Genesis 28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. I. The first circumstance we must notice, is THE TIME WHEN THIS DISCOVERY OF GOD TO JACOB WAS MADE. 1. It was in a season of distress. 2. It was just after he had fallen into a grievous sin. II. CONSIDER THE ENDS TO BE ANSWERED BY IT. 1. One design, then, of this vision certainly was to give Jacob at this time a lively impression of the presence and providence of God, His universal presence and ever active providence. 2. But God had another design in this vision. It was intended to renew and confirm to Jacob the promises He had given him. III. But let us go on to notice THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON JACOB BY THIS HEAVENLY VISION. 1. The first of these was just what we might have expected — a sense of God's presence; a new, startling sense of it. 2. This vision produced fear also in Jacob. "He was afraid," we read. "How dreadful," he said, "is this place!" And yet why should Jacob fear? No spectacle of terror has been presented to him. No words of wrath have been addressed to him. There has appeared no visionary mount Sinai flaming and shaking before him. All he has seen and heard has spoken to him of peace. We might have expected him as he waked to have sung with joy. What a change since he laid himself down on these stones to sleep! The evils he most dreaded, all averted; the mercies he mourned over as lost, all restored. Happy must his sleep have been, and happy now his waking! But not one word do we read here of happiness. The Holy Spirit tells us only of Jacob's fear. And why? To impress this truth on our minds, that the man who sees God never trifles with Him; that the soul He visits and gladdens with His mercy, He always fills with an awe of His majesty. 3. Notice yet one effect more of this scene — a desire in Jacob to render something to the God who had so visited him. And this seems to have risen up in his mind as soon as he awoke, and to have been an exceedingly strong desire. There is nothing he can do now for God, but he sets up a memorial of God's loving kindness to him, and binds himself by a solemn purpose and vow to show in the days that are to come his thankfulness for it. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. |
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