SCRIPTURE
Genesis 28:16 And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it. 17 And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven.
Genesis 35:1 And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Bethel and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau. 2 Then Jacob said to all his people, Put away the strange gods which are among you, and make yourselves clean, and put on a change of clothing: 3 And let us go up to Bethel: and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went.
4 Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem. 5 So they went on their journey: and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.
6 And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (which is the same as Bethel), he and all his people. 7 And there he made an altar, naming the place El-bethel: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.
OBSERVATION
Bethel- house of God.
When Abram first reached the land that God promised to him and to his ancestors he was at Bethel, when he arrived he built an altar and worshiped God there (Gen 12:4-8). And on his return from Egypt he came back to Bethel, and again "called upon the name of the Lord" (Gen 13:4).
The most famous event at Bethel happened when Jacob, on his way from Beersheba to Haran, had a vision of the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder whose top reached unto heaven (Gen 28:10- 19); and on his return he again visited this place, "where God talked with him" (Gen 35:1-15), and there he "built an altar, and called the place El-bethel"
Where is your Bethel? Where do you meet with God?
Psalms 42:1 says: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Is it a sacred place? After the division of the kingdoms Jeroboam desecrated the place by erecting a golden calf (1Kings 12:28-29). When we go to the house of God do we carry our idols in there with us? Or is your idol parked outside?
Psalms 24:3-4 says: Who may go up into the hill of the Lord, and who may come into his holy place? He who has clean hands and a true heart;
APPLICATION
I must revere the Lord and worship him only. I want to worship him to please him and put the spotlight completely on him.
PRAYER
Lord I pray that I will long to study your word like a thirsty man that needs more and more of it. I pray that you will be pleased with my worship.
WHAT IS WORSHIP? Check out this video.
