Genesis 28–31
As I read these chapters, I saw what I was looking for: I heard the voice of Jesus Christ. The promises given to Jacob feel deeply familiar. They are the Abrahamic covenant—posterity, priesthood, land, and the Lord’s presence—the same eternal promises we receive through temple and sealing covenants today.
Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching heaven feels like a temple image. Heaven and earth connected. Angels ascending and descending. A gate back to our Heavenly Father. When Jacob awakens, he recognizes the land as sacred and vows to worship God and give a tenth of all he receives (Genesis 28:22). Worship, tithing, consecration—these are temple covenants.
What follows in Jacob’s life is complicated and, at times, uncomfortable to read. Love, deception, long years of service, rivalry, and customs very different from our own. Yet through all of it, the Lord is still at work. Out of imperfect people and imperfect choices came the twelve tribes of Israel. God moved His eternal purposes forward anyway.
Later, when Jacob and Laban make a covenant of peace, they mark it with a pillar of stones, a visible witness that God would watch over their promise (Genesis 31:44–49). That detail stands out to me. Covenants matter. They are remembered. And the Lord watches over them—“for the Lord God watcheth over all his people” (Alma 5:16).
So how do I see the Lord in this story?
I see a merciful Father, patient with His children, working with what He has—because that is all He has ever had. His children stumble. His covenants do not.
I testify that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament and the Savior of our day. He keeps His promises. He honors covenants. And He is always preparing a way back home.
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