Building an Altar at Bethel and Realizing God’s All-Sufficiency in the Church Life

At his second coming to Bethel, Jacob built an altar there and called it El-Bethel, and God appeared to him and said to him, “I am the All-sufficient God” (Gen. 35:11). Previously, Jacob built an altar at Shechem, where he also pitched his tent and was settled for a while, having a life of ease. The altar at Shechem was related to an individual, and Jacob called it, El-Elohe-Israel.

As Jacob was enjoying his stay at Shechem, trouble came about, and his peace was disturbed. This opened Jacob for the Lord’s calling to go to Bethel again, and here he built another altar which he called El-Bethel, the God of the house of God (Gen. 35:6-7).

We need to advance from the individual experience of God to the corporate experience of God in the house of God. We need to progress from an individual consecration to God to a consecration to God in the house of God.

In the church life today we have the reality of Bethel, and our consecration to the Lord is higher than before. In the church life we don’t seek only to enjoy the Lord personally and experience Him individually, but we aspire and seek to experience God in His house and to enjoy God corporately for His house, His dwelling place.

Also, it is here at Bethel that God revealed Himself as the all-sufficient One to Jacob. It is in the house of God that God can be enjoyed and experienced by us in His all-sufficiency.

God is all-inclusive and all-sufficient, and we can experience Him individually only to a certain extent. In the Body, however, as we enjoy the Lord and experience Him in the church life corporately, we can have a full experience of the all-sufficient God.

God’s all-sufficiency requires the Body of Christ, and all the fullness of God can be enjoyed and experienced only by the Body of Christ. No individual member can experience God’s all-sufficiency, or else he will be come cancerous. But when we are in the church life built up with the saints in spirit and experiencing God corporately, we can enjoy and experience God’s all-sufficiency with the saints.

May we be brought on from the individual experience of God to the corporate experience of God in the house of God.

The Altar at Bethel – the Altar for the House of God

Gen. 35:11 And God said to him, I am the All-sufficient God: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins.

What is the significance of Jacob’s building an altar at Bethel and calling it, El-Bethel? When he was in Padan-aram or in Succoth, he didn’t build any altar, but when he got to Shechem and settled there, he built an altar and called it, El-Elohe-Israel (the mighty God of Israel, referring to his God, the God of an individual).

At Shechem Jacob experienced God individually and he was at rest; however, even though Jacob might have been satisfied, God was not satisfied – He desired to have Bethel, the house of God. Trouble was raised up for Jacob at Shechem, and he lost his peace; then, God came in and called him to go to Bethel and build Him an altar there (Gen. 35:1).

The altar Jacob built at Bethel was called El-Bethel (the God of Bethel, the God of the house of God). God wanted Jacob to dwell at Bethel and live in the reality of the house of God.

In our experience of God we need to have a progression from the individual experience of God to the corporate experience of God in the house of God. The individual experience of God is good, but it is insufficient; many times God rises up things and situations to cause us to be open to go to Bethel and experience Him further in His house.

The reality of Bethel today is in the proper church life where all the members of the Body live out Christ and each function in their measure.

Before we came into the church life we had a certain consecration, but it was not as high as the consecration we have when we are in the church life. As believers in Christ we may have consecrated ourselves to God to be victorious, holy, spiritual, and acceptable to God, but this consecration doesn’t fulfill God’s purpose nor satisfy His heart’s desire.

God wants us to come from Shechem to Bethel and experience Him corporately, consecrating ourselves in the house of God for His heart’s desire.

At Bethel we realize that a change has been taking place in our being, and we see that all our dealings, breaking, and transformation is for God’s house. At Bethel we consecrate ourselves to the Lord to live to Him for His house and in His house so that we may bring in His kingdom, become His bride, and consummate the New Jerusalem.

We need to open to the Lord and pray for our progress in our Christian experience,

Lord, take us on with You in our Christian experience. Bring us from Shechem to Bethel, from the individual experience of God to the corporate experience of God. Save us from remaining individualistic in our experience of God. We want to come to Bethel to have an uplifted consecration to You in Your house. Lord, we consecrate ourselves to You to live Christ in and for the church life as the reality of Bethel today! We put everything we are and have on the altar in the house of God, in the church life!

Realizing the All-Sufficiency of God in the Church Life

Only in the church life is it possible to realize the all-sufficiency of our God. (Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis)

At Bethel God revealed Himself to Jacob as, the All-Sufficient God (Gen. 35:11). The all-sufficient God is for the building of God’s house, and in His house God is all-sufficient to us. It is only at Bethel, in the church life corporately with the saints, that it is possible for us to realize the all-sufficiency of God.

If we are still individualistic in our spirituality, God is forced to limit Himself in relation to us, and we cannot experience Him to a full extent by ourselves (or else we will become cancerous).

We may have many experiences of Christ individually, but as believers in Christ and members of the Body of Christ we are destined to be dealt with, broken, and transformed, so that we may experience God for the building.

It is in His house that God can reveal Himself to His people in a full way, and it is here that He lives, being united, mingled, and incorporated with His people in His house. In the house of God, the church life today, God can be all-sufficient to us, and He is the limitless supply as we experience Him as the God of the house.

We cannot experience the all-sufficient God in an individualistic way – we need to be in Bethel, the church life, in order to enjoy Him as such a One. God’s all-sufficiency requires the Body, and we need to be in the house of God built up with the saints in spirit to experience this aspect of Him (see Phil. 1:19).

We all can testify that, before we came into the church life, we had a certain amount of experience of God; however, after a few years in the church life, we came to realize how all-sufficient God is in His house. Only in the church life it is possible for us to realize the all-sufficiency of our God, and only in the Body can we enjoy the limitless supply of the Triune God in Christ as the bountiful Spirit.

What is the church? The church today is a group of people who are in union with the Triune God, are mingled with God, and are incorporated with God (see Eph. 4:4-6; 3:16-21). It is the union, mingling, and incorporation of God with man.

May we be those who advance in our Christian experience to be at Bethel and enjoy God as the God of the house of God, the God of Bethel. May we progress to experience God in His house as the all-sufficient One.

May we remain in the church life and enjoy the Lord with the saints in spirit so that we may have an increased experience of the all-sufficient God day-by-day.

Lord Jesus, keep us in the church life eating, drinking, and breathing in Jesus together with all the saints. Increase our enjoyment and experience of God in the house of God. We want to know You as the all-sufficient One, the limitless supply in the Body. Save us from remaining individualistic in our experience of Christ. Lord, bring us on to Bethel to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, where we can enjoy the limitless supply of the Spirit in the Body! Hallelujah, the all-sufficient God is for the church life, today’s Bethel!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, msg. 81, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 4 / msg 4, The Reality of Bethel and the Bringing forth of Christ as the Son of Affliction and the Son of the Right Hand.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Glorious church life, / Feasting from such a rich store! / Here where we’re dwelling in oneness / God commands life evermore. (Hymns #1221)
  # The Church is Christ’s own Body, / The Father’s dwelling-place, / The gathering of the called ones, / God blended with man’s race. (Hymns #824)
  # What Thy heart desires and loves / Are not precious stones alone, / But together these to build / For Thy glory, for Thy home. / Thou, the all-inclusive Christ, / Dost a builded Church require, / That Thy glorious riches may / Radiate their light entire. (Hymns #839)