​

​"God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” Genesis 35:1 ESV​

​

God wants Jacob to follow up the Jabbok experience with a time of fresh dedication. He calls on him to go back to the place of spiritual origin.

​

We All Need Periods of Fresh Beginnings.

Even though we have surrendered to Jesus, our dedication is far from complete. We can ask God to help us make a fresh start.

​

A Truly Saved Person Never Forgets.

Years of sinning and selfishness had driven a wedge between Jacob and proper fellowship with God, but the relationship remained.

​

For Maximum Happiness, Sin Must Be Put Away.

We must return to the Bethel experience (place of beginning) and secure fresh motivation. We need to clean out the cobwebs and take out the trash.

​

Questions:

1. Do you need the Bethel experience?

2. What direction would your life take if you genuinely returned to the eager desire to serve Christ that you had on the day you were saved?

3. Why not spend some time by yourself to review the time you were saved and reaffirm your life in the Savior?

 

Jacob’s settlement with his family at Bethel was a solemn renewal of the covenant to the patriarch at the end of his pilgrimage. It was the occasion for a new dedication of himself and his household by vows and offering and separating themselves from all heathen things and thoughts around the newly erected alter El Bethel.

​

God went up from him after he had spoken with him, and there he set up a pillar of stone, poured a drink offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. We should make the memory of God’s goodness the foundation on which we build the monuments of our life. Mark the places by offerings. Let the Bethel of our worship be the Bethel of his praise.

​

Spiritual life is a thing of growth; never finished here (Philippians 3:13; Hebrews 6:1). No doubt that all the important questions is, art thou in Christ? The spirit may have chosen Christ, but the flesh is weak, and the law of sin still works. Most commonly is such a life, certain times will stand out, connected with special lessons and special dealings, when some window of the soul has been opened or reopened to heavenly light, some line of actual pressed upon the mind.

​

Let’s look at the lesson learned by Jacob himself. We know not when his spiritual life began. Probably before he left home; for with all his faults, he desired a spiritual blessing. But at Bethel and Penuel, great steps were made. He learned the presence of God, and the protecting care of God, as he had never known them before. Yet the lessons were chiefly subjective; they regarded his own attitude towards God. And this generally comes first, but it is not all. “Arise, go up to Bethel.” Take up again the lesson book. Is there, not more to be learned from it? Those angels ascending and descending, were they charged with thy good only? The Lord who stood above, did he care only for thee? With all thy possessions, thou art in “a solitary way” (Psalm 107:4). Here, Jacob seems first to realize his responsibility for the spiritual state of others (Psalm 119:136). The Christian character is not thoroughly formed till it is felt that the possession of truth haunts us to use it for the good of others. Being “bought with a price,” we are debtors to all (Romans 1:14), and chiefly to those with whom we are connected (1 Timothy 5:8).

​

Look at the work Jacob took in his hands regarding his household. He directed his family in the single-hearted service of God. “Put away the strange gods.” Sincerity lies at the root of all real renewed beginnings. Up to this time, the semi-idolatry of their household gods seems to have been allowed. Jacob’s fondness for Rachel may have kept him from forbidding it. Hence a divided service (2 Kings 17:33; Mark 7:7). Putting away does not rely only to formal worship. It is putting away service of the gods of this world: covetousness (Colossians 3:5), worldly aims (John 5:44), gratification of self (Luke 12:19; Luke 14:11), traditional/unacceptable rules of conduct and judgment (Mark 3:21; 1 Peter 4:4). It is seeking first the kingdom of God and resting in him (Psalm 37:5).

​

Christians are to be a holy person (be clean) (1 Peter 2:9). No tolerance of evil (Matthew 5:48). This is much more than a mere upright and honorable life. There is a vast difference between an upright life and a holy life. One is following rules, and the other is walking with God.​​

​