GENESIS 28
In chapter 27 we find Isaac blessing Jacob, and in chapter 28 we may say, God blesses him. Subsequent to our believing in Christ, God has dealings with us, and these have reference to His house. In chapter 28 there is a direct transaction between God and the believer. Jacob is made to realise God’s interest in him and he speaks of the place in which God spoke to him as the house of God. Here Jacob receives a further unconditional promise: “I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”. The history of Jacob affords great help for the individual believer. In chapter 27 he is in exercise of faith availing himself of what is in Christ risen, and in chapter 28 he is in relation to the house of God. Normally, the believer is placed in relation to the house after having exercised faith in Christ. Once in the house, according to God, we always remember its character as we see in Jacob [p. 299] in chapter 28. Jacob wandered after this, and he was never right in his soul until he returned to Bethel and set up an altar there (chapter 35). Bethel was, so to say, a stage reached in Jacob’s journey. The sun was set, which indicates the end of a period. He is a wanderer and has but stones as his pillows; here God communicates with him, and makes him to know that he is an object of interest in heaven. In a soul after being enlightened by the gospel, certain exercises are passed through which result in contact with God in His house. We now see that God has a sphere of interest here on earth — His house. The gospel that is preached generally today is defective, for in it men are not made aware that God has a house here; hence, it is evident that converts are placed at a great disadvantage.
Wherever in Scripture we get the introduction of any feature of the testimony, we get certain ideas connected with it that hold good throughout. Here the house is connected with heaven, and this is ever true of it. Jacob too recognises the holiness of the house, for in chapter 35 we see that when God directed him to go to Bethel, he buried his idols. Here Jacob speaks of Bethel as dreadful, but when he returned thither (chapter 35) he is evidently of a different mind. In this chapter (28) Jacob evidences a low state of soul, he thinks much more of himself than he does of God; his resolve is to give God but a tenth. In the Acts, those who came into the house surrendered all their possessions. This shows how powerfully the testimony of Christ affected souls at the beginning. The house of God is a wonderful place — the gate of heaven — but it is to be feared that many believers are not at home in it.