life, it’s clear that it wasn’t Jacob who initially pursued God, but the other way around.

Psalm 10:4 “4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.””

John 3:20 “20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Romans 3:10–12 “10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

Rather, think of 1 John 4:19 “19 We love because he first loved us.”

In the imagery of the dream (along with Jesus’ statement in John 1), we realize that God makes the way for us to connect with Him

We can’t force our own way to him (like what Esau tried to do)—rather, we come to God through Jesus Christ and Him alone.

In addition, through Jesus, we see the fulfillment of God’s promises to Jacob, which extend to us as his spiritual children.

From Jacob’s perspective—God would be with him as he journeyed, God would be faithful to bring him back to the promised land, God would give him many descendants, He would give them the land of Canaan.

These promises are fulfilled in the forming of the nation of Israel and their conquest of Canaan. All nations are blessed by Jacob’s offspring through Jesus who was born of Jacob’s lineage.

From our perspective through Jesus—these promises are also ours. In Christ, God has reconciled us to Himself. We belong to Him through faith. We rest knowing that He will never leave us nor forsake us. And we know that He will bring us safely into our own promised land—the new heavens and earth.

With all this said—our application is this:

First, stop trying to come to God through any other means than simply following Jesus—stop trying to work for it, stop trying to earn it, instead follow Jesus as He has commanded because He makes the way for you to be with God. What this means is this:

First, recognize that no matter what all you do, you can’t work harder to earn salvation and that ought to shift how you view doing good works.

The Bible still states that you ought to do good works—after all, James states that faith without good works is dead. However, it’s clear in Scripture that the good works can’t save you whatsoever—rather, they’re a result of your salvation.

Or, in other words, you ought to do good things like caring for your neighbors, serving in your local church, leading your family well not to get salvation, but because Jesus has saved you.

This same mindset also applies to things like the fruits of the Spirit—as a Christian, you are to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit not because by exhibiting the fruits, you save yourself, but through following God, the Holy Spirit sanctifies you and through your sanctification, you learn to be more loving, gentle, kind, and so on.

We can also apply this to sin in general—just stopping your sinful lifestyle isn’t going to save you. Rather, you ought to stop sinning because Jesus has set you free from sin and in love for Him, you reject sin.

There is a quote that’s sometimes attributed to Jonathan Edwards, but I think it was Philip Melancthon who originally said it—”the only thing you contribute to your salvation is the sin that makes it necessary.”

You can’t earn it, you can’t work for it. Salvation is a gift of God and we’re told that the way to salvation is through Jesus Christ.

Stop trying to work for it

Stop trying to earn it

Follow Jesus, who makes a way for you to be with God.

That starts with repentance, belief, crying out to Jesus who saves.

It continues through obedience—obeying what Jesus has commanded throughout Scripture—to love Him and to love others.

And through this, you simply rest in the promise that God has made—you trust HIm.

Second, reflect on the promises given by God to His people—and know that just like He fulfilled the promises given to Jacob (and Isaac and Abraham), He will fulfill the promises given to you.

In particular, think of the promises reflected on here:

Promise one: God has reconciled you to Himself through Jesus by faith—you did not earn it or work for it, you simply believed. With that said, it’s pretty hard to mess that up.

Because you don’t actually do the reconciling part of this—rather, Jesus reconciles you to the Father.

You simply believe and trust HIm.

That’s a beautiful truth that’s absolutely counter-intuitive. Everything about man thinks you need to work for everything, but salvation is something that you not only don’t work for, you can’t work for it.

You simply trust.

In addition, Promise two: God will never leave you nor forsake you—I think a lot of Christians have a difficult time with this one because they assume that their own sinfulness is enough to stop God from wanting us.

But truthfully, if it could stop God from wanting us, it would’ve stopped God long before we as individuals even existed.

If the sins of mankind were enough to stop God from wanting His people—don’t you think the initial sin with Adam and Eve would’ve been enough?

If you think that your sin is enough to stop God from wanting you as His own—don’t you think there are plenty of other biblical examples that were worse than what you’ve probably ever done and yet, Jesus still wanted them?

I find a lot of comfort in John 10 when Jesus says this in vv. 11-18, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

Or, in other words—if you are a sheep in His pasture, He loves you and cares for you. So much so that He died for you—you are His and He is yours.

Likewise, if you continue in John 10, you’ll see Promise three; God will surely bring you safely into the Promised Land—the New Heaven and New Earth. When the Jews accuse Jesus of not being straightforward about His identity as the Christ, Jesus says in vv. 25-30, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

He further emphasizes the truth that He will bring us safely into the Promised Land in John 14:1–7 “1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.””

Friends, if you are genuinely His—if you’ve repented and believed. If you follow Jesus—He has saved you, He preserves you, and he will bring you safely to your new home where you’ll dwell with Him eternally.

The proper response to these truths is to do exactly what Jacob said. If God is with us and will keep us in the way that we go. If God gives us bread to eat and clothing to wear, that we will go to our Father’s house in peace. Then the LORD shall be our God and we will worship Him, praise Him, and give of ourselves to Him.

Anything short of this reveals a serious lack of understanding concerning who God is and what He has done for us.

If God is with us and protects us and provides for us. If God intends to take us into our Father’s house in peace. The only right thing for us to do is worship Him, praise Him, and give ourselves to Him.

I hope you see what I’m saying—and that you take it seriously.

Pastoral Prayer

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.