Bethel

Written by Rusty Owens

          Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran.  He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.  He had a dream, and behold a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

          And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and your descendants. And your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the earth be blessed.  Behold, I am with you and will keep you where ever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

          Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place and I did not know it.”

          He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

          So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top.  He called the name of that place Bethel….                                                  

                                                          Gen. 28:10-19

          Jacob is on a mission. He has been told by his father to return to the land of his brethren (Haran) and find a wife among his mother’s brother’s family. I know that sounds weird now but in ancient times it was a common occurrence. As he is sent off on his journey, he travels northward out of Beersheba. Some sixty miles or so to the north of Beersheba Jacob camps in a place very near where his grandfather Abraham camped when he first entered into the land. This is the area where God appeared to Abraham and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” Take notice the phrasing, “appeared”, in the text in Genesis 12. This is the Hebrew word raah, which means to see. This is the word used to describe the God encounter that Abraham experienced when he finally reached the land of promise. So Abraham built an altar there. Now a hundred or so years later, Jacob is traveling through the region and also has a powerful God encounter of the first kind! 

          Jacob is camping out near the city of Luz. He makes himself a bed using a stone for a pillow. As he is sleeping the gates of heaven are opened and the place is filled with angelic presence. God Himself declares who He is to Jacob and God declares His promise to Jacob. When Jacob awoke he recognized the presence of God in the place for he declared, “Surely the LORD is in this place.”  He makes his pillow into a pillar and he anoints it with oil and declares the name of the place, Bethel, which in the Hebrew tongue means house of God.

The Stone of Destiny

          The stone that Jacob anointed has taken an interesting place in history. There is legend and some history, that this stone was carried to Ireland sometime around 600 B.C. by none other than the Prophet Jeremiah. This is all speculation on the part of some historians. And that the stone was used in the coronations of the kings of Ireland for over a thousand years. The stone was then carried to Scotland by a member of the royal house, around 500 A.D., and used in the coronations of the kings of Scotland for the next 700 hundred or so years, until King Edward I, king of England, took the stone around 1226 A.D. It has been use in the coronation of the kings and queens of England ever since. (Including present day Queen Elizabeth)  You can look up more of the history of the “Stone of Scone” on line. 

The Twenty First Century Church

          I was watching a church program this past weekend on TV. It was a church service in a large, upscale, urban church. There were several thousand people in the congregation. They had replaced the traditional props on the platform, such as the pulpit, flowers, communion table, etc., with a king sized bed. The pastor and his wife (I hope) were sitting on the edge of the bed visiting with the congregation about family life, child rearing, and so forth. We have seen a trend in the church to create an informal atmosphere with props and settings that look homey and soft on the eyes. We’ve moved into an arena of the church of using props and visual aides to somehow make the message more appealing. We’ve even used street scenes and graffiti painted walls to appeal to young people. We use lighting and big screen technology to bring the message of Christ to this high tech world of short attention spans. I really wasn’t taken back by this bedroom setting in the sanctuary; I have been watching this trend in the church for some time.    

We now have drive though prayer centers and drive in churches where you never even get out of your car. I know you think I am going to say I’m against all of this, but I’m not. I am truly disinterested. I have no interest one way or another, but it does seem the church has been overrun with marketing agents. But the real question is where is His presence and where is the atmosphere of His presence?

Symbolism over Substance

       We have come to realize that the church is not a building or a place, but rather we are the church. We know where two or three gather that’s the church. Outdoors, indoors, home, parking lot, it’s no different because we are the church. The church is defined by us, not a building or edifice. It can be said that where we are that’s where the church is. The church is not defined by the wide range of activity that takes place, because we differ so much on worship, music, prayer, praise, preaching, teaching, communion, baptism, Sunday school, we don’t even agree on the days these gatherings should take place. But we are beginning to recognize that where ever we are the church is. We are the church therefore our presence defines the church.

          By the same token the House of God is not defined by our presence but HIS.  We may define where the church gathers, but He defines where His house is. It is the manifest presence of God that defines His house. It betrays the concept of God when we call are manmade structures the house of God. You may say we built it for Him, (Acts 7:48), therefore it is His house. What a maligned version of God’s intent. The original concept of the house of God is simply a place defined by His presence. It is His presence that defines His house. 

          It’s interesting that we go to great lengths to make a comfortable atmosphere for ourselves but we don’t recognize the absence of the presence of God in our gatherings.

Showbread

          The priestly ministry had an obligation. Every Sabbath they were required to place 12 loaves of unleavened bread on the golden table in the holy place. It was unlawful to leave the bread over from Sabbath to Sabbath, but the priest were required to remove the old bread and place fresh bread on the table every Sabbath.  This was called the “bread of presence”. Some literally translate this to mean, “Bread of face before me.” We tend to treat this as a demonstration of God’s provision for us or of Christ the bread of life. What was required of the priest was to place fresh bread on the table every Sabbath. We sometimes liken this to preparing a fresh word for the congregation every week. As important as that is we are still missing the point. The table was spread for the LORD; it is the bread of His presence. The concept of spreading a table for the LORD has been lost in the church. But it is being restored in this hour. The Bread of Presence is being restored to the church! We are learning to prepare His table, the table of “the bread of His presence.”

          In Luke 17 the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus put forth two parables to them. The first was the parable of the mustard seed. The second He said, “But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come from the field, Come immediately and sit down to eat’? But will he not say to him, Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and after you may eat and drink?” Luke 17:7,8. 

It not just ministering unto the Lord, it is learning to spread a table for Him, First. 

          Congregations are learning that the first order of business is not being fed but rather spreading a table for Him. “Properly clothe yourself and serve me.”  Literally clothe yourself in proper garments and be my waiter. Modern philosophy is to rush to eat and feed yourself, but some are learning that “afterward you may eat and drink.” And what a meal it is, “The bread of His presence”. Only priest may partake of it.

          There is no substitute for His presence. All our outward ascetics pale by comparison. Your pastels, plants, and props cannot compete with the presence of God. We have not built our sanctuaries for Him; we have built them for us. That is punctuated by the absence of His presence in our gatherings. If He does show up we only want a little, just for atmosphere, we don’t want Him messing up our place of worship by actually showing up in glory. God has become window dressing. His presence is only welcome in small increments during the praise service, just to create a platform for the preaching or teaching, but we don’t want Him interfering with our program. We would rather talk about Him than experience Him.  Experiencing Him creates change within us. God forbid we should be expected to change. 

          There is a coming invasive presence of God over His bride that will surpass all precedence. It will differentiate what is his bride from organized religion. It will make a distinction between what is His and what is not. True discerning hearts will flock to His presence. People who value His presence will welcome this invasion; people who do not value His presence will resent His movements. This is the way it has always been. His presence is coming to stay, this won’t be a fleeting visitation, there is a coming habitation. He will remove out of His kingdom all things that offend. Even now we are declaring the Kingdom of God is at hand. Heaven and earth are colliding. Praise Him! Praise Him forever!

          The sorcerers of Pharaoh got into a contest with Moses when God began to display signs through the hand of Moses. Moses’ rod turned to serpent, so did the sorcerers’. Moses turned water into blood so did they. Moses caused frogs to come out of the Nile, so did they. But then it’s like God said watch this and He pulled away and left them in the dust (literally); even so the Egyptian church might be able to mimic some of God’s movements, but it can’t duplicate His presence. It was unlawful to recreate or duplicate any oil like the Holy oil used for anointing (Exo. 30:33). It is dangerous to try to mimic the anointing, it is impossible to mimic His presence. If you have His manifest presence in your meetings what a wonderful thing you have gained. “In your presence is fullness of joy.” (Psa. 16:11).