Back To Bethel (2) In Genesis 35:1-5, God called on Jacob to go back to Bethel where He (God) appeared unto him while fleeing from his brother, Esau and dwell there to build an altar unto him. It was the sin of Jacob that made him to leave his father’s house and run for his dear life to another land and God promised to bring him back safely. God was with him in a strange land, blessed him and made him great just as He promised him, but Jacob had forgotten his covenant with God and failed to fulfill his own side of the covenant. God had to remind him just as He is reminding us today. Jacob realized his fault and set out to fulfill his own side of the covenant. Rebuilding an altar to the Lord takes due preparation. Jacob and his household prepared to build an altar unto the Lord. Preparation in this context means personal or outward purification in sanctification of the soul. What I discovered from my research shows that all the servants of Jacob were pagans from Syria. Laban, his father in-law also was a heathen; you will recall that Rachael stole an idol from his house when they were running away from him. During those years, they were probably worshiping idols. Rachael stole the idol in order to protect them on their journey that was her belief. But when they were preparing to meet the living God, they had to drop all those things, so they buried them and changed their garments. The earrings in their ears that they buried were not ordinary earrings; they served superstitious purposes: they were first consecrated to some gods and thereby possessed magical power. The altar we need to repair now is our hearts; that is where God lives. Our hearts are too preoccupied with the things of this world. We have too much idols struggling with the presence of God in our lives. It is high time we displaced all those strange gods taking the place of God in our hearts. We have too many altars rather than one altar where we can meet with the one Lord of the whole universe. Genesis 35:5 says, “And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.” For merely preparing to meet with God, the presence of God covered them and nobody dare do them any harm; they held them in high esteem. Then God appeared unto Jacob again and blessed him and formally changed his name to Israel Genesis 35:9&10. All hope is not lost for the church, just like it was not lost for the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-24. He realized his mistake and went back to his father and was accepted by his father. “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.” Daniel 9:9 NKJV To be continue... Culled from Church and Its lost glory, written by Timothy Olalekan Ogunsanya. Coming soon! U are blessed in Jesus name! Like our page: fb/springofknowledge Feel free to share....
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 19:56:49 +0000
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