Genesis 35:1-5: Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God….” So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had…and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. [NIV]
I was reading that chapter of Genesis last Monday and came to abrupt stop! Do you see what I see? Do you see the instructions of God for our generation?
When Jacob left Laban’s house to return to his father Isaac, his wife Rebecca took the household idols of her father, Laban, with her. She even hid them when her father pursued them and came looking to reclaim his property.
In Chapter 35 God directs Jacob where he is to settle … in Bethel. There he is to build an altar to the true God. But first, they must get rid of their idols. If they are going to go where God sends them and build an altar there to the One True God, they must be purified.
Jacob took all the idols and buried them. Then he and his household set out to go where God sent. And do you see what I see? When they rid themselves of their idols, when they became purified, even to the changing of the clothes stained by the world, the terror of God fell all around them…so that no one pursued them!
Church, it’s time. The idols need to be buried and left behind. We need to be purified by the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit. We need to change out of the garments stained by the world. Only then will the terror of God precede us. Only then will we be able to reach our generation.
