Note: I have developed a simple set of slides in PowerPoint to use in the delivery of this sermon. They're not fancy, but they do help to keep attention focused on the points being presented. If anyone is interested in having the PowerPoint file, email me at sam@srmccormick.net with the word "slides" in the subject line and the title "Bethel" in either the subject line or the body of the message, and I will email them directly. (Please allow 2-3 days for met to get back to you.)
BETHEL
INTRODUCTION
Tell the story of Gen 28:1-2 - Isaac told his son Jacob not to take a wife from among the Canaanite women, but he sent him to Paddan-Aram to find a wife from his mother’s kinsmen, specifically from the daughters of his uncle Laban, Rebekah’s brother. Paddan-Aram was at least 500 miles from Beersheba, where Jacob started his journey.
Jacob came to “a certain place,” which we understand to be about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, and stopped for the night. He placed his head on a stone for a pillow and slept.
*Click for BETHEL while reading
Gen 28:12-19 – read
* Click for “Surely the Lord is in this place
"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not."
—Gen. 28: 16 (read KJV)
Jacob exclaimed “this is none other than the house of God, the gate of heaven.” Could someone use a GPS and try to locate where Jacob slept, and find there the “house of God, the gate of heaven” on a set of coordinates (like finding the back of the wardrobe as the entrance to Narnia in C.S. Lewis’ Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe)?
A traveler to the place observed that it was: “An, unimpressive scene, almost indistinguishable, even to the curious eye of the archæologist, "in the maze of undistinguished hills which encompass it--with nothing to attract the eye, and nothing to fire the imagination; large slabs of bare rock traversed by a well-worn thoroughfare."
This is the site of Bethel described by a traveler.
It was an unimpressive scene still more commonplace when contrasted with the grandeur of Colorado, the rocky spires of southeastern Utah, or the redwood forests and coastal cliffs of California. No beauty, no grandeur, nothing of loveliness and nothing of awe, nothing exceptional of any kind can explain or justify its selection. Why should this one spot in this bleak wilderness, amidst these bare rocks, be chosen to plant the foot of the ladder which connected heaven and earth?
Yet Jacob saw it as none other than the House of God; the very gate of heaven.
*Click on picture of ladder/staircase
In the original language, the word ladder equally means “stairway,” so what Jacob saw in his dream could easily have been a “stairway to heaven” with no distortion of the text.
What is that connection between heaven and earth represented by the staircase in Jacob’s dream?
?It has been thought to represent the providence of God, by which he watches over the earthly realm and works his will, in large part by the ministry of angels,
*Click for “God-man came to earth…”
?and in larger part through the ministry of his Son. It is to the second of these that I would like to invite your attention.
I. GOD CAME TO EARTH AS MAN TO MAKE A WAY FOR MAN TO COME TO GOD
This ladder or stairs linking earth to heaven, whereby angels ascend and descend, how can it not represent the incarnation of Christ the Eternal Word, wherein God is made man, and man is taken up to God? This is what establishes the legitimate claim of Christianity as the absolute and true religion of the world--this union of the human with the divine, the earthly with the heavenly—and the only adequate response to the deepest needs and longings of mankind. Hence the church has ever clung tenaciously to the wedlock of heaven and earth in the God-man. And to those whose sight is by faith, the vision of Bethel will be endowed with a far greater glory, unrelated to its natural features.
Upon Philip’s brother Nathaniel’s confession of Jesus as “the son of God, the king of Israel,” Jesus said to him, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1:51)
“Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man!” Just as Jacob had seen about 2000 years earlier, in a bare and unremarkable rocky place that he named Bethel.
Angels are heavenly beings who perform earthly missions. Christ is that access, for he opened the door of heaven:
“…we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh…: Heb 10:19-20
Thomas, “how can we know the way?” He declared to Thomas and to Christians of every age,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through me.” John 14:6
Jacob’s dream at Bethel points forward to the gospel and God's spiritual dispensations in all ages. The incarnation of Christ, and his death, resurrection and ascension are the supreme manifestation of the mystery of God’s connection with the human race.
II. THE COMMONPLACE AND INCONGRUOUS MAY BLIND US TO THE SPECTACULAR
“I knew it not,” declared Jacob. Though the presence of the Lord was in that place, the very gate of heaven, he had no awareness of it.
*Click for “I knew it not.”
West Texas around my home town is very plain. It is as flat as a pancake, has no hills or rivers, and because of lack of moisture, almost no trees and little vegetation growing without irrigation. It is not clothed in lush greenery. The town Robin and I have been visiting often for the last 2 or 3 years is fittingly named Plainview. Where there is irrigation, beautiful crops grow while farmers anxiously watch weather reports and search the sky for signs of harsh, crop-destroying weather. Where the land is not irrigated there is mostly dirt, brownish native grass, and sky. Though some disagree and find it appealing, the area offers little to attract a person whose idea of beauty is a place of mountains or rolling hills, rivers, trees, and lush greenery.
But there is another way of seeing it. It is in the sky! west Texas bows to no place on earth when it comes to sunsets. Largely because of that very dirt being blown into the sky by almost daily winds, the sunsets in west Texas are dazzling!
Look at the circumstances of Christ’s incarnation. Could any collection of circumstances have been thought more foreign to this unique event in human history, the revelation of God's supreme wisdom, and power, his master plan for the reconciliation and redemption of lost humanity? In an obscure corner of the Roman world--an insignificant and downtrodden race, scorned and hated by the rest of mankind, an ox-stall for a nursery, a baby was born. Far from being hailed as a new king by the reigning royalty and nobility in Judea, his family fled to Egypt to save the baby from a worried king Herod, jealous and afraid of losing his power to a new king. Returning to a small Galilean town, he had a carpenter's shop for a school. And the crowning incongruity of all—he died, identified as a criminal on the cross, mocked for his rightful claim to be a king. Isaiah said rightly that there should be nothing lovely in his life and circumstances, as men count loveliness; "no form or comeliness;" "no beauty that we should desire him?”
And the same paradox, which prevailed at the foundation of the church, extended also to its building up. The great statesmen and champions, in the kingdom of God were fishermen and tent-makers. Never was this seeming contradiction more clearly seen than in the preaching of Paul at Athens. Seeing the most sublimely beautiful creations of Greek art, he has no eye for their beauty. Behind the outward appearance of grace and glory the true nature of things reveals itself. To him this chief center of human culture and intelligence appears only as a place overrun with idols, beset with leaders who mislead, and vanities which corrupt. Art and culture are God's own gifts, legitimate embellishments of life.
But if culture threatens to displacing faith, and art seeks to dethrone God, then in the highest interests of humanity, our prayer should be it our prayer that an earthquake or flood should sweep them away with no regard for their beauty.
*Click for “The real truth…”
God often reveals truth as direct opposites to reasoning.
?Strength is made perfect in weakness.
?To live I must die.
?I am to count it a blessing when others insult and persecute me and say false things about me.
?I am to count it all as joy when I encounter trials.
?The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
?The captivity in Babylon seemed onerous, but it was the remedy for the people’s terrible tendency to practice idolatry with their pagan neighbors.
?Jesus was not born into a family of kings and nobles, but working people—peasants.
God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the uncomely things of the world to express the beautiful.
What is within ourselves determines how we see the things around us.
In this way, the incident at Bethel is a type, or picture of the gospel of Christ—his incarnation, life, teaching, example, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Those whose sight is by faith, and thus see with the eye of the Spirit, may see the grandeur of the gospel, for its beauty is not seen at all in the absence of spiritual vision. Only the cold bare stones beneath, and the dreary, unlovely surroundings are visible otherwise.
III. THE FAMOUS, WEALTHY, AND POWERFUL HAVE NO ADVANTAGE (in seeing the things of the Spirit)
*Click on “The educated…”
We are sometimes saddened as we read of some brilliant man of science who has died having lived a hopeless and lifeless existence, to which his own impressive accomplishments fail to give meaning. God be thanked, the most absolute childlike faith is sometimes united with the highest intellect. But what reason do we have to expect it as a matter of course, as if one naturally follows the other? What claim do the most scholarly achievements give to a man to know and speak with authority on the things of the Spirit? Are we not shown that a special and different faculty is needed for this special knowledge.
In the present highly charged political environment you are likely to hear Hollywood celebrities, recording artists, and professional athletes vigorously declare their view on some national policy. But though they certainly enjoy the right to speak out, the fact that they excel in their skill at acting a part, singing a song, or hitting a home run, there is no reason to give greater weight to their political views by token of their skills in other pursuits.
There may be a poet who can write words of soaring beauty that give wings of flight to the heart, and bring tears to the eyes, but to whom the simplest processes of algebra and geometry, are a mystery.
One may have a keenly sensitive musical ear, and easily grasp the rudiments of music—pitch, harmony, and timing--but he is color-blind. Another has a fine eye for the faintest gradations of color, but he cannot distinguish one note of music from another. But do the color-blind eyes of the one raise doubt that there really are colors in the rainbow; or does the musically deprived ear of the other deny that there is enjoyment in the music of the world’s great composers? We see and hear what we have the faculty to see and hear, and recognize that others appreciate what we cannot see or hear. The child of God sees by faith.
IV. “IN THIS PLACE” IS WHERE YOU ARE, IF YOU CAN SEE THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT
*Click on “In this place” we see the beauty…
The word Beulah occurs only once in the bible. It is spoken of as a land, but clearly is a condition of life foreseen by the prophet Isaiah.
Isa 62:4 You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the LORD delights in you, And your land shall be married.
The name Hephzibah means “my delight is in her,” and Beulah means “married” which Isaiah presents as a land. But the prophecy does not look forward to God’s people populating of a literal land. This scripture looks to the marriage of the Lamb, in which the church is the bride of Christ. We who area wedded to Christ live in Beulah!
There are two ways of looking on the relation between the things of this life and the things of eternity. A false and a true.
?The false way regards each as the rejection of the other--that they are separate and mutually exclusive, and that the interests and pursuits of daily life are hindrances to the heavenly life. Every moment given to work or amusement is a moment subtracted from prayer--thus the inward life becomes a product of the conditions of the competing outward life.
This is the mindset that caused ten spies and almost all Israelites to fear entering the land of promise, whose bodies are now waiting in unmarked desert graves for the resurrection and judgment to follow.
?The truth is the reverse of all this. Its ideal is not a separation, but an integration of our outward circumstances with what Paul calls the inner man, strengthened with might by his empowering Spirit in regard to outer circumstances. Eph 3:16
Jacob, the traveler along the path of his life, lies down. He has a bare stone for a pillow. He closes his eyes for a moment; and the whole place is blazing with glory.
He exclaims “the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not! Now, with that inward change, amidst the unimpressive surroundings of his campsite, he sees the link between God in heaven and man on earth, and at the foot of that ladder is none other than the House of God. In this barren, stony thoroughfare of life he finds the portal of heaven!
V. THE HOUSE OF GOD, THE GATEWAY TO HEAVEN
*Click “The kingdom of God is within you.”
Look into your own soul, and what do you find? You yourselves are the temple of the living God. Through your conscience, through your self-reproach and regrets, through your capacity to change what is lacking, through your aspirations and ideals, through your faith he speaks to you. You are his creation. If you have not yet become his child he will recreate you by your submitting to him in faith. Your faith, borne out in baptism in the likeness of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, transform your life by the earnest of his Spirit.
Judge no man in this matter--to his own master he stands or falls--but judge yourselves. This faculty of spiritual sight is a subtle and delicate mechanism. You cannot trifle with it, or handle it roughly, nor allow it to rust from neglect, without great peril to yourselves. Nothing can compensate you for its injury or its loss by:
?The private prayer mechanically repeated, then hurried over, then skipped, and finally dropped;
?the regular daily reading of the scriptures found to be daily more burdensome, because allowed to become more hurried and thoughtless;
?the valuable moral and spiritual discipline in the application of biblical guidance to life gradually neglected;
?the opportunities to unobtrusively witness for Christ by deeds of kindness and words of wisdom allowed to slip by,
?these, and such as these, are indications of spiritual decay; till disuse is followed by paralysis, and paralysis ends in death; and you are left without God in the world.
We are busy and we are tired, but when, in the years to come, can we hope that the conditions of our lives will be more favorable to spiritual self-discipline as they are now? Where else do you expect to find in the same degree the opportunities for private meditation, the daily prayer and the frequent communions with Christians, the inspiring and uplifting friendships, and the wholesome occupations for the mind?
That is the decision. Shall your life hereafter be typified by the barren rocks and the monotonous waste, hard and dreary, if not worse; or shall it be illumined within and around with the splendor of God's own presence, so that you may say, “surely the Lord is in this place,” and the earth and every ordinary sight shall be illuminated by a heavenly light?
