OCTOBER 27, 2024

Bible verse “GENESIS 35:1~8”

Sermon title "The Jacob’s life 11’

 When Jacob heard that his only daughter, Dinah, had been groped by Hamor's son, Shechem, he remained silent. Jacob remained silent because he accepted that it was not in his power to undo what had already happened. However, this problem is not so simple and easy. Abraham's granddaughter, the ancestor of faith, was gestured at. Jacob was not alone. It is incomprehensible and unacceptable in the current church, where it is widely believed that such tragedies do not and cannot happen in the families of believers, and that the children of believers are always blessed. Or that Dinah was humiliated as a punishment because Abraham or Jacob did something wrong or sinned before God. But there is no record in the Bible of Dinah being humiliated as a punishment for Abraham's or Jacob's sins. She was simply humiliated. If so, has God's standard of blessing changed? Has the standard of blessing changed from four thousand years ago to today? Has the standard of Christian living changed from two thousand years ago to today? God's word is said to be truth. The word of God is said to be truth when it does not change or deteriorate to suit the times and circumstances. If you believe what God said four thousand years ago or two thousand years ago by reinterpreting it according to the current times and circumstances, it cannot be called the truth. It would be an untruth. The truth of God's word is the same in its interpretation and application as it was four thousand years ago or two thousand years ago. There is a saying that if you go to Rome at the end of the world, you must follow Roman law. That's true. But Christians are to follow the Word of God even when they go to Rome. This is different because our citizenship is in heaven. Whether you lived 2,000 years ago, 4,000 years ago, or in the next millennium, your descendants must live according to God's Word. After the millennium, we may go to the moon and live on Mars. It is the Christian life to live with the truth of God's Word as the standard, even if they go there. Dinah, the direct granddaughter of Abraham, the father of faith, was humiliated by Shechem. This is a fact. It is a fact that cannot be glorified or wrapped up in faith or belief. So we choose not to. I decided to be safe. That's why we don't preach about Jacob. In the church, the children of believers are blessed when they go out and blessed when they come in, but the only granddaughter of Abraham, the father of faith, was ruined. When Jacob's sons heard the news in the field, they were troubled and deeply angry, for who would not be angry that their only sister had been humiliated... Simeon the second and Levi the third took up the sword to avenge their sister, and using God's holy institution of circumcision, they slaughtered the city of Shechem along with Hamor's family. Leah, Jacob's first wife, gave birth to Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and Dinah, and Simeon and Levi avenged Dinah, who was born of the same mother. The half-brothers were quiet. Simeon and Levi made a proposal to Hamor and Shechem. “Cut off the skin of all the males of your tribe, and we will allow you to marry Dinah. When Hamor and Shechem heard this, they immediately cut the skin of all the males in the city of Shechem. There were no antibiotics or painkillers in those days, and by the third day, the pain was so intense that they could not move and lay down, so Simeon and Levi went to the city of Shechem with swords and slaughtered not only Hamor and Shechem, but all the men who lived in the city of Shechem among the Hamorites. Simeon and Levi. They didn't just kill one or two people, they killed thousands. And they did it using God's holy institution of circumcision. Two of Jacob's sons became horrific murderers overnight. The grandson of Abraham, the father of the faith, became a murderer. A murderer in the family of faith. Not only was Jacob's only daughter humiliated, but his two sons became murderers. Now the children of the pastor's family and the children of the elderly deacon's family have been dishonored and have harmed people. If you think that the events that happened four thousand years ago are different now, it is like saying that God's word is not the truth... It is like believing that two thousand years ago we were saved by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, but not now. What is even more shocking is that this incident happened not long after Jacob wrestled with the angel by the brook Jabbok and won. He just wrestled with an angel, won, and changed his name to Israel, and then this tragedy comes on top of that. He's confused about what to make of this. But it doesn't end there, but in 34:30, “And Jacob said unto Simeon and Levi, Ye have provoked me to anger, and have made me a stench unto the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites: for I am few in number, and they shall gather together against me, and shall slay me; and I and my house shall be destroyed.” Fire fell on the feet of Jacob. The house of Jacob was destroyed. Jacob had slaughtered the family of Hamor, who had lived in Canaan for generations, for the sake of pulling out a stone that had been rolled from somewhere, so why would the other tribes of Canaan leave him alone? If the tribes of Canaan united against Jacob, he would be destroyed. It's one bad thing after another without Jacob being able to breathe. When Jacob was stuck between a rock and a hard place, God spoke to him. Verse 35:1 'Arise, Jacob, and go up to Bethel' Jacob went up to Bethel not because he went up to Bethel to find God and pray, but because God appeared to Jacob, who was lost, confused, and restless, and told him to go up to Bethel. Therefore, Bethel is the place where you can go up when God tells you to go up. But now, the saints go up by themselves, so the church is also named Bethel Church. When he heard God's word to go up to Bethel, he did not believe, “God is going to solve this problem,” but he realized that he had an opportunity to introduce God to his family and all those who were with him and teach them about God. Problem solving comes second. Jacob is different, but isn't he too different? Up until now, only Jacob had met God, believed in God, and knew God. There was no time for Jacob to sit down with everyone in his family and tell them the story of his encounter with God. God wanted Jacob to meet God, not just Jacob, but Jacob's household and all those who belonged to Jacob, and Jacob recognized God's heart.

When Jacob's only daughter Dinah was raped and Simeon and Levi committed the crime of killing people with a sword, which could have destroyed Jacob's family, Jacob realized that God calling him to Bethel was the turning point for Jacob to believe in God, not just for himself, but for everyone who belonged to him. In other words, Jacob had been spiritually awake and in spiritual communication with God ever since he met God at the Jabbok River. Even though he was spiritually awake and in spiritual communication with God, bad things continued to happen. If he hadn't been in spiritual communication with God, Jacob would have been foaming at the mouth, crying, blowing, and fuming when Dinah was raped and Simeon and Ephraim murdered. Because he was in spiritual communion with God, he was able to calm down, and now he knew that the God who called him to Bethel wanted to meet with his family and all the people who belonged to him. So in verses 2-3 he says, “Put away your foreign gods, purify yourselves, change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel, that I may build an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way of my journey.” If you weren't in a desperate situation where you were being chased by the Canaanites, would you say to your family and friends, “Let us arise and go up to Bethel”? Would you have left your favorite pagan idols and drabim, purified yourself, and changed your clothes? You probably wouldn't have even snorted. He would have said, 'Go up to Bethel, you favorite of God. If you say to people who are at peace, well-fed, well-lived, and happy without any worries, “Believe in Jesus, go up to Bethel, go to church,” who will follow you to believe in Jesus? They will say, 'Good for you, be blessed and go to heaven. Last week, we had our 38th anniversary thanksgiving service, and I went around town asking everyone to come. Not a single person came. Not one. That's why God gives people failures, frustrations, despair, difficulties, tribulations, and sufferings in their lives. Only then do people hear the word of God, “Come up to Bethel.” Of course, there are some people who are like stones who don't bat an eye no matter how much suffering, pain, and tribulation they have to endure. Jacob told those who were with him to put away their foreign gods. Rachel still had the drabim that she had stolen from her father Laban. Jacob hadn't had a chance to get rid of it, so he had let it go unnoticed, and now he had the chance to get rid of it all at once. If Jacob had told Rachel to get rid of the drabim before, she would have been angry and they would have argued. Jacob's family had to get rid of all the foreign gods in order to purify themselves so that they could meet with God. After hearing Jacob's command, verse 4 says, “And they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hands, and the rings in their ears: and Jacob buried them under an oak tree near Shechem.” It was not easy for the people to get rid of the foreign gods, drabim, oracles, and earrings that they had worshiped and believed in. That is why the present-day saints are also living their faith one by one. They are doing it without God's knowledge because it would be a waste to completely abandon the things they have been secretly enjoying. You have to cut it off. When all of Jacob's companions abandoned their foreign idols, took off their earrings, purified themselves, and changed their clothing, God gave them a reversal, and verse 5 says, “They issued, but God made them greatly afraid, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob.” Just before they came to Bethel, those who had drawn swords and gnashed their teeth were afraid of Jacob and his servants. Was it because Jacob and his servants suddenly became old and powerful? No. God had put fear in the hearts of the Canaanites. Just as God met Jacob by the river Jabbok, He met those who were with Jacob at Bethel. The men who were with Jacob had a spiritual experience of meeting God. Where? At Bethel. When you hear the word to come up to Bethel, you must throw away the images of foreign gods in your hearts, pull out the earrings in your ears, purify yourself, and change your garments. You must be clothed with Jesus Christ. Only then can we have a spiritual experience with God. Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and there I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my affliction, and was with me in my way. Let us arise and go up to Bethel. Let us worship God, who answered us in the day of our affliction and was with us in our way; and may we be the people of God who meet God in the house of God in the house of God at Bethel, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.