Pastor Ralph Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickledilly Posted January 23, 2010 Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 Because we don't really understand much of the culture of ancient Biblical times, it's sometimes easy to miss the true depth of events recorded in Scripture. I think this is one of those events. The idea of Yahweh and a people called out to belong to Him alone was extremely radical and unique, one reason being that the culture viewed gods as being regional with limited reach and influence. When a person left a geographical area, he left behind the gods of that place. So here was Jacob all alone, away from his home, and possibly thinking himself to be away from the God of his fathers. Through this experience, the LORD revealed that He is personal, purposeful, faithful, and all-seeing. He promised that He was everywhere Jacob would go and would not leave him. The dream centered on a ladder reaching down from heaven that rested on the earth. Angels of God were going up and down this ladder. Jacob called the site the gate of heaven and the house of God -- an entrance to the bridge connecting man on earth to God in His holy dwelling place. There is only one such bridge, which is the Messiah who would take human form through the future descendants of Jacob and ultimately bring the blessing of reconciliation and peace between humanity and Yahweh. (Jesus described such a scene where the angels ascend and descend on the Son of Man in John 1:51). Perhaps the angels represented this flow of blessings from heaven down to man and the free access of man up to the throne of God through Christ Jesus. God gave a visual glimpse of what He was going to do for the world through Jacob and his offspring, this picture of the Gospel of the promised Messiah. He also gave Jacob enormous encouragement and confidence to trust this personal living, knowing Yahweh who was completely unlike the dead gods of that day. From the top of this ladder/bridge, the LORD confirmed/conferred His covenant promises directly to Jacob and gave assurance of His presence and protection as He accomplished all He had promised. This was the moment when the God of his fathers that he'd heard about became the God of Jacob that he'd now seen for himself. The LORD became personal. As a Christian, I have long believed that an individual face-to-face encounter with Christ is the one experience that transforms a life and truly seals a believer's commitment to follow after Him with all your heart. I think this was that moment for Jacob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Paul DiMino Posted January 23, 2010 Report Share Posted January 23, 2010 "Today,I am a man !" Jacob,long physically an adult,becomes a child of God,and,at last, achieves his commission,and a spitirual strengthening.He recognizes the gift he has been given, as something fully beyond his comprehension,and begins to be changed by it.We are,just by thinking about it.Praise God ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissioned Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hidi Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masika Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob's dream of the angels ascending and descending from heaven signify to Jacob? What did God's blessing mean to him? In what way was this a conversion experience for him? He came to realize that indeed God was in that place and he new not, because this was his turning point in life. For us Christ is the ladder by which God and man are joined together, and by whom the angels minister to us: all graces are given to us by him, and we ascend to heaven by him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patriciaa Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studybug52 Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josie Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iam4-1god Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charisbarak Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 It signified that God intended to bless Jacob and that he was now in God's will. God's blessing confirmed his father's blessing. He also added His personal blessing on Jacob, letting him know He would be with him. I think Jacob's eyes were opened to the awe, glory & majesty of God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okno Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Each direct contact with God must be very impressive. The same was surely valid for Jacob. He was sure, he is not alone. The blessing of his father, the story of Abraham - this was directly confirmed by the Almighty. It influenced Jacob for his whole remaining life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janel Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Q2 It signified 'the gate of heaven,' the entrance to the majestic City of God. God's blessing meant that his father and grandfather's God has now become his own. God becomes the One he lives for. He had a mind-expanding glimpse of God's infinite greatness. To Jacob his conversion experience was like an awakening. To be able to feel that God is omnipresence even at a humble place and to realise that this place is not God's house but the gate of heaven, the entrance to the majestic City of God. He has just begun to grasp the greatness and awesomeness of the Creator God who made the heavens and earth. His faith has just taken a big leap to see the Lord of Glory in this humble place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Jacob's dream of angels ascending and descending from heaven convinced him that God is real and that he has just had a heavenly experiance. God's blessing confirmed to Jacob that the first two blessings really were meant for him and then, to receive even more personal blessings from God, that He will be with Jacob always - well - what a blessing and a reassurance that would be to this young man. Yes, a conversion experiance indeed. Previously Jacob had known about God, - now he KNOWS GOD. Hallelujah! Love Greta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia A. Conti Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 In seeing the angels ascend and descend the stairway to heaven gave Jacob a glimpse of God's majest. God gives Jacob the blessing he has he has given to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob realizes that God is keeping the promises of old and He is using Jacob to further the fulfillment of those promises. Before this, God was the God of his father, Isaac and of Abraham, not necessaril him. After this experience, God becomes His God, the One he will follow. He now has a personal attachment to God and his spiritual side begins to grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking His Face Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion of Grace Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 I love that after receiving the covenant blessing, Jacob sets off to travel to go to Laban, his relative and stops for his rest near the place that Abraham (Abram) had God appear to him also as he set out with Sarai and Lot for the land of Canaan. Abraham himself had built an altar there (Genesis 12) and as Jacob came to this holy place, though probably unaware of the significance,(Genesis 28 vs. 16) he stopped to rest there and also like Abraham had an encounter with God there. I see this as a confirmation from God of His purposes for Jacob's life and his will for the covenant to be through Jacob. Everything parallels the same experience and covenant blessing given to Abraham. God assured Jacob in the dream that He is the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and then God Himself gives Jacob the "covenant" blessing. Assuring him, he would never leave him until the promise was secured. Jacob was afraid and in awe at all he has seen and experienced and calls the place the Gate of Heaven, The House of God. He saw the angels ascending and descending as symbolic of that gateway from the Heavens to Earth. This is a time of conversion for Jacob as he vows to God, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, so I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and all that you give me I will give you a tenth." Jacob is tenatively choosing God also and setting out on the journey with Him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bokchoon Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuniceC Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Jacob now begins to understand that God is a God of promise, a God unlike any other that he has known. His fear stems from the fact that in running away, he thought he would be running away from his sin and God, but God makes him understand that His purpose for him has nothing to so with his sin, but because He God has a plan that will not be thwarted by anyone, despite their sin. And that is the turning point for him. When we realise that we cannot run away from God, that point becomes our conversion point, like Jacob. The ladder is to signify that this is not one of the gods of the place where he has come to but the God of heaven and earth, who is omnipresent and who has followed him and will do what He has said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHEEZIE Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WALT39 Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob's dream of the angels ascending and descending from heaven signify to Jacob? What did God's blessing mean to him? In what way was this a conversion experience for him? Genesis 28:12-15 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." What did Jacob's dream of the angels ascending and descending from heaven signify to Jacob? What did God's blessing mean to him? This passage tells Jacob that God is real and the blessings are from the real source, God. Before, it came from Issac, but now it is the real thing. In what way was this a conversion experience for him? He met God face to face and when this happens you must choose God. Your whole life will change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Ballard Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haar Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 To Jacob, his dream of seeing angels coming from and going up the ladder showed an access to the Kingdom, presence of God. He was in contact with the Great and Mighty Awesome God. God's blessing at this time to Jacob signified that he has been approved by God to be the 3rd generation beneficiary of the blessings God promised first to Abraham and then Isaac. The experience was a spiritual revival or conversion to him (Jacob). He was acquiring things by deceipt and manipulation before but could now see God delivering such (blessing) directly to him. He was also at this point God concious than before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Q2. (Genesis 28:12-15) What did Jacob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.