and it speaks of Nathanael's
faith. Nathanael is a man of faith. Nathanael gives us the
glory of the simplicity of faith, isn't it? He believes, he believes,
doesn't he, that Jesus Christ is the King of Israel, Jesus
Christ is God. Mr. Hart said, whoever believes
aright in Christ's atoning blood, of all his guilts acquitted quite,
and may draw near to God, But sin will still remain, corruptions
rise up thick, and Satan says the medicine's vain, because
we yet are sick. But all this will not do on our
hope on Christ's, on Jesus' cast. Let all be lies and him be true. Satan says the medicine's vain,
because we are yet sick. But all this will not do. Our
hopes on Jesus are cast. Let all be lies and him be true,
and we shall live over the past. We know the end of the story
of Jacob and all was well at last, and such will be the journey
of all of the Lord's people through Jacob. Let's just turn in our
scriptures to Jacob. This story in Genesis chapter
28 is a glorious story and we're looking at it because in the
Lord's dealings with Nathanael, raises the issue that Nathanael
is an Israelite indeed. He could have said you're a Jew
indeed, but he wanted us to take note of the fact that Nathanael
was an Israelite indeed. The Israelite indeed, of course,
are the descendants, the faith children of Abraham and those
who are like Jacob found to have wrestled with God and have power
of God and be called princess of God. And so it's interesting,
isn't it, that the Lord takes the bookends of this journey
of Jacob's 20 years into this wilderness wandering and uses
them as the introduction to the first incident in John's gospel
where he actually reveals his omniscience and his omnipotence
to one of his own. And so this story was very much
in the mind of our Lord, and Nathaniel being a zealous and
devout Jew, When it was mentioned to him, those things were mentioned
to him, he would have had the whole picture in his mind. And
if we could have something of this picture in our mind and
go from here this morning with pictures of what Jacob had seen
and the blessings involved, then we will be thrilled. Graham's
read it to us, so let's begin in verse 10. Jacob went out from
Beersheba and went toward Haran and he lighted upon a certain
place. There always is a certain place.
There's always going to be a certain place where God meets with his
people. And he tarried there all night
because the sun was set. Jacob was moving into a time
of darkness, not just that darkness is typified. And in John's gospel,
there is this movement again and again of people coming from
light into darkness or being left in darkness and deep, deep
darkness. And he took up the stones of
that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that
place to sleep. And he dreamed and behold, a
ladder set up on the earth. He dreamed. Hebrews 1 begins
with God spoke to our fathers in sundry times and in diverse
manners. And these sundry times in diverse
manners, you might recall, he spoke to Daniel, and spoke to
Ezekiel, and he spoke to many of the prophets in the old days,
and he spoke to them in dreams and visions. And you might recall
that with the dream that Pharaoh had that came from God, and the
dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, they needed interpretation, and
these visions and dreams need interpretation. And I trust the
Lord will give us light on it. And I love what he saw. He dreamed
and beheld a ladder. a ladder set up on the earth. Now we have no doubt, because
of what the Lord Jesus spoke to Nathaniel of, that this ladder,
of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to take all
the pictures we can from a physical ladder, but all we see is a physical
ladder. One commentator I read said that,
oh, the rocks in those places were sort of weathered such that
they were set as steps. And I thought, what have you
been smoking? This is about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He plainly tells us it is. But I think it's such a significant
word, isn't it? The ladder is set up on the earth.
And that's what the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is all
about. It's the ladder that's set up on the earth. Set up on
the earth. And the top of it reached to
heaven. The top of it reached to heaven.
So on earth, he's set up on earth as God, he's set up on earth
as man, heaven and behold the angels
of God ascending and descending on it." It's a glorious, glorious picture,
isn't it? That all all of the blessings
of God ascend and descend to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the angels are ministering spirits, Hebrews 1.14 says, they're
ministering spirits, but they're only sent to particular people,
aren't they? They're ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
to them who shall be heirs of salvation. all of those who are
the children of God will have these ministering spirits sent
to them. And we don't see them, and they
are extraordinarily powerful. One outside of Jerusalem killed
185,000 troops in the days of Hezekiah. They are remarkable
1 Corinthians 11 verse 10, the
angels are here present, which is why the meeting of God's people
around the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a meeting that
involves reverence and we need to be mindful of who is present. The angels are present, the Lord
Jesus Christ is present. light-heartedness and frivolity
of modern religion that seeks to entertain people. The Bible
College I went to had a lecturer, a principal, who was famous for
being a great storyteller and a funny storyteller. So everyone
that came out of that college would always start their sermons
with a funny story, or some sort of story. And then they used
to want to break up the message with a funny story in the middle. We're in the very presence of
God, brothers and sisters in Christ, the angels are here. Angels of God ascending, and
verse 13, and behold, the Lord stood above it. The Lord God
Almighty, Jehovah stood above it. The Lord Jesus Christ stands
above it. God the Father stands above it.
You might recall when Stephen died and the heavens were opened
and he saw the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of
God the Father. He stands, he stands to enact
his purposes and he sits because they're completed and finished.
He stands above it in authority. The authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then he speaks. speaks to Jacob are words of
the promise of the covenant. They are glorious, glorious words,
aren't they? And he said, and said, verse
13, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac,
the land whereon thou lies, to thee will I give it. See, when
God introduces himself, when this ladder is revealed, the
very first thing that he speaks to people is the promise of his
covenant. The first thing he wants people
to take note of when he comes to bless them, when he comes
to reveal himself, is his covenant. When he comes to meet with his
people, it's to confirm his covenant, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
the covenant itself. When the covenant comes, he speaks
in covenant terms, that he is the great I am God, who promises,
and here we have these glorious promises that were received by
Jacob, and they're not just Jacob's promises, they were meant to
be Nathaniel's promises, and they're the promises for all
the church of God, for all the children of God. He has these
great promises. I love when the Lord says will,
and when the Lord says shall, you can write it down. It's done.
It's been done before the foundation of the world, the works of God
were completed from the foundation of the world. We'll look at these
great shalls and wills, but they come because of these blessings of Jacob.
He says, behold, I am with thee. I'm with thee. I'm with thee
always until the end of the age. I'm always with you. I'm always
with you. And I'll keep you. And I'll not
leave you. I'll keep thee in all the places
where thou goest. And he says, and I'll bring you
again into this land for I will not leave thee. What a glorious
promise. I will keep thee and I will not
leave thee. And I love the concluding one
of these amazing blessings. Until, at the end of verse 15,
until I had done that which I had spoken of to thee. I'll not leave thee until I have
done everything that I have said. There are no ifs in the eternal
covenant. It is just God speaking as a
sovereign God, as a covenant-keeping God, and he says, And then he
assures Jacob that this is exactly what's going to happen. See, when God comes to his own
to reveal his glory, he comes by revealing his name, his character,
and he reveals them in his covenant faithful promises. We won't have
time to look closely at all of these, but you can think about
them with me. The land whereon thou liest, will I give to thee,
and thy seed. Abraham was given all of that
land there, but when Abraham got to see it, he said, Abraham
was looking for a city which has foundations, is builder and
maker, is God. They were looking way, way beyond
those promises. We are the children of God, the
inheritors a real physical creation. We are joint heirs, Romans 8
says. We are heirs and joint heirs
with Christ. And there will be a physical
creation. And it will be ours as an inheritance. And the God will give it to us.
We don't earn it. He gives it. We have a promised
inheritance. Given, not earned, and given
in covenant. And thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth." The dust of the earth. Jacob was all alone. The known children of God in
Jacob's day were very small. Elijah thought he was the only
one. The Lord says, I've reserved 7,000 under myself. At any time
in history, the children of God have always seen themselves a remnant that can seem so small
that they are irrelevant to the world that passes them by without
a glance. But they are so many. When all
gathered together, brothers and sisters, there will be so many
that the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be a
great and stupendous victory. Don't doubt it for one second.
There will be a great victory over a great king. They are spread
to the four corners of the earth, and now in this gospel age, having
been spread to those four corners, the Lord is gathering them from
the four corners of the earth. I love that picture in Acts chapter
10, when that sheep was let down and it was held together by the
four corners. That's a glorious picture, isn't
it, of the children of God? They come down, held and protected
and preserved by the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're taken back
up to heaven again. In the four corners, God will
gather his people. They've been spread by him. They're
going to be gathered by him. And in thy seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed. All the blessings come from a
covenant union with them. And we know from Galatians chapter
three that the seed is singular. There is just one seed. The seed
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And verse 15, he says, I'm with
thee, and I will keep thee. I will keep thee. Wherever you go, I will keep
you. I love Proverbs 16 verse 9, and
it says that man plans his path. And we have billions of people
planning their paths, and we plan our paths, and the Lord
says, and I determine by your foot. and I determined it yesterday,
and I determined it tomorrow. I'll keep thee, I'm with thee,
I'll never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee. And I'll bring
thee again into this land. God's children will be brought
to their true home, the home that is promised. We go on a
journey in this wilderness land, but we return to our home. And
God brings his people back to his home, I have done that which I have
spoken." Our God speaks. God is not a man that he should
lie. Joshua says in Joshua 23 verse
14, not one thing has failed in all that God will fall to the ground. I want us now to look at Jacob's
response to these remarkable words, and I trust the Lord would
cause you to go home and look again at these promises. and
appropriate them to yourselves in these times when darkness
seems to be closing in in so many ways and we're heading to
a future that seems extraordinarily uncertain, at least as uncertain
as the one that Jacob had lying before him. But he lays out promises
before he goes, doesn't he? And Jacob's response in verse
16, Jacob, Isn't that what it's like when
the Lord reveals himself to you, when you finally see the light
in the light, in his light you see light, all of a sudden it's
as if you've woken out of a dream. He awoke, he awoke, and he said, The Lord is in this place and
I knew it not. Isn't that Nathaniel's story? The Lord was in that place under
that fig tree. The Lord was there and he knew
it not. How often are we caused to say the same things? The Lord
was in this and I knew it not. Jacob at the end of his life,
when he thought that all things were against him, had no idea
that the Lord in his sovereign mercy and purpose had sent Joseph
down to Egypt, who was now the king and the ruler of that land
under Pharaoh. And all that Jacob thought was
against him was actually working for his good. Oh dear, our unbelief,
our unbelief in the face of such extraordinary promises. I knew
it not. The Lord is omnipresent. He's omniscient and he's omnipresent. But how often we know it not. How glorious it is and what a
remarkable treasure for the children of God that he chooses to reveal
himself to them through his word and through his word preached.
In verse 7, he says, he was afraid. He was afraid and said, how dreadful
is this place? How dreadful is this place? The
first reaction of people throughout the scriptures when they meet
the Lord is exactly the same as Jacob's here, isn't it? When
Isaiah met the Lord, when Ezekiel met the Lord, when Daniel met
the Lord, when Job met the Lord, when John the apostle in heaven
meets the Lord, it's again and again in the presence but it was for this season and
for this time and for probably most of the next 20 years he
had no sense of this whatsoever again. And then he meets the
Lord on the way out, the way out of Paddan Aran and the way
back into that chosen land and he meets the Lord again. So these
meetings of the Lord are fleeting because we cannot cope with the
glory of the presence and we're not to seek them. We
seek the Lord and we seek him through his word. But when we
come into the presence of God, he will manifest himself with
reverential awe. I often think that that word
reverential awe is an insufficient word because you can have reverential
awe at remarkable things in creation. You can have reverential awe
at remarkable events. There's a reverential awe in
the meaning of the Lord which is a different thing altogether
profoundly humbling and it's a realisation of what we are
as creatures before an infinite and holy God. Moses quaked, it
says, at the presence of God. The great tragedy of modern religion
is that God has hidden himself from people and there is no fear
of God before their eyes. How dreadful is this place? And
then he makes this remarkable confession. This is none other,
verse 17, this is none other than the house of God. This is the place where God reveals
his true character. This is where the God of glory
brings worship to himself. This is where people meet with
God. and survive. The house of God. This is the
gate of heaven. This is the gate of heaven. A gate, traditionally in the
Old Testament, was where justice was administered by kings. But
it probably also means the door. Christ is the door. He's the
door open to heaven. He's that door open that John
saw in Revelation. When the Lord opens a door, there's
no man can shut that door, and when the Lord shuts a door, there's
no man can open it. And Jacob vowed a vow. I just want to look at some of
the glorious implications and necessary things that I trust
the Lord might teach us out of all of this as we look at Christ
the Ladder. There is, there is in this glorious
picture, a picture of that one mediator between man and God,
that God stands. The Lord stood in heaven. He
stands above this ladder and it's set on the earth. It's a
glorious picture. of the mediatorial work of the
Lord Jesus Christ in reconciling man to God and reconciling God
to man. There is just one mediator between
man and God. The Lord stood above it, and
the Lord's presence is at the bottom of it, and the Lord's
presence is everywhere in the middle of it. The latter is Christ
Jesus himself, a just, holy, God who is unchangeable. That's what he says in Malachi
chapter 3 verse 6, isn't he? I change not. I change not, says
God. Therefore we use sons of Jacob
and not consumed. What a blessed, blessed thing
that our God changes not. The world changes and the world,
the circumstances of everyone in this world change and change
and change and we're going through extraordinary changes at the
moment. world. What a remarkable picture
of our God and what a remarkable picture of man. Fallen man, sinful
man, weak man, powerless, fickle man, a man who is rebellious
by nature, a man who is ignorant, ignorant of God and ignorant
of himself. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seek God. They're dead men, they're condemned
men. This one mediator comes and sets
himself up on this earth and stands above in heaven. This one mediator, this one Lord
Jesus Christ, he's the just one, he is the prince of peace, isn't
he? He is our peace. He alone, he
alone is the mediator. He alone came. of all men and
says, I come to do thy will, O my God, and do it he does. The other thing I want us to
see, we want to see that Christ is that mediator. And that's
what we'll see as we look through John's gospel and study Nathaniel's
meeting with him. But the other thing that's glorious
about this, isn't it, is when the Lord is set on this earth,
the angels of God came, didn't they? The angels of God in Luke
chapter 2, the angels of God sang. Heaven was opened and the
angels of God came and they sang those glorious songs. Glory to
God in the highest and on earth peace. Goodwill toward men. Goodwill. He brings by this ladder
good tidings. tidings of great joy is the gospel
good tidings of great joy is a revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ good tidings of great joy it is in heaven it is in
heaven and it is in the saints of God so the ladder the Lord
Jesus Christ being that ladder is a picture of the fact that
God as he's promised. That was the
great promise of Abraham, I will, I will, I will, I will bless
you and I will keep you. He reiterates it to Isaac, he
reiterates it and repeats it again to Jacob, and he's repeating
it to us. I will, and all the nations,
all the families on earth will be blessed through you. That's the mission of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He doesn't have to come to condemn,
people are condemned already. He's come to save His people
from their sins. He's come to save His people
from their sins. The other thing I want us to
see about this ladder, it's the picture of the mediatorial work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture of how blessings
come down from God toward men. And it's a ladder that's sufficient Most people talk about a Christ
these days. Those are all insufficient. If
he loves people and sends them to hell, then what has his love
got to do with their salvation? If he died for them and they
are sent to hell, then what was the good of his death for them?
The ladder speaks of sufficiency, doesn't it? God stands on the
top of it, God stands on the bottom of it, and it's perfectly
sufficient for the angels to ascend and descend, unhinged,
all the blessings of God are carried down from heaven on this
letter and all the blessings of God are carried up to heaven
on this letter all of our blessings as James said Father of Lights,
James 1, 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights,
with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. all the blessings come down this
ladder. Nothing comes down from heaven
but by the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing gets back into heaven
but by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's pictured in that covenant
with that beautiful rainbow around the throne of God. Nothing gets
into the throne of God apart from the covenant and nothing
comes out from the throne of God apart from the covenant. All that the Father give thee,
I shall lose nothing, says the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the
will of him that sent me. He came to do his will, and when
he ascended, when he ascended up this perfectly sufficient
ladder, he went with those words that we read. The Lord of hosts
takes his host with him. He ascends with all of his own.
This ladder is sufficient. It's sufficient to do all the
will Everything comes down this ladder.
Everything comes down this ladder. The reality of the very presence
of God in his true character comes down this ladder. That's
what Jacob saw that day. Faith comes down this ladder. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. Faith comes from God. It's a
gift of God. Repentance comes down this ladder.
Love comes down this ladder. We love Him. We really do love
Him. Children of God, love him because
he first loved us. It came down the ladder, brought
it down to us. Gospel preaching comes down this
ladder. That's why we often read that
glorious psalm in Psalm 68 that about speaks of our Lord ascending
on high and then giving gifts for God. He that ascended, he ascended
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now
he that ascended, what is it but he that also descended first
to the lower parts of the earth, he that descended is the same
also that ascended far above all things that he might fill
all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and
some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. Everything comes down this ladder.
This ladder was erected by God. It's God's ladder. Jacob had
no idea it was there. No man had a single hand in touching
that ladder and building it in any way at all, or propping up
this ladder. The ladder stands by God's sovereign
hand. And this ladder is still standing. The ladder is still there, the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is still an activity, isn't
there, while every earth revolves. There's still angels coming up
and down on this ladder. There is no ladder in hell. It's called a bottomless pit.
A bottomless pit. Horrifying to think of the pictures
that the Lord draws of those who leave this world without
the Lord Jesus Christ. We keep proclaiming the gospel
as the power of God brings his gospel to his people and we say,
you reconcile to God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whosoever shall call on the Lord Jesus Christ, we say, come and
see, come and see. And where this ladder is, where this ladder is, God is
present. God is present. The sufficient,
successful, satisfying, sovereign, mediatorial God is present. Surely, says Jacob, the Lord
is in this place. Surely the Lord is in this place. Revealing his glory. Revealing man in his depravity,
revealing God in his glory. Everyone, everyone who meets
God is going to know your need of Him. If you meet Him, you
know your need of Him. And if you have a need of Him,
He's fixing to meet you. I want to remind you of the Gospel
accounts. You search the Gospels and you'll
find that every single time a needy sinner came to the Lord Jesus
Christ, all the very blessings of God came to that person. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. If I can just but touch
the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. Lord, you can
do it. I have a need. I have a need. Where this ladder is set up on
this earth, God is present. And where this ladder is set
up, it is called the house of God. That's what Jacob called
it, isn't it? Bethel is the house of God, and
he worshipped God in that place. And he came back after those
20 years, and after his father's died, and he went back to the
very same place, and the very same place with his family, and
he worshipped God again. There are multitudes, millions
of places around this world that claim to be the house of God.
Dozens in this very, very town we live in. But to find the house
of God, to find the place where God is present, you've got to
find the ladder. Where is there the ladder? And
you've got to see. The ladders of modern religion
don't reach to heaven. They require us to do something. Jacob wasn't required to do a
single thing in all of this. You find the place where the
Lord God is present, and you find the place which is called
the house of God, and you'll see the sufficiency and the efficacy
of this ladder, and you'll see its gifts bestowed. all up to you so there's no matter
there that reaches to heaven this matter reaches all the way
to heaven brothers and sisters and the angels of God ascend
and descend on this ladder It's a ladder that honors the
very glory and the very character of God. It's a ladder that meets
man where they are at. It doesn't require men to go
to some place where God will meet them. It met Jacob at a
place of his great need. I love what Mr. Hawker said about
Jacob. He said, perhaps never one apparently
more forlorn and friendless when he lay down. And perhaps never
one more blessed when he woke up. That's so true, isn't it?
So true of us, isn't it? So often we despair and say,
where's God in all of this? He's exactly where he was before
the foundation of the world. And he has exactly the same company
he had before the foundation. and find the letter, you'll find
the house of God and the place where God reveals himself. His
house is his church. His house is him in fellowship
with his people where he reveals himself. He says in Ephesians
2, and I'll close with these extraordinary words, now therefore
you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God, Ephesians 1 to 2.19,
and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
the testimony of the apostles and the prophets, the testimony
that we've just read from Christ, Jesus Christ himself,
being the chief cornerstone, is set on this earth, and nothing's
gonna move him. In whom all the building fitly
framed together, who's doing the fitting? Who's doing the
fitting? Fitly framed together, groweth
unto a holy temple in the Lord. The meeting place of God and
man is Christ Jesus, this letter. In whom ye also are builded together, Talk about blessings, brothers
and sisters. What extraordinary blessings
come to us through the letter of Christ Jesus. May the Lord
bless his words to our hearts. Let's have a break, Tom.