The next generation, Jacob, has the same thing happen. We now turn there. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was fleeing the wrath of his brother Esau, when he had a dream. The following is the relavant text:
Genesis 28:10-15 10And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. 11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12And he dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. 14And 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 in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee, whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
The place were the dream happens, known as Bethel, but also known as Luz, meant litterally, "house of God" and it was a picture of the linkage between the house of God and access to heaven that the stairway represented. 500 years later, this man's decendents would see into heaven again, with their visit to the base of Mount Sinai. 500 years after that they would build a "House of God" with the construction of Solomon's Temple. 1000 years after that, Jesus, "God With Us" would appear in the temple at age 12, and finally, many years years after that the age would close (yet to come).
In this dream God reiterates that Jacob and his decendents
Are being given the land. The same land that was demarcated in Ge 15:18 from the border with Egypt to the Euphrates river to the east. Ge 28:13
Would become as numerous as the "dust of the earth" another reference to an enormous number.Ge 26:14 Jacob is also told that these people would spread out to the West, East, North, and South providing our first look at the four winds of the skys and providing our first key to this expression in later prophetic literature.Ge. 26:14
Jacob is told that that through him, all nations will be blessed a reference to the New Covenant.
Jacob's name changed
When Jacob finally returns home from his flight to Padan Aram, he has a restless night where he struggles with an angel. He is told:
Genesis 35:10-15 10And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. 11And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; 12and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him. 14And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. 15And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.
Jacob's name, which means "deceiver" is changed to Israel. At this point we see a pattern we last saw with Abraham, where Israel is told that both a nation, and community of nations, will come from him.Ge 26:11 He is also reminded that kings will come from his body. Again, like Abraham, this is king David, about 920 years later, and Jesus about 1000 years after that. Finally, the land based promise is given to Israel as well.
A curious feature of this story is the way that Jacob pours out wine and oil at this place. Wine is seen as symbolic of Jesus' shed blood, while oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit of God, or of the anointing that comes through the Holy Spirit. Jacob is reflecting knowledge of that here.
Joseph's DreamsAs the next study will disclose, when he was an old man about to die, Jacob (his name had in fact been changed to Israel) called his sons together to give them the family blessing and pass on the birthright, as was the custom in those days. What he said to them and the choice of person to whom the birthright would be given was greatly coloured by an event that had taken place many years earlier.
That event is recorded in Genesis 37, in which we read that Joseph, Jacob's second youngest son, has a dream that gets him in trouble with his family. His brothers never liked Joseph because he was Jacob's favourite son.
"when Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: they hated him yet the more. And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf."
This was God identifying Joseph as the person to whom He would be giving a Mantle of Authority, of Headship. "And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?"
His brothers, rather than recognising this as the voice of God in the dream, instead pinned the label of 'egotistical' on their little brother, and from that time onwards determined to bring him down to size.
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me".
Whenever God speaks to us, He always confirms it to make sure we have God the message and that we understand where it has come from. Joseph learned nothing from telling his family about the first dream, and now he compounds the matter by running to tell them of this one.
"And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?"
Joseph was Jacob's favorite, but now, even he becomes a bit upset. Notice that Jacob understands fully the significance of the dream by saying who the symbology represents. The next verse says, "And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying."
If what had been shown to Joseph had been a lie, then why would his brothers envy him? It was no lie, they knew it was truth. Being the great grandsons of Abraham and the grandsons of Isaac, they would have been quite familiar with the way in which God had spoken to these family members of theirs and should have recognised the voice of God as their father did.
But it is the fallen nature that refuses to submit to the authority of God. It was the fallen nature that led to Judah, natural heir to the promises as the eldest son, being bypassed by God in favour of his younger brother who in his innocence had a heart for God and an ear that was open to hear the voice of God.
It was the same fallen nature in the sons of Judah that, centuries later, refused to accept and acknowledge The Messiah when He lived among them. Even though the prophets made very clear the signs that would identify the Messiah, they refuses to recognise them because in doing so, it would mean submission to the authority of God. In response to their failure to recognise Him, Jesus told them that they were not of Abraham's seed, but of their father, the devil. If ever a scripture clarifies what 'the seed of Abraham' really is and what the essence of the promise passed down through Abraham to Isaac, Jacob etc. consists of, Jesus nails it here in that one sentence.
It was the same fallen nature in the sons of Judah that, even though Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 in detail about the destruction of the nation of Judea, Jerusalem, the Temple and everything it stood for, today they still refuse to acknowledge him as The Messiah, even though all that Jesus prophesied would happen to them did happen. They continue to cling to a promise given to Abraham's seed in the misguided belief that they are that seed and children of that promise, even though Judah was bypassed by God and the promise given to Joseph's line; as if to further thumb their nose at God, they have even usurped the name given to Joseph's line and called their modern day country by that name. But I digress.
In spite of being upset at Joseph's words, Jacob recognised who was speaking through the dreams and what was being said, which is why Jacob did not forget it. Many years later it was the stirring in him to prophesy to Ephraim and Manasseh as he did, and to pass on to the sons of Joseph the birthright, and not one of the other brothers. He remembered the dreams, and saw it come to pass in Egypt. Jacob new that once God gave a mantle to someone, he would not remove it and it is futile to try and go against it - a lesson he had learnt the hard way by personal experience! By this he knew of the Great Calling upon the House of Joseph the for the Last Days, and prophesied it upon Ephraim and Manasseh.
Herein lies a mystery that must be revealed to understand the Prophetic Word. The further we go along this path, the more you will understand the Plan of God for the Last Days that inspired Jacob's blessings upon Ephraim and Manasseh. From out of God's elect (the House of Israel) will be birthed a "Man Child" (Rev. 12) that will be under the absolute authority of God. They, as a 'nation unto God', will be given the Restored Kingdom Mandate, and go forth to subdue the earth, bringing it under subjection to King Jesus, "making His enemies to be His footstool", who will then give it up to God.
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