Bethel, A Picture Of True Worship

“Bethel, A picture of True Worship”

Worship: 1. A reverent love and respect for a deity of

sacred object.

2. Love of or devotion to a person or thing.

(American Heritage Dictionary)

Worship: 2. A reverence toward God, a god, or a sacred

object.

(Webster’s Dictionary)

Text: Genesis 28:10-22

And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And 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 pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed, and behold 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 Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And 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. 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 which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he 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. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And 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; then shall the LORD be my God: And this 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.

In this message we are going to take a look at what worship meant to Jacob at Bethel, and then look at what worship should mean to us.

First let us take a look at Jacob’s view of worship. For Jacob, this was a time of reverently humbling himself before God. Although, Jacob had a humbling spirit, he was not ready to confess his sins. Even though he was still a sinner, he want to worship the Lord Jehovah. So, Jacob took the stone that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a pillar. After setting up the pillar, Jacob poured oil on the top of it as a sign of reverence and praise to the Lord Jehovah.

Even though Jacob showed reverence to Jehovah, there was no sign of repentance or restoration of his sinful past. As scripture tells us Jacob was at Bethel because he was trying to run away from his sins of deceitfulness towards his father and twin brother. This experiences here at Bethel was just the starting point of his cleaning, that would take place twenty years later when he and his family moves back to Bethel.

Now, let us take a look at what worship should mean to us. There are four things that we will look at regarding what worship should mean to us. First, worship is the expression of our personal recognition of God. We should recognize God as being awesome, reverent and holy, just as Jacob did in verses 13, 16, and 17. “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he 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.” God should also be recognized as a God of power. He has the power to save a person from a wicked life of sin and to bring life to the dead. First Peter 2:9b-10 shows us what we are to do when God saves us from a wicked life of sin. Here is what it says: “...that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”