Let us turn to God's Word. I want to direct your attention
once again to the verse that we were considering earlier in
the morning service, Genesis chapter 28 and verse 12. Remember Jacob here favored with
this remarkable vision at the place that he calls Bethel, the
house of God. and the gates of heaven in Genesis
chapter 28 and verse 12 and he dreamed and behold a ladder set
up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold
the angels of God ascending and descending on it. It is certainly
a sight to witness twice in the verse we have that word behold
you know the force of it having the idea that the eye is to be
fixed there's to be a close and a careful look and an examination
of this scene behold a ladder set up on the earth and the top
of it reached to heaven and behold The angels of God ascending and
descending on it. And I said this morning, really
the ladder is set before us as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ
and we have that on the authority of that New Testament verse that
we read just now in our scripture reading. The words of the Lord
Jesus to Nathanael in John 1, 51, Verily, verily, hereafter
ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man. there is the key whereby we're
able to interpret something of what Jacob is experiencing and
witnessing. The Lord Jesus is the one then
set before us here as a type. And remember how the ladder is
that that breaches heaven and earth. It's set up on the earth,
but the top reaches to heaven. It reminds us of him who is the
only mediator. One God, says the apostle, and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. What then are the properties
of this ladder? Well, certainly it is that that
we might say is a long ladder. In fact, as it is on the earth. And as its top reaches to heaven,
we see that it stretches from time to eternity. And we sought to say something
this morning of those eternal purposes of God's in the everlasting
covenant. It's a long ladder, it's a strong
ladder. We have not just an angel, we
have the angels in the plural. Many angels. ascending and descending. And Christ, of course, as the
mediator, is that one through whom all sinners must come to
God. Though a great multitude, we
are told, in the book of the Revelation, which no man could
number, how the Lord Jesus is able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him. And then furthermore when we
think of the properties that belong to this ladder, how safe
it is. All that the Father giveth me,
he says, shall come to me. and he that cometh to me I shall
in no wise cast out." It is a safe way of approach. In him is not
only an eternal salvation but the security of that salvation. a ladder then that is so useful
and we see it here in what he said with regards to these angels
they are ascending and descending and I want us this evening as
we turn back to the same verse that we were considering somewhat
this morning I want to concentrate on these two things and to consider
each of these the descending and the ascending first of all
to think of the significance of what he said of the descending. Behold, the angels of God ascending,
it says, and descending. Clearly, this reminds us of the
ministry of the angels. We're told in the New Testament,
Hebrews 1.14, are they not all ministering spirits? sent forth
to minister to them who shall be the heirs of salvation." They
are such noble creatures. They are in many ways more noble
than men. The Lord Jesus is said to be
made a little lower than the angels in the Incarnation. He doesn't take upon Him the
nature of the angels. He takes upon Him the seed of
Abraham. He becomes a man. And yet, though
they be such noble creatures, they minister unto the heirs
of salvation. There's no provision made for
those angels that fell. We read of elect angels, But
we also read of the fallen angels, Satan and the host of demons,
and there was never any provision of salvation made for those angels
that fell. But when Adam sinned, when our
first parents transgressed the commandment of God there in Genesis
chapter 3, We see that all of that is in the outworking of
the great purpose of God, because there is to be salvation for
sinners of mankind. That creature that was made in
God's image, created after God's likeness, that's what we're told
concerning the man, that he was God's image-bearer, though that
image was so defaced and marred by the fall, yet there is that
provision. of salvation for fallen men and
women and the angels. The angels are given this charge
now to minister to those who are heirs of salvation. And here
we see them ascending and descending, they ascend for their instruction,
they receive their direction from God himself, they descend
in order to execute that work that God has given them to do.
Remember when in Isaiah chapter 6 the prophet speaks of what
he witnessed there in the temple when he sees the eternal throne
and the seraphim? Those angels, those burning ones,
the very word Seraphim literally means burning ones, they are
such pure holy creatures, the Seraphim, and they have six wings,
and with two they cover their faces, and with two they cover
their feet, why the ground is holy ground, and the sight is
too pure even for sinless angels. So with two wings they cover
their faces, with two wings they cover their feet, and with two
wings they fly. Or they fly at the command of
God. They're receiving their direction
from Him. They descend from heaven, having
ascended there, that they might be instructed and commanded by
their God, and they minister to the heirs of salvation. And
so we have the ministry of the angels, of course, to Him who
is the Savior of sinners. What a ministry of angels we
see in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why there were the angels
there associated with His birth? The angel Gabriel is engaged
to come and to speak, to speak to Elizabeth, to speak to Mary,
to speak to Joseph. And then at the very birth of
the Lord Jesus, the scene that those shepherds witnessed, that
great host of heavenly angels who were proclaiming the birth
of the Saviour of sinners, Oh, there's a ministry of angels
in the birth of Christ, but not only there at the beginning of
his earthly ministry, when he comes in that great mystery of
the incarnation, but also when the Lord Jesus, having been baptized,
is led by the Spirit into the wilderness and there he is tempted
by the devil. for 40 days and 40 nights, and
then the devil departs from him. He resists all the advances,
all the temptations of that great adversary. He dismisses Satan
from him, and we're told how angels came and ministered unto
him. As it said, as the Lord Himself
says there at the end of John 1, it's the angels ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man. And then of course, at the
end, when the Lord Jesus comes to make that great sacrifice
for sins. Oh, remember that blessed angel
that we read of in the Garden of Gethsemane. where Christ is
wrestling in prayers to his father concerning this bitter cup that
he has come to drink and is to drink it to the bitter dregs. He must drink all of it, the
wormwood and the gall and he wrestles in prayer and we read
of that angel who came and ministered unto him. Rabbi Duncan used to refer to
that angel as his favorite angel. or that angel that came to the
Lord Jesus. And then, of course, after his
death at the resurrection, Louis did proclaim his resurrection
from the dead. It's the angels. There is time
and again in this ministry of the angels. They take such an
interest in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. the language that
we have there in 1 Peter 1 verses 10-12, where Peter speaks of
the ministry of Christ and he says, which things the angels
desire to look into. All they desire to look into
these things and it's pictured so wonderfully, is it not, in
the furnishings of the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies. there
in the Holy of Holies was to be housed the Ark of the Covenant
and upon that Ark there was to be the Mercy Seat and at each
end of the Mercy Seat there were to be those Cherubim and in Exodus
25 at verse 18 following we read of the instruction that is given
to Moses concerning that particular item The cherubim on each end
and it says their faces are towards the mercy seat. and all that
the mercy seat represents, all that is there in type. The mercy
seat, the place where on the great atoning day the high priest
was to go with the blood of sacrifice and he was to sprinkle the blood
there upon the mercy seat. In type it sets forth the work
of the Lord Jesus, that great blessed work of redemption and
the angels how they love to look into these things they have no
interest the elect angels of course have no need of salvation
they never sinned as we said there was no provision made for
fallen angels and yet here are those elect angels they delight
to behold the works of the Lord Jesus Christ The words then of
Christ there, when he speaks to Nathaniel, he says, Thou shalt
see greater things than these. Thou shalt see greater things
than these. And then he goes on to speak of the angels ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man. Dr. Gill's remark there
is that In Christ we have a clearer manifestation of heavenly truths
than ever the angels could witness though they were in heaven itself. Such a revelation, such a manifestation
of God and we sang it. That's a great one of the best
of Gadsby's hymns, he's 514, but that fourth verse, in his
highest work, redemption, see his glory in a blaze, nor can
angels ever mention, ought that more of God displays, grace and
justice here unite to endless days. These are the things then
that the angels so delighting. They love to look into these
things, the humiliation of the Lord Jesus as he comes as that
one who will be obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross, all that ignominy. that is associated with his crucifixion
or that curse that he bore when he died as the sinner's substitute
in the sinner's room and in his stead. The ministry then of the
angels. But then, as I said this morning, the latter
is such a remarkable type of Christ himself and he himself
is the angel. He is the angel of the Covenant,
and you know the meaning of the word angel, literally it is a
messenger. And Christ is the messenger.
We were looking at that verse only last week in Malachi 3.
The messenger of the Covenant. He shall come. Who is the messenger
of the Covenant? Why, it is the same as Him who
is the mediator of the New Covenant. He is that one who, and we said
this this morning, he comes to stand between heaven and earth. And this is what we see here.
A ladder set upon the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. That one whom Job desires when
he cries out, neither is there any days man betwixt us who may
put his hand upon us both. Well, the Lord Jesus is that
days man. He is God's. He is Divine. The Eternal Son
of God. Deity belongs to Him. He thinks
it not robbery to be equal with God because He is God. Equality
with God is not something he needs to grasp after. He is the
eternal Son of God, very God of very gods, begotten, not made
of one substance with the Father in the language of the Nicene
Creed. And yet, He who is God is also man? and he's a real
man, he's touched with the feeling of all our infirmities, all our
sinless infirmities, he is tempted in all points like as we are,
says the Apostle, yet without sin he's a man, though he were
a son yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered
here upon the earth, He is God and man. He is that one who comes
between heaven and earth and again. That hymn that we were
singing this morning, that lovely hymn of Isaac Watts, number 5,
the Lord descending from above invites his children near while
power and truth and boundless love display their glories here. Or when the Lord descends, and
I was so struck, I don't know if it's like this with you sometimes,
when we sing these hymns, the verses sometimes seem to so speak
to us, that fourth verse in number five, the law, its best obedience
owes to our incarnate God. and thy revenging justice shows
its honours in his blood." How he has so honoured and magnified
the law of God both in his living and also in his dying, the obedience
of his life. And then that great sacrifice,
that oblation that he made when he shed his precious blood, the
law it best obedience owes. to our incarnate God, and thy
revenging justice shows its honours in His blood." This is that one
then who is the angel, the messenger of the Covenant. And now we're reminded here of
the Covenant. We read in that following verse,
verse 13, And behold, The LORD stood above it. That is, above
the latter. And it's the covenant name. It's
LORD in capital letters, as we're familiar with in our authorised
version. It's the name Jehovah. The LORD
stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy
father, and the God of Isaac. the land whereon thou liest to
thee will I give it unto thy seed and thy seed shall be as
the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad to the west
and to the east and to the north and to the south and in thy and
in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed who is
this that is spoken of thee thy seed that is Jacob's seed, in
whom all the families of the earth are blessed. Why? It is
Him who is these seeds. Him who is the seed of the woman. Back in Genesis chapter 3, remember,
when God speaks to the serpent, the instrument of Satan, and
tells him how that he is to bruise the the heel of the seed of the
woman but that seed of the woman will also bruise his head oh
it's the Lord Jesus when the fullness of the time
was come God sends forth his son made of a woman he has no
human father he is the seed of the woman remarkable the grace
of God it was the woman who was first in the transgression but
here is the one who is the saviour he comes the seed of the woman and he is also that one who is
the seed of Abraham and he is the promise you see it's all
in terms of the Abrahamic covenant I am the Lord God of Abraham
thy father all this this is that one spoken of in Galatians chapter
3 remember out there Paul speaks of Abraham's seed he saith not
unto seeds as of many but as of one unto thy seed which is
Christ it is plain it is clear just who Abraham's seed is who
the seed of the woman is who the seed of Jacob is it is the
Lord Jesus yes we have we have the ministry of of the angels
but more than that we see here so clearly the blessed person
and the great work of the Lord Jesus. And it's all the outworking
of that covenant. It's an eternal covenant, as
we remarked this morning. The top of it reached to heaven. The top of this ladder, it reaches
to heaven. And that's not the first heaven.
It's beyond that. It's not even stellar space.
It's not the second heavens. It's the heaven of heavens. It's
the place where God is. That's where the top reaches.
It's eternal. It's the eternal covenant of
the grace of God that we have here. And what do we see in that
eternal covenant? Remember the language again of
the Apostle writing in Ephesians 1 3 blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh God has blessed
us with all Those heavenly blessings are all in Christ Jesus. According
as he has chosen us in him, says Paul, before the foundation of
the world. It is an eternal election that
God has made. Nor this ladder it reaches heaven.
And not only an eternal election, but also that eternal adoption. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
his good pleasure. These are those heavenly blessings
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, election and adoption. And there is to be that knowledge
of these things. As we said again this morning,
it is not enough to know that These things are in the eternal
mind of God. There must be some application,
there must be some experience of these things. And so we read
how that the ladder is set up on the earth. And we read of
the angels both ascending and descending. Or there is to be
the outworking of these things that are eternal and heavenly.
the outworking of that great covenant of the grace of God. The guy in the language of Paul,
in Galatians 4, 6, he says, Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Why does he send the Spirit of
his Son? Because ye are sons. Ye are sons in the predestinating
purpose of God. That's what he is saying. It's
an eternal adoption. And because you are sons, in
that purpose of God, He sends the Spirit of His Son into your
heart. Crying, Abba, Father, when we
come, when we pray to God, the Lord instructs and directs His
disciples how they are to pray. When you pray, say, Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We have that pattern
prayer. We're told how we are to address God, we're to call
upon him as our father, like as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Or we hallow his name,
his name is holy, we're awed by that name, we know something
I trust of that feeling of fear, we would not come foolishly nor
presumptuously into his presence. How many, alas, in this day are
so chummy, those who profess to be God's children, they're
so chummy, they speak in such familiar language, so irreverent
in their form of address. Or let us never lose sight of
the fact that God's name is a holy name. Hallowed be thy name. Yes, we call upon Him as our
Father, but that's the first thing we would do. We would recognize
His holiness and our sinfulness. But when God comes and deals
with us, you see, and there's the outworking of these things,
the blessed application in our souls, there is to be this knowledge
of these things then. He sends the Spirit of His Son
into the hearts of those whom He has eternally adopted. and they are brought to call
upon God and to address Him in those tender terms, Abba, Father. And Paul, Paul the great pattern
of these things, as we said again previously today, there in the
opening chapter of that epistle to the Galatians, he reminds
them, when he pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. All
that inward revealing. There is to be an application. The Lord God is pleased to come
and to take hold of us. He comes and does dealings with
us in our souls. When He sends His Spirit into
the heart, there is that work of conviction. When He has come,
says Christ, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. But there's not only that convincing
work. He comes also, of course, as
one who is the blessed comforter. He comes very much as the Spirit
of Christ. He takes of the things of Christ.
He reveals them to sinners. But it is sinners who stand in
need of so great a Savior as Christ is. Sinners can say, and
none but they, how precious is the Savior, or when the Lord
is pleased and to deal with us. There is then here this ministry,
the angels. We read of them ascending and
descending. To say something more particular
with regards to this ascending, as the angels ascend, so too
is that sense in which sinners must ascend. risen with him, it says, through
faith of the operation of God. How we have to rise, we have
to be those who, if we know anything of faith, are looking on to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat
down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. we have fight
with those who are looking looking to Christ no more in that state
of humiliation upon the earth but now that one who is vindicated
he's declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection he is risen again from the dead
he is vanquished sin and vanquished Satan and he has triumphed over
death and over the grave. And as he is risen so, he is
ascended on high, he is that blessed man, is he not? That
the psalm he speaks of in the 24th psalm. Clearly a
Messianic psalm. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy
place, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not
lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitful. Who is this person that is being
spoken of, this sinless one? It is none other than the Lord
Jesus Himself. Lift up your heads, O ye gates.
Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates. Even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the
King of glory. Selah. As He is risen, So the
Lord Jesus Christ is that one who has ascended, and we're to
look to Him. We're to look to Him as our ascended
Savior. He's exalted a Prince and a Savior
to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. Oh, what is it then to be those
who know anything of this look this look of faith. Well there
is that saving and that justifying faith. By him all that believe are justified
from all things that they could not be justified from by the
deeds of the law. That is the great message of
the apostles as we have it recorded there in the Acts. They preached
justification by faith. we spoke this morning about Gill
makes that distinction between an active justification which
is the act of God and a passive justification when that eternal
act of God is brought into the soul of the sinner and that's faith or the belief
are justified from all things that they could not be justified
from by the deeds of the law." You know how the Apostle takes
up this great truth of justification. He makes reference to the language
of David in Psalm 32, writing there in the fourth chapter of
the epistle to the Romans. verse 6 following we're told
even as David also described with the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered
blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin
this is justification there's no imputation of sin There's
no charge of sin against the man. His iniquities are forgiven. His sins are covered. In fact, it is righteousness
that is imputed to him. His sins are gone. Because those
sins were imputed to Christ, reckoned to Christ, Christ bore
the punishment of those sins and satisfied all the demands
of God's holy law for that sinner. And in exchange for those sins
that were reckoned to Christ account, why, here is the blessed
gospel exchange, all the righteousness of Christ is imputed to that
sinner. He is covered with a robe of
righteousness, and these things are experienced in the soul by
faith. Maybe you've read something of
dear Bunyan's experience, grace abounding to the chief of sinners.
And you remember there how he speaks of an occasion when he
was so tormented over this whole matter of righteousness. And
he speaks of being out one day and going into the field and
looking into the heavens. And how it came to him so sweetly,
so reassuringly, that his righteousness was in heaven. His righteousness
was where Christ is, and Christ is in heaven. And that's where
his righteousness was. It was before the very throne
of God. Oh, he was justified, though
himself he failed to be such a great sinner. Made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, says the Apostle. That was Bunyan's experience. He knew he had a right. even
to approach God because he had a righteousness there before
the very face of God. It was in the person and in the
work of the Lord Jesus. And friends, if we're those who
know anything of that righteousness, if it's our righteousness, will
we not be those who want to heed the exhortation of the Apostle
Simon again in his epistles, of course, having spoken great
doctrinal truth in the former part. When we come to the more
practical part, we have all these exhortations from Paul. He says
this, you know the language in Colossians 3. If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. for your debt, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify,
therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire, concupiscence, and covetousness
which is idolatry. who are we those who can say
yes we would that our affections might be set on those things
above where Christ is with Bunyan we would see that that's where
our righteousness is and what of this earth why we would be
those who are mortifying crucifying put into the death these members
which are upon the earth dying to self dying to sin because
we desire to live only to the Lord Jesus it's that saving faith
It's that justifying faith by which believers are able to ascend
to God himself. And then also here, of course,
it's very much a living faith. It's a living faith. Again, we
mentioned this this morning, we walk by faith. And what is it to walk by faith?
It's to be those who are aware of God and aware of the eye of
God. aware of the providences of God here we have the ministry
of the angels spoken of in the text behold the angels of God ascending and
descending on it and they are ministering spirits sent forth
to minister to them who are the heirs of salvation there's a
ministry of angels And it's associated with the providences of God. And the wise man is that man
who observes these things. As we read at the end of the
107th Psalm, he observes and he understands the loving kindness
of the Lord our God as a care for his children. What does God
say here to Jacob at Bethel? Verse 15, Behold, Again, we have
that word, you see. Here's something to consider.
Here's something to fix the eye on. Behold, says God, I am with
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and
will bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee
until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. Or to know that life of faith,
to live upon the words of God, to live upon the promises of
God. This is what it means if we're
those who, with the angels, would be ascending even into heaven
itself. It's saving and justifying faith. It's living faith. And it's praying
faith. It's praying faith. Jacob awakes
in verse 16. Jacob awaked out of his sleep
and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew
it not. and he was afraid and said how
dreadful is this place this is none other but the house of God
and this is the gate of heaven what is the gate of heaven? why
if we know anything of the gate of heaven we'll be those who
desire to come before God to approach Him to draw near to
Him to call upon Him and as I said this morning Now, in a sense,
we've considered these things, as it were, back to front. We
were looking on Thursday at chapter 32. There we see Jacob halting
as he is returning over the brook Jabbok, coming back into the
land of Canaan, and there he wrestles with the angel. We considered
something of his experience wrestling Jacob yes but also cleaving when the angel touches him in
his thigh he can no more fight and wrestle he has to cling and
cleave and then we see him crippled halting as he hobbles along but
our God is in all of these things and it's a wonderful chapter
it's Peniel It's the face of God. He understood that that
was the angel of the Lord that he met with. And it was the angel
of the Lord that wrestled with him. And he wrestled with the
angel, and he became Israel, a prince with God. Well, we've
come back here to the occasion when Jacob is first leaving his
father's house. And he's going to the family
of his mother, Rebekah. He's going to the house of Bethuel.
his mother's father there with his mother's brother Laban he
himself who had so deceived and cheated and sinned he himself
would experience so many contrary things at the hand of Laban and
yet in all these things the Lord was dealing with this man And
what does he do? We must learn what it is to have
these promises, great promises, that God gives him. In verses
13 and 14, Behold, the Lord stood above the ladder and said, I
am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, the God of Isaac, the
land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed,
and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt
spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north,
and to the south, and in thy, and in thy seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed." This is God's Word, this is God's
promise to him, and what do we see him doing there at the end
of that 32nd chapter at Peniel, he has to plead these things. I will not let thee go, except
thou bless me. Why, had not God promised that
the blessing would be His? But it's not enough to have that
promise. Oh, God gives us His Word and
He gives us His Word that we might learn to pray over His
Word and to plead His Word. And so we see something of the
way whereby Jacob prays, the way whereby he ascends to God,
he has saving and justifying faith, he has living faith, and
he has praying faith. Oh God, grant then that we might
ourselves learn of him and behold these things. He dreamed, and
behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached
to heaven, and behold the angels of God, ascending and descending
on it and behold the Lord stood above it. The Lord grant his
blessing then upon his word tonight. Now let us conclude our worship
today as we sing the hymn 1047, the tune is Farrant 142. 1047 by whom shall Jacob now arise
for Jacob's friends are few and what should fill us with surprise
they seem divided too. 1047