God's trial - Chapter 9

           Dwell again in Beth-El!

God said to Jacob,”Go to Bethel at once,and live there.Build an alter there to me,the God who  appeared to you ････”So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him.”Get rid of the  foreign gods that you have purify yourselves and put on clean clothes.････”････Jacob came with all his people to ････ Bethel ････.he built an alter there and named the place for the God of Bethel, ････ God appeared to him again and ････ said to him,”Your name is Jacob,but from now  on it will be Israel.”So God named him Israel.････ He named the place Bethel.

                                                【Genesis 35:1～15】

Throw "everything" away.

Of the two prayers of vows that Jacob dealt with,this time it is about God's rich reward for the  second prayer.He said,"Lord,if you can bring me safely back to my father Isaac's house,I will  obey and serve you all my life!”This was a very shallow request he made to God.As a result,he  would go through many trials and tribulations.

The first point to be learned from this article is that God can deal with us many times to make  us throw all our human bonds and ties away!That's the point.Finally,he was able to escape from  Laban,but he was unable to shed his human nature's ego.

At last,he was given the great treatment of wrestling with the angel of God.Even at this time, he said,"I will never lose! But in the end,the angel struck him on the thigh and he was defeated. However,during the struggle,the angel of God never confronts Jacob with a look of anger,but rather  with the same face as the Lord when he met him on the stone pillow,"Your name is Israel! He said  in a mysterious way.

At that moment,Jacob said,"Now that I am face to face with God,I can no longer live!”He threw  up his hands in surrender.It's like a solid block of rock being shattered into pieces.It would  have been nice if everything had ended happily,but after this,a problem continues to haunt him.

His sons and daughters,by interacting with the foreign youths,have become tainted with unholy  practices such as wearing foreign gods as ornaments.And to top it all off,one of his daughter  was sexually raped by a foreign man,an incident that he could not bear as a parent,and it tore  him apart mentally.”We can't do this anymore!”he said.

Dwell again in Beth-El again!

The words of God spoken at that time are the famous words,"Go to Bethel at once,and live  there ････"(Chapter 36,verse 1).Then he thought,"Lord,how can someone like me,who is falling apart, go to Bethel and build an altar for you? This is the beginning of the new Jacob.

This time,he was treated by the Holy Spirit like a discarded car that was no longer working.The  Lord spoke to him again.”It is not for you to do this! It is I,the Lord,who will bring you back, so just believe and go home,and dwell again in there！”

At that time,he still did not know the true destination of his return.At first,he saw it in his  human nature's image as the home of his father Isaac.But the Lord had commanded him to go to Bethel. When Jacob realized the true place of return,he said,"Yes! We should return to the place where  we made a holy vow with the Lord Himself on that stone pillow! Under the direction of the Holy  Spirit,he prepares himself in three equipment.

The second point that we need to learn from this article is that we need to know about the Holy  Spirit's guidance that led Jacob not to return to his father's hometown,but to return to the house  of God,or Bethel.

By the way,what the new coronavirus has made us realize is how vulnerable we are to the invisible! Especially when it comes to invisible information such as words,because we can't see them in reality, so we create images of the human nature.When it comes to invisible images,we need to be careful  not to let the spirit of fear control us!

What do we fear in our daily lives? Most of us have a weakness to worry about the future (tomorrow, next month,next year,the future,etc.) and fear this and that.Instead of thinking in the right  direction,they are invoking the spirit of fear,of what if,for better reliable security.

Now,when the time came for Jacob to return to Bethel,he carried out three equipment preparations  as directed by the Holy Spirit.First,(1)he had to throw away all the idols that clung to him. Secondly,(2)to purify himself thoroughly to renew the dirt he had been wearing.Thirdly,(3)dispose  of all clothing and ornaments purchased from the foreigners,and put on the original simple and  clean clothes.

God calls him by a new name.

Finally,the family of Jacob returned to Bethel.At that time,the Lord personally called out to  Jacob,"O Israel!” It must have been a surprise for him to be called by his new name."What! I  was Jacob.････ But maybe I really am who God calls me as Israel.”

The word Israel is made up of three Hebrew words: i(you),sra(fight against),and el(God).This is  his new name,the one who fights seriously against God.When he was called by this new name,he  realized what a foolish dimension of human nature's warfare he had been engaged in.He realized  once again that the only one he should be seriously fighting against spiritually is the Lord  Himself!

That's right! Jacob,who first learned through his fight against God,then said,"Yes! Israel is  here.After that,he will be sanctified more and more as a good,pure,obedient servant.He finally  found Bethel(the Temple of God)in the midst of his spirit,as the Lord,always watching over him  as he fought against God,brought him up to Bethel and made him live there again.

The one who controls our lives,protects us from the invisible enemy(the new coronavirus),and  establishes a firm faith that will not be deceived by various falsehoods,is "El Bethel"(the God  who makes his temple in you his home)! The God we believe in is the Highest Being who continues  to dwell in the midst of our spirit and constantly protects and guides all of us in great blessings.

Jacob,at this point,surrendered everything to God.We are not called to fight against the human  nature's dimension.We are called to make a strong case against God in the spiritual dimension, where evil forces try to separate us from the Temple of God and defile it in various ways with  the beauty of the world.

The invisible enemy is indeed a scary thing for us.But don't worry! For the spiritual doorway  of your temple of God has been richly painted and sanctified with the precious blood of Jesus  Christ.I pray that you will be sanctified as a pure believer who always places the presence of  the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of your walk,just like Jacob who was ordered by God, "Keep dwelling  again in Beth-El!" Blessed be the Holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.Amen!(Message on 1/Mar/2020)