Jacob’s Ladder as an Example of Grace

I believe that God’s grace is taught as much in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Scriptures) as in the new.

The key element here is that Israel was never called to obey in order to earn God’s acceptance, but rather were offered God’s acceptance and then called upon to obey. One of the problems with modern views of grace is the notion that consequences in the real world are canceled by it. But that is a subject for considerable words at some other time.

In Genesis 28 we have the story of Jacob’s flight after Rebecca warns him of Esau’s anger. It’s a simple situation. We often picture God’s action following our request to God. There’s no record of Jacob asking anything. He just sets up a place to sleep and sleeps. God sends a message of comfort, hope, and promise to Jacob without any action on Jacob’s part.

Now there are certainly many cases of someone asking and getting an answer. I’m not arguing against prayer, though I think prayer is mostly for the good it does us. God already has a pretty good idea of what’s going on.

(Image credit: Openclipart.org.)