Arise, Go Up to Bethel by Rev. O. W. Gates

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1880

Arise, Go Up to Bethel

By Rev. O. W. Gates

tion shown. at Bethel. When this message from God fell upon Jacob's ear, he was removed, in point of time, some twenty years from the scenes, the prayers and pledges of the memorable spot to which he is remanded. How far he had wandered in spirit we cannot tell with certainty. We must believe that he had declined from God and needed renewal and quickening. The associations of Bethel would stir his emotions, awaken penitence, and arouse him to consider anew the sure promises and unchanging faithfulness of the God of Bethel.

The command, "Arise, go up to Bethel," has force and meaning for every Christian. True, he is not called by it to Bethel of Palestine, nor to any chosen spot of earth. It simply requires him to stop where he is, look back, repent, and recall those periods in his spiritual history when mercies were shown, when deliverances were granted, when Heaven smiled, and he lived and walked in sweet and conscious communion with his Redeemer. To these Bethels we are remanded. As related to them, where are we? Has the brightness of their revelations faded? Has the tenderness of heart we then felt slipped from us? Have we let go of God's promises? Have we forgotten our voluntary vows? Have we ignored our solemn pledges? Let us arise and go up to the Bethel of God's gracious manifestation in pardon to our souls, and dwell there, face to face with its light, its peace and joy.

Thought fails to grasp and words fail to tell all that Bethel meant to Jacob. Its tender and precious associations must have invested the name and the place with a peculiar charm. In fact, it was what he found there, saw there, felt there, did there, gained there, which originated the name and consecrated the spot. When the reality and significance of his visions and experiences broke upon him, he said, "God is here; this is God's house; this is Bethel." The very mention of the name would thrill him like a fresh revelation; for it would speak to him of startling fears quieted, of threatening dangers taken away, of bewildering doubts removed, of odious sins pardoned, of weak faith strengthened, and of helping grace given.

You remember Jacob's first visit to Bethel. He was a fugitive from his home. Esau's angry threat, "I will kill my brother," was ringing in his ears. Gloomy forebodings, like spectres of darkness, haunted him. He was self-convicted of wrong. His remembered act of deception was like the sting of a scorpion. He was alone and without pillow for his head or shelter for his body. The long, sad, wearying day of his departure from home is gone. Night gloom gathers around him. In bitterness of spirit he lies down to rest, having the ground for his bed, a stone for a pillow, and the sky for a covering. To this exile, on that night, in that place, heaven was opened and he saw visions of glory and of God. How sudden and wonderful the manifestation! How great the change! Nature's midnight lingered longer than the gloom on Jacob's soul. Morning had not saluted the mountain tops and brightened the hills, when day-gleams had cheered the heart of the wanderer. The minstrelsy of field and wood was yet silent, but God had given the sleeper songs in the night.

The manner of the divine manifestation, in brief, was this: A ladder, or staircase filled all the space between earth and heaven. Above the top-most stair Jehovah's cheering presence was seen. His angels, in readiness to do their Lord's will and minister to their Lord's servant, are all alert and active, going up and coming down the shining celestial way. How his own journey would end Jacob could not foresee, but here, for him, was a sure, direct, and guarded way from his resting place to the abode of his God. Haran, whither he was going, might bring little or no good to him, but the fact was attested that heaven was free in its ministries, and rich in its blessings. And this is the very lesson which the believer's Bethel of pardon teaches. Arise go up to it! Then and there, thy soul vision was of the God-man, thy Redeemer, filling all the space between thy deep sinfulness and God's spotless holiness. He was God's way to thee, and thy way to God. Through him you entered Heaven. Seeing him, who he was, how tenderly human, how gloriously divine, how near you, and at the same time how near God, you made the cheering discovery that he was all you needed and all God could ask, and exclaimed "He is my salvation." As related to this Bethel of pardon where art thou now? How long is it since thou wast face to face with its heavenly vision? One year? Ten years? Twenty years? To what Haran of worldliness hast thou been? What spiritual losses hast thou suffered? Into what indifference hast thou fallen? To what idle ways hast thy heart declined? At once go up to this Bethel and abide there. Thy Lord calls thee. He will speak a fresh pardoning word in thine ear, and the result will be, a richer experience, a stronger faith, a fuller joy, a better service, a calmer life and a surer hope.

Bethel, for Jacob, had its vision of God. It had also its word from God. Ear was addressed as well as eye. The word which the divine lip dropped, and the opened human ear caught, was a gracious and glorious promise, with a sweep, depth, reach, vastness and grandeur truly sublime. That promise awakened interests and hopes and unveiled prospects of which the patriarch had never dreamed. Time tried his faith. How does the promiser seem after twenty years? Is his simple "I will" grasped and prized as actual fulfillment? Does the pledged inheritance prove a minister to enjoyment as though it were a possessed inheritance?

Alas, our human limitations! Alas, our materialistic tendencies, our subjection to sense, our bondage to the present! Our eyes too soon lose the glowing impression of Bethel scenes; our ears too soon fail to keep the distinct echo of Bethel words; and our memories too soon let go of solemn Bethel pledges.

Depressed and disheartened believer, arise, and go up to the Bethel of thy Saviour's promise! He has given thee himself; he has promised thee his kingdom and glory. His promise is a sun which earth-born mists and darkening clouds only hide, but cannot destroy. Perhaps the shadow of a cloud hangs over you, and you shiver in the chill air, and are ready to say, "the warm sunshine is all shut back, earth has no attraction and heaven no brightness." You misjudge. It is not so. The cloud is low, and thin, and narrow. Were you lifted heavenward a little way, it would be under your feet. Look yonder at those hills! They are basking in the direct rays of the sun. Wait a little and the wind will scatter all the clouds that annoy and chill you.

At Bethel the unclouded light of the divine promise shines like the sun. Go there, dwell there, and be warmed, cheered and revived.

"In darkest shades if he appear Your dawning is begun; He is your soul's sweet morning star, And he your rising sun."

—Rev. O. W. Gates, in Herald of Truth.