Jacob's Bethel Experience Part 1

This is a journal entry that I am currently working on. I'm spending time pondering and listening to what God has to tell me about Jacob's Bethel experience. As I read it this week, I began to focus on Gen 28:22...which led me to Matthew 7:24-25 & 16:18. He really began to unfold some stuff to me as I presented it to him. I'll share other entries as the Lord gives them.

 

 

 

 

Here I am, Lord J. Take all of me this morning. Thank you for your word, for your peace, for your direction, oh God, my God! In reading this morning, you see my mind falls on Gen 28:22, "And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house"…& Matthew 7:24-25, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock”…& Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” I believe there is something there for me this morning. Will you put it all together for me today?

 

This rock IS the house of God…in you I find my rest…I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever…

 

Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

 

Lord, speak to me about this with Jacob.

 

Do you see Jacob, child? He is resting on the rock. He didn’t even know that this was what I had prepared for him…this Bethel from the beginning. He CHOSE the rock. He chose it and made it his resting place, his pillow for his weary head. Child, this speaks so much of laying your head down upon that which brings true rest. The Law will never bring rest. You must lay down your mind, your ways of thinking in order to rest upon the rock. The law is in opposition to rest, child. Jacob had not rested in his dealings with his father, as you well know and have been taught. Jacob had a law of his own…striving for approval. It was only when he chose the rock and rested himself upon it that peace and revelation came to him. This is symbolic of more than me coming to him in a dream...it is more, child. It is laying down Law for grace.

 

Expound more, Savior?

 

What does my word say? That the carnal mind is in opposition to me and my ways? That what the Law could not do, Christ did. When you choose ME over your ways, when you CHOOSE me, the Rock, over your own efforts, child, you take upon the rest of the Lord that only the rock can provide. Everything else is shifting sand. The Law, your efforts, are shifting sand, child. You will never be able to lie down on the sand and find rest…only the rock. But this is always your choice even as it was for Jacob. He could have just laid down on the sands but he didn’t. He chose the rock. Shifting sands…your ways. The rock? My ways. J This was long before the Law was given but a law was at work in Jacob already…the root of what it brings…striving. The rock brought rest.

 

Wow. Good stuff, Lord.

 

Keep looking, child. Of course you know he didn’t deserve my coming to him. But I had prepared this place for oh so long, child. It WAS his because I had given it to him. Yes, he seemingly ‘stumbled’ upon it…but it was already his. He was there and didn’t know it, right? I was all around waiting on him with all I had prepared in advance and he didn’t see UNTIL he rested. When you enter into rest, child, you enter into all that I’ve already given, all that I’ve already prepared for you since the foundations of the world. The angelic activity was already happening, child. It was all around. He just wasn’t AWARE of it. But, when he chose the rock as his resting place…it was opened up to him WHILE he dreamed…not while he worked, not even when he awoke. It was only in rest that he was able to see. It was only when his own eyes were fully closed and uninvolved that he was able to really see.

 

Wow. I have so much to learn about rest.

 

It is coming more and more natural for you, child. Learn from Jacob today. Learn this lesson.

 

Okay.

 

Keep looking J

 

Truly Lord, you were above him and below him in that you were under his head. Then, he awoke and had a response.

 

And what was it?

 

I see complete shock. A bit of startled type of fear, being afraid to move at what he saw and at where he realized he was.

 

Child, when you are awakened to the place of rest, to the host of angelic activity that is already around you, you are suddenly afraid to MOVE. Moving, of course, is your own involvement. Let this settle on your heart, child. When he awakened to where he was, he was afraid to get involved. This is right, child, to a degree. It is good to say to yourself, you shall not move in the glory of God, in that I do not require anything of YOUR own efforts to sustain what I’m already doing, child. But, he had another response after this. What was it?

 

Worship. He took the rock and stood it up as a pillar first. Explain?

 

He took that which he had founded his rest upon –like in the cross of my victory – and stood it up. Child, I did not stay in the ground. I rose again!

 

Wow! Wow. Wow. Wow!

 

Child, I RESTED. And through my death, all may rest from their works, too. MY work brought your REST. The work that I did which led to my death brought you life, it brought you refreshing rest from sin, from the fall, from all strife. BUT…it did not end there. As YOU enter this rest, you are called then to RISE as I arose in newness of life. After this encounter with REST, Jacob was never the same. He had a baptism of sorts…a REST which is represented in death, child. And he rose to new life. Resurrection awaits all those who will embrace the rest, the finished work of my cross. Serve me, not simply as the one who died, but as the Risen Lord! Jacob set the rock UP as a pillar. Child, my resurrection is the pillar…my cross is the foundation…but my resurrection, my living Life which conquered death is the pillar, the standing firm position that leads you to the Father.

 

Help me hear, Lord. Expound…

 

The foundation of rest? My cross. See a house, child. Think of a pillar. Who did I say would be pillars in my Father’s house?

 

You said those who overcome. (Rev 3:12). In cross referencing 1 King 7:21, it says 2 pillars were called ‘He shall establish’ & ‘in it’s strength.’ So, He shall establish in its strength. This is your resurrection! This is You!!!

 

AND this is You, too, child! Resurrection life raises you up to stand boldly before the throne of grace. You rest in my death. But you stand in my life.

 

Wow. Sigh….wow, wow, wow! So one represents REST (stone laying down/cross) and the other represents STRENGTH (Stone being up/resurrection/awaken). Cool. J So, on one hand, Jacob didn’t get INVOLVED…but on the other, he RESPONDED to what YOU had done.

 

You are called to move in worship, true. But child, see beyond here. Jacob didn’t want to move in and of himself. So how do we move once we’ve tasted the death of the cross? How do we move without getting involved? In ME. In me You Live...and MOVE…and have your being. All DOING comes from ME! J You are not called to your own efforts…you are not called on your own, child…you are called to completely and totally live in Me. All of your doing is made to be done in Me. THIS is the true power of resurrection, child. You are united with me in my death that you may be raised up to the newness of my life.