Let us turn once again to God's
Word in the chapter that we read, Genesis chapter 28. And our text
is found in the first part of verse 19. The first part of verse
19 in Genesis chapter 28. And He called the name of that
place Bethel. The margin tells us, of course,
the meaning of the word Bethel, the house of God, as we see it
previously in verse 17, where we're told that Jacob was afraid
and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but
the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. I want to send to think this
morning with the Lord's help of the gods of Bethel, that is
the gods of the Covenant. As we see from what is said previously
here, it is the God of his fathers that is appearing unto Jacob. Verse 12, He dreamed and behold
a ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven
and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God
of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac. It is that God, then, that God
of the covenant, that one who is ever mindful of his people
and takes account of them in all the circumstances of their
lives, every situation that they are brought into. As we see later
with regards to the children of Jacob. Jacob who of course
became Israel when they were there in Egypt in bondage. how God took account of their
needs. The end of Exodus chapter 2.
It came to pass in process of time that the king of Egypt died
and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage and
they cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of the
bondage and God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon
the children of Israel and God had respect unto them. God knew them. These were the
typical people, the children of Abraham and of Isaac and of
Jacob. Considering then the significance
of this experience that the Lord God brings Jacob into having
in a sense stolen the birthright of his brother Esau although
we know that Esau despised that birthright and God decrees that
it was Jacob who should inherit the blessing Jacob have I loved
says God he saw have I hated at all that came as a consequence
of that event when he received the blessing and now his father
has sent him away with his blessing and he is to take a wife of the
children of Laban, his mother's brother and in due course, of
course, we see how it is Rachel who is to be the wife of Jacob
and how in time there will be those many sons born unto Jacob
the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel but considering the
significance of the event that's recorded here in this 28th chapter. He called the name of that place
Bethel. And what was it that was revealed
unto him? Well, there is that revelation of him who is the
mediator of the covenant. There is the ladder. That ladder
that is spoken of as we just saw back in verses 12 and 13. that was set up upon the earth,
the top of it reaches to heaven and the angels of God ascending
and descending and the Lord God himself standing at the top of
the ladder. Oh how significant it is. You
observe there in verses 12 and 13 now we have the repetition
of this significant word Behold he dreamed and behold it says
a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to
heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending
on it and behold the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord
God of Abram, thy father and the God of Isaac. And we know
the force of that word, behold, that occurs so many times in
scripture. Sometimes the Hebrew or the Greek
word is rendered, behold, other times it's simply the word, lo,
alo. But it is an important word because
it's a strong word and it indicates the importance of the I being
set, fixed, a careful consideration for looking into the thing that
is set before one. And here, as I said, we have
the word repeated these three times. These are most significant
things that Jacob witnesses in his dream, but especially that
that we see after the third, Behold, in verse 13. Behold,
it says, the Lord stood above it. And it is the covenant name
that is used. Lord, in our authorised version,
as it is spelt here with the capital letters, is surely indicative
of that covenant name, Jehovah. The name that is derived from
what God will say to Moses in Exodus chapter 3, I am that I
am, for He is the Great Unchanging One. and so he says of himself
I am and when we speak of him we are to say he is and that
would be a very literal rendering of this particular Hebrew word
which we have as Lord or Jehovah. It literally means he is. As
God says I am so we say he is and there is no other God besides
this God. But then this latter with the
Lord God standing above it. Surely this ladder represents
to us as a type the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is the
mediator of the New Covenant. It is only by and through the
Lord Jesus Christ that we can approach God. There is no other
way of access. He says, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And doesn't the Lord himself
acknowledge that this particular incident in the life of Jacob
is typical of himself. Remember the words that the Lord
speaks to Nathanael at the end of the opening chapter of John's
Gospel. And he prefixes what he says to Nathanael with the
double verily. Verily. Verily, he says. Truly. Truly. Amen. Amen. So be it. So be it. Hereafter ye shall
see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending
upon the Son of Man. And we interpret what we have
here in the Old Testament, in the opening book of the Old Testament,
the book of Genesis, we interpret these things in the light of
that full revelation that we have when we come to the New
Testament and the Lord Jesus Christ. This ladder, I say, is
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is the mediator,
who stands between heaven and earth, by and through whom God
ministers to us, even the ministry of the angels comes by Christ,
By Him, through Him, we are those who are able to enter into that
within the veil. Or there is no other word, but
by Him who is the God-Man, who is able to stand then between
God and men, to come between heaven and earth, the mediator
of the covenant. But then also here, we see Him
as that one who is the true seed of Jacob look at the language
that we have in verse 14 as God gives the promise to Jacob thy
seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to
the south and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families
of the earth be blessed Who is the one that is spoken of then
at the end of this 14th verse? Thee, says God, that is Jacob
and thy seeds. It is the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the seed. When we go back to Genesis chapter
3 and that solemn account of the entrance of sin, the fall
of our first parents Adam and Eve there in the Garden of Eden. And in the midst of all that
sad history, as sin has despoiled all that creation that God had
pronounced very good, in the midst of all that dreadful scene,
the entrance of sin, we have that first Gospel promise. When
the Lord God speaks to the serpent, who was the instrument of Satan,
in the tempting of Eve. And what does the Lord God say?
I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy
seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. All that seed of the woman, who
is it? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord Jesus. who has
no human father, who is born of a woman. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son. We are told made
of a woman, made under the law. As the Holy Ghost came upon Mary,
as she was told by the angel that he would come, the power
of the higher shall overshadow them. that holy thing that shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. He is the seed
of the woman. But then subsequently we see
that this one who is the seed of the woman is also the seed
of Abraham in chapter 22. That's a chapter wherein Abram
is so sorely tested in his faith. He is commanded by God to offer
his son, his only son, Isaac, and he is willing to obey this
strange command. But this is God testing him. And this is God teaching him.
There's so much gospel here in Genesis chapter 22. And of course
we know what happened Isaac is not to be sacrificed. There is
a substitute. There is a ram to be sacrificed
in his place. The great truth then of substitutionary
atonement. And Abram receives his son Isaac
as from the dead, says the Apostle Paul in Hebrews chapter 11, or
the great truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Without the
angel the angel of the Lord and this is Christ the angel of the
Lord speaking unto Abraham out of heaven and there at verse
13 he says in thy seed in thy seed that is the seed of Abraham
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou
hast obeyed my voice and we know We know full well who that seed
of Abraham is. Again, we see it so clearly when
we come to the New Testament Scriptures. In Galatians 3.16,
"...he saith not unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, unto
thy seed, which is Christ." It is stated plain, straightforward,
such a simple statement. the seed of Abraham, which is
Christ. And Christ is that one you see
who is not just a mediator of the covenant. All the covenant
really centers in Him. There in Isaiah 49.8, I will
give thee for a covenant of the people. And this is the one who comes
now. and speaks to Jacob in his dream. He is granted this remarkable
revelation of the covenant and of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is Christ who is that seed then spoken of at the end of verse
14, in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed. Oh, we see so much of Christ
when we come to consider these experiences of the godly in the
Old Testament. All Old Testament saints, New
Testament saints, all saints can only know God as He is pleased
to reveal Himself in the person of His only begotten and His
well-beloved Son. It is life eternal, says Christ,
to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent and do we not see here that that is intimating to us the
coming of Christ the descending of Christ it says behold the
angels of God ascending and descending on it on the latter the angels
of God ascending and descending. It's God's bow in the heavens.
It's God, as it were, coming down when the fullness of the
time was come. God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. Oh, it's that time that God himself had appointed, ordained
from all eternity. And there in Galatians 4.4 we
have those two definite articles, it is the fullness of the time
for all times you see are in the hands of God every event
comes to pass as he himself has decreed from all eternity there
is a time to be born and so it was with the Lord Jesus Christ
and when the fullness of the time was come so that great mystery
of godliness was manifested God was manifest in the flesh And
as it was a time for Him to be born, we know that there was
also a time when He must die. And when the time was come that
He should be received up, we're told in the Gospel, Luke 9, how
He sets His face to go up to Jerusalem. His face is as a flint.
Oh, He knows those things that are to befall Him. His obedience
is to be unto death, even the death of the cross. And so He must die. at that time
that God had from eternity ordained. And he goes to Jerusalem and
there of course we read in the Gospels of all the mockery of
the trial and yet all of this being the execution of God's
gracious purpose. But here we see, you see the
coming the descending or that child that is born to
Maran that human nature that is to be joined to the eternal
Son of God think of the language of Isaiah 9 unto us a child is
born unto us a son is given that son was not born or that son
was the eternal son of the eternal father And there, in that great
mystery of godliness, he takes to himself a human nature. Because the children were partakers
of flesh and blood, Paul tells us how he likewise takes part
of the same. And the angels, you see. The
angels of God ascending, it says, and descending on him. and we
know that there was much ministry of the angels at the time of
the birth of the Lord Jesus. The activity of the angels there
with regards to the birth of John the Baptist and then with
regards to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and when the event
actually occurs. Why Luke tells us in some detail,
does he not? In Luke chapter 2 And there at
verse 9 following, Here are the shepherds in the
fields about Bethlehem, and lo, it says, The angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. and suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,
goodwill toward men." Or is it not that that is represented
here in verse 12 of our chapter, the angels of God ascending and
descending on him. the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ
and that great work that the Lord Jesus Christ came to do
He's not only the seed of the woman and the seed of Abraham
and the seed of Jacob He's not only made of a woman He is also
made under the law and He comes as one who will honour that law
and magnify that law both in living and in dying in his life
we see him magnifying that law by his perfect obedience to every
command, every statute, every precept of God he will fulfill
all righteousness and then he honours and magnifies that same
law of God when he comes to die but now he is honouring it in
terms of all its dreadful penalties he dies and he dies the just
for the unjust to bring sinners to God the great truth of His
substitutionary atonement, as He bears in His own person all
that just wrath of God against the sins of His people. O how
He has come, and with His coming, have not the heavens dropped
down righteousness? I love that verse that we find
in Isaiah 45, verse 8. Drop down your heavens from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together,
I, the Lord, have created it. Oh, this is the descending, is
it not? This is that blessed coming of
Christ to accomplish all the goodwill of the Father, to execute
that work that the Father had given Him to do in the eternal
covenant. He is that one then who comes
the mediator of the covenant, the covenant that centers all
together in Him. He is here in type, in the ladder. Here we see Him as that one who
is the seed. Here we see Him the seed of Jacob.
And here we have that blessed truth of His coming in the fullness
of the time. But let us in the second place
Consider something of those great blessings that are said before us here
in terms of what is said unto Jacob, the blessings of the covenant.
We read in verse 12 concerning what he sees in the dream, the
ladder and the top of it reached to heaven. All the top of it
reaches to heaven. You see, the blessings of the
covenant in heaven are eternal blessings. This is the heaven of heavens.
This is the place where God is. And here we are to recognize
that that work that Christ came to accomplish was purposed by
God from all eternity. Where God dwells, the heaven
of heavens, that is the place of eternity. That is outside
of time, outside of sense. And what are the blessings? Well, think of the language that
we find in Ephesians chapter 1. What does the Apostle say
there? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world."
Blessed with all blessings, Paul says there, in heavenly places. And the first great blessing
that he speaks of is that blessing of eternal election. how the Lord knoweth them that
are His how He hath made choice of a people and He hath chosen
them in the Lord Jesus Christ according as He hath chosen us
in Him we read there in verse 4 of Ephesians 1 chosen in Him
that is chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ He is God's first elect
Behold My servant whom I uphold, God says, Mine elect, in whom
I saw delighted, I have put My Spirit upon him. All the mediator
is that one who stands at the head of all those who are the
election of Christ, are chosen in Him. The blessings in heavenly places
are eternal blessings. but not only the blessing of
eternal election, but there's also that blessing of eternal
adoption. And as the Apostle continued,
Ephesians 1.5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in himself, It's God's purpose, you see.
Those whom he has chosen, they are his adopted sons. Just as he who is the first elect
is the true son of God, the son of the Father in truth and love,
so those who are chosen in him, they are his adopted sons. and
the Lord Jesus Christ himself acknowledges them as his own
children. Behold I, he says, and the children which God hath
given me. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are all treated as God's firstborn sons. They have that right of
the inheritance. It's the General Assembly and
Church of the Firstborn, who are all written in heaven. Well, these are the blessings,
the blessings of the Covenant, whose top reaches to heaven,
stretches back into eternity, into the very mind of God as
He had made choice of the people, and not only eternally elected
them, but also eternally adopted them. And then there is that
great truth of their eternal justification. Like the former
two, like election and adoption, justification is an eternal and
an imminent act of God. I like the remark of Dr. Gill.
John Gill says this concerning justification. Active justification
is the act of God. Passive justification is the
act of God terminating on the conscience of a believer. There
is an active justification. That is God. And God is the eternal. There is an eternal justification.
But then also there is a justification that is passive
or experimental we might say. that determinates in the conscience
of the believer, that that is experienced here upon the earth
in time. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? asks the apostle. It is God that
justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, Jehovah, that is risen again from the
dead. or they are justified. None can
condemn them. Who is the one who has justified
them? God has declared them to be righteous and declared them
all from all eternity to be righteous because their righteousness is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are justified then freely
by His grace. As God is the one who wills to
elect the people and that is election and as God
wills to adopt a people and that is adoption so God wills to justify
a people and that is also their justification and these are the
blessings all these are the blessings that God is pleased to bestow
why the top of this ladder reaches heaven It all reaches into eternity,
it all centers in God himself and the gracious purpose of the
eternal mind. But then the blessings are experienced
here upon the earth. What does God say as he thus
comes to reveal himself to Jacob at this place called Bethel,
the house of God he says. the gates of heaven God says
behold I have another behold here in verse 15 for Jacob consider
this fix your eye on this blessed
truth I am with them and will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest and will bring thee again into this land for I will
not leave them until I have done that which I have spoken to thee
of God's purpose must be fulfilled. There must be that accomplishment
of the Divine Mind. The blessings then are experienced
here upon the Earth. And what do we see when we come
to the New Testament? Why, in the ministry of those
apostles, the preaching of the apostles, are they preach Christ? How do they preach Christ crucified?
How do they preach him risen again from the dead? How do they
preach the great truth of justification? We see Paul there at Antioch
in Pisidia in the 13th chapter of the Acts. What does he say
concerning Christ by him? All that believe are justified
from all things that they could not be justified from by the
deeds of the law. Oh, he is preaching, you see,
the necessity of faith. By him all the beliefs are justified. This is that passive justification
that terminates in the conscience of the person who believes. They
come into an experience of that grace of God in justification. How God descends We read of the
angels here in verse 12 on the ladder, they ascend, they descend. We're not only to think of that
that reaches into heaven, we're to think in terms of that that
comes down to us here upon the earth. How God comes and when
God comes, does he not come to take possession of the hearts
of his people? Galatians 4.6 it says, Because
ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts. Because ye are sons. That's eternal
adoption. That's the great purpose of God.
And because ye are sons, what has God done? He has sent His
Spirit into your heart. To make that sonship a reality. Oh, this is what Paul experienced. He was once such a proud man,
such a self-righteous man, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, the son of
a Pharisee. Concerning himself, he said,
touching the righteousness which is of the law, he was blindness.
How he delighted in his Jewish religion. How he was a persecutor
of Christians. And yet, and yet this man was
to be a vessel of mercy. And the time came. And how Paul
has to acknowledge it when he writes there in the opening chapter
of the Galatian Epistle. When he pleased God. When he
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb to call
me by His grace and to reveal His Son in me. Oh, that's the
descending. He pleased God to reveal the
Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of that persecutor. And he was
saved. He was saved by the sovereign
grace of God. That's the ways of God. Now what
is the evidence of these things? The evidence of these blessings
of the covenant descending, coming into the soul of a sinner. Well the evidence is regeneration. Or there must be that mighty
work of the Spirit of God in the soul, the sinner must be
born again. By nature what are we? We are
dead in trespasses and sins. We only have a fallen nature.
Our mind, our natural mind, the carnal mind, as it is in Scripture,
is said to be enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. God must accomplish a new work
in the soul of the sinner. The Lord Jesus himself, in that
great third chapter of John's Gospel, as he deals with that
Jewish teacher Nicodemus, What does the Lord say? Verily, verily.
Oh, He prefixes it with the double verily again. Truly, truly. Amen, amen. So be it. So be it. Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Oh, you must be born
again. And what is it to be born again? What is it to be born again?
which were born, it says, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Regeneration, which is the new
birth, is the work of God and of God alone. When it comes to
our natural birth, we are born of our mothers, we are begotten
of our fathers, we have no say in it, We're born. And so too spiritually. It is
God's descending. It is God coming into the soul
of a sinner. It is the communication of new
life, spiritual life. And all who are saved must be
born again. And it's not something that we
can receive from anyone else. We can't receive it from our
parents. We can't receive it from the minister. It is the
sovereign work of God. And where there is that new birth,
there will also be a blessed enlightenment. All light will
come and shine into the dark recesses. We'll see something
of what we are now by nature. The light that shineth in a dark
place, a dark place of our heart, and how the light discovers the
truth concerning ourselves. Remember how the apostle writes
of the Gentiles, and we are Gentiles, there in Ephesians chapter 4,
having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God because of the ignorance that is in them, he says. Because
of the blindness, or the margin says, the hardness of their hearts,
who being past feeling. By nature we have no spiritual
feelings. Or we're enveloped in all the
darkness and all the deadness of our sins. But what does Paul
say again in that remarkable chapter, that opening chapter
of his epistle to the Ephesians? There at verse 17 he says, it's
part of his prayer. He's always spoken of such profound
things in the opening verses, instructing them, but then he
can't help but pray for them. He sees not, he says, to give
thanks for them, he makes mention of them in his prayers. And this
is the prayer, verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom.
and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His
calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints. Always praying that they might
know of a truth that gracious in shining in their souls, that
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness might shine
in their hearts, to give that light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the language that
we have in 2 Corinthians 4 but it's the same truth as we have
here in Ephesians chapter 1. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that ye may know the hope of his calling
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints
is. or there must be that blessed
enlightenment the Lord reveals he who said
I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk
in darkness but shall have the light of life here are the evidences of the blessings being experienced
there must be that that quickening that new birth in the soul there
must be that that gracious enlightenment in the mind, in the heart. Oh,
there must be faith. There must be faith. That faith that is of the operation
of God. Again, I seem to refer to the
passage so often. It's there in Ephesians chapter
1. What mighty power God puts forth
in the soul of that person who is brought to saving faith. You
know, he continues there, having spoken of that enlightenment,
he speaks of the exceeding greatness of his power to us who do believe.
According to the work of his mighty power which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead. All the same power
that is there in Christ rising from the dead must come into
the hearts of those who believe. No duty fights there. No duty
fights there. Men can not believe. Not siding
them. Or we might assent intellectuals. We might accept the historic
truth of the scriptures. But siding faith is another matter.
It is the mighty work of God. And this is what Jacob is experiencing. It's God coming and visiting
a man. And do we not see Jacob's faith here at the end? Or Jacob
vowed 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 raiment
to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace.
That was the promise that God had given to him. Then shall
the Lord be my God. That's what he says. All he owns
and he acknowledges God. It's the same as that that we
see with dear Ruth. Remember the words that she speaks
to her mother-in-law. There, in the opening chapter
of the book, verse 16, Ruth says to Naomi, and treat me not to
leave ought to return from following after thee, for whither thou
goest I will go, where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God, where thou diest will I
die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more
also if ought but death part thee and mine." Well that's the
language of faith. And that's the faith that we
also see here in Jacob. Then shall the Lord be my God,
he says. And the stone which I have set
for a pillar shall be God's house. And of all that thou shalt give
me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Oh, here is the man
of faith. And you must walk by faith now.
We walk by faith and not by sight. and that's how we must walk walking and seeing him who is
the invisible God knowing something of that ministry of the angels
those angels that he saw upon the ladder how they were ascending
and descending on it all Paul says are they not all ministering
Spirits, send forth to minister to them who shall be the heirs
of salvation. Why the angel of the Lord, the
psalmist says, encampeth round about them that fear him, and
delivereth them. And Jacob must know this. He'll
go to Laban, he'll learn many lessons. In the many years that
he's there serving for Rachel, being deceived by his uncle,
by his father-in-law, serving all over again for Rachel, and
then coming and the Lord dealing with him at Penea when the angel
appears and wrestles with him. Oh, many lessons to learn, but
how the Lord will be faithful and true to his word. The Lord
will keep him. in all places whither he goes
and will bring him a guide into that promised land but observe
here as we conclude this morning how we read of the angels not
only descending but we read of the angels of God ascending and
descending or there is an ascending now what is our ascending? Have
not God raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in the Lord Jesus Christ? How God lifts his people you
see, lifts them above all their troubles and trials and tribulations
in the midst of all their sufferings. How the Lord appears for his
people and rises them up, grants them entrance into His very presence.
They come by Him who is the Mediator. And by Him they are able to enter
into that within the vial and there they pour out their hearts
and souls in prayers unto God. The way the Lord lifts us up,
rises us above our trials and our troubles, delivers us from
all our sins, delivers us even from our self, I like those lines of John Newton
in the hymn that we often sing, Glorious things of thee are spoken.
Newton says, Tis his love his people raises over south to reign
as kings. Oh, that's what we need the Lord
God to do for us, is it not? To raise us over our south to
reign as kings that sin might not have dominion over us. that
we might be those who are truly living that life of faith and
walking that way of faith. Oh this is the God of Bethel
and how Jacob is brought to acknowledge the wonder of it. Oh this is
none other he says but the house of God And this is the gate of
heaven, a dreadful place, dreadful in the sense that it fills him
with awe. It's God's, and it's God's revealing himself to a
sinful man. And he calls the name of that
place Bethel. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to bless this word to us. Amen. We're going to sing the paraphrase
at the back of the little psalm book, the red book, page 338. The second paraphrase, the Chuni
Salzburg, 861. O God of Bethel, by whose hand thy people still
are fair, who through this weary pilgrimage
hast all our fathers led, our vows, our prayers we now present
before thy throne of grace. God of our fathers, be the God
of their succeeding race. The second paraphrase, and it's
on page 338.