In Genesis 28, Jacob was in a homeless and restless situation (v. 10). When man is homeless, God also is homeless (Isa. 66:1). Thus, in Genesis 28, both Jacob and God were homeless. In like manner, when man is thirsty, God also is thirsty, and when man is unsatisfied, God also is unsatisfied. When the Lord Jesus came to the well of Sychar (John 4), He was thirsty, and a thirsty woman came to Him. Both the Samaritan woman and the Lord Jesus were thirsty. When man is homeless and restless, God is also homeless and restless. Genesis 28 is a picture showing that both God and man were homeless. What is man's real home? For eternity, man's home will be God. If you do not have God, you do not have a home. No unsaved person can ever feel at home, for man's real home is God. What is God's home? Man. Man's home is God, and God's home is man. Whenever man is separated from God, both God and man are homeless. For example, a divorce always affects both the husband and the wife. We cannot say that the wife is divorced and that the husband is not. Thus, when man is homeless, God is made homeless, but when we are at home, God also has a home. When we have God as our home, we become God's home. That night in Genesis 28, Jacob was separated from God, and both he and God were homeless. Since Jacob was homeless, he was also restless. A homeless person is a restless person. Home is sweet because it is restful. Many times after I have completed a long journey, upon returning home, I have said, "Praise the Lord, I'm home!" This means that I can rest. But that night Jacob and God were homeless and without rest.
We have seen that Jacob took a stone and made it his pillow. For years I could not understand the significance of this. Although we cannot understand it according to the outward word, we can understand it according to our inward experience. Before we were saved, we had no rest. We always felt that we were either in the air or in the bottom of the sea. We had nothing solid to hold, support, or sustain us. Although you might have been a millionaire, your money could not support you. Rather, it deprived you of peace and rest. Whether we were old or young, male or female, before we were saved, we had no solid support. But one day we were saved and something happened deep within us. What we experienced deep within produced something which became our solid support. After being saved we might have had troubles. Nevertheless, deep within, we had the assurance that there was a solid rock upon which we could rest. This solid rock is the very nature, the very element of Christ, which has been wrought into our being.
As men, we were made from the dust of the ground (2:7). Romans 9 indicates that we are vessels of clay, not of stone. If I had been Jacob, I would have made a pile of clay and rested upon it. In God's eyes, however, clay can never be our rest. Our human life, our natural human life and being, cannot be our rest. It does not matter how well educated we are nor what position we have. As long as we do not have the divine nature within us, we are merely clay. This clay cannot be our solid support. None of us found rest until we were saved. On that day, something divine, something of Christ, was wrought into us and became the solid support within us. This is our rest, our pillow. Our pillow is the divine element, the very Christ, which has been wrought into our being. As we were taking our human journey, we suddenly had a dream in which Christ Himself was wrought into us. Christ's nature is the rock which has been wrought into our nature of clay. Hence, we have a rock upon which we can lay our head.
Often unbelievers have said of Christians, "I have noticed that in times of trouble you have peace within. Why don't I have it?" The reason unbelievers do not have peace is because they do not have the divine element in them. They only have the clay of the fallen human element. If you would know how poor clay is, pour water on it. After a short time, it will become muddy. But the more you pour water upon a stone, the cleaner and brighter it becomes. Let the troubles come. They are water that washes. Every trouble which a Christian undergoes is like cleansing water. I thank God that I have been cleansed by troubles many times. Be prepared to be cleansed. Since the day we were saved, we have had a stone upon which we can lay our head. Now, however deep and dark is the night, we can rest our head upon this stone. I doubt that there is another Christian writing which says that the stone in Genesis 28 signifies the very divine element which has been wrought into our being to become the pillow for our human life. Non-believers do not have this pillow. Their pillow is the poor clay of human nature. But our pillow is a stone, the divine element, Christ Himself, which has been wrought into us. The more difficulties we have, the more we need this pillow. Seemingly, a stone is not restful. But according to our experience, it affords us a solid rest. This stone is not the objective Christ, the Christ far away from us; it is the Christ who has been wrought into our being, the subjective Christ on whom we may lay our head. This is the Christ who becomes our experience, the One whose divine element has been wrought into us. This Christ is the pillow of our human life. Praise the Lord for this pillow!
After having the dream, Jacob set up the stone for a pillar (28:18). The stone upon which we lay our head must become building material. Before coming into the church life, we could not understand this. But now, having come into the church, we realize that the very stone upon which we lay our head for rest must become a pillar, that is, the stone must become the material for God's building. Praise the Lord that we have been saved and are at rest. But what about God's rest? He cannot have rest until the stone upon which we rest our head has been set up to be a pillar for His building. God will not set up this pillar—we must do it. Our pillow must be set up to be a pillar. In other words, our experience of Christ must become a pillar.
I do not believe that, apart from us, any Christians know that their experience of Christ must be set up as a pillar. Before we came into the church life, we did not set up a pillar. But after coming into the church life, day by day we are setting up our experience of Christ to be a pillar. It is no longer just a pillow but a pillar. It is not only a matter of our rest; it is a matter of God's building for His rest. Is the very Christ whom you have experienced merely your rest, or is He the building material for God's house? The answer can be proved by our experience. Firstly, we laid our heads upon Christ and found rest. Eventually, we turned our experience of Christ into a pillar, into the material for God's building. Whatever we have experienced of Christ must become the material for the building of God's house. In other words, what has been our pillow must become a pillar. What do you have today—a pillow or a pillar?
There is no building among most Christians because, at best, they have only a pillow, not a pillar. Before we came into the church life, we also had only a pillow for our rest. But a short while after coming into the church, we set up our experience of Christ as a pillar, turning it into worthy material for God's house. Forty-five years ago, my pillow stood up to become a pillar. It was no longer merely a pillow under my head; it was a pillar for the building of God's house. While a pillow is good for our rest, God needs a house in which to rest. How can this house be built? Only by our pillow becoming a pillar. Firstly we have the stone, then we have the building.
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