JACOB’S
DREAM AT BETHEL
___________________________________________
GENESIS 28:10-22
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
Jacob’s Dream at
Bethel
10 Jacob left the town of Beersheba
and started out for Haran. 11 At sunset he stopped for the night and went to
sleep, resting his head on a large rock. 12 In a dream he saw a ladder[a] that
reached from earth to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it.
13 The Lord was standing beside the
ladder[b] and said:
I am the Lord God who was worshiped by
Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are
now sleeping. 14 Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions
and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing
to all people.[c] 15 Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will
bring you back to this land. I won’t leave you—I will do all I have promised.
16 Jacob woke up suddenly and thought,
“The Lord is in this place, and I didn’t even know it.” 17 Then Jacob became
frightened and said, “This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and
the ladder[d] to heaven.”
18 When Jacob got up early the next
morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a
place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God,
19 and he named the place Bethel.[e] Before that it had been named Luz.
20 Jacob solemnly promised God, “If
you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and
clothes 21 and bring me safely home again, you will be my God. 22 This rock
will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give
me.”
Kingdom Dynamics
28:10-22 Jacob’s dream emphasizes
God’s initiating grace as Hew assures him He is the Lord of the past and
future. Jacob was the third
generation to receive the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, not because he
was righteous, but because of God’s call and faithfulness to Abraham. Since Jacob had probably never heard God’s
voice before, the Lord identified Himself by His prior relationship with
Abraham and Isaac.
28:16-18 Jacob associated God with the place where he had
the dream. He memorialized it with the stone…for his
pillows and consecrated it with oil.
Keys to Generous Living
The lives of
the patriarchs richly illustrate that encounters with God unavoidably result in
men and women who are generous with God and with others. Later codified in the
Law, tithing (giving a tenth) began as an act of faithful devotion to God to
acknowledge that He alone is our resource.
28:20-21 Jacob was endeavoring to grasp
the promise and to adopt the Lord as his God, by formalizing a relationship
such as his father had enjoyed. His
words are neither cynical nor are they a bribe.
Understand
that
to the patriarchs, to tithe was an expression of loyalty to and faith in God;
also it is an expression of covenant relationship with God.
28:22 The tenth unto thee: The tithe,
although found in the later Mosaic Law, originated with the earlier patriarchs
Abraham and Jacob. Therefore, the tithe is part of the Abrahamic covenant of
grace, not merely of the Mosaic covenant of works.
Summary
Do you remember
the old church hymn “We Are
Climbing Jacobs Ladder?” Or how about some of the church Sunday school
lessons and sermons on the aforementioned? If you were anything like me back
then, you never ″really″ _ not really, understood or grasp the essence of what we were
singing, listening to, or the message of the sermon content.
Glory to GOD
for the Holy Spirit within that prompts us to seek clarity and understanding of
His scriptures.
I
|
t
is interesting to discern that there was incredible angelic activity when Jesus
rose from the dead ( Matthew
28:5; Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4; John 20:12; Acts 1:11). Jacob's ladder pointed to Jesus Christ who said, "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me"
(John 14:6).
- The encouraging vision Jacob saw, Gen. 28:12. He saw a ladder which reached from earth to heaven, the angels ascending and descending upon it, and God himself at the head of it. Now this represents the two things that are very comfortable to good people at all times, and in all conditions:—(1.) The providence of God, by which there is a constant correspondence kept up between heaven and earth. The counsels of heaven are executed on earth, and the actions and affairs of this earth are all known in heaven are executed on earth, and the actions and affairs of this earth are all known in heaven and judged there. Providence does its work gradually, and by steps.
- Angels are employed as ministering spirits, to serve all the purposes and designs of Providence, and the wisdom of God is at the upper end of the ladder, directing all the motions of second causes to the glory of the first Cause. The angels are active spirits, continually ascending and descending; they rest not, day nor night, from service, according to the posts assigned them. They ascend, to give account of what they have done, and to receive orders; and then descend, to execute the orders they have received. Thus we should always abound in the work of the Lord, that we may do it as the angels do it, Ps. 103:20, 21.
- This vision gave very seasonable comfort to Jacob, letting him know that he had both a good guide and a good guard, in his going out and coming in,—that, though he was made to wander from his father’s house, yet still he was the care of a kind Providence, and the charge of the holy angels. This is comfort enough, though we should not admit the notion which some have, that the tutelar angels of Canaan were ascending, having guarded Jacob out of their land, and the angels of Syria descending to take him into their custody. Jacob was now the type and representative of the whole church, with the guardianship of which the angels are entrusted.
- The mediation of Christ. He is this ladder, the foot on earth in his human nature, the top in heaven in his divine nature: or the former in his humiliation, the latter in his exaltation. All the intercourse between heaven and earth, since the fall, is by this ladder. Christ is the way; all God’s favours come to us, and all our services go to him, by Christ. If God dwell with us, and we with him, it is by Christ. We have no way of getting to heaven, but by this ladder; if we climb up any other way we are thieves and robbers. To this vision our Saviour alludes when he speaks of the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man (John 1:51); for the kind offices the angels do us, and the benefits we receive by their ministration, are all owing to Christ, who has reconciled things on earth and things in heaven (Col. 1:20), and made them all meet in himself, Eph. 1:10.
The
encouraging words Jacob heard. God now brought him into the wilderness, and
spoke comfortably to him, spoke from the head of the ladder; for all the glad
tidings we receive from heaven come through Jesus Christ.
(1.) The former
promises made to his father were repeated and ratified to him, Gen. 28:13, 14.
In general, God intimated to him that he would be the same to him that he had
been to Abraham and Isaac. Those that tread in the steps of their godly parents
are interested in their covenant and entitled to their privileges.
Particularly, [1.] The land of Canaan is settled upon him, the land whereon
thou liest; as if by his lying so contentedly upon the bare ground he had taken
livery and seisin of the whole land. [2.] It is promised him that his posterity
should multiply exceedingly as the dust of the earth—that, though he seemed now
to be plucked off as a withered branch, yet he should become a flourishing
tree, that should send out his boughs unto the sea. These were the blessings
with which his father had blessed him (Gen. 28:3, 4), and God here said Amen to
them, that he might have strong consolation. [3.] It is added that the Messiah
should come from his loins, in whom all the families of the earth should be
blessed. Christ is the great blessing of the world. All that are blessed,
whatever family they are of, are blessed in him, and none of any family are
excluded from blessedness in him, but those that exclude themselves.
(2.) Fresh
promises were made him, accommodated to his present condition, Gen. 28:15.
[1.]
Jacob was apprehensive of danger from his brother Esau; but God promises to
keep him. Note, Those are safe whom god protects, whoever pursues them.
[2.] He
had now a long journey before him, had to travel alone, in an unknown road, to
an unknown country; but, behold, I am with thee, says God. Note, Wherever we
are, we are safe, and may be easy, if we have God’s favourable presence with
us.
[3.] He knew not, but God foresaw, what hardships he should meet with in
his uncle’s service, and therefore promises to preserve him in all places.
Note, God knows how to give his people graces and comforts accommodated to the
events that shall be, as well as to those that are.
[4.] He was now going as an
exile into a place far distant, but God promises him to bring him back again to
this land. Note, He that preserves his people’s going out will also take care
of their coming in, Ps. 121:8.
[5.] He seemed to be forsaken of all his
friends, but God here gives him this assurance, I will not leave thee. Note,
Whom God loves he never leaves. This promise is sure to all the seed, Heb.
13:5. [6.] Providences seemed to contradict the promises; he is therefore
assured of the performance of them in their season: All shall be done that I
have spoken to thee of.
Jacob's Ladder
When
I think of the patriarch Jacob, I think of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Jacob
was a deceiver. His many-sided personality was filled with guile, meanness,
craftiness and deceit. He's probably not the person you would like to have as your
best friend or son-in-law.
In
fact, when we meet up with him he is fleeing because he and his mother have
deceived his father, Isaac, into giving him a spiritual blessing that had been
destined to his older brother Esau. His own wrongdoing had driven him out of
the home. When his father sent him away to Paddan-arm to seek a wife, he met
his match in uncle Laban. They served deceit and guile up to one another for
fourteen years.
It
is on this long journey that Jacob, weary from the travel, spends the night in
the open. He found a stone to ''put under his head, and lay down in that
place" (Genesis 28:11). It isn't strange to lay the head on a pillow of
rock, or a board, or a book, or a straw mat, etc. I've done it many times in my
travels as a missionary. Hard heads and hard rocks probably fit together.
Here is a man who is alone with God.
Weary
and exhausted from the hard day of walking Jacob went into a deep sleep and
began to dream. His dream was profound. “He had a dream, and behold, a ladder
was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of
God were ascending and descending on it" (28:12).
"And
behold, the Lord stood above it and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of your
father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it
to you and to your descendants'" (v. 13).
The LORD God (Yahweh) got Jacob's attention at Bethel. He demonstrated that He cared about Jacob and his miserable condition.
God
repeated the promise given to Abraham and Isaac
In
that dream God rehearsed to Jacob the great promises He had given to his
grandfather, Abraham and his father Isaac. It is obvious he will find his mate
because his “descendents shall also be like the dust of the earth" (v.
14). Moreover, “in you and in your descendents shall all the families of the
earth be blessed." Yes, you read it correctly. God will bless and use a
descendent of this deceiver for His eternal purpose. Remember, Yahweh is the
God of grace. He will continue to pursue Jacob and work in him until He has
Jacob to the place where he can bring glory to the His name alone.
The Presence of God
The
LORD makes another promise to Jacob. “Behold, I am with you and will keep you
wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you
until I have done what I have promised you" (v. 15).
“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,
'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.' He was afraid and
said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven'" (vv. 16-17). He got up poured oil on the
stone and named the place Bethel, “the house of God."
In a later event (Genesis 32:22ff) Jacob
wrestled with the angel of the LORD and prevailed against him. Jacob clung to
him and said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me" (v. 26).
God changed his name from Jacob to "Israel, for you have striven with God
and with men and have prevailed." Israel means “He who strives with God”
or “God strives." Much to his surprise, Jacob realized with whom he had
wrestled and declared, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been
preserved" (v. 30). He went away limping for the wrest of his life.
When
God changes the name of a person in the Old Testament it often indicates a new
relationship with that person. Jacob’s life would never the same after this
encounter with God.
Jacob learned that when you are walking with
the Lord any place becomes your resting place. Wherever you are Yahweh is
there. Jacob just happened to be at Luz. Before He ascended into heaven Jesus
told His followers, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Matthew 28:20). We have His abiding presence regardless of where we are. We
are always with Him because He is the ladder into the presence of God. There is
no place in this universe where our Lord is not with us. He is our dwelling
place.
Moreover,
there isn't anything that can separate us from our Lord. “For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).
Jesus and Nathanael
This
event in Jacob's life takes on special importance because Jesus appropriated it
for Himself while talking to Nathanael.
How
do men get to heaven? Jesus used this vision of Jacob in His conversation with
a Jewish man named Nathanael. Jesus had never met this man before. He saw
Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
there is no guile!" (John 1:47). The word Jesus used for “guile"
means to “catch with bait, beguile, deceit." He is not going to be like
Jacob and make use of double dealings of deceit.
Jesus
declared Nathanael to be a true son of Abraham, a Jew inwardly in spirit.
This
took Nathanael completely by surprise. Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know
me?" Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you
were under the fig tree, I saw you."
What
was he doing under the fig tree? Wouldn't we love to know? He was under the
cover of the fig tree. No one knew he was there. No one saw him but God!
Whatever it was Jesus saw him, and Nathanael was now conscious of His
supernatural knowledge of that fact. This is a specific instance of Jesus'
ability to know all things.
It
can be inferred from verses 48, 51 that Nathanael was meditating on Jacob's
life, particularly the incident recorded in Genesis 28:12. Jesus is the divine
communication from heaven to earth. The Son of Man, replacing the ladder, is
God's link with the earth (Dan. 7:13; Matt. 26:64). Jesus is the new
“Bethel." He is God's dwelling place (Gen. 28:17; John 1:14). Jesus said,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but
through Me" (John 14:6). He is the only door of entrance into the presence
of God (John 10:1, 7).
Perhaps
this is the passage of Scripture Nathanael was reading while sitting under the
fig tree at home. There is also good reason to think he was praying, seeking
God's forgiveness, and deliverance from his own deceit. Perhaps he was
confessing his sins, and when he met Jesus there rang out in his ears the same
response he had received in private with God! No one could have known that he
had been alone seeking God's presence under that fig tree. But it was known to
Jesus! This is God speaking. He alone knows what is happening in a person's
heart. He is the only one who can lead us to heaven. He is the doorkeeper. He
is the ladder to heaven.
Perhaps
as he sat under the fig-tree he prayed for the day when God's Chosen One, the
Messiah, would come. No doubt he had been meditating on the promises of God and
now he felt that Jesus had seen into the very depths of his sinful heart. Holy
penetrating presence of Jesus searches the depths of our being. He is the one
person who understands our aspirations, hopes, ambitions, visions, etc. He
knows the intents of our hearts, our secret longings, and the depths of our
motives.
The Messiah
Suddenly,
Nathanael responds, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of
Israel" (John 1:49).
Nathanael
represents the Israelite whose heart was cleansed of pride and prejudice and
saw in Jesus the one who satisfied the longing of his waiting, seeking heart.
The Savior, Redeemer, Messiah had come! Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the
King of Israel (John 20:31). If we are true Israelites indeed, our hearts will
crown Him as the "King of Israel." It should be noted that "King
of Israel," “Son of Man, " and “Son of God" are definitely
Messianic titles (2 Samuel 7:14; Ps. 2:7; Juan. 12:13).
“Because
I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see
greater things than these." And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man" (vv. 50-51). Jesus can do more than read the
heart. He opens the door to heaven. Jesus was in unending and unbroken communion
with the Father. Nathanael and the other disciples saw the glory of God come
down to man (John 1:14, 18). God and man met in Jesus Christ.
Verse
51 is an allusion or quotation of Genesis 28:12, and Jacob's ladder is replaced
in the verse by "the Son of Man." The title “Son of Man" in
John's Gospel has the basic understanding of His origin in heaven (6:27, 33),
that He will return again to His place of glory (6:62) by way of the cross
(3:14; 8:28; 12:23, 34; 13:31). The divine origin and authority of Jesus is
suggested by the title “Son of Man." It was the Messianic title that Jesus
chose for Himself.
A.
T. Robertson says, ''that was a dream to Jacob, but Christ is Himself the bond
of fellowship between heaven and earth, between God and man, for Jesus is both
'the Son of God' as Nathanael said and 'the Son of Man' as Jesus here calls
Himself. God and man met in Christ. He is the true Jacob's ladder. 'I am the
Way,' Jesus will say."
The
Incarnation made it an abiding reality. B. F. Westcott says, “That representative
of Israel was a fact for the Son of Man. Thus the reference is to the
continuing presence of Christ (Matt. 28:20), in whom believers realize the
established fellowship of the seen and unseen, and not the special acts of
angelic ministration to Christ alone during His earthly life."
The Door to Heaven is Open
The
words “heavens opened" is the idea of remaining open or “standing open.”
Something has occurred in the past and it continues into the future. Heaven
stands wide open and now the grace of God is available for every person who
believes in the Son of Man. You can come into God's presence. He has forgiven
you. The one standing there talking to Nathanael is the “door." He has
bridged the gap between heaven and earth. He provides a means for us to enter
into God's presence. Sin shut the door. However, Christ has removed the sin
bearer that separates us through His death and resurrection. He is the only
entrance into heaven because He is ''the lamb slain from the before the
foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8; cf. Rev. 4:1; 19:11).
Jesus
Christ is the mediator between God and man. He is the only means whereby sinful
man can have a right relationship with God. It is accomplished only by His
crucifixion. Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know
that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things
as the Father taught Me" (John 8:28). God opened heaven wide open by means
of the cross of Jesus. That is why the apostle Peter could declare, “And there
is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has
been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
In
both of these passages the main thought is divine communication between heaven
and earth. In Jesus Christ we have the continuing presence of God and He says
to you and me, "I will never leave you, and I will never forsake
you."
There
is no ladder as Jesus uses the story because He is the ladder. The angels in
their movement show the divine activity and identify Jesus with the ladder.
Jesus is the link between heaven and earth. Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one has
ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man"
(John 3:13). Jesus communicates the realities of heaven to men on this earth.
If you want communion with heaven here is the only person who can do it for
you. He is the only mediator between God and sinful man (1 Tim. 2:5).
Some
scholars see the interpretation of the ladder reaching from heaven to earth in
verse 51 as figurative, and some literal. Some see it fulfilled when our Lord
was upon the earth in that Nathanael would see a fuller revelation of Christ.
Others see it literally fulfilled in the resurrection and ascension of Christ.
J. C. Ryle writes, "Our Lord spoke of His second coming and kingdom. When
He comes the second time to take His great power and reign, the words of this
text shall be literally fulfilled. His believing people shall see heaven open,
and a constant communication kept up between heaven and earth,--the tabernacle
of God with men, and the angels visibly ministering to the King of Israel, and
King of all the earth."
Jesus
told Caiaphas that he will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
power and coming with clouds of heaven (Mk. 14:62).
Nathanael
saw the great reality of something modern men need to see, too. Yes, Jesus is
Israel’s true Messiah. He is Israel’s long expected King after the heart of
David. Jesus will one day come and reign over Israel from Jerusalem just like
the Hebrew prophets foretold (Isa. 24:23; Zech. 14:9, 16).
Moreover,
there is also the picture of judgment upon the Gentiles. The future judgment of
Christ as the “Son of man” will come on the self-righteous (Daniel 7:13-14;
Matt. 13:41-43; 16:27; 24:27, 30; 25:31-46; 26:64). Jesus will return to judge
the living and the dead. Those who have rejected Him will meet Him as their
judge. It is my prayer as I write these words that you know Him as the Lamb of
God who has taken away all your sins (John 1:29; 1 John 1:6). Jesus Christ is
Messiah, King, Son of God, and Son of Man, and He is coming again. Are you
ready? (Rev. 19:11-16)
Janet Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible
Stories Theatre of
Fine
& Performing Arts
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