Genesis 28

Genesis 28:10-22

Chapter 28 JACOB “And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.” Genesis 28:10-22 Blessed is that man who possesses the key with which to open the Treasure Chest of Holy Scripture. That key is Christ. No one understands the Word of God, in whole or in part, who does not understand that the Book of God is all about the Son of God (Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44-47). In our Lord’s days upon this earth the religionists, those who claimed to believe the Word of God, kept sabbath days, and zealously defended their religious traditions, doctrines, and practices, were totally ignorant of the message of the Old Testament Scriptures which they claimed to believe. When he who is the Truth stood before them and told them the truth about God and themselves, they hated him, persecuted him and ultimately crucified him. Why?

The Lord Jesus himself tells us, and you will see the reason - “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5:46-47). Things have not changed in the least. Like the Pharisees of old, the religious multitudes of our day, standing upon the Book, the blood, and the blessed hope, have missed the message of the Word of God. The message of the Bible is Jesus Christ himself. Every word written in Holy Scripture is inspired of God and intended by him to reveal who Christ is and what he did. Our Savior said, “Moses wrote of me.”. The history, laws, types and pictures, visions and dreams, of which Moses wrote in the first five Books of the Bible, were designed to reveal the redemptive purpose and work of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. The events in the life of Jacob illustrate this beautifully. I grant that there are many things about Jacob which are difficult to understand; but the one things we do know about him is the fact that he is a picture of God’s grace. Jacob was a man loved of God and chosen by God to be an heir of eternal life (Genesis 25:21-23; Genesis 35:9-13; Romans 9:10-13). His name means “supplanter,” one who takes the place of another through force or plotting (Genesis 27:35-36). That well describes Jacob. He tricked his brother Esau into selling him the birthright (Genesis 25:29-34). Then, through his mother’s influence and help, he deceived his father Isaac, and tricked him into giving him the blessing reserved for the first-born (Genesis 27:19-24). He supplanted his brother Esau. After such wicked, deceitful behavior, being a coward by nature, Jacob took the birthright and the blessing and fled from his father’s house, hoping to escape the wrath of his brother, Esau (Genesis 27:41-44). As he fled from Esau, when he was alone in the desert, God met Jacob in grace. What a night that must have been! There, in the desert, God spoke to Jacob, promised him his presence and his covenant mercies, and revealed to him the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way to God, the only way of salvation, grace, and eternal life. Everything Jacob experienced that night in the desert, between Beersheba and Haran, portrayed the work of God’s sovereign, saving grace upon chosen sinners. A Lost Sinner Genesis 28:10-11 reveal Jacob’s lost condition. Here is Jacob, alone in the desert, afraid and helpless. He has no pillow upon which to lay his head, but the cold, hard rocks of the earth. There is no more time for plotting, scheming, manipulating, and supplanting. He is alone, isolated, and weary. There are two reasons why Jacob was in such a horrible condition. First, Jacob was in the mess he was in, because of his sin. The same is true of all the sons of Adam. We are what we are, proud, covetous, unhappy, and depressed, because of our sin; and we are where we are, separated from God, under the curse of the law, without help, without strength, and without hope, because of our sins. Lost man has no one to blame for his lost condition, but himself! “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you” (Isaiah 59:2). Like us, Jacob was completely unworthy and utterly undeserving of God’s grace. God is just in condemning sinful men.

He is altogether clear when he judges us (Psalms 51:3-4). Do you understand this? It is essential that you do. God will never save a man until he brings him to know his lost condition, until he stops his mouth, and causes him to take sides with God against himself, justifying God in his own condemnation. Second, Jacob was brought into this lowly, hopeless condition, because God was about to be gracious to him. The time of love had come, and God was about to speak to his heart (Hosea 2:14). Therefore, he brought Jacob down. God knows how to bring sinners down (Psalms 107). Like the prodigal, Jacob came to the end of himself. Blessed is that man whom God bring down. If he abases, he will exalt. But he will exalt none, except those who are abased by him. He strips; and he clothes. But he will clothe none with the righteousness of Christ, except those whom he strips of self-righteousness. He kills; and he makes alive. But he will make none alive in Christ, except those whom he slays by his law. A Saving Revelation The Lord revealed his mercy to Jacob in a dream (Genesis 28:12-14). When it pleases God, he reveals his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ in his people. In his Son, he reveals his mercy, love, and grace (Romans 5:6-8); and that revelation brings life to chosen sinners (Ephesians 2:1-7). Here is Jacob, the sinner, quiet and still, at last subdued by sovereign grace. God deals with him. There is nothing for him to say or do. As God spoke, he revealed a ladder set up upon the earth, reaching into heaven, That ladder is Christ. The ladder was set up upon the earth, but the top of it reached into heaven. So the Lord Jesus Christ, although he stood upon the earth in the flesh, never left the bosom of the Father. He became a man. Yet, he never ceased to be the most high God (John 1:14; John 1:18; John 1:33-34; Philippians 2:6-8). The angels of God went up and down on the ladder. As the ladder represents Christ our Mediator, so the angels of God ascending and descending upon it tell us that the only way sinful men and women can ascend up to God and find acceptance with him is by Christ the Mediator (John 14:6); and it is only by and through Christ that God comes to us. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” The Lord God stood above the ladder and made all his rich promises of grace to Jacob (Genesis 28:14). All the blessings and promises of grace, eternal life and heavenly glory are made and given to sinners in Christ and for Christ’s sake (Ephesians 1:3-7; Ephesians 4:32; 2 Timothy 1:9). As all the blessings of God come down to us by Christ, all our praise goes up to and is accepted of God through Christ (1 Peter 2:5). Grace Promised Those promises which God made to Jacob (Genesis 28:15) are the promises of God to all the sons of Jacob, the promises of God to every believer; and the promises of God are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Here are four things promised to God’s elect, four things every believer can be assured of by faith in Christ. “I am with thee.” God is with us, always with us, in covenant mercy, redemptive grace, and constant love (Philippians 3:3-4). He is with us to save us, protect us, and do us good in all things (Romans 8:28-39). “I will keep thee.” Not one of those sinners chosen by God in eternity, redeemed by Christ at Calvary, and called by the Spirit in grace shall ever perish. We are kept by the power of God (Malachi 3:6; John 6:37-45; John 10:24-30). “I will bring thee again into this land.” Canaan was a type of heaven. Christ, our Surety and good Shepherd, will bring God’s sheep home to glory (John 10:16). There is plenty of room in heaven for all who will to enter in by Christ Jesus; but when all things are finished and time shall be no more, there will be no vacancies. Every place prepared by Christ will be occupied by the one for whom it was prepared (John 14:1-3). “I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” Of Christ it is written, “He shall not fail…The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 53:10-11). “He shall save his people!” (Matthew 1:21). (See Philippians 1:6 1 Thessalonians 5:24). God’s elect are secure in Christ, as secure as the very throne and veracity of God himself! Conversion at Bethel Genesis 28:16-19 describe Jacob’s awakening and conversion by the grace of God. As soon as Jacob was awakened he sensed the presence of God and was filled with the fear of God. He found himself in the house of God, at the gate of heaven. There he built an altar for the glory of God and worshipped.Jacob called the place where he was Bethel, though the name of the place before was Luz. Luz means “separation.” Bethel means “House of God.” God calls us to separation from the world, but as we leave the world we enter the house of God (1 Corinthians 6:14 to 1 Corinthians 7:1). That is a blessed separation, a separation by which we lose nothing and gain everything. The House of God is the place of God’s presence. The house of God is not brick and mortar stacked together in ornate, stately buildings. The house of God is God meeting with his people in any place. The church of the living God is the assembly of Christ with his people. Our Lord prayed and preached in private homes, in the open air, on the mountain side, by the seashore, and in a fishing boat, as well as in the temple and synagogue. Today, we place far too much emphasis upon the place of worship and far too little emphasis upon the presence of God. Until the third century, there was no such thing as a “church building.” God’s saints gathered wherever they could, and God met with them. Nothing makes any place sacred but God’s presence. Wherever God is present with his people, that is the house of God! In the days of its apostasy, God brought this indictment against Israel - “Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples” (Hosea 8:14). It is an indictment which might well be brought against the church of our day.

The House of God is the place of God’s presence. If we have that, we have everything! If we miss that, we have nothing. The house of God, the assembly of his saints is the place of worship. It is a place of reverence for him. It is the very gate of heaven!A Vow Made Jacob’s vow of consecration (Genesis 28:20-22) is the first time in Scripture we read of a vow being made to God. It is worthy of our notice. This vow of consecration was made by Jacob in response to what he had seen, heard, and experienced in his soul of God’s sovereign, saving grace in Christ. Believer’s baptism is a good parallel to this. Symbolically, when the believer rises up from the watery grave, he consecrates himself to walk with Christ in the newness of life (Romans 6:4-6). The word “if” is poorly translated in Genesis 28:20. Jacob is not here laying down mercenary, legal conditions upon which he is consecrating himself to God. The word should be translated “since”. It is an argumentative word. He is saying, “Since God has promised such grace to me, I’ll live for him” (! Cor. Genesis 6:19-20). His vow of consecration was remarkable (Genesis 28:22). “This stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house.” He was saying, I will worship the Lord God of this house and him only (Genesis 35:1-7). He had many faults, but Jacob kept his vow. “Of all that thou shall give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” He vowed to honor God with the substance of his increase. It is written, “Honor the Lord with thy substance, with the firstfruits of thine increase” (Proverbs 3:9). The law of tithing had not yet been instituted. Jacob was under no obligation to give a tithe, except the obligation of love and gratitude. This was a voluntary act of his heart (2 Corinthians 9:7). It was directly connected with the worship of God and the house of God. Here, God’s servant, Jacob, teaches us some very important, needful lessons about giving. By this promise of the tithe Jacob acknowledged that all he had came from God and belonged to God. In giving the tithe, he demonstrated his faith in God to supply his needs. The tithe was given to maintain the worship of God wherever he went. What he gave, Jacob gave for the glory of God, the God of Bethel. Jacob stands before us as a picture of grace. What a good picture he is. He was lost by nature. Christ was revealed to him and in him. He was possessor of all blessedness by the promise of God. This lost sinner was converted by the grace of God. Being converted by the grace of God, Jacob consecrated himself to the Son of God.

Genesis 28:12-13

Chapter 29 JACOB’S LADDER “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."Genesis 28:12-13 The ladder Jacob saw in his dream was our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that this is the true and proper interpretation of this text, because our Lord himself gave this interpretation of it (John 1:51). When the Lord God revealed his Son to Jacob, he revealed him as a ladder. What an instructive and helpful representation that is of our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is made of God unto us a ladder! We all know what a ladder is and how it is used. When you need to get from a low place to a high place, or you need to move something from a high place to a low place, you need a ladder to do it. Nothing will serve your purpose so well as a ladder. Everyone knows how to use a ladder. In spiritual things, Christ is a ladder. Blessed are those who learn to use him as a ladder. Take careful notice of what the Book of God says about Christ our Ladder in Genesis 28. This ladder stood upon the earth, but the top reached into heaven. So Christ, the Son of God, though he stood upon the earth in human flesh, is yet the most high God. Though he stood upon the earth as a man, he never ceased to be God. He never left the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; John 3:13). The angels of God went up and down on the ladder which Jacob saw. Even so, we are able to ascend to God in heaven only by the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6); and it is by and through Christ that God comes down to us. God almighty meets with, deals with, and blesses sinners only in Christ. The Lord God stood above the ladder and made all his promises of grace to Jacob. This shows us that all the promises of God’s grace come to sinners through Christ. All spiritual blessings, all the promises of eternal life, all the glory of heaven is in Christ. All things come to chosen sinners through Christ, the Mediator, our Ladder (Ephesians 1:3-14). WHAT KIND OF LADDER IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? There are many kinds of ladders for many different uses: step ladders, long ladders, extension ladders, strong ladders, and shakey ladders; but Christ is in all respects an extra ordinary Ladder. There is none other like him. Phillip Henry[17] gave the following sixfold description of Christ as a ladder. [17] Phillip Henry, Christ All in All, Reiner Publications, Swengel, PA p 3081. Christ is a living Ladder. As he is called “a new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20), in the same sense, he is a new and living Ladder. Other ladders are dead things; but this Ladder lives. It is true, he once died, but he is alive again and lives for evermore (Revelation 1:18). Because he lives, all who are in him live also. 2. Christ is a long Ladder. Here is a Ladder that reaches from earth to heaven. Jacob saw the foot of it upon the earth, “and the top of it reached to heaven!” This represents the two natures of our Redeemer. He is both God and man in one glorious Person, as fully God as though he were not man and as fully man as though he were not God. As a man, he was set up on the earth (Galatians 4:4-5). As God, he was always in heaven. He was always in heaven, the eternally begotten Son of God, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, and unchangeable (John 1:14; John 3:13; John 1:18). The union of these two natures, God and man, in one Person is the mystery of all mysteries (1 Timothy 3:16). That the glory of Christ’s Godhead did not destroy the weakness of his manhood, nor the weakness of his manhood destroy the glory of his Godhead is incomprehensibly mysterious. The incarnation of Christ is like the bush Moses saw, burning with the glory of God, but not consumed with the fire. Why was the foot of the Ladder upon the earth? Why was it necessary for the Son of God, our Redeemer to become a man? If Christ would redeem us, he had to have a body in which to bear our sins, to suffer and die as our Substitute. He had to have a body and nature like ours. A man he must be who would redeem man, because it was man who sinned. Because man sinned, man must suffer for sin. For this reason, God the Holy Spirit prepared a body for God the Son in the womb of the virgin (Hebrews 10:5). Why was it necessary that the top of the ladder reach into heaven? Why must our Savior be God as well as man? It was our Savior’s Godhood which gave infinite merit, virtue, and efficacy to the sufferings of his manhood. Someone said, “Christ is both God and man, because God could not suffer and man could not satisfy; but the God-man both suffered the wrath of God and satisfied the justice of God when he bled and died as the sinners’ Substitute upon the cursed tree.” Moreover, it was Christ’s Godhood which supported and sustained his manhood in all his sufferings. Manhood could never have born the agony of Gethsemane and the torments of Calvary had it not been that the man who suffered is also the eternal God. In addition to these things, it was necessary that our Mediator be both God and man so that he might bring God and man together. He must be God that he might deal with God, which man, as man, is not fit to do. He must be man that he might deal with man, which God in his holiness could not do without consuming the sinful creature. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!” This is the meaning of our Savior’s incarnation. Immanuel is God with us, God in our nature. Were he not both God and man, he could not be Jesus our Savior (Matthew 1:21-23). 3. Christ is a lasting Ladder. Other ladders wear out with use; but here is a Ladder which lasts forever. Christ himself is immutable (Hebrews 13:8), the immutable God (Malachi 3:6). The righteousness he brought in, by his obedience to God as our Representative and covenant Surety, is everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24). The redemption he accomplished, by his sin-atoning death at Calvary as our Substitute, is eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12). Sinners, from the beginning of time, have made use of this Ladder. It has never failed one who used it, and never shall. “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him” (Hebrews 7:25); and the salvation he gives is eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9). 4. Christ is a free Ladder. That is to say, he is open to all who come to him; and whosoever will may come to this Ladder and make use of it. All who come are welcome. The promise of the gospel is proclaimed in broad, general terms (Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 11:28; John 7:37; Revelation 22:17). Christ is the Fountain opened, not the Fountain shut (Zechariah 13:1). He the Door is open, not the Door closed (Revelation 4:1). If you do not exclude yourself by unbelief, God has not excluded you. Predestination does not shut sinners out of heaven. Predestination threw open the door for sinners and built a Ladder for sinners, by which men and women who could never come to God may now come to him. The Door is Christ. The Ladder is Christ. 5. Christ is a firm Ladder. Steady and strong, Jacob’s ladder was seen standing upon the earth, unshaken, unmoved, immovable. That is a good picture of our great Savior. Christ Jesus is God almighty to save. He is that God who saves his people from their sins. He saves all his people from all their sins, completely. He saves from the guilt of sin, the dominion of sin, the penalty of sin, the consequence of sin, and ultimately the very being of sin. 6. Christ is a fitted Ladder. He is a Savior suited to every purpose for which he is intended and for every need his people have. Christ is the only Ladder there is which reaches from earth to heaven. There is no other way to God. Papists vainly imagine that there are many ladders, many mediators, many ways to God. Arminians, free-willers, will worshippers convince themselves that they need no ladder. Work mongers, like old Nimrod, foolishly imagine that they can build a ladder for themselves. God declares, “Christ is the Ladder!” (2 Timothy 2:5). HOW ARE WE TO USE CHRIST AS A LADDER?Christ is a Ladder suited to every purpose for which he is intended. Let us ever use him as such. All the blessings of God descend from heaven to poor, needy sinners upon Christ the Ladder (Ephesians 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 1:9). It is written, “God shall supply all your needs, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). All grace comes (John 1:16), all pardon (1 John 1:7), all providence (John 17:2), and all the answers to our prayer come down this Ladder (John 16:23). It is by Christ the Ladder, only by Christ the Ladder, that believing sinners ascend to heaven and find acceptance with the holy Lord God (John 14:6). The distance between earth and heaven is infinite; and it is an uphill climb. How can we possibly get there? “Behold, a Ladder!” How am I to climb such a Ladder? By faith. Faith is the hand by which we take hold of the Ladder and the foot by which we climb. “Reach hither thy hand” and climb (Hebrews 11:6). The only way we can come to God is Christ. “No man cometh to the Father” but by him.

We cannot come to God’s kingdom, God’s presence, God’s glory, but by Christ. His blood purchased salvation for his elect, and obtained it (Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 9:12). His Spirit makes chosen, redeemed sinners fit for glory in sanctification. And his intercession brings us there at last (1 John 2:1-2). The only way any of our performances can ascend to God is upon Christ the Ladder (1 Peter 2:5; Matthew 17:5). God bathes our prayers, our praises and our works in the blood of Christ, and accepts both us and what we do for him for Christ’s sake. WHY DID JACOB SEE THE ANGELS OF GOD AND UPON HIM?The angels of God are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). The purpose of this vision was to comfort Jacob and all God’s elect, (the sons of Jacob), in the face of danger. The angels of God ascend up to heaven by Christ to get fresh orders from him (Zechariah 1:10-17), to give account of what they have done (Job 1:6), and to carry the departed souls of God’s saints into Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22). Those angels descend upon Christ the Ladder, too, to surround and protect, to provide for and preserve, and watch over God’s Jacobs and bring them safely home. WHAT ARE THE RUNGS OF THE LADDER? There are two ways to count the rungs of a ladder, from the top down, or from the bottom up. First, we must count the rungs of the Ladder from the top down, as we think of Christ coming down to us. The rungs of the Ladder are our Lord’s covenant engagements from eternity, the prophecies and promises, types and pictures of the Old Testament, his incarnation, his obedience in life, and his sin-atoning death. Then, we must count the rungs of the Ladder from the bottom up as we find them in experience. First we are given faith in Christ. Believing on Christ, we know that we are born of God and have been effectually called by his Spirit.

We make our calling and election sure by believing on the Son of God. All who are born again and have faith in Christ, have been called. All who have been called have been redeemed and justified by the blood of Christ. And these shall be glorified by his grace, according to the purpose of God (Romans 8:28-30). It is no fanaticism to carry the type a little further. Every ladder has two side pieces to which the rounds are connected, giving it strength and stability.

So does this one. On one side there is God’s eternal purpose of grace. On the other side there is God’s immutable, preserving grace. WHY IS THE WORD “BEHOLD” USED IN WITH THIS LADDER? It is common, in both the Old Testament and the New, when Christ is spoken of, to use the word “behold” (Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 42:1; John 1:29). This word, “behold,” suggests that which we are responsible to do. We are to admire and wonder as we think of him whose very name is Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6). Behold the Ladder and bless God for it (2 Corinthians 9:15). To behold Christ is to believe him (Isaiah 65:1; Isaiah 45:22). That is what we must do.

We must believe on the Son of God. As the Israelites bitten by the fiery serpents were bidden to look to the serpent of brass upheld upon the pole, so we are bidden to look to Christ crucified. Life begins with looking to Christ (John 12:32). We persevere in life looking to him (Hebrews 12:2). And our spiritual, eternal life shall consummate in looking upon the Son of God (1 John 3:2). Blessed, blessed day that shall be when we see him face to face! Here are four special times when we are to behold Christ our Ladder: (1.) When we attempt to do anything for God, behold the Ladder. Christ is our strength, our guide, and our acceptance. (2.) When we have done anything against our God, let us still behold the Ladder (1 John 2:1-2). When guilt stares us in the face, when we need pardon, cleansing, and reviving, let us ever look to Christ - “Behold, a Ladder!” (3.) When distress, trouble and danger are before us, behold the Ladder. When the Esaus of the world surround us and we have no earthly comfort, when we need peace for our hearts and a pillow for our aching heads, lay down upon God’s promises, look up to heaven, and “Behold, a Ladder,” and see the angels ascending and descending. (4.) When death is near, when the cold sweat of death is on our brows and the rattle is in our throats, “Behold, a Ladder!” (Acts 7:56).

Genesis 28:15-48

Chapter 30 JACOB – AN OBJECT OF GRACE “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.”Genesis 28:15; Genesis 31:3; Genesis 31:5; and Genesis 48:21 Here are four passages of Scripture, each revealing a specific aspect of the grace of God in the life of Jacob. However, if all we see in these texts is the history of God’s dealings with Jacob, we miss the purpose of God the Holy Spirit in giving us the inspired volume of Holy Scripture. These things were written for our spiritual learning, for our comfort, and to encourage our hope in Christ (Romans 15:4). Believers should always appropriate the Word of God to themselves. We should never look upon the Book of God as a mere record of either historical, or doctrinal, or prophetic facts. Therefore, as we look at these four passages of Holy Scripture and see the grace of God in the life of Jacob, the sons of Jacob ought to appropriate each text to themselves and see the hand of God’s grace in their own lives. Present Grace In Genesis 28:15, God’s grace is set before us as grace for the present. The Lord God says to his servant Jacob, “Behold, I am with thee,” right now, presently. Grace is the present heritage of every believer. We rejoice to know that grace is eternal (Ephesians 1:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:9). Our hearts delight in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has by his blood purchased for his people all the inheritance of grace and glory. In Christ, grace is our purchased possession (Ephesians 1:11).

And we thank God for past experiences of grace. Grace experienced in the past fills our hearts with sweet memories of God’s goodness to us. Grace sought us out of a fallen race. Grace called us from death to live. Grace revealed Christ in us and gave us faith in him. Grace caused us to come to Christ in the beginning; and grace has kept us coming to him.

But living bodies cannot live on yesterday’s bread. We must have some bread today. Neither can we feed our souls on yesterday’s grace. We must have grace today. Child of God, I want you to see that grace is yours this very hour. God says to Jacob, “Behold, I am with thee!” Jacob was the son of a long line of men chosen by God; and he too was chosen as the object of God’s grace (Genesis 28:13). Grace does not run in blood lines; but sometimes God does call many from the same family. That was the case with Jacob. His father Isaac and his mother Rebecca were believers. His grandfather Abraham and his grandmother Sarah were believers. What a blessing!

To have for your father and mother, for your grandfather and grandmother, men and women who walked with God is the most distinguished hereditary honor in the world. Well might Jacob rejoice to hear the God of his fathers say to him, as he had said to them, “Behold, I am with thee.” The believing sons and daughters of believing parents are possessors of an indescribably rich heritage. Yet, none should foolishly imagine that grace is a matter of heredity, passed on from father to son (John 1:11-13). Grace comes to chosen sinners according to the sovereign will and pleasure of God alone (Romans 9:16).This word of grace, “Behold, I am with thee,” came to Jacob at a time when he greatly needed it. He had just left his father’s house. He was about to be faced with a very great trial.

Nothing could have so effectually prepared him for twenty years in Laban’s house as this promise from God. This word of grace came to Jacob when he needed it most. It was at the moment when Jacob was totally alone, a family outcast, friendless, and a pilgrim in a strange land, that God almighty spoke to him and said, “Behold, I am with thee!” I defy anyone to measure the height or depth, length or breadth of that infinite blessing. What more could God say than this - “I am with thee”?When God is with you that guarantees infinite love, mercy, and grace. God will not dwell with those he hates. He is not with those to whom he is not merciful. He does not abide where he does not dispense grace.

But to each of his people, he says, “Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine…I have loved thee…Fear not: for I am with thee” (Isaiah 43:1-5). As a man delights to be with his friends, so our God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, delights to be with those whom he has chosen, redeemed, and called. “I am with thee” means I will help you (Isaiah 41:10). C. H. Spurgeon said, “Whatever we undertake, God is with us in the undertaking; whatever we endure, God is with us in the enduring; whithersoever we wander, God is with us in our wandering.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” If God is with us, what can we not do, or endure, or overcome? This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Let every son of Jacob, every believer, hear the promise as a promise coming directly from God himself to you. God is with you, my brother, my sister, so completely with you that he is in you. The whole Godhead is with you, in the entirety of his Being! When God says, “I am with thee,” he promises, with his presence, his sympathy. Our Savior is so touched with the feeling of our infirmities he feels what we feel, suffers what we suffer, and endures what we endure. If we have a load to bear, he is with us. If we have a work to do, he is with us.

How precious, rich, and full this word of grace must have seemed to Jacob as he lay under the stars in the wilderness. His bed was the cold earth. His curtains were the bushes around him. The heavens were his canopy. His pillow was a rock. He was alone, afraid, and helpless until the Lord God appeared to him and said, “Behold, I am with thee!” If you are a believer, if you are washed in the blood of Christ and born again by the Spirit of God, you are one of Jacob’s sons; and God says, “Behold, I am with thee.” That is God’s present assurance of grace. Future Grace In Genesis 31:3, we read God’s promise of future grace. He says, “I will be with thee.” Whatever else the future may hold for us, let every believer be assured of this, it holds grace, rich, free, abundant grace in Christ. Were it not for the weakness of our flesh this promise would be unnecessary. When God says, “I am with thee,” you can count on it, he will be with you. God does not change. He will never forsake his people (Hebrews 13:5). Some people believe in a god who loves today and hates tomorrow, who pardons one day and condemns the next. Such a god is no God at all. Our God is the God of Jacob, who changes not (Malachi 3:6). Jacob had lived with Laban for twenty years. In those years he endured many troubles. It was now time for him to leave Laban and return to his home in Canaan. He needed the word of grace renewed to his heart, so the Lord God said to him, “I will be with thee.” Jacob began to take root among the worldlings. So God called him away. Then he forced him to obey. Laban had begun to despise Jacob (Genesis 28:2). Laban’s sons were envious of him (Genesis 28:1). Those upon whom he had relied turned against him. Those whose good he had served opposed him. Those who were most indebted to him were envious of him. So it is with God’s elect in every age. Therefore, the Lord God said, “I will be with thee!”

The journey Jacob was about to take was a dangerous one, and he knew it. Laban would not willingly let him go. Esau was sworn to kill him. Such a journey with such a large family would be very difficult. But God called; and Jacob must obey. Therefore, the Lord God said to him, no matter what you have to face, “I will be with thee” Your future is full of grace! Acknowledged Grace In Genesis 31:5, we see the grace of God experienced and acknowledged by Jacob. “The God of my father hath been with me.” Every believer’s life is, from beginning to end, an unceasing experience of God’s grace. Right up to the time that he left Laban’s house, Jacob said, “The God of my father hath been with me.” He had not been a very gracious man; but God was with him nonetheless (Psalms 89:30-33). The Lord chastened and corrected him; and the Lord protected and blessed him. Though Laban cheated him out of his wages ten times, God blessed Jacob! Everything done against him worked good for him. Our great God is a God who ought to be trusted with implicit confidence. He is faithful. His grace and his faithfulness are unconditional. Poor Jacob, though he was a believer, though he had experienced so much grace, when he was fleeing from Laban and heard that Esau was coming after him, he was distressed and full of fear, yet the Lord was with him (Genesis 35:3). Thank God, he does not leave his people because of their fears. If he did, we would have all been castaways long ago. On the night of his wrestling with the Lord, when he was humbled, broken, and made to confess his name, the Lord God was with him. He says, “God was with me in the way which I went!” Jacob was the object of God’s everlasting love, the eternally chosen object of his grace (Romans 9:11-13). God was with him in his mother’s womb. God was with him in his youth. God was with him when he fled from his father’s house. God was with him when he broke his thigh and broke his spirit.

God was with him in Laban’s house. God was with him when he returned home again. And on his death bed, old Jacob confessed more fully than ever that the Lord God had been with him all his days (Genesis 48:15-16). He had lost Rachel; but God was with him. He had endured famine; but God fed him. He had lost Joseph; but the Lord God was with him.

At the time he said, “All things are against me;” but now he eats his words. He now realized that God had never been more fully for him! Now he says, “The Lord God redeemed me from all evil.” If you are a believer, this will be your verdict upon your life at the end of your days - “God was with me!” He hath “redeemed me from all evil”. Every believer’s life is from beginning to end, an unceasing experience of God’s grace! Transmitted Grace In Genesis 48:21, we see the grace of God transmitted from one generation to another. “Behold, I die: but God shall be with you.” Those were Jacob’s dying words to Joseph. He was saying, God will yet be gracious. So it shall be, from generation to generation, so long as the world stands. The grace we have received and experienced at the hand of our God shall be transmitted to the generation that succeeds us. We all tend to fret and worry needlessly about the future. We fret about our children. We worry about the future of God’s church. We concern ourselves too much about what will become of those who depend upon us. God will not cease to be gracious when we die. He still has an elect remnant. He will be gracious to them. He will be with them as he has been with us. This has special application to every believer’s family. We can and must trust our sons and daughters to the sovereign goodness of our God. God’s grace does not run in bloodlines. We cannot save our children, or oblige God to save them. But we can believe God. Long before my only child was born, I gave her to my God.

On the night she was born, as I gave thanks to God for her, I gave her back to him. On the day my wife and I brought her home from the hospital, together we dedicated that child to our God and committed her to his hands. We trained her in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. What is the significance of that? Just this – God never has yet rejected a child given to him in faith. Samuel, Samson, Solomon, and John the Baptist all verify God’s faithfulness in this regard.

I do not suggest that God has not cast away the children of believing parents. Eli’s sons and David’s children tell us otherwise. But I do say, God has never cast away any child given to him in faith. This is what I am saying - I believe God. Anything we refuse to give to him he will take from us. Anything we give him for the honor of his name he will receive. Does the Word of God confirm this or does it deny it? Let no one misunderstand. The Book of God does not teach proxy faith.

We cannot believe God for someone else, not even for our children. Each one must personally trust the Son of God for himself. Yet, God honors and uses the faith of others in bringing chosen sinners to himself. The Canaanite woman’s faith had something to do with her daughter’s healing (Matthew 15:22-28). Jarius’ faith had something to do with his daughter’s resurrection from the dead (Luke 8:41-42; Luke 8:49-56). When the Lord Jesus saw the faith of four men who carried a desperately needy soul to him, he said to the palsied man, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee” (Luke 4:20).This also has special application to every gospel church.

The time will come when the pastor will be taken away from his flock; but God will be with his church. The church of God does not depend upon the preacher. The cause of God, the truth of God, the kingdom of God does not depend upon any preacher, or any man, no matter how great, how gifted, or how useful he is in his day. Someone once asked Mr. Spurgeon, “What will become of the Tabernacle when you are gone?” He replied, “It will probably be the greatest of blessings when it happens. Many good men have clung to their places longer than they should have done, and have pulled down much that they had built up. It is well when the Lord says to such, ‘Friend, come up higher’.” George Muller was once asked what would become of the great orphanage he had built for homeless children when he was gone. Muller replied - “God will use George Muller as long as he likes, and when he chooses to put him aside, he will use somebody else.” When Abraham dies, God will be with Isaac. When Isaac dies, God will be with Jacob.

When Jacob dies, God will be with Joseph. When Joseph dies, God will be with Ephraim and Manasseh. And when we die, God will have a people to bear his name; and he will never lack a champion to bear his banner among them. And the Lord will be with them. When Elijah was taken up, Elisha picked up his mantle and cried, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And God was with him. Grace is ours now - God says, “I am with you!”Grace shall be ours in the future. The Lord’s promise is, “I will be with you!”Grace has been ours all the days of our lives. With Jacob we look over the days of our lives and say, “The God of our fathers hath been with us.”And the grace of God shall be with those who follow us in faith - “God shall be with you.”