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“THE HOUSE OF GOD—THE GATE OF HEAVEN”
Genesis XXVIII: 10-20
Wednesday Night Bible Lecture by Rev. Len G. Broughton, D.D., of Christ Church, London
REPORTED FOR THE GOLDEN AGE BY M. I. H.—Copyright Applied For.
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Special Text —“And Jacob awaked out of his
sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah is in this
place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid
and said, How dreadful is this place! This
is none other than the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven.”
Our last study closed with Jacob receiving
his father’s blessing. Our present study begins
with his experience at Bethel which he called
the house of God.
The section is divided into 6 parts, and I
want that we shall observe them separately.
I—His Departure from Home.—V. 10.
There are at least two persons that are par
ticularly interested in his departure, and they
are interested from the same standpoint —they
are sad, and disappointed as Jacob turns his
face toward the world, and his back upon his
home. Emily Taylor, describing Rebecca’s
feelings as she sent Jacob away, says:
“My youngest born, my pride of heart,
Thou must, thou must away;
Thy brother’s wrathful hand is raised;
And here thou canst not stay.
Oh, I have deeply sinned for thee!
The chastisement be mine;
And I will bear it all, my son,
The blessing shall be thine!”
Then Jacob himself had a sad, disappointed
heart. We may fancy him turning his back up
on his home, and starting out in obedience to
the will of his father and of his mother, toward
the home of his uncle Laban in Haran. We
may fancy him straining his eyes, looking back
for a last sight of the old home, as he starts
out ‘Lo face a new world, and in it a new expe
rience. In my imagination I have seen him as
he suddenly turns his eyes to the future, with
all that it may involve (with home and mother
behind—for there has been great devotion be
tween Jacob and his mother. Now and then
as he journeys down the road I have seen him
in my imagination, stop and turn round to get
another view of the old home, and perhaps,
as he looks at it and its environment he is
looking also for the face of his mother. Finally
he is out of sight. No more vision of home
and no more sight of the face of his mother.
Out there into the cold world he has to go.
The Golden Age for May 1, 1913
II. —His Journey and Arrival at Bethel.—V*. 11.
All he had with him was his shepherd’s staff.
Every step was taken in fear of Esau who had
vowed to take his life. And so, as Jacob jour
neys along the road he is constantly expecting
to come into contact with his infuriated broth
er. What a journey <hat must have been! An
unknown road; and at every turn he is ex
pecting to meet his brother who has sworn to
take his life; and behind every bush and tree
he is expecting that Esau will spring upon him.
On the second or third day he arrives at Bethel,
a place already famous in the history of his
grandfather Abraham, near which he erected an
altar after his return from Egypt.
Geikee says of Bethel: “It is one of the most
desolate looking places I ever saw. Sheets and
shelves of rock everywhere unrelieved by any
trees. Such is Bethel.”
Marcus Dods says, speaking of Jacob’s jour
ney and arrival at Bethel: “As the sun was
sinking, he found himself toiling up the rough
path which Abraham may have described to
him as looking like a great stair-case of rock
and crag, reaching from earth to sky. Slabs of
rock piled one upon another, form the whole
hillside, and to Jacob’s eye, accustomed to the
rolling plains and pastures of Beer-sheba, they
would appear almost like a structure built for
superhuman uses, Avell founded in the valley
below, and intended to reach to unknown
heights. ”
ll.—His Dream. —V. 12-15.
It was perfectly natural that he should have
such a dream. Dreams are usually woven out
of material which our waking thoughts sup
ply. They usually occur just as the mind in
its state of semi-wakefulness endeavors to con
nect the past with the present, and thus bridge
the chasm of sleep. Many people talk to us
about dreams as if they dreampt any and every
minute of the night. It is a very big mis
take. We do not dream in the early hours of
sleep, we always dream in the very last mo
ment of sleep when we are scarcely asleep at
all. The true philosophy of a dream is that it
is the first effort of the mind as it begins to
approach consciousness to reach back across the
chasm of sleep, however brief or long that
chasm may be, and get hold of past thoughts
in the hours of wakefulness, and, if possible,
connect the two together.
Now in this particular case, Jacob’s mind
had been dwelling upon the very things sug
gested by the dream; anxiety for his life; a
heavy heart; a guilty conscience. Above all,
he wanted rest, and peace. This is the way he
dropped asleep.
But when I say it was natural for him to
have such a dream, I do not mean that there
was nothing supernatural in it; I think there
was. While it was perfectly natural for him
to dream as he did. it was also supernatural—
for the supernatural simply operated on the
I’ne of the natural, to do things and to bring
to pass results that could not have been done
through any other means.
And as I see it in this particular case, the
purpose of God in coming to Jacob as he did
in this dream, was that he might teach a three
fold lesson.
first, it was to teach that what he needed
w r as not so much knowledge of God, as consci
ousness of the presence of God. This is seen in
the first utterance of Jacob upon waking—
‘ ‘ Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew
it net;” The vision did not bring the Lord
near; it only led Jacob to realize his nearness.
The reason why he failed to realize the nearness
of God—and thus made necessary such an ex
perience—was doubtless his recent conduct; he
had cheated his brother out of his birthright,
and had not yet had forgiveness.
Now this failure to realize the presence of
God at this time of great need, is also true
of many of us during times of our great need.
It is easy for us to realize the presence of God
when everything is going well, but it is very
hard when everything seems to be going wrong.
It is easy for us to realize his presence in mo
ments of exalted spiritual privileges; but it
is hard to realize his presence when we are
conscious of disobedience.
Second, the dream was also intended to be a
revelation in prophecy, of three essential prin
ciples in obtaining peace.
1. The mediation of Christ.
2. The ministry of angels.
3. The providential oversight of God in the
affairs of life.
This is seen by the exclaimtion “Behold!”
at the three turning points in the dream.
First, “Behold a ladder set up on the earth
and the top of it reached to heaven.”
Second, “Behold the angels of God ascend
ing and descending upon it.”
Third, “Behold the Lord standing above L.”
Let us Look at each of these three essential
principles in obtaining peace. First, the fore
shadowing of the mediation of Christ. Those
of you who are familiar with your New Tes
taments will remember that in John 1:51 Jesus
says to Nathaniel. “Henceforth ye shall see
heaven open, and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man.” This
language is clearly borrowed from our present
narrative. It speaks of angels “ascending and
decending on Son of Man.” using the same term
as is here employed of the ladder which Jacob
saw. The ladder which Jacob saw, is Christ
in the New Testament. He brings God near
to us, and us near to God, and is the med
iation between man and God. God, in Christ,
brings God near man —even within man; and
Man, in Christ, (or to make the figure com
plete) the Man in God, brings man near God —
even incorporating man with God. There are
two ways in which we may regard Mediation
—we may think of it as removing obstacles
to heavenly intercourse —bring God near to us.
Or we may think of it as specially facilitating
intercourse with heaven—bring us near to God.-
In this case it clearly embraces both. Christ
is both these things to us. He removes hin-
(Continued on Page 14.)
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