BY THOMAS J. SCHETELICH
Genesis 28 chronicles one of the most famous Old Testament stories. Jacob, on a journey far from home, dreams of a stairway set up on earth and reaching to heaven. Angels ascend and descend it, and the Lord God Himself stands above Jacob. The Lord’s words change Jacob’s life and the world: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (v. 15)
God had never said anything like that before. He had never promised to always be with someone—no matter where he or she went. When Jacob wakes up, he is astonished and afraid. He says, “The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (v. 16)
To us, this concept seems fundamental. We teach Sunday school children that God and Jesus are always with us. We commonly request prayer that God will be with us during a time of trouble. Even our word goodbye, which ends thousands of conversations every day, is a contraction concocted in the late 1500s meaning “God be with ye” (originally spelled godbwye).1
But, before the night of Jacob’s dream, no one had heard of such a concept. People thought of their gods as the gods of places. The Lord had said to Jacob’s father, Isaac, “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you.” (Genesis 26:3) That was the first time God ever told someone He would be with him and would have an ongoing personal presence in his life. Isaac was to stay in the land, and there, God would be with him. And Isaac, uniquely among the patriarchs, lived in the land his whole life.
People thought that their gods were territorial—that a god had a jurisdiction and was bound by the rules of geography. So, if you were Jonah, you could get on a ship and sail out of the jurisdiction. That is doubtless what Jacob thought as he set out on his journey. He was headed to parts unknown. He had no concept or expectation that the God of his father would be with and protect him.
After he had gone two or three days, Jacob had the dream in which the Lord God gave him that unheard-of promise: Jacob, it does not matter where you go, I will be with you and keep you. Jacob, it does not matter where your journey of life takes you, I will always be there. Jacob, it does not matter what the world or fate brings to your life, for I have an interest in and a purpose for your life, and I will not leave you until I accomplish it. This dream, and the Lord’s words in it, was the turning point in Jacob’s life. From that time forward, he knew the Lord was with him. The promise became his mantra, his song, his firm and confident belief.
Twenty years later, the Lord said to Jacob: “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.” (Genesis 31:3) When Jacob returned, he spoke of the God who “has been with me in the way which I have gone.” (Genesis 35:3) When Jacob, in his old age, learned that his son Joseph was alive in Egypt, the Lord spoke to him again: “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt. . . . I will go down with you to Egypt.” (Genesis 46:3–4) Then, at the end of his life, Jacob blessed his grandchildren, saying, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” (Genesis 48:15 NASB)
All those years ago, Jacob named the place of his dream Bethel (“the house of God”), saying that God was in that place. From that day onward, every place he went to became a Bethel. Likewise, the Lord is with us all the time. n
Thomas Schetelich, a CMML director and attorney in Baltimore, Maryland
Originally published in Missions magazine, November 2024. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US and Canada) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe.
