“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:” Genesis 35:2
The experience of salvation is marked by change. Change that is as drastic as darkness to light. When you meet the Father and His Son, you will not be the same person you were before. In the garden of Eden mankind knew God, met with God. We had a perfect fellowship, but that was lost. Therefore, God made a way that we might get back; back to Bethel.
The context around Genesis thirty five and two is such that God told Jacob to go back to Bethel. Upon hearing this, he said to his household that they were to put away the strange god’s, be clean, and change their garments. These were instructions of preparation for a return to the house of God, or Bethel as it was called. Jacob had been to Bethel once before, he knew Bethel, he named it Bethel. The last time he was there God showed him a vision of a ladder and the angels of God ascending and descending on it. This ladder reached from Earth to Heaven. It reached from God to man. This ladder was a vision of Christ. A foreshadowing of the connection that Jesus would bring to us. Access to the Holy, the bridge over a gulf of sin that separates us. The vision had such a profound and deep impact on Jacob that he declared that the Lord was in this place and he named the place Bethel. Which means the “house of God.” Now he, and his household, are preparing for a return to the house of God. They are preparing to meet God. In their preparation they begin to put away the strange God’s, clean themselves, and change their garments. The strange god’s of that time can be equated to the worldly things and sinful desires of this day. In Jacob’s time, they coveted after the gods of the people around them. These were god’s that were not God. Are we not tempted to do the same? The strange gods of our day come in many forums, and we must put them away before we can come back to the house of God. Next we are instructed to be clean. Once we have renounced the world and the strange gods therein, in our repentance God can and will forgive and offer cleansing purchased by the blood of His Son. Finally, we are given a change of garment. Salvation is marked by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, and the change he brings. A change in heart, spirit, outlook, attitude, and of course our inward nature. Going back to Bethel encompasses the entire process of sinner to saint. Salvation is offered so that we can get back to Bethel, back to the house of God. The fellowship with God. A fellowship once lost that is now restored within a human heart. We are the temple of the living God, if God lives within us; for truly this Bethel is not a physical place but a spiritual one. There is a reverence given to Bethel. There is a recognition that is demanded of this holy place.
There must be a journey back to Bethel. There must be a turning from the world, a cleansing, a change, and a reunion with the Father. In repentance we find the turning and cleansing, in sanctification we obtain the reunion; and in all of it there is change that happens to us both within and without. That is because Jesus is within us. We have been changed from darkness to life, from the power of Satan to that of God. We must go back, back to Bethal.
