What goes through your mind when
you think of this man named Jacob? I tell you, a lot of things when
I think about Jacob in the Old Testament, a lot of things go
through my mind. And of course, we've been taught
from our youth up, you know, about things like Jacob's ladder. And of course, that's the passage
we're going to look at today. God giving Jacob a dream and
dreaming of the ladder that reached from earth to heaven. And I started
to entitle this lesson Jacob's Ladder, but I thought about the
real significance of this is at the end of this passage that
we're going to look at where Jacob named the place where God
gave him this dream, this vision, Bethel, which is the house of
God, the dwelling place of God. That's where the glory of God
dwells. But when I think of Jacob, I think of that. I think about
Jacob's ladder. I think about later on when God
changed Jacob's name from Jacob to Israel. And we'll see, I've
got a lesson on that that we'll be looking at. But one of the
things that I think of is Malachi three and verse six, which is
so prominent that applies to every true believer. every spiritual son of Abraham,
every spiritual son and daughter of Jacob. And that says in Malachi
3, 6, where the Lord says, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The mercy of God in saving a
sinner like Jacob. And I think about Romans chapter
9, where it says explicitly, where God says explicitly, Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. You know, Esau was Jacob's twin
brother who came out of the womb first, who had the birthright
of the firstborn, but God gave it to Jacob. And he said, Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. I'm going to be dealing with
that later on in the message concerning God so loved the world. God said he hated Jacob, and
I know people don't like to hear that. Or he loved Jacob and hated
Esau, and people don't like to hear that he hated Esau. But
what we see in the life of Jacob and Esau is this, neither Jacob
nor Esau deserved God's love. Both Jacob and Esau deserved
and earned God's wrath. But God in his sovereign glory,
according to his sovereign will, when he said, I'll have mercy
on whom I will, and I'll be gracious to whom I will, he says, I love
Jacob. There was nothing in Jacob to
love, nothing that Jacob did to earn. Jacob was a sinner.
And that's one thing that we'll see as we study a little bit
of the life of Jacob here in this passage and in the next
one, where he wrestles with the angel, which is a pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. that we can identify with Jacob
in two ways. His name, Jacob. You remember
what Jacob means. Now, if anybody's got children
or grandchildren named Jacob, don't get offended, but the name
means supplanter, a cheater. That's what the name meant. And
so we identify with Jacob, and that's a picture of Jacob's depravity,
of his own personal sin and depravity. And we identify with that. What
are we? We're sinners. And we don't deserve
anything from God. We haven't earned anything but
God's wrath. The only thing we deserve is
that wrath. But later on, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, which
literally means, some say the prince of God, but
what it literally means is availing with God. In other words, being
successful. And we'll see that later on.
But that's a picture of Jacob as a sinner saved by grace. So
we identify with Jacob in his sin and depravity, but we also
identify with Jacob or Israel in our salvation by the blood
of Christ. And so that's such a comforting
truth. But here, I start out your lesson
showing that when you look at passages like this, Genesis 28,
Jacob's ladder. And we can go all the way back
to what we've studied in the Old Testament. It's a real privilege
of God's grace that you can look at these things and see the glory
of the person and work of Christ. that what Christ told the Pharisees
in John chapter five, he says, you search the scriptures, for
in them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify
me. He said, Moses wrote of me. And
right here, Moses, who was the human instrument, I believe,
to record these words, is writing about Jacob and the dream and
the ladder and all that, but what's he really writing? He's
writing of Christ. The only way to God. The only
way that a sinner can get to God and be accepted. And that's what Moses is doing.
So with this in mind, we see how important Jacob was and is,
is a figure in the Old Testament, along with his father, Isaac,
and his grandfather, Abraham. Whenever the Bible refers to
the fathers in connection with the covenant of promise, Usually
it's referring, well, it's always referring to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. And so they are the fathers,
the promise. The promise was given to Abraham. And of course, when we studied
Abraham, we're talking about the gospel promise of Christ
coming into the world to fulfill all righteousness for his people.
Jew and Gentile. It was given to Abraham. It was
confirmed through Isaac. And now it's confirmed in Jacob.
And we'll see that. You can speak about Jacob's 12
sons. You see, for example, you see
the revelation of Christ narrowing down to where we see, for example,
that the human nature of Christ would come through the line of
Abraham, then down to Isaac, now to Jacob. And later on, it's
gonna narrow into one of Jacob's 12 sons, which is Judah. And
we'll go on. But this is what it's all about. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
promise. And we can identify with Jacob
in these ways. A sinner saved by grace. A sinner
who prevailed with God. And we'll see that later on.
But here's some things we know about Jacob. I've got these listed
in your lesson. He was one of the sons of Isaac
and Rebekah. He was a twin. His twin brother
was Esau. And Esau was born first. He came
out of the womb first, out of Rebekah's womb first. But God
had already revealed to Rebekah that contrary to the law of the
firstborn, the elder, Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob. Now
God revealed that. This was God's plan and purpose
all along. You see, according to the law
of the firstborn, Esau would be served by Jacob because Esau
was born first. But God said, no, it's not going
to be that way. It's going to be my way, which
is the elder will serve the younger. Esau would serve Jacob. And why
did he do that? Well, Romans chapter nine, read
it in Romans nine and 10 through 16. This was to show forth God's
purpose in the election and salvation of his people in Christ by his
sovereign mercy and grace. Remember he says over there in
Romans 9 is before the children had done any good or evil God
had already determined what was to be done. It wasn't based upon
anything that Esau did or didn't do. It wasn't based upon anything
that Jacob did or didn't do. It was God's sovereign purpose,
and he said that God's purpose, according to the election of
grace, would stand. My friend, if you're a believer,
if you're a true child of God, that's the same way with you.
It's the same way with me. People ask the question, so if
you believe you're one of God's chosen people, you say, well,
why did God choose me? God didn't look down through
a telescope of time and then make his decision based upon
what he foresaw. And he tells you that in Romans
9. You all have read that. I mean, it's just plain as day
here. Verse 11 of Romans 9, for the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand not of works, but of him that calleth. And what was God
showing there? His sovereignty and his mercy
and grace. And when he says in verse 13,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,
what's the first thing that people object? They come back and they
say, well, that's not right, that's not just, that's not fair.
And so Paul anticipated that in Romans 9, 14. He says, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unjust to love Jacob and unjust to hate Esau? And
he says, God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. And here's the crux of it, verse
16. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Salvation is not based upon our wills or our works. It's all of God. It's free and
sovereign grace. Well, the second thing here is
that we know that Jacob was one of God's elect, and Esau was
not. He was not elect. God loved him. God loved Jacob, but hated Esau. And like all of us by nature,
both Jacob and Esau were sinners who both deserved and earned
God's hatred and eternal death. And people don't like this. You
know, you'll hear preachers say, well, God really loved Esau. He just didn't love him as much
as he loved Jacob. Well, that's a lie. That's not
what the Bible says. And I'm gonna talk about that
more in our message on John 3, 16. Does God hate anyone? He says he does. And I preached
this last Sunday night at 13th Street from Psalm 85. Hear what
God the Lord says. Remember in the psalm, in that
covenant psalm, they beg for mercy, beg for salvation. Okay,
you really want mercy? You really want salvation? Well,
hear what God says. Don't hear what some preacher
might tell you that's contrary to the word. Only listen to the
preacher that tells you what God says in his word. And here's
what God says. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now God's hatred is not like
our hatred. It's not a sinful hatred. What
it is, it's God's rejection of anyone based upon a just ground. There's no unrighteousness or
injustice with God. If God put all of us in hell,
he wouldn't be unrighteous or unjust. But if he saves any of
us, he's gonna do it by his grace and that in a just way based
upon the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. So understand
that. Now we know that we look at Jacob's
life. The third thing I have here,
he tricked his brother Esau. He tricked him into selling him
his birthright. I'm not gonna go into all this
today, but the birthright was more than just money and property. Both Esau and Jacob
had that and got that from Isaac. The birthright was the right
to be, it was really, to get it down to the nth degree, it
was the right to be the spiritual head of the family. And Esau
didn't care for spiritual things. Esau had no love for the spiritual
issues of life. Esau was a man's man, he was
a hunter, he was all that, and we hear about Jacob being a mama's
boy, he lived inside, you know, and all that. I don't know, I
just know this, that God's determination of these things had nothing to
do with the character and conduct of these boys. What Jacob did
was according to the sovereign will of God. And yet Jacob sinned
greatly. Now how do you explain that?
Now before you open your mouth, I'm gonna tell you, hush. I've read arguments on the internet,
people going back and forth about, you know, God allowed this to
happen, God actually did. Just shut up about it. Because
our little puny minds cannot wrap around these awesome truths
of God's sovereign work. Esau, listen, listen, Jacob sinned. And we know this, and the fourth
thing, through his mother's influence and help, he deceived his father
Isaac. You remember he put on the goat fur, you know, on his
arm, and Isaac was blind and thought he was blessing Esau
and ended up blessing Jacob? That was according to God's purpose
and God's will. And it happened. And so Esau
now had to, or Jacob now had to flee from his father's house
and had to flee from Esau, had to run away. And that's where
we are here in Genesis 28. And God, on Jacob's running away,
his flight from Esau, God met him. And I thought about this,
I was reading another man's lesson on this and he's got it right.
That's how God saves his people. On our way, listen, On our road,
in our sin and our depravity, on our road, from our viewpoint,
our road to hell, you know what God does when he saves? He stops
us. And he reveals himself to us. According to his sovereign
will. That's what happened to me, that's
what happened to every one of y'all who were saved. On your
way, you might have been sitting in a church pew, you might have
been standing behind a pulpit, who knows? You might have been
in a bar somewhere, I don't know. But somewhere, somehow, God,
in his sovereign plan, according to his time, he stopped you.
And he revealed himself to you, isn't that right? Through the
preaching of the gospel by the power of the Spirit. So look
here in verse 10 of Genesis 28. He says, and Jacob went out from
Beersheba, he went toward Haran, and he lighted up on a certain
place and tarried or waited there all night because the sun was
set. And he took of the stones of that place and put them for
his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. Now here's his
circumstances. Now again, we need to know this
is all God's working. And yet Jacob was in this circumstance
because of his own sin too. Why did he have to flee from
his family, from his home? Because he'd sinned. He deceived
Isaac. He made Esau mad. So Jacob's
situation, as I said, pictures ours. And it's clear that Jacob,
he's not brought himself to a place to where God was obligated because
of anything that Jacob had done or not done to reveal himself
to him. If God had left Jacob alone,
just like if he'd left us alone, we'd be goners, wouldn't we?
And that's what I think about when I think about Jacob. For
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Now, it says here in verse 12,
it says, and he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the
earth. Jacob's ladder. Now this is a
dream, this is a vision. You know, God revealed himself
through the prophets, through their words, revelations of his
truth, He revealed himself in types and pictures, in the Old
Testament, and before the written word came together. God revealed
himself in various ways, in types and pictures and shadows, and
also in dreams and visions. And this is what he's doing here.
In a dream, he gave Jacob a vision of a ladder. And it says, it's
set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. So from
earth to heaven. behold the angels of God ascending
and descending on it. Verse 13, and behold the Lord
stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father
and the God of Isaac. Now what you should think of
here is not just the pedigree of Jacob, but the promise that's
being set forth here. There's a promise here. that
God gave to Abraham and Isaac and now he's going to confirm
it in Jacob. And what is that promise? It's
the promise of the Messiah. It's the promise of salvation
by God's grace through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the gospel promise of righteousness established by which sinners
are brought to God and accepted before him in the beloved. And
so here it is, God says, I am the Lord God of Abraham, the
God who saves by grace, the God who justifies the ungodly, not
by their works, but by the works of his son, the righteousness
of Christ imputed and received by faith. And he said, the land
whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. Jacob
hadn't earned that, but God gave it. And this is, you know, The
promised land is a picture of salvation. God saving his people. And look at verse 14. 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. It's gonna cover the whole earth. And in thee and
in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Same
promise that was given to Abraham. Now there is a, a limited, temporal,
temporary application to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's physical seed,
the national Jews, the Israelites. But the greater application,
the spiritual and eternal application, is to God's elect, Jew and Gentile,
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Salvation
will be brought to them. And here's this ladder. Now this
ladder stood upon earth, but the top reached to heaven. What
is that telling us? It's the way to heaven. It's
the way to God. And so it's a picture of Christ.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Christ, this ladder reached from
earth and Christ himself stood on earth in the flesh. God manifest
in the flesh, walking on this earth among sinners. And on this earth, he did his
great work. He obeyed the law perfectly.
He was made under the law. He died on the cross. He was
buried in the earth. He arose from the dead and he
ascended under the father. And now he's in glory, interceding
on our behalf, looking down from heaven. We've talked about that.
He stood on the earth in the flesh, yet he was the most high
God. As God absolutely considered, he never left the bosom of his
father, but as God-man, he was here on earth. And now he intercedes
in heaven. And salvation, the way to God,
is by God's grace and power and goodness in and by the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world, the world of his elect unto him, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. So the Lord God stood above the
ladder, made all these promises, to Jacob, so God in Christ and
through Christ makes all the promises of salvation and the
benefits and the blessings of us to all of his people in Christ. All the promises of God in him
are yea, and amen. Look at verse 15. He says, and
behold, I am with thee, I will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, and I will
not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee
of. And they're the promises that God spoke to Jacob. He said,
I'm with thee. Isn't that what Christ said to
his people? I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. He's with us at all times. He
dwells within us by his spirit and his word. He watches over
us. He sends his holy angels to watch
over us. None whom God has chosen for
whom Christ died who are brought by the Spirit to believe shall
ever perish. He said, I will keep thee. I'll
preserve thee. Think about that. Do we need
preserving? Yes, we do. What times do we need preserving?
Just when we're feeling bad or going through a bad time? No,
we need preservation at all times. He will keep us. Paul said, I
know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. If
God didn't keep us, we would not, if he didn't preserve us,
we would not persevere. If he didn't keep us, we would
not be kept, we would fall. But because of Christ, who intercedes
on our behalf, by whom our sins were put away, because they were
imputed to him and he died and paid the debt of God's justice
and because we stand before God in his righteousness imputed
and he's given us his spirit to dwell within us, he's keeping
us. We'll not be cast away. And then look at verse 16, he
says, Well, he keeps us, he brings us into the land, that's the
picture of salvation, the blessings and the benefits, and he will
not leave us until he's done that which he's spoken. In other
words, he's gonna bring us to glory. In verse 16, Jacob awaked
out of his sleep, and he said, surely the Lord is in this place,
and I knew it not. What'd Jacob do when he woke
up? He didn't get him a ball of string and make Jacob's ladder.
I used to do that sometimes. Cute idea. But he says this,
surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. The Lord is
in this place and we don't know it until the Lord is pleased
to reveal himself to us. We didn't seek him until he sought
us. And he says in verse 17, and
he was afraid, Jacob was afraid and said, how dreadful is this
place? There is none other but the house of God. This is none
other but the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. Now,
Jacob being afraid has to do with his awesome respect for
the glory of God. It's not a terror of being killed
or anything like that, or like some horror story. But it's the
fear of the Lord. You know, by nature, we have
no fear of God before us. We've got a lot of fears by nature,
don't we? Religious and otherwise. But
by nature, we have no fear of God. We have no respect, regard,
reverence for the glory of God revealed in salvation by His
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Jacob
was given here. He said, this is none other but
the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. Verse
18, Jacob rose up early in the morning, took the stone that
he'd put for his pillars and set it up for a pillar and poured
oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that
place Bethel. But the name of that city was
called Luz at the first. That's what it was first called.
But now it's Bethel, house of God, where God dwells. Now you can't contain God in
houses. He's not talking about church
buildings here. This is the house of God because
it's the people of God, the church of the living God. And Christ
is our heart, our head, our heart, our foundation. And the glory
of God dwells in the person and work of Christ. He's the tabernacle
of God. And verse 20 says, Jacob vowed
a vow saying, if God will be with me and will keep me in this
way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put
on. See, all of that's a picture of salvation. The if here is
not something that Jacob says, well, God will give this to me
if I do this. He's simply saying, if this is
the case, if I'm saved by the grace of God, If God made that
promise to me, if God is with me and will keep me and go with
me and give me bread to eat, his word, the water of the word,
the bread of the word, and raiment to put on, his righteousness
imputed. Verse 21, so that I come again
to my father's house in peace and then shall the Lord be my
God. And verse 22, and this stone which I have set for a pillar
shall be God's house. And all of that thou shalt give
me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. There's the tithe,
which is what they gave to the Lord as far as their reverence
and respect to him. Recognizing that not only one
tenth, but 100% was from God.