Readings:
Genesis 27, 28, 29
Isn’t it beautiful how Jacob reacts to a vision of how the spiritual and physical are connected:
Genesis 28:12 NLT
As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
And he makes the same mistake many of us make when we encounter the power of God moving:
Genesis 28:16-17 NLT
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
He is so surprised that God and His messengers are clearly active and influencing things here on earth. And he gets hung up on the physical place where it happened, rather than understanding that it was a healing of his heart and his spirit that allowed him to see through the veil.
He thought there was something special “about this physical place where my body lay” rather than understand there there is something special “about where his life had taken him that prepared his heart and his mind to be able to receive God’s revelation”.
He knew that his brother was seeking to kill him. He knew that he was on the run from the possible consequences of his deceitful actions. We can only imagine that he knew that so much of his life had been flipped upside down and that he was clearly not in control of the narrative. He had gone beyond what his manipulations and deceiving could do to keep him safe.
Many men have found God in a jail cell of their own making — facing the reality of possible consequences of their own foolish actions. They might pray “take away the consequences, God, and I’ll never do it again” — usually lying to themselves and to God. But occasionally a man’s pride is broken enough that he is ready to consider what God might teach him, rather than just seeking a “get out of jail free card” from the genie in the sky.
It is the latter place, that place of a humble heart that the messengers of God travel to and from seeking out on earth — and they do this in order to reveal heavenly things to mere men. It isn’t a certain church, a certain place, or a certain row in front of a stage and pulpit where the veil is pulled back to reveal the awe and wonder of God’s messengersand work. It is in the place of a humble and contrite spirit. Because God resists the proud.
So more than seeking the right church, or the right preacher, or the right small group, or the right friends — we should seek out where we need to repent and be humbled.
The messages and messengers behind that veil and represented (most likely metaphorically rather than mechanically/literally) upon that spiritual ladder are holy — and should be given the due amount of fear and reverence. So it is no surprise that Jacob celebrated with a marker.
But he did not get dissuaded from his appointed journey by being tempted to just find a pew and sit at this Bethel (this “house of God”) to meditate like a monk the rest of his days. So I’m reminded to not be so much in awe of the miracles, the healing, the deliverance, the visions, and all that comes in deep spiritual warfare — but for that awe and wonder to be in God who orchestrated and holds it all together.
The “house of God” is not a place to sit and rot or hide for the rest of our days, but serves as a marker to remind us to “hurry on” to our purpose like Jacob does in the first verse of chapter 29.
Hiding in a religious building is not the church, no matter how many gather there, or how noticeable the marker is — power is not bound to a physical location. The real Church, the “capital C Church” is that ladder vision in action — through humble and contrite people who have a reverent fear for the Lord, an overflowing love for God and His children, a convicting hunger for justice and what is right, and a compassionate deduction to mercy. Amen.
Harold J. Ballinger 