JACOB'S DREAM
JACOB’S DREAM
When Jacob “went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran” (Genesis 28: 10), he was fleeing from the consequences of his sins as recorded in the previous chapter. The prophet Hosea says, “Jacob fled into the country of Syria” (12: 12). He was leaving Beersheba, which means “the well of the oath” — a place of refreshment and satisfaction — and was going toward Haran, which means “a parched, dry place”. He represents a sinner, afraid of the consequences of his sins, but turning to the world for comfort and satisfaction instead of to God.
In the course of his journey “he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep” (Genesis 28: 11). In this sleeping man can be seen a true picture of the state in which thousands are found today. They have sinned; their faces are towards the world; but, with unbelief for a pillow, they are in a profound slumber of spiritual indifference. But as God came in to awaken Jacob, so He still comes in to awaken the slumbering consciences of men.
THE SINNER’S AWAKENING
is when he is made conscious of the reality of divine and eternal things. Many have been spiritually awakened — like Jacob — by a dream. John Bunyan was awakened by a dream that he was just dropping into the flames of hell when a Person in white raiment suddenly plucked him as a brand out of the fire. George Whitefield was awakened when a schoolboy sixteen years of age by a dream that he saw God on Mount Sinai. And many others have been “warned of God” in dreams.
[p. 52] Are we, then, to set aside spiritual concern until some terror-striking vision haunts our midnight hours? Certainly not; for we must ever remember that, though God is pleased to use oftentimes such things as dreams, sicknesses, providential mercies, and calamities to awaken sinners, His great approach to man is by
THE GOSPEL OF HIS GRACE.
Nothing could be more calculated to arrest a sinner’s conscience, or to bring spiritual concern into his heart, than the gospel. It exposes his need by setting forth the greatness of the grace which alone could meet that need. It brings the righteousness of God into view; it presents a Person with whom every man must have to do, either as Saviour or Judge; it deals with questions of the utmost moment, in which every man, woman, and child has a personal interest, the issues of which will fill eternity. In short, the gospel leaves everyone who hears it absolutely without excuse, for it presents everything that is calculated to open men’s eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light.
Without attempting to interpret Jacob’s dream — which, I believe, has special reference to the blessing of God’s earthly people Israel — I think we may see in it three things which are eminently characteristic of the gospel: (1) God was revealed in grace; (2) heaven was brought into view and put in communication with earth; and (3) man was found in a place which was “none other but the house of God” and “the gate of heaven”.
1. God revealed in grace. “The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it ... and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, 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 [p. 54] which I have spoken to thee of”.
[p. 53] God revealed Himself as One who would GIVE, and BLESS, and KEEP; and all this is absolute GRACE, for certainly there was nothing in Jacob to merit such favour.
It is thus that God declares Himself in the gospel of His grace. Everything is in perfect contrast to the principle of the law. A divine claim upon man for moral perfection could only expose the fact that man is a moral bankrupt, and has “nothing to pay”. Thus “by the law is the knowledge of sin”. But according to grace we have to do with A GIVING GOD. “God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten Son” (John 3: 16). God has provided infinite blessing for man in absolute grace, and puts it all within the reach of man as a GIFT. “The scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be GIVEN to them that believe” (Galatians 3: 22). “I WILL GIVE unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life FREELY” (Revelation 21: 6). Hence on our side it is not a question of doing or paying, but of RECEIVING. “That they may RECEIVE forgiveness of sins” (Acts 26: 18). “Through his name whosoever believeth in him shall RECEIVE remission of sins” (Acts 10: 43). “That we might RECEIVE the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3: 14); “That we might RECEIVE the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4: 5).
How suitable is this! and how worthy of God! If man is altogether worthless and lost, blessing can only come to him as a GIFT; but in being presented as a gift it is made available FOR ALL. And if we receive by faith blessings which are wholly of God we have complete assurance of the divine perfection and stability of all that we receive. Every blessing has been brought by the Son of God, has been secured in righteousness by His death, and is established in Him as the risen and glorified One.
Then if God gives and blesses, He also keeps. The perfect and eternal security of the believer is in God. “I will not leave thee”, was His word to Jacob, “until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”. Believers are kept by God’s power, through faith. God will never leave nor forsake His saints. Having begun a good work in them He will not fail to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. How perfect is this grace which the gospel reveals!
2. Heaven brought into view. Man has forfeited his right to live upon the earth; sin has brought him under death. And it is a great principle with God that when He acts in grace He never merely restores what has been forfeited, but bestows that which is higher and greater than the thing forfeited. The thief on the cross was not restored to honour and dignity in the place where his life was forfeited, but he got something infinitely higher in being taken with Jesus into paradise.
The gospel brings light from heaven, for it presents a Saviour glorified at the right hand of God. The grace and glory of God are set forth in the Lord Jesus Christ, and as He is preached “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven”, heaven is put into communication with earth. It is not now angels ascending and descending — figurative of the providential care of heaven — but the HOLY SPIRIT come down from a glorified Saviour to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
3. The house of God and the gate of heaven. The end which God has in view in the gospel is that men should be brought into His house. We see this in the parable of the great supper (Luke 14), which shows that God will have men to be brought into the circle of His own satisfaction. Everything contrary to God’s pleasure having been judged and removed in the death of Christ, He now finds His eternal rest and satisfaction in that blessed One, and in His infinite grace He would have men brought into that satisfaction. Thus the great supper is a scene of heavenly festivity. Its joys are tasted here by the Spirit, but they are heavenly joys, and the house of God may fitly be called “the gate of heaven”.
Jacob’s response to this wondrous revelation of grace and glory was very poor. And in this respect he is a true representative of many who hear the gospel. “He was afraid” of the glory, as well he might be; and to the grace he only responded with a miserable “if”. How many are like this! They have the fear of God before them in a certain way, but are on a legal, bargain-making line. The barbed arrows of divine conviction stick fast in their consciences; but they are not prepared to receive grace or to break with the world. They try to compromise the matter and to secure favour from God by a measure of religious earnestness and devotedness. Some will literally, like Jacob, give a tenth to God, and many are practically on that line. They make a kind of religious bargain with God. This is a very different thing from simply receiving His grace, and practically, as we see in Jacob’s case, it does not separate them from the world.
Jacob went on his way into Mesopotamia — the country out of which Abraham had been called — and lived there twenty years. He got married, prospered in business, and was, as the world would say, a successful man. But I do not think he ever forgot Bethel. Outwardly prosperous as he was, his own inner experience was not very bright. “Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times” (31: 40, 41).
Here we see, in figure, an awakened sinner seeking rest and satisfaction in the world, but finding that all its varied store fails to give peace to the conscience or joy to the heart. Many a man seems to begetting on well in the world, but if you could look into his heart you would find it full of unrest and disappointment. God’s arrow of conviction is in his soul, and he cannot find what he wants in the world. It [p. 56] took twenty years of labour and disappointment to make Jacob willing to leave the “far country”. Often a long time elapses between the sinner’s first awakening and his conversion — that is, his definite turning to God.
At the end of twenty years God spoke to Jacob, saying, “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a Vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred” (31:13). What a history had come in between the “where” and the “now”! What afflictions, exercises, and disappointments had been needed to prepare Jacob for the call to “Arise”! And has it not been so with ourselves? Have not some of us had to prove through long years of experience the emptiness of the world? We have had to be brought to cry, like the prodigal, “I perish with hunger”. Our souls, as divinely awakened, could not rest in anything but the knowledge of God, and that we could not find in the world.
“Now ARISE”, is the call of God to every awakened sinner. “I will arise and go unto my father”, says the repentant prodigal. The soul — sick of sin and of the world — arises to turn to God as the living source of all good and blessing. This is CONVERSION. God’s grace is ever toward men, but how slow are men to turn to God for the blessings of His grace! Did they but know the riches and glory of God’s grace, and the festivity of heaven over one repenting sinner, not all the splendid trifles of earth could hold them at a distance from God. Beloved friends, infinite grace waits to welcome you, and to enrich you. Will you not “repent and turn to God”? (Acts 26: 20). Oh! Now, arise and return!
“Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; and he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods ... to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan” (31:17, 18). This was a move in the right direction, but [p. 57] he had yet to learn that all his own resources and strength were of no avail, and that his deliverance and blessing must be
ENTIRELY OF GOD.
He was brought to this point by the experiences recorded in chapter 32.
“And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed” (verses 6, 7). He was now brought face to face with the sins of the past. The whole question from which he had escaped for twenty years was now re-opened. And so it is with the awakened sinner. A moment comes when questions have to be thoroughly bottomed, when there can be no evasion or compromise. The sinner must learn his own utter inability, he must be stripped of all his resources, he must find himself “alone” and helpless, he must be altogether cast upon GOD. This is the lesson Jacob had to learn in Genesis 32.
He divides his property, and sends drove after drove as a present to “appease” Esau. It was no question of a tenth, or even of nine-tenths, now. He sent over “all that he had”, and “was left ALONE” (verses 23, 24). Was he satisfied? Could all these resources and presents secure him? Not at all. Ah! sinners have to learn that all their resources are worthless to secure blessing. All that you have done, are doing, or will ever be able to do, is of no account whatever in this matter. You must have to do with God alone, as a sinner, and nothing but a sinner.
And not only have we to learn that our resources fail, but every kind of self-reliance has to be broken down. Believers have often a large measure of unbroken self-confidence, and it hinders them from knowing the full blessedness of the salvation of God. Sooner or later God will discover it, and break it. “There wrestled a man” with Jacob, “and when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him” (verses 24, 25).
Wrestling Jacob did not get the blessing. It was when he could wrestle no longer — for his wrestling was the resistance of an unsubdued will — that “He blessed him there”. So long as self-confidence in any shape or form is found with us we wrestle, and are really in conflict with God. But when God gets us alone with Himself He puts His finger on the place where our strength lies, and reduces us to conscious helplessness. Then we learn the true blessedness of faith. Faith clings, and CLINGS ONLY To GOD.
“I will not let thee go, except thou bless me”, is the language not of one who wrestles, but of one who clings. His earthly resources all gone, his strength reduced to helplessness, he could only cling. And “He blessed him there”. God loves to be known and trusted — He loves to be taken hold of by the faith of sinners, as a Saviour God. All that He is in this wondrous character, He is for sinners who are absolutely without righteousness or strength, and the faith that clings to HIM secures the blessing. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness ... . Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification”. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4).
May each awakened sinner be brought to this blessed faith in a Saviour God!