“The Stuff from Which Dreams are Made” Genesis 28:10-19a

How many here remember their dreams? I usually don’t remember mine, and when I do, they are really odd! There are professional organizations out there who interpret dreams. I Googled “Interpretation of Dreams” and got 15,300,000 hits, including one that said, “This site may harm your computer.” Sometimes we use the phrase in a pejorative sense – “He’s nothing but a dreamer!” Some folks insist on telling us their dreams – sometimes it’s interesting, or scary, or humorous. I knew a woman at work years ago who came into my office and said, “Jim, I had a dream about you last night.” “Wow, I thought…” She continued, “I had a dream that you purchased a raffle ticket for my church!” Oh well… There are many accounts of dreams in the Bible. The first dream mentioned is when Abraham lies to King Abimelech and tells him Sarah is his sister. God comes to the king in a dream and warns him he will die if he touches her. In another instance, Joseph is rotting in an Egyptian prison, and is summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. And remember how Joseph ended up in Egypt in the first place – his brothers were jealous of his dreams! In the gospel of Matthew, Joseph learns that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant. But an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him to take Mary as his wife. In the 2006 movie, The Nativity Story, the dream is quite vivid, and Joseph wakes up in a cold sweat. Later, the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod after visiting the young Jesus During the trial of Jesus, Pilate is deciding whether to execute Jesus, or set the criminal Barabbas free. His wife sends him a message: Matthew 27:19: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.” This morning, we will hear about another dream, Jacob’s dream at Bethel. Before we hear the account, let’s go over some background: Remember, in their old age, Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac; Isaac married Rebekah. Last week, we read about Isaac’s twin sons, Esau and Jacob. The younger Jacob tricked his older brother Esau into selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup. We are now at the end of Isaac’s life, and he is blind. As is the custom, Isaac wants to bless Esau, since he is the oldest. Isaac doesn’t know about the bowl of soup episode. Esau is out hunting, and is not around. Rebekah and the younger Jacob trick the blind Isaac by wearing one of Esau’s coats. Isaac blesses Jacob instead of the older Esau. Esau appears, and realizes he has lost his father’s blessing. He is naturally upset with himself, and with his brother Jacob. Esau wants to kill his brother Jacob. Their mother Rebakah, who loved Jacob more, tells Jacob to flee to her brother Laban, Jacob’s uncle. Esau goes after Jacob, but Jacob manages to escape Esau’s fury. Now we find Jacob on the run, fleeing from his angry older brother. Jacob is a deceiver, a liar, and a trickster. He is wandering in the desert, and he stops for the night. Let us go through the passage: Genesis 28:10-11: Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. ¹¹ When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. When he reached a certain place… In the Hebrew, it actually means, “He hit upon a certain place…” Another interpretation in the Hebrew describes it as “the place between places…” Regardless, it was not a very distinguished spot – certainly not when he came (or hit) upon it. His destination was purely accidental, yet divinely appointed. Remember, Jacob is terrified of his brother, and rightly so. He is on the run, guilty. In a most desolate place, in a most desolate state of mind. The Father of Israel puts a rock under his head and goes to sleep. Genesis 28:12-15: [Jacob]had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. ¹⁵ I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” In spite of all the bad things Jacob, heir of the Promise, has done, God is still communicating with him This gives us confidence that God is willing to communicate with us as well, no matter what our state of mind or actions Let’s review what took place: First, the meeting happens in a dream. And in that dream, instead of God reminding Jacob of his dark and guilty past. God opens a brighter future for Jacob. Second, the connection between God and Jacob, and therefore God and us, remains intact. The fellowship between God in heaven and his people on earth is real and it is uninterrupted. Angels are going up and down a stairway, taking our requests to God, and bringing God’s answers, his nearness and assistance, back down to us. Third, in this case, instead of angels as messengers, it is the LORD who speaks to Jacob. Fourth, God reviews and renews the promise made to Abraham, Jacob’s grandfather. Abraham received God’s word in a vision. Jacob got his message from God while he was asleep and dreaming. But verse 15 is important – God reminds Jacob, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Let’s talk about what is happening here. Jacob is at the end of his rope, fearing for his life, and without direction. Not exactly the state of mind one might call “to be in union with God.” Also, notice something else: We are not told, but it doesn’t appear that Jacob said any prayers before he fell off to sleep. Ever done that? The last thing on Jacob’s mind was God – it’s not like he saw a beautiful sunset or anything like that. Ever been in that state of mind? Ever been in a situation when you essentially stopped thinking about or talking to God? Ever feel that God is not listening? Ever feel that maybe God has turned his back on us? Listen to Psalm 55:1-5: Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; ² hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught ³ at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger. ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. ⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. And what happened when Jacob was sleeping? God spoke to him in a dream. He was asleep! Jacob wasn’t exactly reaching out to God, was he? God did all the reaching – ever wonder how often that happens? Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 8:26: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. In Matthew 8, we have the account of Peter’s mother-in-law. She was lying in bed, and Jesus came in and touched her, and she got up and waited on them. She didn’t do anything, and Jesus reached out to her! My former pastor in Indianapolis was right out of Seminary, and his first funeral was a suicide. He used this passage from Matthew to point out a wonderful truth: sometimes God reaches down to us even when we don’t ask. Let’s finish the account, verses 15-19: I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” ¹⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He called that place Bethel… We’re all familiar with the great old hymn, Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.  My friends, God’s presence was not apparent to Jacob when he dropped off to sleep, exhausted and afraid for his life. And yet, God was there – and Jacob didn’t even know it! And once Jacob came to the realization that God had indeed been in that place, he was even more astonished. Our NIV uses the word awesome – Jacob was filled with awe. Other translations use dreadful – this may be closer to the original Hebrew. One commentator wrote, “As the nearness of the holy God makes an alarming impression upon [an]unholy [person], the consciousness of sin grows into the fear of death.” In other words, when we compare ourselves with God, we are filled with dread. We come near to God, and we see how far we are from him, and we are filled with dread. After Jacob wakes up, after this dream, he finds his world a much better and reassuring place than when he went to sleep. Remember what we said earlier? The place he came upon was unimportant. But now, this nameless, “place between places” has now become a very important place for Jacob. He erects a small altar there, and renames it Bethel – “house of God” I am with you. I will keep you. I will keep my promises… My friends, God spoke to Jacob in a dream. Jacob heard God in a dream. Jacob listened to God in a dream. And Jacob believed God. Do you believe this? Do you believe that God is with us, that he will keep us? I suspect that every one of us here, as a baby, fell asleep in someone’s arms. It takes trust to fall asleep in someone’s arms, doesn’t it? Lately, I have experienced the joy of having a baby fall asleep in my arms again. When a person falls asleep in another’s arms, it’s a matter of trust, isn’t it? Maybe my grandchildren were completely exhausted, but I like to think they trust their grandpa, and they go to sleep in my arms. Jacob was asleep, he fell asleep, and God reached out. My friends, that same trusting relationship is offered to us right now, by God the Father himself. We can trust our heavenly Father, and we can fall asleep in his loving arms. In his dream, Jacob received assurance that God was with him, and would keep him, and would keep his promises. We ourselves can rest in those promises too. Just as Jacob was an heir to God’s promise, we also are, as Paul says, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. This is the stuff from which dreams are made…