Jacob dressed up like Esau and tricked his father into giving him Esau’s blessing. After that he had to go away because Esau wanted to kill him. His parents, Isaac and Rebekah, sent him to Paddan Aram where Rebekah’s family lived. Rebekah wanted Jacob to find a wife among the daughters of her brother Laban who was Jacob’s uncle.
As he was traveling to his uncle’s house, Jacob had a dream.
Stairway Dream
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
The stairway showed that God was opening a way for Jacob to reach him. In building the Tower of Babel people were trying to make a stairway to reach God by their own efforts. In the dream God provided a stairway for Jacob to reach him. That should be a reminder that we can’t get to God on our own efforts. We can only get to God because he makes a way for us through Jesus.
God gave the same promise to Jacob that he gave to Abraham.
13 To give his descendants the land
14a His descendants would be too many to count
14b All people on earth would be blessed through his offspring.
15a God would be with him and watch over him no matter where he was
15b God would bring him back to the land
Jacob didn’t deserve to be blessed by God as he was a sinner who did things wrong. He had tricked his brother into giving him his birthright and his father into blessing him instead of Esau.
Jacob is an example of how the fulfillment of God’s promises doesn’t rest on our merit (what we do good) but rather on God’s faithfulness. None of us deserves the kindness God shows to us, but he extends it to us anyway.
We are different from God as we treat people the way we think they deserve to be treated or how we feel at any given moment. God treats us in accord with his holy character, so he always does what is right.
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Jacob described the place where he had the dream as the house of God, the gate of heaven. This would be the land where God would dwell with his chosen people, the descendants of Abraham.
Jacob set up the stone that he had put under his head as a pillar and anointed it with oil. A pillar was to create a memorial to God and the oil poured on it set it apart as holy. It was to be a reminder of what God had told him in that place.
Jacob’s vow for God to be his God required God watching over him and taking care of him on his journey. This made his vow conditional. God had to do something for Jacob in order for Jacob to consider him his God.
Our faith should be based on who God his, his nature and character, not on what he will do for us. We need to trust God in all circumstances; whether or not it seems to us that he is with us. God promises to be with us and we can trust him to work things out for our good. If we don’t have real faith we will doubt and may abandon God when we don’t like the situation we are in, when things are difficult and it seems God isn’t with us.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
God calls us to trust him because of who he is. He is smarter than we are. If we trust in him he will be with us and direct our lives.
- Overview Questions: Where was Jacob going? What happened in his dream? What was God’s promise to Jacob? What did Jacob do in response? What was Jacob’s vow to God?
- Thought Questions: What does it mean to follow God unconditionally? Why should we follow God that way? What does it say about us if we put conditions on following God?
- Prayer: Thank God that he is God and Lord and ruler over all things. Pray that you would fully give yourself to God and trust him completely. Thank him for leading and guiding you in his way.
- The Big Question:
Let the students give their answers to the question. Share the memory verse. Ask how it answers the question.
- This Week’s Memory Verse: Proverbs 3:5-6
What happens when we trust God completely? God makes our paths straight.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.