Read Genesis 35
Jacob was living in a land where there
had been much death and desolation at the hands of his sons. Even though the pagan peoples around him did
not band together against him, property values had surely bottomed out.
Yes, he had all the grazing land that
he wanted but this place would always be a reminder of sin taking hold of his
entire family. It was time for a change.
The change came about not because
Jacob reasoned that he needed to move.
God commanded him to move, and this would not just be a change of
scenery. It would not just be moving to
a better neighborhood.
This would be a setting apart of Jacob
and his family.
God told Jacob to go to Bethel. Remember, you met me there before. Do what
you did the first time. Set up an altar to
me. This was the place where Jacob
had his vision. This was the place Jacob
named Bethel because God was in that place.
Now God was sending Jacob to that
place.
This was more than just a road
trip. Before everyone left—and we are
talking not just blood relatives but all who had been acquired by Jacob over
the course of time, including those spoils from killing all of Hamor’s men—Jacob command them to give up their false
gods.
This is something of a choose this day moment for Jacob’s people. There could be no
sitting on the fence. There might not have been much choice involved. It sounds like everyone was voluntold to get
cleaned up and get rid of their pagan baggage.
Jacob told his people to purify
themselves and put on new clothes. The exact purification ritual is not clear,
but this was to be a change of everything—heart, mind, body, spirit, and
clothing, and you surely don’t
put clean clothes on a dirty body.
They also took off their
earrings. Some commentaries say that
these were part of pagan practices or superstitious rituals. In any case, they were not going to make the
trip.
Jacob buried all of these in a place
where they were not likely to be found.
Why not destroy them? There is no definitive answer, but the hiding
of them accomplished what destroying them would have done and would surely
provide the plot for a Hollywood movie when some unsuspecting putz stumbled
upon them in 2024.
In any case, the people who made this
trip would not be encumbered by the trappings of their pagan past.
Jacob did what was commanded of
him. He set up the altar and later a
pillar. He had come to this place where he had seen angels ascending and
descending between earth and heaven and God had plans for him.
God had told him this once before, but
at this time and place, its purpose became clear.
God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,
but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.”
Jacob left the old ways and was set
apart for God’s work. Even the old name
had to go. He was now Israel.
God passed the promise given to
Abraham and Isaac on to Jacob.
· You will have many descendants. You are now the mainstay of this Father of
Many Nations business.
· This land in which you now reside—more than
just the parking place that you now occupy—is my gift to your descendants.
This whole Father of Many Nations
thing has been going on for a while.
Jacob and his 4 wives put it into high gear, but now we see God setting
apart a people.
Somehow Jacob—Israel—knew this. He knew this was significant. He was to be
different from the pagan people who surrounded him. We don’t seed the words chosen people,
but we see the setting apart.
We don’t really see the full
manifestation of God’s Chosen People until they emerge from Egypt centuries
later. The essence of this setting apart comes to us in Leviticus.
You are to be holy to me because I,
the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
If you ever wonder why there were all
of these laws—some seem obscure—given by God in what we know as Leviticus,
understand that God was setting apart a people to be like him.
But why this law or that one. Did God really have to tell people that?
God noted that it was because the
people in the land that was given to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob did these things that were repulsive to the
Lord. You are set apart for God. We don’t do these things because we belong to
God as his own. We are his special people.
We are to be holy as he is holy.
That setting apart was underway with
Israel and his family. Isaac died soon
after Israel was sent to Bethel. Israel,
tribes, and chosen people were what was to come.
That story is on our near horizon, but
let’s jump to 2023 and our group of believers.
Have we been set apart? Is that just a Hebrew thing? Is it just for pastors, or maybe elders? Are we
special?
Are we set apart?
You know the answer. God chose us—we
were preselected
to be with him for eternity. We didn’t
earn anything. It was a gift but we
received the gift by faith.
We are chosen. We are set apart. We are his.
We are to be holy as God is holy.
We are not going to get a perfect
score on the Law of Moses test. Only
Jesus could do this. He said that he
came to fulfill the law and he did.
Praise the Lord that he did because
that gave God the Father the Unblemished Lamb that would be sacrificed for our
sins.
But we must always remember that we
are set apart for God. How?
Many ways, but the most essential is
love. We are to be known by our love.
We should see
ourselves as set apart for God. We are known to each other not only by
acknowledging God in everything we do but by the presence of love in everything
we do.
Others should see
us as set apart for God. The world may praise us for this or the world
most likely will condemn us for this, but the world should not be confused
about us. We belong to God. We are set apart by God. We are to be known as followers of Christ
Jesus by our love.
The lost should
see us as set apart by God and for God. The lost should see the light of God shining
through us. The lost should know the love of God through us.
Make no mistake, you are set apart by
God and for God. He works in us and
through us and as it turns out he is always working for us.
And if God is for us, who then can be against us?
Think this day on being set apart for
God and his purpose. Know that our part
in this is to repent of the ways of the world and seek the ways of God.
This is a wholesale exchange of body,
mind, soul, and spirit. We leave the old
behind and take on our new nature. We
are a new creation and God has purpose for our lives.
We are set apart to bring glory to his name and be known as his disciples by our love.
We are brothers and sisters with Christ.
We are not troubled by trouble in this world but we take courage in the One who overcame
the world.
We know that this present suffering that we endure—sometimes much and sometimes
little—is nothing compared to what the God who set us apart has in store for us.
If the world says, “Dude, you’re just
different”, respond by saying, “I know.
I’m set apart by God for his good works.”
In my profession of faith and baptism,
I have been purified
by God’s own Spirit.
I put off the old clothes
and put on the new. I am a new creation.
I cast off
everything—not just earrings—that gets in my way of following God.
I am ready to go to Bethel and seek God
and his kingdom and his righteousness.
You are set apart by God for God and
you should rejoice in that. We should
enjoy being different from the world.
Let us rejoice in being set apart for
God!
Amen.
