Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of Genesis chapter 28. Genesis 28. Jacob, the scripture says, is
lighted upon a certain place and he tarried there and that
place all night because the sun was set. And he took some stones
from that place, and he put them for his pillows, and he laid
down in that place to sleep, and this is what we looked at
last time, and he dreamed. Well, tonight I'd like for us
to consider for a few minutes the blessing of God toward this
vessel of his mercy, a blessing that was bestowed upon a man
in a way that that man has absolutely no control over in a dream. Jacob dreamed, and the scripture
says four times in this passage. I'd like to look at the rest
of the chapter, but I'm going to look and see that four times
The Spirit of God moved upon Moses to pen this word, behold,
behold, lo, see. Take notice. Just look at this,
look at this. Four times our hearts are made
to take a note. Something is truly needful here. Now I pray that the Lord give
us some understanding into what the Lord was pleased to bless
Jacob with in this dream. The scripture says in verse 12,
here's the first one. And he dreamed and behold, a
ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven. Now this word ladder is used
one time in scripture. Right here. Only time it's ever
used. One time and there's something
obviously about this ladder that is unique. One time there was
a ladder and it comes from a word that means staircase. Actually
staircase is what it means. And while the actual word staircase
is not found within the scriptures, the use, the meaning, the implication
of staircase is, because when you look at the definition of
staircase, you look up ladder and it's going to say staircase.
And then it gives the meaning of that staircase. And this is
the meaning. up, exalt, cast up a highway,
cast up a way, esteem highly, prize. So the Spirit of God moved
Jacob in a dream to behold the only way that fallen man has
heaven opened to him. And this, I'm gonna show you
this in scripture, just a few minutes, but it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know that that's what that
ladder says forth. The Lord is the one from heaven. Now here's what it says, verse
12, and he dreamed and behold, a ladder set upon the earth. So here's this ladder, here's
the God of covenant grace, And he gives Jacob this dream, and
he sees this ladder set upon the earth. Then you look at the
set, and it means appointed. Appointed. Here it is appointed
of Jehovah to be the one mediator between God and man, the man,
Christ Jesus. Almighty God sent him in the
likeness of sinful flesh, that he might condemn sin, the scripture
says, in the flesh, he was made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of children. So he was set on the earth. That's the bottom of it. But then the scripture continues,
this ladder was set on the earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven. Now, he who humbled himself never
ceased to be God Almighty. God never changes. He stood, sat, pointed on the
earth as man and never left the bosom of the Father. I want you
to turn to John 3.13, John 3.13. Amazing revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. John 3.13. The Lord said, and no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man, which is in heaven. Nobody ever ascended back up
who didn't come down first. That's the son of man. And he's
talking, he's talking to him while he's on the earth. He said,
even the son of man who is in heaven. So here's what we know
about this ladder. It's set on the earth and it
reaches to the top of heaven. It amazes me, I just, I can't
help but think. I looked, I just wanted to see
what kind of wild guesstimation these astronomers and everything
has given. How far out does the space go? And I'm telling you, it was something
like, I don't know, hundreds and hundreds of light years away
I wrote it down, but I thought, that's silly. Why do I need to
know that anyway? But I mean, so far out there,
you can't even, I mean, I can't even calculate it. Where is heaven? Where is heaven? You know, they
were gonna build a tower in Babel, and the Lord confused them. This
stair, this staircase, this ladder, it went from the earth The scripture
says, and it went, the top of it reached to heaven. Wherever
God is, that's where it is, right there. Behold, heaven and earth
is connected with one man, the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But then secondly, in that same
verse, It says, latter part of verse 12, and behold, the angels
of God ascending and descending on it. Now here, Moses moved
again to talk about the angels that were descending, ascending. We behold the mercy of our God
to provide the every need of God's elect. Jacob, he beheld
these angels coming down and going up upon the ladder. And
who are these angels? Well, the scriptures declare,
Hebrews 114, these are ministering spirits, those who execute the
Lord's bidding, and they're ministering spirits sent forth ordered to
go to a place appointed, sent away, dismissed, allowed to depart,
to minister, to service, to execute the Lord's command for them who
shall be heirs of salvation. I think about the exactness of
that wording right there. For them who shall, I know, I
know God's people are aware and by faith believe. that God has
ministering spirits, I believe, they're here, I believe that.
The Lord's here, two or three are gathered together, the Lord's
here. Ministering spirits that watch over God's people, but
before they were converted. The scripture says, for them
who shall be heirs of salvation. I'm just thinking about myself. I'm thinking about it, I'm sure
a lot of you here could think the same thing, I think about
foolishness that I found myself in. How many years of just silliness,
David? You know what I'm talking about?
And how God Almighty would send ministering spirits to watch
over and protect. I wonder how many times did these
ministering spirits intervene and move? I don't know. I don't know. But I'm thinking,
here's Jacob, and he's dreaming, and he sees this ladder, and
he sees these angels up and down. And here, Jacob was in a place
where the Lord, who is omniscient, knows everything. He knew Jacob's
need of comfort. He's out there in the dark. The sun's gone down, and here's
one that is watched over, protected. And he's kept. The Lord sends
his angels due to the bidding. And these angels, they descend,
the scripture says, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. On what? On the ladder.
They're on the ladder. They're not just coming down
and flying around. He sees this ladder. I want you
to hold your place. Turn to John 1. Gospel of John,
John 1. John 1, I want to read verses
45 to 51. John 1. We'll start at verse, let's start
at verse 43. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip and saith unto him, follow
me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida,
city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come
out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and
see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael said unto
him, Whence knowest thou me? How do you know me? Jesus answered
and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou
wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. I'm sure that Nathanael
was thinking about what he just said. I don't know exactly when
Nathanael was next to the fig tree, but whenever he was, he
says, Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art
the son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.
What he was saying is nobody could have known that. You weren't
there. Oh, he was there. Jesus answered
and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the
fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things
than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
you hereafter, you shall see heaven open and the angels of
God ascending and descending upon the son of man. You remember when the Lord was
in the garden and he was praying. I'll read this for you. If you
want to read this, it's Matthew 4, 11. Matthew 4, 11. And the
scripture. I'm sorry, I'm going to read
that one in a minute. This is when the Lord was tempted
in the wilderness when Satan after Satan left him. It says,
Matthew 4, 11. Then the devil leaveth him, and
behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now, before his betrayal
in Luke 22, Luke 22, verse 42, 43. This is just before the Lord's
betrayal. Luke 22. 42, 43. He was praying, saying, verse
42, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless
not my will, but thine be done. And there appeared an angel unto
him from heaven, strengthening him. That just, that amazes me. That amazes me. Here is God humbled
himself, subject to all the frailties
of his people, except he had no sin. And here he is, he's
been praying. One calf says he sweat as it
were great drops of blood, as it were great drops of blood.
And this angel comes and strengthens him. You think we need ministering
too? You think we need some help?
You think God is merciful to send these angels to us? Back in Genesis 28, verse 13,
14. And behold, here's the third
behold. The Lord stood above it. and said, I am the Lord God
of Abraham, my father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereof
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, to the north, to the south,
and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed. Now, we behold here a glorious
sight. Now you think about this dream.
He saw, Jacob saw, in that dream, he saw the ladder set upon the
earth. He saw the top of it reaching
to heaven, Scripture says. So here, he saw, as I said a
moment ago, he saw that which set forth Christ the Mediator. One who could touch both man
and God, for he is man and God. So he saw that, and he saw these
angels. that do His bidding, and they
do it only according to Him. They ascended and descended upon
Him, nothing apart from Him. And now He beholds, the Scripture
says, behold the Lord, L-O-R-D, stood above it. Now this is now
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in His glorious
exaltation standing above the ladder, speaking now as the covenant
God. That ladder shows him as the
mediator between God and man. And now he sees, the scripture
says, the Lord, all capital. No man has seen God at any time. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the expressed image of the Father. He is the image of the Father.
So in Jacob's dream, he sees God Almighty. He sees the fullness
of the Godhead bodily in the Lord Jesus Christ. But here is
the covenant God. He's the mediator on the ladder,
yes, but he's a covenant God, too. This is what he says, 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
Here we behold God Almighty in His covenant relationship to
His people. You talk about covenant and about
peace and about the mercy of God. 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel 23. You remember what David said,
2 Samuel 23, verse 5, concerning the covenant of God. David said
2 Samuel 23 5. Although my house be not so with
God. Yet he made with me an everlasting
covenant. Ordered in all things ensure.
Listen to these words. For this is all my salvation. All my desire. Although we make
it not to grow. God Almighty. is not silent to
his people. He's God and he speaks to his
sheep, the scripture says, they hear his voice. This is the Lord
who shows mercy and compassion to whomsoever he will. And what
a blessing that he would speak to Jacob concerning the inheritance,
the promise, the same promise that he made to Abraham and to
Isaac. It's a covenant of grace in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob was given this assurance
concerning his posterity. God was going to bless him and
he was going to give him the land of Canaan, that land There's
a picture. It's a picture of heaven. The land of promise. I go to
prepare a place for you. That's a promise. And if I go
away, I'm coming back to receive you unto myself. That where I
am there, you may be also. That's a promise. But all of
this promise is found in the person. He said in the latter
part of verse 14, Concerning, you know, he said, well, I'll
just read 14. Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,
and thy shall spread abroad to the west, to the east, to the
north, to the south, and in thee, and in thy seed, in Christ, shall
all the families of the earth be blessed. In every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue, God's got a people, all the families
of the earth, all of them, every nation, In every kindred, in
every tribe, in every tongue, God has a people. Has a people. And they're going to be blessed
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 15,
and here's the last behold. And behold, behold the ladder,
behold the angels, behold the Lord stood at the top. And behold,
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."
Now, what a blessing set forth in these four beholds, four promises. God, turn back to Genesis 26-24,
God had promised, 26-24, God had promised Jacob's daddy,
Isaac, this promise. 26-24, he's talking to Isaac
and he said, and the Lord appeared unto him the same night and said,
I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee
and will bless thee. and multiply thy seed for my
servant Abraham's sake. Now here's Jacob, and Jacob knows
that he blessed his grandfather. Abraham, he knows he blessed
his daddy, Isaac. But what about me? What about
me? Salvation doesn't run in blood,
which were born out of blood. because my grandfather and my
father were believers. That don't mean that I'm a believer,
necessarily a believer. What about me? Here Jacob hears
the promise of God for himself. He said in verse 15, and behold.
Now you grab hold of this. I'm with you. I'm with you. And I will keep
thee in all places where thou goest. Jacob needed to hear from
the Lord. that he was his. We need a personal
assurance. We need a personal assurance,
word of assurance, that the Lord is ours. Oh, blind Bartimaeus. I'm sure that blind Bartimaeus,
probably having heard of Jesus, the son of David, he knew that
he was the great physician because of what he said, and knew that
he could heal people. He knew he could have mercy on
people, but what did blind Barnabas say? Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. On me. I want the Lord to have mercy
on you. I want the Lord to have mercy on me. That thief on the
cross, what did he say? Lord, when you enter into your
kingdom, you remember me. Remember me. the publican that
went into the temple to pray, God, be merciful to me. What a word of comfort. When
the ever present, what did he say to him? Verse 15, behold,
I am with thee. The ever present, the omnipotent,
and will keep thee in all places. whither thou goest. The great
shepherd, he said, and will bring thee again into this land. And the faithful covenant God,
he said, I will not leave thee until I have done that which
I have spoken to thee of. And the scripture says in verse
16, and Jacob awake out of his sleep. And he said, surely the
Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. Jacob woke
from his dream and knew that this was no ordinary dream. He
knew it then. And the Lord impressed upon Jacob's
heart that God had spoken to him. And while we can certainly
behold this whole passage right here to be a picture, a type
of the glorious regeneration of God's elect. He came to that
place and the sun was going down. He was in the dark, a picture
of the darkness, a man without Christ. And he laid down and
God came to him and came to him in that place. I can see that
so beautifully. I can also see this right here
where here's Jacob and he needs the comfort of the Lord God and
God comes to him and there's the evidence of the Lord who'll
never leave nor forsake his people and he comes to Jacob in the
moment of his need and he wakes up. And here's one that's now
gloriously allowed to behold the mercy of Almighty God to
him. He said, God is in this place and I knew
it not. Let me tell you another thing
I thought about when I read that just a few minutes ago. I wonder how long anyone sits
under the gospel. Sits under the gospel. Not just
goes to church. Sits under the gospel of God's
free grace. And they hear the gospel. And
they know it here. They got all five points down. They know what election means.
They've got a good understanding of predestination. They can give
you the definition, because they've heard a pastor say it so many
times, to determine beforehand predestination. And they've got
all the points. But it's all right here. It's
all mental. And they can take it or leave
it. It hadn't hit them in the heart. And when God opens their eyes,
and they say the same thing that Jacob, they've heard the gospel,
the gospel, the power of God unto salvation. The presence
of God being where two or three are gathered together in my name,
the Lord blessing it. And the Lord opened their eyes.
And that's what they'd say right there. He waked out of his sleep
and he said, surely the Lord is in this place. And I knew
it not. I didn't realize it until God
opened my eyes and I realized I'm in a blessed place. I'm in
a place where God has been pleased to manifest himself. And I've
been sitting under the only message that God ever blesses to the
salvation of his people. And I've sat here and sat here
and sat here and it didn't make any difference. But one day it
did. And he was afraid, verse 17.
And he said, how dreadful is this place? This is none other
but the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven.
You know where the Lord is pleased to manifest himself. There is
to be in those it's made to behold him. There's going to be a very
low opinion of themselves. And there's a heartfelt reverence
toward the Lord for His goodness. There's a heartfelt thankfulness
for His goodness. I'll make good on this one. Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea. Hosea chapter 3 verse 5, listen
to this. And afterward the children of
Israel returned, and seek the Lord their God, and David their
king, and shall fear or reverence the Lord and his goodness in
the latter days. Remember that blessing that Lord
was gonna show Moses, Moses, show me your goodness, show me
your glory, show me your goodness. And he said, I'm gonna call all
my goodness, you're gonna behold my son. David, he woke up, He was afraid. He said, how dreadful. Same word,
afraid, dreadful. Right there, he said this. He was afraid. This was a place
of reverence and respect and a place to be honored. He said
it was just a place. It was just out there on the
dirt somewhere. No, no, no, no. He told Moses,
when he came to that burning bush, You say, well, that was
just dirt. God said, you take your shoes
off. Place where you're standing is holy ground. This is holy
ground. Why? Because God's here. Let
me tell you something. These boards, these lights, these
fans and stuff right here, this is all just stuff, you know,
until we realize God's here. This place, he said he was afraid
and he said how dreadful, how honored, how reverenced is this
place. This is none other, this is the
house of God. This is the gate of heaven. Verse 18 says, and Jacob rose
up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for
his pillows and he set it up for a pillar poured oil upon
the top of it. How precious was this place to
Jacob because God had blessed him there. He'd slept upon a
stone and he knew that this place was now more than just a place
to rest for the evening. This is the very gate of heaven
right here. You know what a gate's for. You
go in and come out, you go through the gate, the door. This is the
gate of heaven. God had given him a fresh, glorious
revelation of truly whose presence Jacob was in. He took the stone
that he had used, the scripture says, for his pillows, and he
set it up for a pillow and he poured oil on it, a personal
consecration or admittance of God's mercy to him. That's what
he did. He put that, you know, it was,
he had no other place. That pillar, that stone wasn't
his rest. It was the one that stone represented.
It was the Lord himself. Then verse 19, he called the
name of that place Bethel. But the name of that city was
called Luz at first. Luz means Almond tree. And most
writers say that probably, I don't think, I didn't really get a
straight answer from any of them. I know it does mean almond tree,
but most of them say that very possibly it was, it was because
of, of the abundance probably of almond trees that was, that
were there. And, but, but because of God's
revelation to him, Jacob called it Bethel, the house of God. That glorious and gracious appearance
of God to Jacob moved him to put a greater honor upon that
place than all the almond trees could have ever given that place. God's people sent great significance
upon the place where God is pleased to raise up His glory, to raise
up His gospel, to make His presence known. There's a respect. But
that place, here again, my mind just kind of goes sometimes.
I got to thinking when I first moved here, I was trying to get
a little history of this place. I like history. And I went in
Fairmont and found out some things there, but I got to look around
about Farmington. Found out that there was a couple
of fellas that went to I guess, I think both of them went there,
to Farmington High School and were all American, all pro, all,
you know, football players and stuff like that. And they've
got some, you know, some pretty highfalutin politicians that,
you know, from this little area, right here, right here. I mean,
you know, they just, you know, Farmington, West Virginia, that's,
you know, this place was just called Love's. It was just a,
you know, David called it Bethel. When I, what I knew of this area
before I moved here, this is what I knew. There was a gospel
church here. That's what I knew. This is the
whole significance of this area to me. God had raised up a preacher
that preached the gospel of God's free grace. That's the significance
to a believer. It was called Luz, the scripture
says. Jacob gave it was Bethel, the
house of God. And then verses 20 to 23, and
Jacob vowed a vow saying, if God, and I'm gonna just go ahead
and say this right now, that word, he's not, this is not a
stipulation or a, you know, if you do this for me, it's not
it, the word is better interpreted when, when. If God be with me
and will keep me in the way that I go. and will give me bread
to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father's
house in peace. Then shall the Lord be my God,
and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house,
and of all that Thou shalt give me, I will surely pay the tenth
of it. The Lord had told him in verse
15, behold, I am with thee and will keep thee in all places
where 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
of. It's no if part, if to it with Jacob. The Lord had promised,
God had promised what he was gonna do. And Jacob was actually
saying this, based upon the promise of God to me. Let me ask you
this, do you believe, I've asked you this before, do you believe
that the Lord truly died on Calvary's tree bearing your sin? You believe that and you trust
Christ alone. You truly believe that, then
you're a believer. If God has given you a heart to believe
that Christ put away your guilt and you've cast all your mercy
upon him and there's no confidence in your flesh, you believe he
truly did that? I do. And he's coming back to,
I believe that, I believe that, I believe that. Jacob believed
him. Here's what he was saying. Seeing
that God is with me and will keep me in the way which I go.
and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that
when I come to my father's house in peace, thou shalt be my God. This stone, which I have set
for a pillar, a standing memorial to God's house, the presence
of God, and all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give thee,
tithe unto thee. You know, tithing is a token
of gratitude, devotion unto the Lord, was obviously impressed
upon God's people by the Lord. Abraham, scripture said, gave
tithes unto Melchizedek. These tithes were given for the
support of the worship of God, for the maintenance of those
who were ordained in the worship, the provision for the sacrifices. That's what the Lord had done,
the maintenance of the poor, Jacob said, when God does all
this, I'm gonna return unto him that which in honor to him and
worship to him that which he's bestowed upon me, the tithe of
it. I pray that this has been a blessing to us. This was a
marvelous dream that God gave him. What a blessing to behold
these blessed truths that for all these behold, behold, behold,
behold. Lord, bless it to our hearts for Christ's sake.