Genesis – The Unexpectant God

Well, if you have a bible with you,

I encourage you to go ahead and grab

it or maybe open an app on your

phone or even grab 1 of the pew

bibles.

And open to Genesis chapter 28,

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

and we're gonna be in verses 10 through

22 this morning.

But before we get too far ahead of

ourselves, I just kind of wanna go through

a very quick recap. I know my recap

is generally...

Go on for a little bit longer, but

a very quick recap of where we've been

from Adam through Abraham so far. And what

Genesis has really taught so much

about

Y, about about God himself and about God's

relationship to us and ourselves to Y

and ultimately, how Y desire

is for us.

He created

us, and his desire is for us.

Has good desires for us, good intentions and

good

plan sees that kind of God.

And everything we've learned so far is that

this is a god unlike

any other.

Especially as you think about the people groups

that existed

during Abraham time and before

Y comes as a God that is not

like any other God he is loving

and kind

and compassionate.

Mer.

Almighty,

patient

enduring

with his people.

And is this God is

revealed to us so too

was he being revealed to the Israelites?

In the wilderness

after fleeing from Egypt. You see we've been

approaching our reading of genesis as if the

people hearing it for the first time

were the people

in the wilderness as they were led out

of Egypt by Moses.

Genesis is is attributed to Moses.

In fact, entire torah is attributed to Moses.

And Moses

moment with his people is as he's leading

them out of Egypt and into the wilderness

for 40 years.

And here these people are hearing these stories

and the testimonies of their fore fathers and

before.

And how it helps

inform them of this

time period

in their wilderness wandering.

You see

for 400

years, the Israelites were of people that knew

nothing

more than being slaves.

And their entire worth

was built upon what they were able to

produce.

And for the first time,

there are people that no longer

is about what they do.

So how do they define themselves?

What we learned in the very beginning,

Genesis.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 1.

Was this

invitation to a god who created

mankind in his own image.

And in his image,

he invited them on day 1 to

rest.

And so a people that had known nothing,

other than doing

was called to find their value and worth,

not in what they produced,

but in their creator.

And their creator was saying,

stop,

Stop trying to live up to some standard

that was set forth by your task masters,

I am not a task master God.

And as we continued with the story,

We learned that ultimately, this is a god

that wants to be with his people,

wants to c create with his people.

Once his people to witness about him and

testify of who he is

and then do it all over again.

And again,

and again,

to not be a people

bent on destruction

bent on their own demise as we even

think about what happened with

Noah and the ark and the flood, and

we think about the people in the tower

of Ba trying to once again, create a

name for themselves.

Not just was it a matter of pride,

but they were falling back into the trap

that they were what they produced.

In God, in his mercy to save them,

scattered them.

Across the globe.

And as we hear these stories,

We are reminded

that if we are to be the people

of God,

that we need to learn from the same

lessons that the Israelites learned

in the wilderness.

To rest

to c

to witness

to love.

To see God for who he truly is.

No matter the circumstances.

And there are a lot of circumstances that

make it hard

and difficult

and challenge us quite frankly.

I can't imagine

what it was like to be challenged in

the wilderness times. I mean, How many times

did the Israel israelites said it would be

better if we turned back and went back

to Egypt.

It was a better time when we were

slaves

than in our freedom,

Challenges sometimes make us wanna go backward.

When God keeps calling us to move forward

and to trust and believe

that we too

through him can get over this wall.

And so in our passage today,

Genesis chapter 28,

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

we turn to

another 1 of the patriarch Jacob.

Jacob is the son of Isaac,

Isaac being the son of Abraham who few

weeks ago. We

talked about this moment in Isaac life

where he was going with his father to

worship on

Mount Mori mariah,

and they took the fire with them and

all these

logs to make a sacrifice

and Isaac in the middle of their travels

realizes, they don't have a sacrifice.

And Abraham says to him God will provide.

God will provide.

God will provide.

And then when they get up to the

top of the mountain,

Isaac has this realization that he is the

sacrifice nice.

And he's bound up and placed on the

altar and

nice

Abraham in this

moment is

probably extreme distress and yet extreme faith

knows that something has to happen because he

knew that they were gonna return together.

He told his servants as such.

And in that moment,

The angel of the Lord stays his hand

over his son.

And says,

stop.

God now knows.

That you believe him and trust him to

give you all that you need.

And that's important because we've been talking about

how much Abraham

was also a screw up,

and a mess up.

And didn't believe God time and time again

didn't trust God to be the provider that

God said he would be,

and now

Abraham

believes God to provide.

Through the most distressing and challenging moment

of his life.

And so you can only imagine

leading through this

family up to Jacob,

what Isaac has been through in that moment.

Jacob might not be

the most faithful follower

of Y.

And so let's hear these words this this

morning,

of Jacob,

about Jacob in chapter 28 versus 10 through

22.

And then Jacob departed from Beers

and went toward Har run.

And he reached a certain place and spent

the night there because the sun had set.

And he took 1 of the stones of

the place and put it under his head

and lay down in that place.

Then he had a dream and behold,

A ladder stood on the earth with its

top touching heaven and behold, the angels of

God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, Y stood above it and said,

I am Y,

the God of your father, Abraham and the

God of Isaac.

The land on which you lie, I will

give it to you into your seed.

And your seed will also be like the

dust of the earth, and you will spread

out to the west into the east into

the north and into the south and in

you and in your seed, all the families

of the earth shall be blessed.

It's

Behold I am with you and will keep

you wherever you go, and I will bring

you back to this land for I will

not for you until I have done what

I have promised you.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said

surely,

Y is in this place,

and I did not know it.

And he was afraid and said, how fearsome

is this place. This is none other than

the house of god,

and this is the gate of heaven.

So Jacob rose early in the morning and

took the stone that he had put under

his... Head and set it up as a

pillar and poured oil on its top,

and he called the name of that place

Bethel.

However, previously, the name of the city had

been lose,

Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God

will be with me and will keep me

on this journey on which I am going.

And he will give me food to eat

in garments to wear, and I return to

my father's house in peace then Y will

be my god.

Now, this stone, which I have set up

as a pillar will be God's house.

And if all that you give me, I

will surely give a tenth to you.

Let's pray. Good and gracious God. As we

hear these words this morning.

Lord I pray that we would learn from

them that we would hear from them that

we would have...

The holy

wondering about who you are,

and who you are calling us to be

and just as the Israelites might have heard

this,

in the wilderness

being taught to them from Moses God may,

we also hear from it right now.

What it is that you wanna speak and

say.

How you wanna lead and guide

and what it is that we should learn

from you and walk away with in our

lives.

It's in the holy name of Jesus that

we pray.

All amen.

Well, before we

dive too far into the text, so let's

have just a little bit more context about

Jacob because this is about Jacob. And Jacob,

maybe to your

recollection,

probably isn't... It's the patriarch that any of

us want to look to as an example

of somebody that we should emulate.

He was

quite often known as the deceive,

which if any of you also have any

knowledge about you know, what we call the

enemy

that might be 1 of his names. Now,

I'm not saying Jacob is is the devil.

But I am saying that he was a

tricks.

Jacob

was

not

well liked by his brother,

Esa saw

if you remember, he he tricked Esa out

of his birthright for a bowl of soup.

Not sure how many of you are willing

to give up your inheritance

for a bowl of suit because you're that

hungry,

but Esa was willing to trade his birthright

for a bowl of soup.

And so he got tricked out of his

birthright by Jacob there, and then,

he was he tricked his father Isaac

with his mother's help into receiving the blessing

of the born son,

which Esa saw was the

born

in Jacob

second, and therefore,

all the rights of the first born son

should have gone to Esa.

And yet,

because Isaac was old in age and

becoming blind, hard of seeing,

When

Jacob entered the room to receive the blessing

he did so

as Esa saw.

Cover himself and, like hair and put on

the clothes of esa to smell like him,

And so he received his brother's

blessing as the born.

This ends up

causing a lot of rage to be built

up in Esa on.

Isaac isn't happy with the outcome either so

much so that Jacob ends up having to

flee his home, flee his

his his family flee his clan.

And set off

for his mother's family

in Har.

In fact, he sent there in order to

find himself

a wife.

And

I think this is a really interesting story.

We're not actually gonna cover any of the

story of Jacob going to Lab in and

that whole account.

But I think it is interesting that

Jacob goes

to Lab

and stays there

when

Abraham was sending servants,

to the mother country to receipt... To find

a wife for Isaac,

Isaac wasn't allowed to go.

I think that was very

intentional

because

if he had gone, there's the possibility

that Isaac would have fallen into I worship

because we find out in those stories that

in Har iran, the the family of

rachel and it'll the family of

Rebecca and the family of Sarah and Abraham

all still practiced

idol tree.

I say all that, I'm getting off a

little bit of the topic, but

it's interesting because Jacob goes and he stays.

And And what do we end up finding

out is that Lab is also a tricks,

tricks,

Jacob into marrying the first? Born daughter before

the 1 that he wanted to marry.

And then we find out later, that Jacob

also then tricks slave back.

By

stealing flux out from under him.

So again, by all intents and purposes, Jacob

isn't somebody that we should emulate.

Deceiving people

is not good. Deceiving people in business, deceiving

people,

in family matters and relationships, whatever it might

be,

we shouldn't be seeking

deception.

But

I think the story

teaches us

that God

can use

anyone whom he pleases.

Yes

And it does not matter

your past,

your present

or even your future sins,

God is fully capable of using

who he

pleases.

And so let us open and start working

through this passage

this morning.

You see, Jacob has now departed for Beers

toshiba. He's going toward Iran. He's going to

the place where

his mothers and his fathers are from in

order to find himself, a, a wife being

also... And sent away in exile,

because of the trouble that he had caused

with his brother esa saw,

and he reached a certain place along his

journey, and he spends the night there

because the sun had set night has come

and

he shouldn't keep traveling during the nighttime, and

so was like, well, I might as well

rest during my journey. And so he took

a stone from that place, and he put

it under his head and lay down in

that place. Now, I'm not choosing a stone

as a pillow.

But to each their own, if that's what's

comfortable for him then great, for Jacob, really

good on him for finding that place, but

he finds himself

falling asleep.

And then he has a dream.

And he has a dream hold a ladder

stood

on the earth with its top touching heaven

and behold. The angels of God were ascending

and descending on it.

Now,

first,

maybe you've heard this

before because you've read this story.

But maybe you've also heard this before because

Jesus

when he was starting out his ministry,

1 of his disciples,

Nathaniel

was sitting

under a fig tree.

And his friend, Philip came and found him

and said come and see. We have found

the cry.

Nathaniel of course, was skeptical and

follows his friend Philip anyway.

And Jesus then recounts to him,

all that he knew.

And so in John, chapter 1 starting in

John 1 · chapter mention

verse 48. And Nathaniel said to him

from where do you know me?

And Jesus answered and said to him

before Philip called you.

When you were under the fig tree, I

saw you.

And Nathaniel answered him rabbi,

you are the son of god. You are

the king of Israel.

And Jesus

answered and said to him,

because I said to you that I saw

you under the fig tree,

do you believe?

You will see greater things than these

And he said to him truly truly, I

say to you,

you will see the heavens opened

and the angels of a God ascending and

descending on the son

of man.

And so we read this passage.

And when we hear it, we should immediately

be reminded of this passage that of what

Jesus was saying to nathaniel

in the gospel.

The truth and the reality

of what this passage is saying is that

there is 1 that makes a way

between heaven and earth.

And it's Christ.

It is Jesus. It has always been Jesus

and it will always be

Jesus.

But what's so interesting is that this passage

ends up also being set up

as

a comparison

between another passage that we've already read in

Genesis

You see this language where it says they

had a dream and behold a ladder stood

on the earth with its top touching heaven.

Could also be translated as a staircase

that reached heaven.

And what's interesting about that is if you

know anything about the ancient near East,

and the culture surrounding it.

There is something

from mesopotamia that is called a zig,

And a Zig out is a temple

that was built to the gods. And on

1 side, it always have this 1 huge

staircase.

That went to the very top.

And

these were really big,

kind of structures

but they were man made. Right?

And when I say that we've already kind

of heard about this,

many believe scholars believe that it... The tower

of Ba

was a z on.

And what's even more fascinating is we didn't

talk about it then, but I wanna mention

it right now just briefly.

Archaeological, if you look around the world,

there are lots of these, structures that look

exactly like the Z,

whether you're in South America,

in Asia,

It's interesting

that people continue to build

a structure

that was probably similar to that which they

knew in

Ba.

And what happened they were scattered,

but they kept building

because it's what they knew.

But in this moment, in this dream,

it is not a staircase built by human

hands that reaches heaven.

It is 1 that comes from heaven

through god.

More specifically through Jesus.

And so,

Jacob

sees this

event happening unfolding in his dreams of god

coming in angels ascending and descending,

before him.

And I love what says this and behold,

this is verse 13 Y stood above it

But what's interesting is there's 2 ways to

trans like translate that. He is either standing

above,

or it can also be translated,

he was standing beside.

So Y is both

in this text

above

and beside Jacob.

That's speaks to the, again, this character of

God.

The person of God, this 1 that is

above all things and yet wants to be

in this really personal and intimate

relationship with his people.

And he says to to Jacob, the exact

words that he said to Isaac into Abraham

before him.

To his father and to his father's father,

this

promise.

That his seed will be a blessing to

the entire world

that his family

will be a blessing

and that he will take possession of the

land upon which he lies.

I think what's so important about that If

we remember

that this is taking place,

and

or being heard for the first time by

the people in

the wilderness by the Israelites and the wilderness.

What they're hearing

is that the covenant that God made with

Abraham

continues to make its way

through Isaac and to Jacob.

Which means God is a faithful covenant keeper.

That when he said that he would do

it with Abraham,

that he was... That he also did it

with Isaac and now he is doing it

with Jacob. And if he's able to do

it with Isaac and Jacob, then that means

that even in their wilderness moment.

Over 400 years

separated

from the first giving of this covenant

that covenant still applies to them.

And if that covenant still applies to them,

then it still applies to us.

That's the kind of covenant keeping God.

That we have.

A God who can make a covenant

with 1 man and his family

thousands of years ago.

And to this day that covenant has not

been broken.

And the covenant still stands,

and the covenant goes forward,

and will continue to go forward

forever.

And so as they hear

this covenant being re told, not remade

mind you.

There's not another sacrifice, no new covenant is

being cut.

But the covenant being re told to the

to Jacob been being re told to Israel

and the wilderness

is a solid

of who this Y is. And what he

has done and what he will continue to

do with his people and for his people,

is

and then in verse 16.

And then Jacob awoke from his sleep and

said Shirley Y,

is in this place and I did not

know it.

Here's where I kinda of just wanna focus

and wrap things up.

God is an unexpected God.

But us remind ourselves that Jacob is a

deceive, he's not 1 to be emulate,

he's not very good. In fact, as we

go forward in the passage and we read

verse 21 again.

And if I return to my father's house

in peace,

then Y will be my God.

Jacob believes that place still not trusting Y

to be his God.

Still not putting all his faith in Y.

He's gonna head off to Har iran, find

himself some wives,

make a little trouble with his father law,

and he still doesn't trust God,

But if God does these things then Y

will be my God.

Then Y will be my god. And that

is how unexpected God is, as he shows

up

to a man with no faith in him.

And we don't know how we got to

that point. We don't know if Isaac

didn't teach the commandments in the ways

that he was supposed to as Abraham

taught to Isaac.

But what we know is that in this

moment is Jacob is fleeing his home.

He doesn't have the faith that Abraham had.

Where his faith was counted to him is

where his righteousness was counted... Or where his

faith was counted to him as his righteousness.

And doesn't exist right now for Jacob

He's just fleeing

and yet God still shows up.

In a place where he did not even

expect him.

Surely God was in this place, and I

I didn't even know it.

God shows up in unexpected ways,

even when we aren't seeking him,

we don't acknowledge him or even sometimes have

the faith to believe in him,

God can still show up for us.

When he will still show up for us.

Because the covenant that was made back then

holds true today.

Even more so the covenant made in Jesus

still holds true

today.

And what's wonderful is that

David reminds us in the psalms

that we can't escape his presence no matter

where we go?

Psalm 01:39

7, where can I go from your spirit,

or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven you are there

and if I make my bed and she

behold you are there? If I lift up

the wings of the dawn, if I dwell

in the remotes parts of the sea, even

there, your hand will lead me in your

right hand will lay hold of me.

If I say surely the darkness will bruise

me and the light around me will be

night, even the darkness is not too dark

for you in the night. Is as bright

as the day. Darkness and light are a

alike to you.

It doesn't matter where we go, what... Situation

we find ourselves, the challenges that we experienced,

like the challenges that the Israelites experienced

time, and time, and time, again.

Many of them mind you were brought on

by their own decisions,

I mean, making a golden calf, their decision.

Complaining about the mann in the quail, their

decision. Complaining about the water, their decision.

A lot of the decisions that they made

in the wilderness

led to their mis fortune.

And yet y way still chose to show

up

in unexpected ways.

To still provide for them,

to still be there,

to still show them the way to still

lead them

out of the wilderness and into the holy

land.

His presence

is in

and he is fully capable.

I'm reminded of the words of Jesus and

Matthew chapter 19,

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

when

the disciples are

challenging him,

about the rich young ruler.

Says,

and Jesus said his disciples truly, I say

to you, it is hard for a rich

man

to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again,

I say to you it is easier for

a camel to go through the eye of

a needle than for a rich man to

enter the kingdom of and when the disciples

heard this, they were very astonished and they

said, then who can be saved.

Heaven And looking at them, Jesus said to

them with people,

this is impossible.

But with God,

all things are possible.

Well, you believe that Y is a god

of

unexpected challenges

that when we face challenges, he's gonna show

up.

He can show up, and he can change

the course and the direction of history.

Just as he changed the course of Jacob's

life in that 1 moment by showing him

a dream. And he surely did not know

that god was in that place.

That is to say,

expect.

God to do unexpected things.

Expect him to do unexpected things in your

life. Expect him to do expected things in

this church, expect them to do unexpected things

in our community, in our nation and in

this world.

Because right now, I think we're kind of

living in an age where we have to

look around and we have to say, God,

you have to do something unexpected at this

point.

But I believe that you are the God

who can do unexpected things.

Even as the israelites trans through the wilderness.

They're like, God, we don't know how you're

getting us to that promised land.

But you have showed that you are gone

that can do the unexpected.

I mean, just read through D toronto You

I can't tell you how many times they're

complaining about what's in the holy land and

the spy sent to the holy land and

we can't do it and it's... Impossible.

They didn't trust that God

could be in that place.

It's Maybe just as Jacob couldn't trust that

God could be

and

Fell.

And yet he was.

He was there.

And he was always with Jacob in fact.

If we remember

the words,

that God gave to Isaac.

It was that the older would serve the

younger?

And how did that happen?

Well, through a lot of deception,

unfortunately,

but God used it.

In his plan,

to raise Jacob up to continue

this

covenant that god made with Abraham.

That he continues to make with us and

continue to make

with the Israelites and the wilderness.

So how has God showing up unexpectedly in

your life? How has he done it?

And do you expect him to do it

again?

We you believe that he is a gun

that can do all things.

Not just little things.

But he's the god that's involved intricate in

all the little things your life,

not just the big moments where he seems

really put on display.

Because this was a big moment

for Jacob.

Have

But it's very clear in scripture that Y

was involved in every step of the process

to lead him to that moment

He still leads us today,

and we thank Jesus for that

for that gift,

that he is truly

the latter

upon which heaven and Earth connect.

In which we have been given away

back to the father

through the spirit.

Let's pray.

Good and gracious God. Could we be like

the israelites?

Who hear the story of Jacob and are

encouraged that you are a God who shows

up

unexpected places and unexpected ways to do unexpected

things.

That you continue to do it. Even today

in or I can I can't even imagine

how

unexpected

the coming of Jesus was?

And yet,

that

moment in history

changed the world.

It was another realization that the covenant that

you made with Abraham

carried forth still.

And so Lord,

lead us and guide us,

reveal yourself to us,

that we may follow you wherever you go

and whatever challenges await,

we trust and believe

that you will be there here.

It's in the name of Jesus that we

pray.

Amen.