Helps for the Children A Friend of God Gen. 12:1-9; 13:14-17 Memory Verse: “Trust in the Lord and do good” (Psa. 37:3). Has your family ever gone on a long trip ? Perhaps you have planned for that trip for many months. You have shopped for it, planned what you would have to take, and told all of your friends where you were going and when you planned to return home? Many years before the Lord Jesus came to the earth, God spoke to Abra ham, His friend, and told him to take his family upon a long journey. Because God wanted Abraham to obey Him com pletely, He did not tell Abraham where he was going! God told Abraham to leave his friends and relatives and go to a land that God would later show to him. If Abraham obeyed, God promised that He would make of him a great nation and bless him and make his name great. God would bless those who blessed Abra ham and punish those who hated him. In Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed. What a hard decision Abraham and his lovely wife Sarah had to make! People would think that they were very foolish to go on a journey and leave all that they had when they did not even know where they were going! So great was their love for God, that they decided to obey Him no matter what others thought of their decision. As Abraham journeyed he went through strange lands. The Lord ap peared unto him one day and said, “Unto thy seed [family] will I give this land.” Abraham built an altar unto the Lord and worshiped Him at that place. How happy he was that he had obeyed God and that God was his Friend! Later, God told Abraham that all of the land as far as he could see in each direction was to belong to his family for ever and that his family should he as great in number as the dust of the earth. Again, Abraham built an altar to wor ship God who had been so good to him. Only those who are willing to wholly obey God can be truly happy and suc cessful in life. God’s Word says, “ Trust in the Lord and do good.” Those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour are used by their Lord to do His work and to help others to know Him and to live for Him.
own desires without regard to the wel fare of others. But in the chapter be fore us, Jacob comes face to face with God. His heart is subdued and he dedi cates himself to the God whom before he had neglected. The lesson is also important because we have in it a reaffirmation of the promise previously given to Abraham of a seed and a blessing. Chapter 28 con tains God’s first manifestation to Jacob for the purpose of assuring him of the divine presence and the continuance of the Abrahamic covenant. There were six additional manifestations to him. Jacob’s Sad Journey vv. 10, 11 He was leaving home because of his sin. He was fleeing for his life. The stolen birthright had brought a rift in his family circle and it was thought best that he should leave the country in order to keep out of sight of his wronged brother Esau. Sin always causes separa tions of one kind or another. On his way to Haran, Jacob stopped at the location later named Bethel. Jacob’s Providential Dream vv. 12-15 Jacob might well have thought be cause of his conduct that God would no longer have any dealings with him. But instead God came very close to him as he lay sleeping on the rocky hills of Bethel. He saw a heavenly ladder ex tending' from Heaven to earth. He saw angels going up and down this ladder, indicating the possibility of contact be tween Heaven and earth. God stood at the top of the ladder and spoke to His wayward servant. This ladder came right down into the midst of Jacob’s deepest need. It ascended right up into the very presence of the God of all grace. It spoke of easy access into the presence of God if only there is submis sion to the divine will. It is wonderful to read in the New Testament that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true ladder connecting earth to Heaven (John 1:51). He is the only way of access for sinners into God’s presence. Jacob’s Earnest Response vv. 16-19 When Jacob awoke from his dream, he was smitten with a holy fear. He was sensitive to God’s presence as he had never been before. He felt that this was the very “house of God”. And so the place was named Bethel which means house of God (v. 19). Moreover, it was to him “the gate of Heaven” . It is al ways the gate of Heaven when anyone comes to know God and finds himself in Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). In the morning when Jacob arose, he took the stone which he had used for a pillow and set it apart as a memorial to the wonderful experience he had had with God during the night. He did not want to forget the wonder of it, the grace of it. The place of one’s conversion deserves to be re membered. The marvel of what tran spired there should never be forgotten. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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October 14, 1951 JACOB RECEIVES THE
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This lesson, according to many, re cords that experience in Jacob’s life which was equivalent to his conversion. Prior to this Jacob had manifested his fleshly, selfish character. He was a trickster, a schemer, one whose thoughts seemed bent upon the satisfaction of his
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