Has God Chosen You? (Genesis 28:11-22)

"He had a dream in which he saw a stairway...to heaven" (Gen 28:12). “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’” (Gen 28:17).

• Have you seen a "stairway to heaven"?
• Have you definitively experienced God's presence?
• Have you met God?

1. What do Jacob and Esau's struggle in the womb suggest about them and their future (Gen 25:22)?
• How does Jacob’s action during birth live up to his name (Gen 25:25-26)? See footnote.
  
2. What does Jacob’s behavior toward his famished brother show about him (Gen 25:29, 31, 33)? Is he a good fun guy to hang out with?

The Search for One True Love (Gen 29:15-35)

"...the Lord saw that Leah was not loved..." (Gen 29:31).

Each of us has a desire that seemingly cannot be quenched. It is the desire for one true love.

Theme: Those who have an inner vacuum and emptiness give themselves to a hope---a hope for one true love.

Many movies portray dramatically the desire for one true love (Forest Gump, The English Patient, etc). Famous one-liners are "You had me at 'hello.'" (Jerry Maguire, 1996), or "Here's looking at you, kid." (Casablanca, 1942.), "Titanic" was a mega hit in 1997 partly because every girl in the world wishes to have "her very own" Leonardo DiCaprio, who sacrificed himself to the freezing ocean out of his undying love for his 1 true love. She wishes that her "heart will go on" forever because of a true love that never dies. As a result, Titanic made $1.8 billion with James Cameron, the director earning $100 million. We agree with the Beatles that "All you need is love."

The Stairway to Heaven (Gen 28:10-22)

"This is the gate of heaven" (Gen 28:17).

"Most people think of religion as man's quest for God. The God of the Bible, however, is the God who seeks us." Edmond Clowney, Preaching Christ in all of Scripture, 80.

"Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is Himself the way." Karl Barth

One of my favorite songs of all time is "The Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin (1971). I could listen to it every day without ever getting tired of it. It is the perfect rock song. Why? The progressive crescendo and the spell binding ambiance makes the song mesmerizing. A google search says, "this song is about a woman who accumulates money, but finds out the hard way that her life had no meaning and will not get her into heaven."

Perhaps, this song has captivated countless millions of people of all ages through out the world for 40 years, because we human beings are all, without exception, seeking a "stairway to heaven," however we chose, on our own terms, to define heaven or God. In today's text, Jacob discovers, through his dream given to him by God, something radical about the stairway to heaven. It is the polar opposite of what most people and most religions think. Even Christians who misunderstand this "stairway to heaven" live a religious life that is not Christian, and which is no different from all other religions in the world.

The Problem of Blessing (Gen 27:1-35)

"...give me your blessing" (Gen 27:19).
"I blessed him--and indeed he will be blessed!" (Gen 27:33)

I knew a medical student whose parents blamed him for their unhappy life. Despite being a brilliant student, his mom often said to him, "My life is miserable because of you." When he graduated from medical school, he committed suicide with a fatal overdose. Before he lapsed into unconsciousness and death, he called up his mom, and said with tears, "Mom, I am granting you your wish. I love you." His tragic life was the result of not receiving any blessing from his parents.