---

I. CONSIDER WHAT JACOB SAW.

II. CONSIDER WHAT HE HEARD.

1. "I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac." It is well to have a known God, a tried God, a family God, and a father's God; it is well to be able to say, as the Church does in the twenty-second Psalm, "Our fathers trusted in Thee: they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them." It is well for you, when God looks down and sees you walking in the same path that your fathers did who are gone to heaven before you, "followers of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises."

2. "The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed." God had already given it by promise to Abraham, but at present he had no inheritance, not so much as to set his foot on. But as God had given it to him and his seed by promise, it was as sure as if in actual possession. Yet several hundred years were previously to elapse, and they must suffer much in Egypt, and must wander forty years in the wilderness. But what of this? It was the land of promise; God had given them it, and nothing could hinder their possession of it.

3. "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south." And so it was. You know in a few years they became an innumerable people, and what millions since have descended from this one patriarch.

4. "And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." This refers to the Messiah. To them as concerning the flesh He came, God having raised up His Son, even Jesus, who "delivered us from the wrath to come." In His name we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. This promise has as yet received only a partial accomplishment. Few as yet are blessed with faithful Abraham. But we read of a nation being "born in a day"; that all nations of the earth shall be blessed in Him; that all shall know the Lord from the least even to the greatest.

5. "And, behold, I am with thee." So He is with all His people. His essential presence fills heaven and earth.

6. "And will bring thee again into this land." This would be gladsome tidings to Jacob, for who is he that could not rejoice at such tidings concerning a country where he was born and bred, the residence of his most impressive years?

7. "For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." But would He leave him then? Oh no; his anxieties therefore were entirely unnecessary. Thus it is with Christians: they have exceeding great and precious promises, "All yea and amen in Christ Jesus," and all of them must be fulfilled before God leaves His people. Will He leave you then? No, He will never leave you, nor forsake you, to all eternity. As your day is, so shall your strength be while here; hereafter all tears shall be wiped from your eyes.

III. OBSERVE WHAT HE DID.

1. He discovered and acknowledged what he was ignorant of before he went to sleep.

2. He confessed a privilege.

3. He reared a memorial.

4. He vowed a vow.

(W. Jay.)

---

---

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

WEB: Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.