Back to Bethel

Q: What does the Bible say about returning to God?

The Bible encourages believers to return to God as demonstrated in Genesis 35:1, where God commands Jacob to go back to Bethel. Scripture reveals the importance of returning to God, as seen in Genesis 35:1, where God tells Jacob to return to Bethel—a place of revelation and worship. This call to return signifies a restoration of fellowship with God. Throughout the Bible, returning to God is associated with repentance and a recommitment to His purposes in our lives. In the New Testament, this theme continues as believers are urged to come back to the Lord, reinforcing the idea that despite our wandering, we can always return to the loving embrace of our God.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are affirmed in His unchanging nature and His faithful acts throughout Scripture, as illustrated in the story of Jacob. The reliability of God's promises is grounded in His nature as a covenant-keeping God. In Jacob's life, God's promise to keep and bless him despite his failings showcases God's faithfulness. For instance, in Genesis 28:15, God assures Jacob of His presence and guidance, marking the significance of divine promise. This assurance extends to all believers, as found in Philippians 1:6, where Paul expresses confidence that God will complete the work He began in us. Thus, the faithfulness of God is not contingent on our faithfulness but stems from His immutable character.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to have a personal encounter with God?

A personal encounter with God is foundational for faith, providing believers with a revelation of His grace and a commitment to a relationship with Him. A personal encounter with God is crucial for every believer as it transforms our understanding of His grace and mercy. In Jacob's experience at Bethel, he received a revelation of who God is, which shaped his identity and future. This encounter led to a lifelong commitment, echoing the idea that true faith involves not just intellectual assent, but a heart transformation. The significance of such experiences is corroborated by the testimonies of numerous saints throughout Scripture who encountered God and were irrevocably changed, underscoring the necessity of such encounters in nurturing a deep and abiding faith.

Q: What does Jacob's story teach us about God's love?

Jacob's story illustrates that God's love reaches out to the undeserving and unworthy, emphasizing His grace towards sinners. In Jacob's narrative, we observe a profound demonstration of God's love for the undeserving. Despite Jacob's deceitful and manipulative actions, the Lord pursued him, showing that divine love is not based on merit but on God's electing grace. Romans 9:10-13 highlights that God's choice in loving Jacob rather than Esau was rooted in His sovereign purpose. This teaches us that God's grace covers our failures, reminding us that we, like Jacob, are recipients of unconditional love despite our shortcomings. It is a powerful testament to the redemptive work of Christ, who died for the ungodly.

I want to introduce this message
by saying this. Blessed is the man who can read
the scriptures, find the message that God has given, and apply
it to his own experience and to his own heart. Happy is that
man. Let me show you that in Romans
15, verse 4, what we're about to study this morning. According
to God's Word, Romans 15, verse 4, is an example for us. Romans 15, verse 4. Now mark
this carefully. Whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning. Romans 15, 4, that
we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have
hope. Now watch this. Turn to 1 Corinthians 10. Here's
another scripture that I want you to look at. Blessed is that
man, that woman, who can read this Word, find the message that
God is giving, and apply it to his own heart and to his own
experience. in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 5
and 6. But with many of them God was
not well pleased. They were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted. Now look down at verse
11. Now these things happened to them for examples, types,
pictures, And they are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come." Now, Jacob is a man difficult
to understand. Jacob's name means supplanter,
and that word means to take the place of, especially by force
or plotting or planning. Turn to Genesis 27. Let's read
what his brother said about him. Jacob's name. I've heard people
say it meant cheat and so forth, but I can't find that. I looked
it up in the Hebrew and I can't find where it means cheat at
all. It means supplanter. It means taking the place off.
And of course that comes from the fact that when they were
born, the children being not yet born, God said the elder
shall serve the younger. He took the place of the elder.
But he did it by plotting. and thy force. In Genesis 27
verse 35, and he said, Thy brother came with subtlety and hath taken
away thy blessing. And then Esau said, Is not he
rightly named Jacob? He hath supplanted me these two
times. He took away my birthright, and
behold now he hath taken away my blessing. Yes sir, that's
Jacob. And then he tricked his brother.
He tricked his brother into selling his birthright. Go back to Genesis
25. And as I say, this man is a mystery. This man's difficult
to understand. But I'm just going to give you
facts about him. I'm going to give you the truth about him.
Just the hard truth. And let God bless it as he will.
In Genesis 25, verse 29 through 34, And Jacob sawed pottage, and
Esau came from the field. Esau was a hunter. Esau was a
hairy man. He was a red, hairy, big, strong
man. Jacob was a more delicate man. And Esau was faint. And Esau
said, Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage,
for I am faint. Therefore was his name called
Edom, or Red. And Jacob said, now watch this,
he's got him where he wants him. He said, sell me your birthright.
See, Esau was really the firstborn. And to Esau, the firstborn son,
was due the birthright, the family leadership, the family priesthood,
actually the administration of his father's estate. All of these
things went to the firstborn, and Jacob coveted that. And he
had Esau. He had him hungry and weary and
faint. He'd just come in from a long
hunting trip. He didn't have anything to eat
and he was thirsty and starving. And Jacob said, sell me a birthright.
Esau said, I'm at the point. I'm about to die. What profit
shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, swear to me this
day. And he swore unto him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob.
That didn't justify what Esau did. He should never have done
it. He thought little of the birthright, which was the most
important thing to a Jewish boy. But he sold it. But Jacob cheated
him. He cheated him. And then in verse 27, he deceived
his own father into blessing him. In Genesis 27. You'll find,
beginning with verse 19, that their father was blind. And he
knew the difference in the boy's voices, he knew the difference
in the feeling of the boy. Jacob was a smooth man, a delicate
man. Esau was a hairy, rough man.
And in order to deceive his father, his father felt like he was going
to die, and he was going to give his oldest son the birthright,
and Esau said, kill me a deer and venison fix it up and bring
it to him and I'll eat it and then I'll bless you give you
the birthright and so while Esau was gone Jacob and his mother
plotted this thing and covered Jacob's back with a with a with
a piece of animal skin and gave him a mess of venison he went
into his father and verse 19 Jacob said to his father I'm
Esau thy firstborn isn't that treacherous he told the old blind
man he said I'm Esau I've done according as you told me. Arise, I pray thee, and eat my
venison, and then bless me." And Esau said, How did you do
it so quickly? Now watch this. Jacob even brought
God into it. He said, The Lord brought it
to me. Would you believe it? And Isaac said to Jacob, Come
near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee. He suspected something.
He didn't like the voice. whether you be my son Esau."
And Jacob went near to his father, and he felt him, and said, Well,
the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because
his hands were hairy as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him,
and he said, Are you my very son Esau? And Jacob said, I am."
Unbelievable, isn't it? Well, that's not all. Look at
Genesis 27, verse 41. He had to flee from Esau. He
had to run. Verse 41, Esau hated Jacob. There's no justification for
hatred, but in this case, it's understandable. He hated him.
Because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him, and Esau
said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father at hand,
but after they're over, I'm going to kill my brother Jacob. And
these words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah, and
she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him,
Thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself with
one purpose, and that's to kill you. Now, my son, obey my voice
and arise, and flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran, and tarry
with him a few days, until your brother's wrath be passed. That's
what he was doing when we read the Scripture. He was running
from his brother Esau. Now, I know this, Jacob is difficult
to understand. I know Jacob, his name is supplanted. He tricked his brother out of
his birthright. He stole the blessing. He deceived his father.
He was a liar. He brought God into his plotting
and planning. He had to flee from his brother's
hatred. But the hand of God was upon
Jacob, and the heart of God loved Jacob. I know that. Turn to Romans 9. I know that
because God says that in Romans chapter 9. Mysterious are the
ways of our Lord. He sets his love upon the most
unlikely, doesn't he? He loves the chief of sinners.
Our Lord reaches into the deepest cesspool and finds the most corrupted,
guilty sinner and washes him. bathes him in his blood, sets
his affections upon him. He raises the poor out of the
dunghill, the beggar from the dunghill, and sets him among
princes and kings for his glory. In Romans chapter 9 it says,
verse 10, Rebekah, you remember, was the mother. And not only
this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even our father
Isaac, that's the old blind man now, The children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth, it was said to her, The elder shall serve
the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated." Turn back, if you will, to Genesis 25, and you'll find
that very word which Paul quotes in Romans 9, spoken to Rebecca. When Rebecca was carrying these
sons in her womb, twin boys, Esau came out first. Jacob caught
him by the heel. Actually, the word Jacob means
heel catcher. But Esau came out first, and he was the elder.
But God said in Genesis 25 verse 21, And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated
of him. Rebekah, his wife, conceived, and the children struggled to
gather within her. And she said, If it be so, why
am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord. And the Lord said, Two nations are in your womb. Two
manner of people shall be separated from your bowels, one shall be
stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger."
And God said, Jacob have I love, Jacob have I love. I'm glad God
loves Jacob because he loves me. Aren't you? God loves the
strangest people. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Yes,
he does. Yes, he does. In 1 Corinthians
1. It is not the self-righteous. It is sinners for whom Christ
suffered and for whom Christ came. You know, so many of us
want to get ourselves all fixed up for the Lord, and then the
Lord passes us by and picks up a fellow like Jacob. In 1 Corinthians
1, verse 25, it says, "...the foolishness of God is wiser than
men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." You see
your calling, brethren? Not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God had chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God
had... Jacob was foolish, wasn't he?
He did some foolish things. And God had chosen the weak things
of the world. He was a weak man. His mother
said, now put this hair on your back. And he said, God, I can't
deceive my father. That way he's smarter than that.
She said, son, you just listen to me now and do what I say.
And he did everything she said. He was a weak man. He was a weak
man in that his wife, Rachel, held on to her idols even after
he married her, and even when they left Father Laban's house,
Charlie, she carried those idols with her. She took them with
her. And he didn't say one thing about it. He loved Rachel so
much, those little blue eyes just melted his heart, and he
just went with where Rachel wanted to go. Anything Rachel said was
all right by him. He was a weak man. God has chosen
the weak things to confound the mighty. And the base, you think
about Jacob stealing his brother's birthright, his brother's blessing,
and deceiving his own father and saying, his father said,
where did you get that venison so quick? He said, God brought
it to me. Isn't that terrible? The base
things and things which are despised, oh, how Esau hated that man. How Esau hated that man. He hated
him with a passion. He said, as soon as my daddy's
dead, I'll kill him. But God hath chosen the things
which are not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no
flesh should glow in his presence. Turn back to Genesis 28. So he
saw, so Jacob left home. He left, he ran, he had to. His
brother was going to kill him as soon as his daddy died. His
daddy wasn't dead then. His daddy didn't die until Jacob
came back 40 years later. But he had to leave, and God
met him. God met him on the road. Oh, what a night that was! Old
Jacob, deceiver, supplanter, cheated his brother, deceived
his father, lied on God, Weak, foolish, despised, running from
his brother. He put a pillar, he made some
rocks and he made it for a pillar and he lay down and he went to
sleep. And that night God spoke to him,
Genesis 28, and it says, and God, God Almighty spoke to him. And he said, verse 13, Genesis
28, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac,
and the land whereon thou lies to thee will I give it unto thy
seed. Verse 15, And Jacob, I am with thee, and I'll keep thee
in all places whither thou goest, and I'll bring thee again into
this land. I'll never leave you till I've
done all that I promised you mine. How undeserving are all us Jacobs! But God committed his love toward
us, and that why were we yet sinners? Christ died for us.
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. Christ
died for the ungodly. When we were enemies, Christ
died for us. Without strength, Christ died
for us. Well, Jacob What a place that was. He says down here in
verse 16, And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely
the Lord is in this place. And I didn't know it. God's here. This is the house of God. And
he named that place Bethel, which is being interpreted, translated,
the house of God. Now you'd think, you'd think
that he'd stay right there, wouldn't you? You'd think he'd camp there,
wouldn't you? You'd think that old boy would say, well, I'll
never leave this place. But he did. Yes, sir, he did. He didn't stay there. He went
right on his way. He met God, but he didn't stay.
He went right on his way. He knew the Lord was there, but
he left. He knew God promised him this
place for an inheritance and would bless him there, but he
left. And he wandered, and he was a man without a country for
30 years. until God came to him in his
greatest trouble. He got in trouble even deeper
than the Esau trouble. And God came to him in his deepest
trouble, 30 years later, and said, look at chapter 35, and
I want you later on today to go back and read Genesis 25 through
35, all those 10 chapters. After what we've preached this
morning, you'll get a blessing out of it. Genesis 35, 25 through
35. Now listen, in Genesis 35, 1, God said, Thirty years later, twelve sons
later, or eleven sons, Jacob, arise and go up to Bethel and
dwell there. Make there an altar unto God
that appeared unto thee when you fleddest from the face of
Esau thy brother. Go back to Bethel. Go back. Return to the place, Jacob, where
you met me. Return, Jacob, to the house of
God. Return, Jacob, to the presence
of the Lord. Return, Jacob, to the place of
your vow. Return, Jacob. Now, to help us
understand what God is saying here and help us to apply it
to our own hearts and to our own experiences, I want this
for my own, don't you? I can say, I'm Jacob. You're
Jacob. And God has done so much for
us. He's been so merciful. But there
are three things here I want you to see that will help us
understand this message. Number one, and this is very
important, Jacob had been to Bethel. Secondly, Jacob left
Bethel. And thirdly, Jacob willingly
came back to Bethel. Now, first of all, Jacob had
been to Bethel. Yes, he had. We just read that
a while ago. Preachers are forever exhorting
people to rededicate their lives to God. Have you heard preachers
always saying, rededicate your life to God? Well, let me tell
you something. You can't rededicate what's never been dedicated.
Now, if it's one time been dedicated, if you've been to Bethel, you
can come back to Bethel. If you really had an experience
with God, you can come back to God. If you really met the Lord
in saving faith and saving grace, you can return from your backsliding. But you can't come back to where
you've never been. I hear preachers saying, America,
back to God! America never was there, how
can it come back? Individuals can't. Preachers forever talking about
come back to God come back to God. Well, let me tell you something
This man Jacob could hear God's command to go back to Bethel
because he had been to Bethel he had been there and Three things
happened at Bethel and these three things always happen when
a man Comes to Bethel if he's ever been to Bethel number one.
He had a revelation Jacob had a revelation. Look at verse 11
and 12 of Genesis 28. He had a revelation. In verses
11 and 12, he had a revelation. He made the altar, verse 12 said,
and he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and
the top of it reached to heaven. There was a ladder from from
earth to heaven and from heaven to earth, and behold the angels
of God ascending and descending on that ladder." What is that
revelation? What is God saying? Is there
a New Testament reference? Well, turn to John chapter 1,
let's see. Our Lord Jesus Christ refers
to it in John chapter 1, verse 51. Now listen to this, John
1, 51. And He said to them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. This is a revelation. Just as
Abraham had a pre-incarnation glimpse of Christ, Jacob did
too. Abraham, Christ said, saw my day. He saw it and was glad. Jacob saw his day too. This revelation
here is the incarnation of Christ. God came down from heaven to
this earth. God took upon himself human nature. God came down here in the likeness
of sinful flesh and died on a cross and went back to glory. He descended
and he ascended back to heaven. And God made a way for us to
approach his throne. This is the incarnation of Christ.
This is the intercession of Christ. This is the way from earth to
heaven and the way from heaven to earth. This is Christ. That's
what Jacob was seeing lying here upon this stone. He was seeing
Christ as mediator, as incarnate God, as intercessor, and as the
way to the Father. That's what he saw. And that's
what every believer sees when he comes to Bethel. He sees Christ. And secondly, Jacob had a promise. Look at verse 15. And God said,
Jacob, I will be with you. And Jacob, not only will I be
with you, and he's with us in covenant mercy. He's with us
in redemptive grace. He's with us in indwelling love.
But he says, I'll keep you. I'll not only be with you, but
I'll keep you." He's able to keep, Paul said, that which I've
committed to him. In Jude, he said, now unto him
that is able to keep us from falling. And he says, I'll bring
you into the land. You won't make it by yourself.
I'll bring you there. I'll never leave you. I'll bring
you into the land. I'll never leave you until I've
fulfilled everything that I have promised. That's the second thing
that happened at Bethel. There was a revelation. A revelation
of Christ. A revelation of the incarnate
God. A revelation of the mediator.
A revelation of the way to God. And secondly, there was a promise.
God promised Jacob his mercies. He promised Jacob his grace.
He promised Jacob that he'd keep him. He promised Jacob that he'd
bring him home. And thirdly, There was a commitment. Look at verse 20, and Jacob vowed
a vow. I know we don't like words like
give your heart to Christ, but Jacob gave his heart to God. Jacob received that promise.
He received that grace. He made a committal Paul did
Paul said I'm I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed to him and Jacob
says he bowed about he said the Lord is my God the Lord is my
God Thomas said that he bowed at the feet of Christ. He said
my Lord and my God Peter did that. He said, the Christ, the
reveal Christ and the receive Christ. Jacob committed himself
to Christ. This is Bethel. This is Bethel. Have you ever had a Bethel? I'm
not talking about have you had a religious experience that was
promoted by some high-pressure evangelist. I'm not saying have
you had an experience one day you decided that you'd go to
heaven when you died or you'd be religious, but have you really
met God? Have you at one time in your
life had a revelation of who Christ is and what he did and
why he did it? that Christ came to redeem us,
to give us a righteousness, to open the way to God, that God
might be just and justify the ungodly, that He might be righteous
and save the unrighteous. Have you had a revelation of
Christ? Has God ever spoken to you through His Word and said,
you're mine, you're mine, I've marked you out for my own, you
belong to me. Run though you may, wander though
you will, but you're mine, and I'll never let you go till I
bring you home. And did you in that day or hour,
whenever it was, I don't care, just so it was, but did you make
a commitment to Christ? My Lord and my God. My Lord and
my God. Thou art my God. Thou art my
Lord. Thou art my Redeemer. Thou art
my Savior. Thou art my refuge. Thou art
my hope. Thou art my foundation. Other
foundations can no man lay. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name." Have you ever been there?
That's Bethel, and you can't come back to Bethel if you've
never been to Bethel. If that's never happened, then
you can't come back. You can't come back to a place
where you've never been. Jacob had been to Bethel. Whatever
you want to say about Jacob, whatever happens to Jacob now,
he still one day came to Bethel. And he did business not with
a soul winner or an evangelist or a preacher or a high-pressure
promoter, he did business with God. God spoke to him and he
spoke to God. God dealt with him and he dealt
with God. God revealed Christ and he saw
Christ, and God revealed Christ and he received Christ. That
happened. It was a real experience. It
was a real commitment. It was a real promise. It was
real. All right, secondly, but Jacob
didn't stay at Bethel. I'm going to go quickly through
this. Oh, he prospered. No question about that, he prospered.
Jacob always would prosper. He knew how to prosper. His life
was marked by Stained by so many so many unholy deeds He married
well his marriage to two sisters really really was beyond his
control his uncle His uncle cheated him out of his out of Rachel,
you know He wanted Rachel he worked seven years fire and his
uncle gave him Leah because he said wasn't right for the older
girl not to be married if the younger girl was already married.
So he said, you work seven more years, I'll give you Rachel.
So fourteen years he worked, finally married both sisters.
But the sisters got in a contest about who could have the most
children, and Leah gave him her handmaid, and Rachel gave him
her handmaid, and he had eleven sons by four different wives. two wives and two handmaids and
had a daughter named Dinah. And then he tricked his father-in-law.
He went to work on his father-in-law and he deceived him out of his
sheep and cattle and goats and everything else. And then when
he left home, when he finally decided to go back to his father's
place after about 30 years, he allowed his wife Rachel to keep
her idols. That's right, she brought them
with her. She stole her father's idols. He came chasing them,
and he found them, and she was sitting on them. She had a little
bench made. She was a clever little rascal, and she made a
bench, you know, and put those idols in the bench and sat on
them. And her father came to the tent to look around to see
if he could find them, and she wouldn't get up. She said, Pardon
me if I don't get up. I've got problems. And the father
looked everywhere else, and she just sat there on those idols,
and Jacob let her keep them, and then he met Esau. And all
how he prayed, he prayed that God would help him and deliver
him. I think he was sincere. But he met Esau, and Esau forgave
him. And he said, everything's all
right, my brother, now come on home. And Jacob said, well, you
go on ahead and I'll follow you. I've got these little children,
you know, we've got a bunch of little children. They can't run
fast, and I don't want to wear them out. And Esau, I'll be right
with you. I'll be right with you. You go right on, Esau. I'll
be right with you. Well, Esau went right on. Jacob
never did show up. He went the other way. He never had any intention
of going with Esau. He went the other way. He went
down there in the land of the heathen, the Shemites. And that's
where he pitched his tent and made him some booths and some
cattle barns, and all these things began to prosper. And these uncircumcised
heathens saw his daughter Dinah, and the prince wanted her. So
he took her, and he violated her. And I want you to turn to
Genesis 34, and this was his deepest trouble. His deepest
trouble. And these fellas, this fella
violated her, and he wanted to marry her. And Jacob called those
sons in, those ten sons. I don't think Joseph was in the
bunch. He called those ten sons in and told them what happened,
and they said, well, I think that can be fixed up all right.
And so they agreed to let their sister marry these fellas. this
fellow Shemite, Shechem, Shechem was his name, they agreed to
let her marry him. And they made out like everything
was all right. And if these men would be circumcised and become
Israelites, you know, in token or form, so they did. Now look
at Genesis 34. It came to pass, verse 25, Genesis
34, 25. It came to pass on the third day when they were sore
that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers,
now Levi was the tribe from which the priest came, took each man
his sword and came upon the city while these fellows were incapacitated
and slew every one of them. They slew Hamor, they slew Shechem,
his son with the edge of the sword, they took Dinah out of
Shechem's house and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the
slain and spoiled the city, in other words took everything they
had. Because they defiled their sister, they took their sheep,
their oxen, their heisters, and that which was in the city, and
that which was in the field, and all their wealth, and all
their little ones, and their wives, took they captive, and
spoiled or stole everything that was in the house. And Jacob said,
Levi, Simeon, you have troubled me to make me to stink among
the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the
Perizzites and I being few in number, while they'll gather
themselves together against me and slay me, I'll be destroyed,
I and my house." And they said, well, they shouldn't have treated
our sister like a harlot. Now he's in trouble, real trouble. His sons have gone out and defiled
the whole, they've murdered everybody in the country. Stole everything they had and
stole their children and their wives. Then God, verse 1 of chapter
35, God said, Jacob, go back to Bethel. Go back to Bethel. Go back to where I met you. Go
back to where I revealed myself to you. Go back to where you
started from. Go back to build an altar to
God. That's what you need to do. Thank
God he did look at verse 2 so Jacob took a stand before his
whole family And he said to his household what he ought to said
30 years ago That put away the strange gods that are among you
put away all your idols He's finally taking a stand He's finally
standing up and becoming the high priest of the home which
God omit for him to be and be clean Change your garments. He's speaking like old Joshua
now in this for me in my house. We're gonna serve the Lord We're
going to serve the Lord. And verse 3, and let us arise
and go up to Bethel. Bethel, what is it? The house
of God. The place of worship. The altar. Let's go up to Bethel. Go up to the house of God. And
I'll make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day
of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And
you know, God gave him a new name. God said, your name will
no longer be Jacob, but your name will be Israel, a prince,
a son of God, a son of God. But you know, Jacob went back,
and Bethel, from that day on, Bethel was a place of joy. That's
right, God gave him a son, Benjamin. Bethel had its joys, but Bethel
also had its what? Solace. Rachel died. Rachel died. Look down here at
Genesis 35, verse 16. And as they journeyed from Bethel,
and there was but a little way to come to Ephra, and Rachel
travailed, and she had hard labor. It came to pass when she was
in hard labor that the midwife said to a fear not, I shall have
this son also. It came to pass as her soul was
in departing, she died. She called his name Ben-O-Ni,
which means son of my sorrow. That's what Rachel called him,
Ben-O-Ni. But his father called him Benjamin,
which is son of my right hand. And Rachel died and was buried
in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. The ways of our God, as I say,
are mysterious and strange. God moves in mysterious ways. He has wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the
sea. He rides on the storm. But I'll
tell you this, wherever the Jacobs are and wherever the Rachels
are and wherever those are upon whom God has set his affection, you'll find them looking to him.
You'll find them returning to Bethel. They may stumble and
fall, and they may make a mess out of a whole lot of things,
but they've been to Bethel, and God will always bring them back,
always bring them back. And even Bethel, though, even
Bethel. You know, it seemed like that
Jacob prospered when he was on the run. When he was on the run,
when he was in this state of doubt and confusion, it seemed
like that everything prospered, and he was without trial. Really,
he had some misfortunes, but he came to Bethel. And God vested
him with joy, but God vested him with sorrow. God vested him
with laughter and vested him with tears. That's the reason
I question these preachers that are forever exhorting people,
get right with God and everything will be all right. Yes, yes,
yes, everything will be all right spiritually, because our sins
are put away. We walk with the King, we have
fellowship with the Lord. But everything might not be all right
materially. Everything might not be all right
emotionally. Everything might not be all right
physically. And you can be prepared for these things. Jacob, don't
you imagine this was quite a shock though while he was in Haran
and these other places and everything was all right. And he came back,
God said, go back to Bethel. He went back to Bethel and got
right. He went back to Bethel and rebuilt
an altar and said, Lord, I'm here to stay now. I'm yours.
I've been wrong. Rachel died. The joy of his life was removed. God doesn't have to explain things
to us. He's seen far good in his glory.
And you be prepared for it. The place to be is Bethel, whatever
happens, right? Whatever happens. Whatever God
sends, Bethel is the place to be. If I'm going to have sorrow,
I want it to with him, if I'm going to have trouble. Oh, for
a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a light to
shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb! Where is the
blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is that
soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his Word? What peaceful hours
I then enjoyed! How sweet their memory still!
But oh, I find an aching void that the world can never fill. Return, O heavenly dove, return,
sweet messenger of rest. I hate the sin that made thee
mourn and drove thee from my breast. The dearest idol that
I have known, whatever that idol be, help me, Lord, to tear it
from thy throne and worship only thee. So shall my walk be close
with God, calm and serene my frame, back to Bethel shall be
the cry that leads me to the land." Back to Bethel. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
Thee for a revelation of Christ our Lord. We thank Thee, O how
we thank Thee, that we were ever brought to Bethel. We should
have been slain. We should have been the slain
of Esau. Instead we've become the sons of God. made thine own
because you loved us, not because of anything you saw in us, but
because you loved us and because you purposed to redeem us. Back
to Bethel. Let that be true of every one
of us here. Every day, every day we come
back to Bethel for our days are days of straying and our Hours
and hours of forgetting the hand of our God and complaining and
murmuring against his providence. Oh Lord, let it always be our
hearts cry, back to Bethel I would go. Back to the place where the
healing waters flow. Back to Bethel. Minister to us
according to thy will, for thy glory, for Christ's sake. Amen.

Back to Bethel

What does the Bible say about returning to God?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to have a personal encounter with God?

What does Jacob's story teach us about God's love?

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Back to Bethel

What does the Bible say about returning to God?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to have a personal encounter with God?

What does Jacob's story teach us about God's love?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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