In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis 27-36Shembull

What’s It Like When Heaven Visits Earth?

In the first chapters of Genesis, Heaven and Earth coexist. The invisible spiritual realm of Heaven and the visible physical realm of Earth were connected in the Garden of Eden, also known as the Garden of Delight. God met with Adam and Eve there, and angels joined them.

When Adam and Eve sinned, human beings were kicked out of Eden and no longer had access to the connection point between Heaven and Earth. On occasion, God brought Heaven to earth. Examples include the Tabernacle, the Temple, and, of course, the body of Jesus Christ. In Genesis 28, Jacob’s ladder is described as the way God dispatched angels to bring Heaven to Earth in the precise location where the Temple would later be built. This place is called Bethel, which means “house of God.”

At this point in Genesis, the covenant promises have been applied from the less-than-perfect-yet-faithful Abraham to his less-than-perfect-but-likewise-faithful son Isaac to Isaac’s sinfully deceptive son Jacob, who stole both the birthright and the blessing from his older brother Esau. Jacob, who loved staying home, was driven from his home out of fear that his brother would murder him. Alone for the first time, he possesses the covenant blessing but lacks the relationship with and faith in God that his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham had.

When Genesis takes a very important and dramatic turn, God appears to Jacob at night to bless him with the promises of land, descendants, and blessing for all nations, much like he had his grandfather Abraham in Genesis 15. After God appears, Jacob recognizes Him and names the place where God had met him “Bethel,” which means “house of God.” Yet, it is questionable whether Jacob was yet truly converted as a believer because his prayer to God remains conditional and therefore lacks faith. In essence, Jacob seeks to barter with God by promising that if God blessed him, he would worship Him.

Theologically, the point of this section is to show us that, for the first time in his life, Jacob has encountered God. Subsequently, this is the beginning of Jacob not living under the faith of his parents but, for the first time, beginning his relationship with God so that the God of Abraham and Isaac can also be known as the God of Jacob. The turn in Jacob’s heart toward God first appears in his declaration that he will tithe to God, which is the first instance of worship we have seen from him thus far in Genesis and may indicate his conversion.

As with Noah and Abraham before him, Jacob is likewise a sinner undeserving of God’s grace. Although Jacob shows no interest in God, it is God who seeks out Jacob for a covenant relationship, which is continually the pattern for all believers throughout human history. Indeed, as God stated in his covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17, His blessing was to be responded to by obedient faith, and He would have it no other way, even though Jacob would like to have God bless him without honoring God.

Question:

What do we learn about the importance of someone having their own faith and not simply living under their parents’ faith?