Genesis 28:15 Commentary and Bible Study

God makes this promise to Jacob because he is trusting in a Mediator. It is as if he has had a new birth, obtained new consciousness of God, new knowledge. The whole of life’s outcome was now assured for him. He would be guided through life, and blessing would come on him and his descendants. He has access to eternal life. Bethel was his meeting place with God; we see all the stages of conversion in this experience. If you lay yourself before him and ask for new life and reconciliation, then these are the words you hear. ‘I will take you in my arms and you will be mine for eternity.’ He has a new life and knows he is on the journey to eternity. He receives a specific promise at this time that God will bring him back to Canaan. That is important for he is now about leave the land, the land which God has just promised to give to his descendants. His future is not going to be straightforward, and his faith will be tested, but this promise will be an anchor for him during those difficult years. God’s promise holds firm in spite of all the troubles we go through. Trials come to prove and to strengthen faith, and eventually, after much longer than he expected, Jacob would return. When he finally does return, he must see that God had been faithful and had not forgotten him for one moment in the intervening period. His return despite many difficulties would be the fulfilment of the promise that God always intended, at the time that God had always intended. His life’s outcome is assured.