Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #30 of Genesis, chapter 28, and we will be reading Genesis 28:16-19:

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely JEHOVAH is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

I will stop reading there.  To begin with, I just want to clarify something I may have said before regarding Jacob coming out of the land of Canaan, and that he had come out when he had the dream where God showed him the ladder.  But to clarify or correct, in case I did say that (and I think I did), when he awaked out of his sleep, we read in verse 19:

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

That indicates that he was still within the boundary of the land of Canaan because we know that Bethel is a city in Israel which was in the land of Canaan.  Also, God says in Genesis 35:6:

So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

There is no doubt then that this dream and this visitation from God took place while Jacob was in the land of Canaan.  Does that change anything about what I have been teaching about coming out of Canaan as typifying coming out of the churches, as Canaan typifies the churches and Jacob going out into the world, as he is on his way to Haran?  By the way, this is how I made this mistake, if we go back to Genesis 28:10:

And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

I misread that, and I thought he had left Canaan and gone to Haran, but the key word is “toward,” so he was going in that direction.  He was on his way out of the Promised Land of Canaan, which typifies the churches, but now we know that he had not yet completely left.  Actually, that does fit in with the parable of the ten virgins.  All ten were sleeping, and we know that (sleeping) fits in with the parable of the wheat and the tares.  “Let both grow together until the harvest.”  So all ten were sleeping, and then there was the cry made at midnight, “The bridegroom cometh; Go ye out to meet him.”  So that is key.  God opened the Scriptures beginning in 1988, and 1994 was the official end of the church age, and then God had to reveal the truth and grant understanding to His people that were still in the churches and congregations of the world so that they would depart out. 

So everything still fits.  Jacob awaked out of the sleep while he was still in the land of Canaan, just as the five wise virgins awake and then after waking, they go out.  Jacob awoke, and he was fearful, and then he continued on his way to Haran and he would leave the land of Canaan. 

So mistaking exactly where he was at the time of the dream was an error, but I do not see that it is causing error with other things that have been taught so far.  But if anyone feels differently or if you think that I have made another misstatement, please let me know.  Send an e-mail to ebiblefellowship@juno.com, or call into one of our live Q & As, and we can talk about it.  But from what I can see, the teaching of the spiritual meaning of Jacob awaking out of sleep still identifies with the virgins awaking and, therefore, with the time of the end of the church age, and regarding the wheat and the tares growing together “while men slept,” and the point of waking up has to do with the end.

So let us go on to Genesis 28:17:

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Therefore, this does still fit in because this place where he had that dream would fit in with Israel because Israel was in the land of Canaan.  And in the land of Canaan, the house of God would be built, so that fits in with the churches being the outward representation of God’s kingdom on earth.  And, yet, that is not what is in view because of the statement that Jacob would return back to this place, as it says a little further down in Genesis 28:20-22:

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall JEHOVAH be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

The spiritual meaning would fit in with the spiritual house of God, not the outward representation of it, so we will spend some time looking at this.  I just want to sort of lay out how it basically has to be understood.

Again, going back to Genesis 28:17:

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place!...

The words “afraid” and “dreadful” are the same Hebrew word, which is Strong’s #3372.  This is the word that is used in Leviticus 19:30:

Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am JEHOVAH.

The word “reverence” is this word “afraid” and “dreadful.”  So, it could say, “Ye shall…fear my sanctuary.”  You know, that is why pastors used to be called “Reverend.”  There used to be a respect and fear of the authority of the church, and the pastor represented that authority, and the authority of the church was the Bible.  So men used to have a respect, to some degree, of God and His Word and its representatives on the earth – the churches and the pastors, and so forth.  But, of course, all of that is long gone since we entered into the time of the end.

But this is the word that is used, where it says, “And he was afraid.”  And notice that God said, “Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am JEHOVAH.”

That is what Jacob is doing – he is fearing what happened at that location, and then he said, “This is none other but the house of God.”  How dreadful and fearful was this place.  This is the house of God.  You see, he was fearing the sanctuary of JEHOVAH, and we will see that the word “sanctuary” has the same meaning as “house,” if we go to 1Chronicles 22:17-19:

David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not JEHOVAH your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath given the inhabitants of the land into mine hand; and the land is subdued before JEHOVAH, and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek JEHOVAH your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of JEHOVAH God, to bring the ark of the covenant of JEHOVAH, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of JEHOVAH.

The Lord commissioned Solomon to build the house.  David made preparation, but it was his son Solomon who built it.  And, here, it says to build the sanctuary or build the house.  And God says, “Reverence my sanctuary.”  He is saying, “Fear my house.  Fear the house of God.”  And that “house” was always a type and picture that did, indeed, represent the kingdom of God, but it was not the kingdom of God itself, but an outward, physical, observable representation.  They were the visible churches that we saw on our street corners, the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian and all the other churches that came into being over the course of the church age.  It was the representation or the type and figure of God’s eternal kingdom and His eternal house. 

“House” and “kingdom” are also synonymous.  For instance, we see this in Mark 3 where the question was asked in Mark 3:23-25:

And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

They are one and the same.  The kingdom of God or the house of God are the same thing, and the churches had this fear throughout the church age because the presence of God was in their midst.  The Holy Spirit dwelt in the midst of the congregations.  Revelation pictures that as the Lord Jesus dwelling among the “candlesticks” in the midst of the church.  God was there and His Word was there, and there was a certain “fear” people associated with that.

But God departed out of the midst on May 21, 1988 at the end of the church age, and Satan, the abomination of desolation and man of sin entered in and seated himself in the temple, showing himself that he is God.  And, of course, it was at that point that judgment began at the house of God, the outward representation of the kingdom of God on the earth.

And it was not long until the world picked up on the fact that there was a difference in the churches.  They were not the same somehow.  Churches were still in the same location, down the street on the corner.  The same people were there, carrying the same Bibles.  The same pastor was there.  In fact, everything was the same, except for the most important thing: the Spirit of God was gone.  The protection of God and the glorious presence of His Being was gone, and after a while the mocking, the ridiculing and the reviling began, and there was no response.  As a matter of fact, not only was God not fighting back and protecting the churches, but He was actively fighting against them.  It was God Himself that loosed Satan, and He knew exactly what Satan would do, knowing that Satan would come against the camp of the saints.  And God utilized him as an instrument of judgment to spiritually destroy the churches and congregations of the world.  And that “fear” of the sanctuary and house of God was completely gone.  Completely gone. 

So it was no surprise that years ago there was a series of church burnings, and now we hear of church shootings.  And it is no surprise because God is not there.  He is not protecting the churches and He is not fighting against those that fight against it.  Instead, God fostered those kinds of things by allowing them, and in so doing, He brought shame, and spiritual destruction and desolation to the churches and congregations of the world, and they are in ruin.  If anyone has eyes to see and ears to hear, they can listen to what the Bible says and then listen to what the churches say, and it is complete spiritual wasteland across the Christian corporate church. 

And this would fit in with the command of God that we see in Ezekiel 9:1-8:

He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar. And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side; And JEHOVAJ said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

You see, this is a description of God’s judgment on the churches of our time, the churches that are all over the earth at the time of the end.  And we are at the time of the end.

And notice that He said, “…and begin at my sanctuary.”  And, again, “sanctuary” and “house” are synonymous, and that is why this is a commentary on what we read in 1Peter 4:17:

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

There are all kinds of people who try to ward off the judgment of God from the churches, so they will work overtime trying to make a verse say something other than what it is clearly saying and what God has clearly stated, and they will say, “Oh, this is referring to the judgment on the people of God in Christ.”  No – Ezekiel 9 is a commentary on 1Peter 4:17.  God said, “Go into Jerusalem, and start smiting the people – the old, the young, the women, and children – but do not harm or kill those with the mark, my elect.”  Judgment begins at the house of God.  It has nothing to do with the elect in Christ and the judgment on Him at the foundation of the world.  It has nothing to do with that whatsoever.  Ezekiel 9 makes it plain that this statement in 1Peter 4 has everything to do with God judging an unfaithful and rebellious house because of their iniquity, and because they did not obey the Word of God.

Then there are others that say, “Oh, it is talking about the house of God, not the churches.”  It is almost funny how “slippery” some people tend to be that otherwise might seem very honest and open in a lot of areas, but when it comes to certain points they are desperately trying to prove, they can really become “slippery.”  These are the same people that might say, “The pillar and ground of the truth is the house of God,” regarding that statement in 1Timothy 3:15:

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

You see, here, God is defining what the house is – it is the church.  And, yet, they feign ignorance when 1Peter 4:17 uses that same word “house,” where judgment begins at the house of God.  It is not talking about Israel and the temple in any way.  It is talking about the churches – that is where judgment begins: “Begin at my sanctuary.”

Anyway, that is what God has done, and we know that.  The Lord’s people, the elect, see this as “old news.”  It is already over and done with, for the 23 years from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011 is now past, and God did (spiritually) destroy all those remaining in the corporate body of the house of God.  And those that had the “mark” and were spared are God’s elect who were commanded to leave the churches, and we did so because God gave us the Spirit to obey His commandments.

So it seems that everything we are looking at concerning Jacob’s “fear” and “the house of God” seems to have to do with the corporate church.  However, if we turn to Exodus 25, it says in Exodus 25:8:

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

This reminds us of other Scriptures were God speaks of building Him a house that will become His eternal habitation.  For example, we know that Hebrews 3 speaks of the company of the elect, and it says, “whose house are we.”  And 1Peter 2:5 refers to a “spiritual house,” consisting of everyone God has saved.  And we also read in Isaiah 8:13:

Sanctify JEHOVAH of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

This is just as Jacob “feared.”  It is the same Hebrew word.

Then it says in Isaiah 8:14:

And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Here, the Lord of hosts Himself is the One referred to when it says, “And he shall be for a sanctuary.”  God is the sanctuary.  God is the house, and the elect are built up into a spiritual house as the body of Christ, and Christ is God.  So it all fits together, as we are one with Him.

This is why when Jacob was afraid and said, “How dreadful is this place,” he is really referring to the eternal house of God, who is God Himself, and His people.  It is the spiritual, eternal kingdom of the great King of Heaven.