The 25-Hour Answer that is Completed at Bethel (Genesis 35:1-5) 2/19/2023
The 25 Answer of the 1st 2nd 3rd RUTC:
The 25-Hour Answer that is Completed at Bethel (Genesis 35:1-5) 2/19/2023
Through Sunday and Wednesday service, we discussed the two levels of the 25-hour answer that Jacob experienced. People whom God loves, blesses, and uses are bound to go through these levels. First, it is the blessing that God gave to Jacob when he was fleeing after deceiving his father. The answer was given to him as God came to him while he was running. In other words, it was a restoration of self-identity. Jacob was unaware of how God would choose, bless, and use him. His parents had failed to instill this in him (failure to relay the covenant). To have realized the gospel means that we have realized how Christ has come to solve my life’s fundamental problems and how my identity and authority have changed when I accepted Christ as my life’s Savior. I have become a child of God (self-esteem). God considered me worthy to where He changed me with the life of God’s Son (self-worth). We are no longer insignificant individuals. We live our lives enjoying the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the throne (self-pride). It does not matter, even if I yield everything or lose everything. It is because there are separate answers and blessings we will enjoy. Second, although Jacob received the covenant, he still lived a life of difficulty and suffering. The covenant had not been imprinted in his soul, rooted and become his nature. He only knew it by the head and continued living a self-centered, flesh-centered, world-centered life. Eventually, he was alone by the Jappok River and prayed deeply (Hosea 12:4-5), and the scars that bound him to live that way were healed. There were things in him that had become channels for Satan to work throughout his life. Three things were healed (healing of heart, thoughts, and relationships). God heals and revives me through all problems and incidents. That is how we become vessels that God uses. Today’s passage is the third level for the 25-hour answer.
God restored Jacob to where he went beyond being revived and raised him as a conqueror and victor that saves the world. What problems and incidents are you facing? It is God’s time for you to restore your self-identity in Christ, heal your hidden scars, and stand as an individual who saves others like yourself and the world.
- What events took place? A war broke out with the Canaanites.
The Canaanites represent the world. It signifies the spiritual beings that are ruling over the world. If we do not have the mystery to overcome them, our lives will suffer as we live in the world. What kind of work is Satan doing?
1) He destroyed the first life, Adam, and continues to lead people to corruption, suffering, and darkness.
Adam had been created in God’s image, had communicated with God, and enjoyed God’s blessings (Garden of Eden). Satan separated Adam from God by deceiving him, saying, “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Satan led him to be a follower of the Devil (John 8:44). Unbeknownst to himself, he ended up living his entire life in greed, sin, and curses (6 fates of the life of an unbeliever).
2) These spirits of darkness continuously penetrate our hidden scars and oppress our lives (Acts 10:38).
① There are things that oppress us. These are called “trauma.” Most of the time, we were traumatized because we were helpless, unaware, or unfairly treated. Some people do things without knowing why they do them (Luke 23:34). All lives are spiritual victims when viewed with spiritual eyes.
② These are mostly problems we face as we live in the world. Jacob went through a time to finally heal the scars he had from his relationship with his father and brother, but now, there was another problem. He went to Canaan, but there, his daughter had been raped by Shechem, the ruler of the Hivites. He felt wronged and enraged, but he had no power to go against him. That is the world. Even what he came up with was just humanism again. His sons schemed to marry the two and have the Hivites circumcised with that condition. Then, the sons attacked them before their pain from the circumcision could heal. Consequently, this would become a destructive war.
- How did Hod resolve this problem? We must enjoy the victory God gives us.
There are three ways by which God works(Verse 1). We must resolve our problems and suffering this way and be trained to have victory.
1) They were to go up to Bethel. God reconfirmed the covenant He gave Jacob firsthand by coming to him when he fled from his father after deceiving him. God said that Canaan would be given to him (Genesis 28:13). No enemy can overcome me. God promised a life of a conqueror and victor.
2) He was to discard all idols.
① Why are idols created? It is because one does not know the God one must depend on and look upon or because one has not met God. It is replacing my object of dependency with something I have created. That is what idols are (image, charms, beliefs, money, fame, covetousness). Verse four shows that when they gathered all their possessions, many idols were poured in (foreign gods, gold rings, etc.).
② Unbeknownst to ourselves, there can be something other than God that has settled in us. Therefore, we must look upon only Christ (absolute answer), God’s kingdom (absolute background and mission), and the power of the Holy Spirit (absolute power).
3) God had them build an altar. That was so that they may restore worship and prayer and be strengthened by God. That is how our fear and rage within problems disappear, and we can wait until God solves that problem (faith). What do we explain true worship and prayer as? It is Psalms 50:14-15.
① “Sacrifice thank offerings to God” – Christ saved me and held onto me to this day. Do not be deceived by the environment, reality, Devil, and my level, and change everything into thanksgiving.
② “Fulfill your vows to the Most High”—although it seems like a problem, it is time for long-kept prayer topics to be answered. It is just disguised as problems. Afterward, see the things that God has prepared (Jeremiah 33:3).
③ “Call on me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you will honor me”— we are to have deep time. God goes beyond solving problems. He will give you evidence and make you a witness.
- What kinds of works does God do now? (Verse 5). It is the life of a victor, the conclusion of the 25-hour answer.
1) It says that God brought terror upon the Canaanites. It is God who moves the hearts of people. God may make me into a helping individual through tough or soft means.
2) It said that no one pursued Jacob’s sons after that. Even today, God destroys Satan, our real enemy, this way (Luke 10:19, Romans 16:20, Revelation 21:7).
3)Afterward, Jacob became the spiritual master of Canaan and saved Canaan.
As we pass through these times, we stand as the ones who save ourselves, the three ages, the 237 nations, and the five thousand people groups (70 disciples).
Conclusion – What does Bethel mean? What kind of time schedule am I currently in? May the 25-hour answer experienced and enjoyed lifelong by Jacob, who was covered in scars, become everyone’s answer.