Genesis 28,10-14 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. (*Text
emphasized)Jesus (before His incarnation) mentions several promises here to Jacob. They point to the work that God was planning to do. God firstly revealed Himself to Jacob as to who He is as -El Schaddai- (the almighty God), the God of Abraham and of his father Isaac. Which promises is God referring to here? Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau, who wanted to kill him, and ended up in a Place which would later be called Bethel. God comforted him and promised him a future. The land upon which he was laying would be given to him and his descendants. Jacob, whose name means "deceiver", would later be changed to Israel "a prince of God". Out of Israel the Saviour would come, who would bring redemption for the whole world. God gave the land Canaan to Israel. In the Gaza strip the Moslems are crying out for the elimination of Israel and ail other believers. The current dispute over Israel's land and property affects God; He will step in and take action when it is the right time! "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about...; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." (Zechariah 12,2 & 9). How foolish it is to ignore God's Word and His will. We see that the fulfilling of this prophecy, which is approx. 2500 years old, is close at hand because the land still does belong to the children of Jacob. rw "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." John 1,10-12 It is good to examine yourself and ask: Have I received Him? Has He given me power? A Jewish scholar once said: "If the nations of this world only had realized how much they needed the temple (in Jerusalem), they would have surrounded it with an armed fortress to protect it..." (Bamidbar Rabbah 1,3) Such statements apply also today to the gospel of Jesus Christ. "If people really knew what the gospel of Jesus means for them, they would believe it, support it and would obtain God's favour." Home Page |
