The Lord Comes Down to Jacob

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

October 2, 2016

Genesis 28:10-22

The Lord Comes Down to Jacob

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Here's the history of the world . . . part one . . .

In the beginning the Lord God created everything, including Adam and Eve. They sinned and passed on their sinfulness to their children. Their children had children until a baby boy named Noah was born.

Noah was a sinner, but he trusted in Jesus. God saved him on the ark and then after the flood Noah's three sons had children. Shem was one of Noah's sons and Shem's children had children and eventually Abraham was born.

God promised to be with Abraham and bless him; He also promised to use Abraham to bless the whole world. He would do this by having Jesus be born from Abraham's family tree. Abraham had a son named Isaac and Isaac had twin sons: Esau and Jacob.

Jacob was an interesting person. He didn't get along with his brother. His mother Rebekah liked him, but his father Isaac liked Esau. Jacob was a home-body and Esau was a macho man. Eventually Jacob got Esau to promise to be treated like the firstborn son.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted. ³⁰He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom. ³¹Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” ³²Esau said, “Look, I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” ³³Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. ³⁴Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:27-34 HCSB)

Jacob ended up running away from home, but not until much later. Several other events take place in chapter 26 and only then we come to infamous incident where Jacob dresses up like Esau and lies to his father about who he is. Then Jacob skedadles just before Esau comes in. We pick up the story:

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from the hunt. ³¹He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. Then he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.” ³²But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.” ³³Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. “Who was it then,” he said, “who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!” ³⁴When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” ³⁵But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” (Genesis 27:30-35 HCSB)

We might think, “Big deal. Just call a do-over. The blessing was given under false pretenses. Surely that can't count.” But it did. First of all, in our time words don't mean much. Promises don't mean much. They should, but most people treat words carelessly.

Christians shouldn't be careless with words, but often we treat them just like unbelievers do. Just like Esau did, “Sure, sure, whatever, you can have my birthright, just give me a Big Mac or perhaps a delicious lobster bisque.”

We don't have birthrights to sell, but we still would rather eat than listen to the Word of the Lord. At church in my younger days, I remember being confused when so many of the grown-ups would come to church, and make their children stay for Sunday school, but they would instead go out for coffee and Danish instead of remain for Bible study. That regular habit of skipping Bible study with your pastor always confused me and I hope it confuses you, too.

Jacob wasn't confused, at least not that his life was in danger. As long as Isaac was alive, Esau didn't make a move. But Esau was counting the days until his dad died and then when the official time of mourning was over, he was going to get revenge. Rebekah heard about Esau's desire for payback and warned her beloved son. And now Jacob is running away from home in Genesis 28.

¹⁰Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. ¹²And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. ¹³The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. ¹⁴Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:10-15 HCSB)

The Lord God had come to Jacob's grandpa Abraham in several strange ways and visions. He had also come and visited Jacob's dad Isaac. All these visits repeated the promise that the Lord would be with the children of Abraham and blessed because of Jesus. Listen for the term “your offspring,” which refers to the descendants of Abraham's family tree, but also is singular and refers to Jesus. He is the offspring, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Mary is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; ³stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, ⁵because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.” (Genesis 26:2-5 HCSB)

God came to Jacob in this unique dream that showed the reality of the Christian life: He keeps us alive by coming down from heaven and being with us. Since God is perfect, never selfish, never greedy, never cruel, never proud, and we are the opposite, there's a problem. Opposites can't be together. So God came down and became us and our sin and by dying washes away our pride, greed, cruelty, and selfishness. He speaks us clean and perfect with His voice. He is the Offspring that blesses believers from all the nations.

And so He came down to Jacob and promised to be with him and his children. This means you. You are a child of Abraham not by blood, but by faith.

⁶Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, ⁷then understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons. ⁸Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. ⁹So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith. (Galatians 3:7-9 HCSB)

And to His people God comes down to us in certain places. We can call them little Bethels. Beth-el means house of God. Where are those? Where God's Gospel Sacraments are heard and received: our churches and our homes.

Jacob was running away from home to find a new future. We don't need to go that far, for just like Jacob, Jesus comes and find you and bring you His everlasting promise: “I will never leave you.”

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!