Bible Truth #394 - Genesis 35:1-5

Genesis 35:1-5

1  And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2  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:

3  And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

4  And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5  And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

This story picks up after Simeon and Levi had murdered all the men in Shechem for raping their sister Dinah in Genesis 34. Here we see once more how the sovereignty of God is working in the affairs of men, this time with the unregenerate people who would never be saved. Do you understand the significance of that? God is working in the wicked, those who will never be saved, to accomplish His will in the lives of His chosen people (Ephesians 1:11).

You’ve heard of people having the “fear of God” put in them, usually by someone in a position of authority. Well that makes a mockery of how God works. Here is a Biblical example of that maxim, but as you can see, it is far more than fear - God puts TERROR in their hearts.

The normal reaction of men in those days was to go after Jacob and his sons and their families and likely kill them all or take them into bondage as slaves for the rest of their days. But God worked in them to will and to do according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Not only was God ordering the steps of Israel, He was also ordering the steps of unbelievers (Proverbs 16:9). Did they have free will? Like the lost today and even some saved, they certainly thought they had free will. But in this case their “free will” was to NOT go after Jacob. They made a “free will” decision to NOT pursue God’s chosen people. By removing from their mind pursuit and revenge, and inserting TERROR, God MADE them make the “free will” decision He wanted them to make.

So too God’s Elect. Before God does a work in one of His Elect, one of those He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil, continually (Genesis 6:5), he hates Jesus and will not come unto Him (John 3:20), he can’t please God (Romans 8:8), and is not saved because of anything he does (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5) and that includes “repenting of his sin and accepting Jesus as his Savior.” But then God does a work IN him (John 6:29) and grants him belief (Philippians 1:29) and repentance (2 Timothy 2:25).

There is no free will. It is only God working in people to make them think they have free will. We become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13).