BETHEL VS. BABEL – Genesis 28:16-22

Providence Community Church

A partial purpose statement for expository preaching might read: The purpose of sound preaching is to discover and disclose the glories of redemption woven in thematic harmony throughout the scriptures testifying to the genius of, what can only be rightly understood as, the very Word of God. Our passage today is one of those examples in scripture which yields abundant fruit in this regard. It ought to move the reader immediately to worship. This was the effect of the revelation upon Jacob himself after all. Awakened from our sinful stupor by the glories of our Savior God – we in turn ought to exclaim: “How awesome is this account!”. Consider a world view contrast of this awareness of the glories of scripture with the modern 'deconstruction' movement which is just apostasy by another name. Anyone who finally rejects the teaching and moral authority of scripture in favor of his subjective preferences remains blind. We must be careful lest we stumble into the house of God and when commanded to “Behold the Ladder, behold the angels ascending and descending, and Behold Yahweh standing over you!”... we answer: “No thanks” and fall back asleep. Those asleep in Bethel don't know what they are missing!