Sermon manuscript:
Let’s begin today by dealing with some history that takes
place before our Old Testament reading.
The Bible first introduces us to Abraham in Genesis chapter
12. That’s not too far into that first book of the Bible. Up to that point the
history of the earth is laid out in a more general way, with a wide angle lens.
In chapter 12 it focuses in on Abraham. God spoke several times to this man. He
told him that he would inherit the land of Canaan for himself and his
descendants. His descendants would be many and great. And through his seed all
the nations of the world would be blessed. God gave Abraham the sign of
circumcision as a seal of this covenant, to be done to all the baby boys when
they were eight days old. Moses, the author of Genesis, says that Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Isaac, Abraham and Sarah’s only son, was a long time coming.
He was miraculously conceived and born to Abraham and Sarah when they were very
old. Isaac married a woman named Rebecca. She was a distant relative of
Abraham’s. Abraham and Sarah did not want him to marry one of the Canaanite
women around them. Thereby he would be lured away from the true faith to
worshipping the gods of the Canaanites. Rebecca, like Sarah before her, also
had a hard time conceiving and bearing a child. No children came for a long
time until Isaac’s prayer was finally answered with the birth of Esau and
Jacob.
Already, while the boys were in Rebecca’s womb, they were
fighting with one another. Their mother went and inquired of the Lord, “Why is
this happening to me?” The Lord said to her that two nations were in her womb.
They will be separated from one another. One will be stronger than the other.
The elder will serve the younger. And so it was that when Rebecca gave birth to
the twins, the younger brother, Jacob, was holding on to the heel of his older
brother, Esau.
There is more that happened between Jacob and Esau that you
can read about for yourself. For our purposes today, I will only speak about
one more thing before getting into our Old Testament text. It happened right
before our reading today. It is the reason why Jacob is alone in the middle of
nowhere sleeping with a rock as his pillow.
What happened just before our reading is that mother and
son, Rebecca and Jacob, conspired against father and brother, Isaac and Esau,
to get Isaac to bless Jacob instead of Esau. Rebecca had overheard that her
husband was about to bless Esau after Esau provided a meal of wild game. So she
and her favorite son, Jacob, went to work and tricked Isaac who was blind and
old. Jacob, the younger, received the birthright. Esau did not.
When Esau learned of this treachery he said that he was
going to kill Jacob after his father, Isaac, had died. Rebecca found out about
this and told Jacob. She wanted Jacob to go away, back to where she and
Abraham, and their relatives were from. There was an additional benefit to
Jacob going away besides avoiding his irate brother. He could also find a wife
there. Jacob’s brother, Esau, had married two Canaanite women, which were a
source of bitterness for Isaac and Rebecca. There’s nothing quite like marrying
an unbeliever for derailing a person’s faith.
So this brings us to our reading this morning. Jacob is on
his way to his uncle Laban’s house. The sun had set, so he laid down to rest.
When he fell asleep he had a dream where there was a staircase from earth to
heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it. At the top of it was the
Lord God. He declared to Jacob what he had already declared to his father and
grandfather. Jacob and his descendants would possess this land. In his seed all
the nations of the earth would be blessed. Plus he added that he would be with
Jacob wherever he went, and that he would bring him back to this chosen land.
God would not leave him until he had fulfilled all the promises that he had
made.
Before we get into the tremendously gracious things that God
does for Jacob in this dream, let us first deal with something that might be
nagging at you as it does to me too. God is so gracious to Jacob, but what
about what he had just done? He had just come out from something ugly. He snuck
around with his mother and took the birthright. The whole family situation
seems to be something of a mess. Isaac loves Esau. Rebecca loves Jacob. Esau
wants to murder his brother. These are not the Cleavers. So how can God be
gracious to someone who had just come from all that?
And this is not just a matter of feeling or intuition. God’s
own law solemnly declares that he will punish those who break his
commandments—even to the third and fourth generation—but he shows grace and
every blessing to all who keep his commandments. In this case, with Jacob, it
seems that God is showing grace and every blessing even though Jacob was fresh
from taking the very inheritance from God in an underhanded way.
Here we have on display what the Apostle Paul would write
about so many years later. The divine inheritance of salvation does not come
about through Man’s keeping of the Law. It comes about by God’s promise that is
held to by faith. This, in fact, is how it has been since the very beginning.
If God dealt with us according to how we deserve, then Adam and Eve would have
been left in death and eternal death. That is what God’s Law explicitly
pronounced: “In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” But by
looking ahead to the Seed of the woman, who, though he knew no sin, became sin
for us, God forgave and received Adam and Eve on Christ’s account.
So it is not by looking to the Law that we can understand
why good things happen in this sin-infested world. It is only by looking to the
grace and mercy of God that is beyond our understanding. Our reason always
wants the one to cancel out the other, so that we can make better sense of things.
We either want the Law to be the decisive factor, so that people get what they
deserve. Or we want grace to be the only factor, so that the Law is no more and
people can live however they please despite what is right or wrong.
But all of God’s grace flows from where the Law was
fulfilled and did its worst on Jesus Christ the crucified. There, in him, all
have died. All have been justified. God’s grace and forgiveness extends to all
who will hear it and believe. Sin—past, present, or future—does not annul God’s
promise. God is stronger than our sin. He has mercy on whom he has mercy, and
he hardens the hearts of those whom he will. Do not consider it a small thing,
therefore, that you should hear God’s promise, his declaration of forgiveness
and justification. He always means it. It is always effective and true.
Therefore you ought to embrace it as your own like Abraham did. He believed God
and it was credited to him as righteousness, despite all his sins.
So, to return to what nags at us—the way that Jacob is
blessed by God so lavishly and recklessly even though he had just come from
such an ugly situation—I can’t really make this smooth for you so that it goes
down easy. It seems to offend our sense of justice. The Law says one thing. God
in his grace says another. I suppose you could judge God and accuse him of being
foolish or unjust. (You certainly wouldn’t be the first to do so!) But I think
you’d be better off acknowledging that God’s ways are not our ways, neither are
his thoughts our thoughts. Instead of wondering if he should do and say what he
does and says, why don’t you pay attention to what he actually does and says?
He is God, after all.
Despite whatever Jacob had thought, said or done, God
appeared to him at this troubling time. He was full of doubts, fears, and
sadness. He had heard the promises made to his grandfather and grandmother, his
father and mother, but so far as we know, God had not yet appeared to him or
spoken to him. What he sees is glorious. God showed him all of himself that was
possible for Jacob to see without dying on account of the surpassing glory.
These angels were not the cute cherubs of the popular imagination, but mighty,
holy warriors. With an army of those at your back, nobody and nothing can stand
in your way.
Plus the words that the Lord God speaks to Jacob are almost
over the top, dripping with loving concern. What more would God need to say to
him to assure him any further? He told Jacob what he already had heard and
believed—that he would inherit the land promised to Abraham. But then he goes
on to say that God will watch over him and be with him. No matter where Jacob
might go, the Lord would be there too. Although Jacob was going away from his
homeland, and he would be gone for well over a decade, God would bring him
back. God won’t let a single promise fall to the ground.
Jacob, to his credit, does not argue with God. He certainly
could have. He could have said, “Look, Lord, at my sins. How can you bless
someone like me? Look at what I just did?” This sounds pious, but it is the
opposite of piety. It sounds humble, but it is in fact pride. Why should God be merciful to you? Because
you’re sorry? Because you’ve decided to make it up to him? Because you promise
to never do it again?—Like all those other times that you’ve promised to never
do it again? With junk like this nobody is going to be in heaven.
No, the reason why God is gracious to you is because he has
set things right, not you. Jesus suffered and died. God is well pleased with
him and the justification and salvation he has brought about. He is not waiting
around for you to feel bad enough or reform yourself. On the basis of Jesus
Christ and him crucified the forgiveness of sins may be boldly and lavishly
pronounced to poor, miserable sinners who totally and completely do not deserve
it. As the Scriptures say, “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.” If
you happen to be Jacob, that’s a pretty good deal.
And you should consider yourself to be a Jacob. Here’s why:
Because God has brought it about that you should have the Gospel declared to
you. If God wanted to appear to you in a dream and speak with you the way that
he did with Jacob, then he could certainly do that. But God didn’t always do
that. In fact, he did that kind of thing very rarely. Instead, the way that
God’s people have always learned about his promise of salvation is by what
seems like ordinary means. Parents tell children. Friends or neighbors tell one
another. A preacher tells it to a congregation.
This is not done at random or according to the will of man,
but it is following what Jesus himself told his disciples to do. His disciples
did not go out on their own initiative, as though it were their own idea. No,
Jesus tells them to go out and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching
them whatsoever Jesus commanded them, and Jesus promised to be with them. “Whosoever’s
sins you forgive,” Jesus says, “they are forgiven them. Whosoever’s sins
you retain, they are retained.” To my dear church the keys are given to
open, close, the gates of heaven.
So when you hear from a Christian that you are loved by God,
redeemed, forgiven, and an heir of heaven, this is not just somebody’s opinion.
Jesus says, “Whoever hears you, hears me.” This is the way that God
works. He works through the preaching of the Gospel, so that it may be embraced
and received through faith by those who hear it.
Therefore we can and should apply what God said to Jacob
also to us for our own comfort and joy. God says, “I will be with you wherever
you go. I will bring you to the land that I have promised to give to you. I
will be with you until I have fulfilled the promises that I have made to you.”
This means that God will be with you even if you should have much that is given
to you or much that is taken away. He will be with you if you catch some dread
disease. Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he
will be with you, his rod and his staff will comfort you.
It is a very good thing that God speaks to you just like he
spoke to Jacob. He speaks to you by the testimony of Christians. Indeed, God
speaking to us is the best of things—nothing is higher or better. Isn’t it
strange, then, that it is held in such contempt, despised and neglected? Be
that as it may, make hay while the sun shines: I announce to all of you the
forgiveness of sins, God’s grace, and everlasting blessing in Jesus’s Name.
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