It didn't take long after the battle lines of the Reformation were clearly drawn, that the life of Martin Luther was in serious danger. It happened on more than one occasion. When the heat of the conflict was at a fever pitch, a dignitary of the church sought to frighten the Reformer. He pointed to the overwhelming power, both ecclesiastical and political, that was arrayed against the lonely monk. “Unless you can muster a force of equal strength in your defense,” he thundered, “where do you think you will be?” After a silent moment Martin Luther replied undaunted, “I shall be where I have always been – in the hands of Almighty God.”
Do you have the same conviction, dear friend, as you go about your God appointed tasks from day to day? When you arise from bed, when you set out for work, when you tackle the problems of another day, do you do so in the full consciousness that your life is indeed “in the hands of Almighty God”? As believers in Christ and spiritual descendents of a man named Luther, we need to cultivate the daily awareness that we are indeed in the hands of the Almighty. What a difference it would make if in every circumstance of life, no matter how sedate or how severe, we could always see ourselves exactly where we are: in His hands! As the psalmist wrote, “My times are in Thy hands” (31:15).
In our text the Lord revealed that truth to Jacob in a special way. As He did, Jacob in holy wonder confessed, “Surely, the Lord is in this place.” And he gave that place the name Bethel, which means “House of God.”
Some (15) years ago we gave our houses of God the name Zion and Peace. And just as surely as the Lord was at Bethel, He is at Zion and Peace today, cheering us in His presence, comforting us in His promises, holding us in His hand. In our study may the Holy Spirit keep us undaunted like Luther and happy like Jacob, convinced that wherever we may be He is with us and we with Him
I. Blessing us with His presence.
Surely, the Lord Is in This Place. What a great thing to say (and a perfect thing to remind ourselves as we celebrate this anniversary today. This is not just any old building that was dedicated here 15 years ago)! This is God's house. The Lord is here. It is a most special place for where God is present His people are blessed.
And when He is present, His people find joy, even in the midst of such turmoil as Luther was. No matter how pressed and stressed a person may be, when he knows that the Lord is present, there is a joy which blesses one's life. The psalmist sang, “My heart is glad…You fill me with joy in Your presence” (16:9).
That is important, so important for us because while we are here on this earth, joy does not always appear to be our companion. Sometimes God doesn't appear to be a companion either. We so often seem to trudge through “the valley of the shadow of death,” thinking that we walk alone.
Look at Jacob as an example. His was a life that had been made most bitter by the experiences through which he had gone. Sometimes the bitterness was caused by others. But more often than not, it was caused by Jacob's own hand.
At the time of our text he was fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau because Jacob had tricked him out of his birthright. Esau wanted to kill him, so Jacob had no choice but to flee.
That night he lay down under the open sky, alone, cold, and exposed to danger. He had only a stone that he rolled under his head for a pillow. Cheerless thoughts ran through his head. His loneliness must have affected him.
You see, young Jacob was the type of person that we might call a “homebody.” His brother Esau loved the wild outdoors, but Jacob seemed to crave the warmth and comfort of home with his parents and servants around him. Yet, that night Jacob slept under the open sky, far from home and with no prospect of being able to return soon. He was alone – or so it seemed to him.
And it was all his own doing, too. In sin he had caused this situation. Due to that he could have felt as though God had left him, disgusted at what Jacob had done and had become – a conniving sinner. No mother, no father, a murderous brother on his tail, and now even God seemed gone from his life. What a vale of tears through which Jacob walked, a vale of his own doing.
So it can seem with us at times. Even the most devout child will experience the hour of loneliness, bitterness, and darkness that this world offers.
Perhaps you know of an occasion when even the stalwart Luther experienced such loneliness. He had been called before the German assembly at a place called Worms. Eager at what he thought was a chance to defend the saving doctrines of the Scriptures, he had longed for such an opportunity. But he was placed alone in front of the entire assembly and forbidden to speak. A demand was made of him – recant the teachings which had become so dear to him. Recant? How do you take back the truth of God when you are convinced by the Scriptures and the Spirit that this is right? But he stood alone against the church and the leaders of the day who desired their way apart from God's. The might of man was arrayed against him. Yet, he could not recant, he would not. Standing in the middle of the floor he raised his eyes to the emperor and said, “Unless I am convinced by the Scriptures, I cannot, I will not recant….My conscience is bound by the Word of God. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”
Even the most devout child of God will experience the loneliness, the bitterness, the darkness that this world offers. I'm sure, dear friend, that you have felt it too.
But like Luther you have a God on which to call. Like Jacob, you have a place to go where His presence is known. And here it is, the house of God. It is a place where His saving Word is spoken and where His presence in that Word can be felt. He is here; He will cheer you. That's why the psalmist wrote, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord” (122).
I don't know what it is that makes us go elsewhere when we are sad and alone and fearful. Why do we go to the store, the theater, or the ballpark to cheer us? Why don't we come to the house of the Lord? It's a special place for such times. Oh, the building might be a nice one. But it's not the bricks or the wood or the appointments within that make it special. They are nothing but earthly things. What makes this house so special is here God is present with His Word to cheer you. (It was dedicated for that purpose some 15 years ago. And it is still true to that today.)
God taught Jacob what a special thing that is that night when he lay down alone under the night sky. He gave him a dream in which the sky was opened above him. A stairway stretched from the ground by his head to the heavens high above. Moving up and down on the stairway were the angels of God. A visual reminder of what the Scriptures mean when they say, “He shall give His angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways” (Ps.91). And as if that weren't enough to comfort and cheer him, Jacob beheld God Himself at the top. Surely, He was in that place , even when Jacob was unaware. When the Savior said later on, “I will be with you always even unto the end of the age,” He meant it. And in a graphic way He showed it to a cheerless, lonely sinner that night, blessing him with His presence.
Can't you see from this, dear friends, that wherever God is He comes to relieve the loneliness that His people feel. And what higher spot can there be on earth for this than a house that is dedicated in His name, where His Word is taught in its truth and purity?
You see, dear friends, you should always consider this church a place where God meets you and you meet Him. That's why it was built. It's a place, where in spite of your weakness and sin, He will gladly give you as warm and kindly an experience as though You had been allowed to enter His dwelling. To Jacob being in God's presence was equivalent to finding a gateway leading directly to heaven where he could step in for joyful, comforting contact with the Lord. The earthly sanctuary becomes a wondrous entrance to the heavenly.
That doesn't take place only here. It happens in whatever surroundings you may be as you come to hear and believe the truth of His saving Gospel. What is it that He promised: “Wherever two or three gather together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”? But He especially does it for you in this place, in this house, dedicated to worship.
So, as Jesus Himself made it His regular custom to go to the synagogue on a Sabbath, make it yours also, to be here without fail. For when the Word of the cross is preached to the saving of souls and the Sacrament of forgiveness is rightly administered, Surely, He Is Here, blessing us with His presence.
II. Comforting us in His promises.
But just filling a seat would not be enough to calm a troubled heart anymore than the sight of a ladder to heaven calmed Jacob. The knowledge of God's divine and holy presence would not calm a troubled heart unless God would speak words of comfort to it.
When the Lord appeared at the top, He said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac,” Jacob's father and grandfather. “And I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendents will be numerous and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
The same promise, given and fulfilled to Jacob's ancestors, would be a pledge of God's care for him, especially because of its overtones about the Savior who was to come. It was that promise which had cheered their hearts and dried their tears. Jacob could expect the same as he turned to the Lord to walk in faith in Him. Consider the significance in relation to this church.
Here is God's house, and here He comes to comfort us in His promises that have been preached here from day one till now. For us, as it was for a sinful Jacob, God's promises always start at the foot of the cross and at the door of an empty tomb. There we find ourselves cleansed of our sin. There we find ourselves drawn back to God. There He promises, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; called you by name, and you are mine.” There He assures, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life.” There He comforts us wayward and lonely ones, “I, the Savior, will be with you always.” And so in hundreds of ways that message is proclaimed here, in a church dedicated to His name. It's the reason the psalmist rejoiced, “I love the house where you live, O Lord, and the place where your glory dwells” (26:8).
May we then, dear friends, through the Holy Spirit's guidance, use this church and all our churches as a gateway, to fix our eyes upon the heavens, where God dwells. May we see and bring ourselves, our children, and grandchildren here to rejoice in the ladder of grace in Christ that is extended to us. May we be comforted here to watch the angels of God go up and down, and to hear God speak to us from above. May we set our hearts upon His promises that will lead us from here to eternity where He shall one day wipe all tears from our eyes. And may we with renewed zeal go from here to stand like Luther did, even if it should be alone, to proclaim the glorious truths of a Savior crucified and risen. Because of Him we know that wherever we are in faith, The Lord Is in That Place, too, blessing us with His presence and comforting us with His promises. God grant it to us for Jesus' sake. Amen.