The Church Life today is the Reality of Bethel, the Fulfillment of Jacob’s Dream

Gen. 28:18-19 And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel…

The stone that Jacob put under his head as a pillow and then early in the morning set up as a pillar and poured oil on it – this stone became Bethel, the house of God (see Gen. 28:17, 19, 22).

I am still amazed that God met this restless and homeless young man, Jacob, while he was running away from home, and He gave him a wonderful dream – which is at the same time God’s dream. In John 1:51 the Lord Jesus mentions this dream, confirming the fact that He Himself is the reality of the heavenly ladder bringing God into man and man into God for the building of God, the house of God.

When Jacob had this dream, he woke up early in the morning and took the stone-pillow and made it a stone-pillar, setting it up and pouring oil upon it and calling it Bethel, the house of God.

What is the meaning of all this? The restless and homeless God met the restless and homeless man and showed him God’s dream of having a house, a mutual dwelling place of God and man on earth. This is very similar to the story in John 4 where the thirsty Savior meets the thirsty sinner and gives her living water, and by this both the thirsty Savior and the thirsty sinner have their thirst quenched.

God wants us to see the dream of Bethel, God’s dream of having a house on earth composed of all His chosen and redeemed people who are united, mingled, and incorporated with the Triune God as the Spirit to become God’s dwelling place, God’s home. In God’s dream – which is also Jacob’s dream – man becomes God’s dwelling place and God is man’s dwelling place.

Today in the church life we have a foretaste of this: we are the reality of Bethel, the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream! In this day and age today we can enjoy the reality of the heavenly ladder, the stone, the pillar, the oil, and God’s house.

All this will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal Bethel, the eternal house of God where God is pleased to dwell with man and man is satisfied to dwell in God for eternity!

The Stone-Pillow Becomes the Stone-Pillar Anointed with Oil – Bethel, the House of God

Nothing in the Bible is by accident or at random. What is the significance of the fact that Jacob took the stone he used as pillow and made it a pillar, pouring oil on it and calling it, “Bethel, the house of God”?

That stone became Bethel, the house of God (Gen. 28:19, 22). God’s house is the mutual dwelling place of God and His redeemed (John 14:2, 23)—man as God’s dwelling place (Isa. 66:1-2; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:22; Heb. 3:6; Rev. 21:3) and God as man’s dwelling place (Psa. 90:1; John 15:5; Rev. 21:22). Hence, the house of God is constituted of God and man mingled together as one. In God’s house God expresses Himself in humanity, and both God and man find mutual and eternal satisfaction and rest. (Gen. 28:12, footnote 1 in Holy Bible Recovery Version)

The genuine experience of Christ becomes the building material, and this building material consummates in the building of the house of God. Here God has rest and satisfaction, and here we also have rest and satisfaction. (Life-study of Genesis, msg. 72, by Witness Lee)

Jacob didn’t fully realize all this, but today we can clearly see in the light of the revelation of the entire Bible that we as men of clay need to be transformed to become stones fit for God’s building. We are made from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7) and we are vessels of clay (Rom. 9:21).

Jacob didn’t take some dust to make a pillow out of it; he took a stone. We cannot rest and we are not satisfied merely as human beings with our natural human nature. We need something solid, something more solid than the clay; we need the stone nature of Christ to be wrought into us to become the solid support for our rest. Our pillow is the divine element, that is, Christ being wrought into us.

Also, this divine element on which we rest and which supports us becomes the building material for the house of God. How wonderful!

The unbelievers cannot understand this, but as regenerated persons we realize that somehow mysteriously we rest and are satisfied on the Christ whom we enjoy, and the Christ who is wrought into us becomes something standing up and anointed with the Spirit to be a pillar for the house of God.

We rest on the pillow and God rests on the pillar. Our rest in the Christ who is wrought into us becomes God’s rest in this very same Christ. When the stone becomes the pillar, oil is poured on it and God’s house is there.

All these are interrelated and they are also mentioned in John 1: there we have the stone (v. 33, Christ changing Simon’s name into Cephas, Peter, a rock), the baptism of the Holy Spirit (v. 42, the pouring of the oil), and Jacob’s dream (v. 51, Christ as the reality of the heavenly ladder).

When we come into the church life, we are daily enjoying Christ as our rest and we are setting up our experience of Christ to be a pillar. Our rest becomes God’s rest and God is resting as we are resting; God’s house is built on and with the Christ who is wrought into us through our experience of Him. Hallelujah for Bethel, the house of God!

The Church Life today is the Reality of Bethel, the Fulfillment of Jacob’s Dream

1 Tim. 3:15 But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

Jacob had such a wonderful dream, and this dream governed his life and brought him back to Bethel again and again. But where and what is the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream in Gen. 28?

Firstly, Jacob’s dream was fulfilled when the children of Israel erected the tabernacle in the wilderness, after they were delivered from Egypt. In the tabernacle God dwelt with His people and His people dwelt with God; God found a place on earth to be at rest and full of satisfaction. Then, the children of Israel constructed a more solid structure, the temple, and God’s presence and glory filled the temple.

Later, in the New Testament, Christ Himself was the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream in an individual way, and God was pleased to dwell with man and man to dwell in God in the person of the Lord Jesus.

Today, the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream is the church, the house of God, the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15). God’s house is the mutual dwelling place of God and His redeemed (see John 14:2, 23), and in the church as the house of God we have man as God’s dwelling place and God as man’s dwelling place.

God created the heavens and the earth, but He is pleased to dwell with man (Isa. 66:1-2). We as believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16) and together we are the dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:22), even God’s house (Heb. 3:6). God is our dwelling place for all generations, and we love to hide and abide in Him as He abides in us (Psa. 90:1; 91:1; John 15:5).

The house of God is constituted with God and man mingled together as one; in His house God expresses Himself in humanity, and here both God and man find mutual and eternal satisfaction and rest (see Psa. 132:13-14).

Hallelujah, today in the church life we are in the reality of Bethel, in the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream! Today in the church life we enjoy and experience the reality of the heavenly ladder, the stone, the pillar, God’s house, and the oil. We are not only living in Jacob’s dream but we are the fulfillment of the dream!

The church as the house of God is constituted of God and man united, mingled, and incorporated together as one; this is the fulfillment of God’s dream in this age (see John 14:23; 1 John 4:15-16; cf. Acts 17:24).

For eternity in the new heaven and new earth, we will be the New Jerusalem as God’s eternal dwelling place; here God tabernacles and dwells with man and we dwell in God as the temple (Rev. 21:1-3).

Praise You Lord for the church life as the reality of Bethel today! Here You are working Yourself into us and making us pillars in Your house, those constituted with the stone-element of Christ and filled with the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. Lord, keep us in the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream today, and fulfill Your dream in the church! Lord, what an awesome place the church life is. We open to You to be united, mingled and incorporated with You as one to be the mutual dwelling place You desire.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of Genesis (msg. 72), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 1 / msg 1, The Dream of Bethel.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Stone-ify me for Your building, / I desire a home for Thee. / Let me share Your dream of Bethel; / Duplicate Your heart in me. / Burn, refine away the nat’ral; / Transformed preciousness I’d be; / Lord, perfect me as a pillar, / Standing solid, weightily. (Song on Becoming Bethel)
  # O glorious Christ revealed, / Myself I fully yield; / I long to run to You, / To kiss Your lips anew, / God’s house is my desire, / Bethel, my dream realized; / A dwelling for the lonely, / A feast in Bethany. (Song on Realizing Bethel)
  # Our testimony in the church today, / Is the expression of God through man, / Let’s be the pillars for His dwelling place, / But don’t be passive — trust in His way. (Song on the Church Life)