“The Ladder” (Conclusion)

K. Adrian Scott

May 4, 2025

Review/Context:

Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah is traveling on personal business, away from his family’s home and going toward the town where his uncle Laban and his family reside.  This move is out of necessity, as we have previously stated.  Jacob is in a bad way.  If Jacob is a person of normal emotions, so I suppose Jacob is struggling with what counselor's call 'grief.'  Grief does not only have to be associated with death but can be the loss of other things. Jacob is dealing with the loss of several things.  He is on the verge of losing the home of his youth and adolescence, but he would have reason to grieve the loss of ready access to his mother, his father, and even his brother Esau, with whom he had a rocky relationship.  He perhaps has lost other relationships; he lost his job or occupation.  Remember, relocating was not Jacob’s idea but was his father’s idea. Jacob may have even had to leave some of his stuff, his personal things we do not easily part with.  Jacob is not a robot, but he is a person with feelings and sentiments like everyone else. Jacob may have been asking, ‘why do I have to leave? Why can’t you make Esau leave since he is the real problem?’  

Leaving isn’t always easy even under ideal circumstances.

The Text; Telling the Story.

Vv. 10; “Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.”

Jacob is sent away and left Beersheba traveling toward Haran. 

v. 11; “And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.”

Tired from his journey, he spent the night in Luz.

Jacob fell into a deep sleep and dreamed.  Research says 95% of our dreams are quickly forgotten and this dream was surreal and one in which Jacob did not forget but remembered it in all of its vivid details. 

V. 12; “And he dreamed, and behold, and behold, there was a ladder (or a flight of steps) set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.  And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”

The ladder is ‘set’ on earth and reaches all the way to heaven and the Bible says God is standing above or at the top of it.  

Who could successfully construct such a ladder?  In Genesis 12, the people of Babylon attempted but failed in their building of a version of the ladder, a tower to the heavens.  The people conceived and built the tower, but God conceived, designed, and constructed this ladder! The ladder was successful while the tower was not.  It is for Jacob to know this is God at work.

The ladder that is connected to both earth and heaven tells us -

God’s will is being played out in both heaven and earth, and it reminds us that God sees, and God knows all things!  God’s sovereign majesty, divine providence, and God's eternal power are all on display in the image of a ladder.  God omniscience, or the lack of God needing to be informed of any detail of our life must be clear to Jacob, because God clearly knows all.

2. The ladder is also confirmation of God’s involvement in human affairs.  It represents all the activity of the universe and God’s sovereignty is in control. The dream is given to Jacob specifically because it would have personal significance to him now, and the world at large now and into the future. 

Note, there is distance between God and the affairs of His creation.  God is alone in God's high holiness and is unmatched in his power and might.  

3. In his dream a myriad of God’s angels is going up and down upon this ladder and God who alone is standing at the top of the ladder.  It is as if God with a providential hand is directing the traffic on this busy ladder.  There are no traffic jams or delays because of the throng of angels accessing it, however.  God's intentions for God's creation are never misconstrued, and neither are any events cancelled because of bad traffic.  Thank God these angels did not merely stay in heaven and serve at God's pleasure, but they have business, God's business, on earth, and thus were sent to earth!  The late theologian Thomas Coke said of the angels – “They ascend to receive and descend to execute the Divine orders.  The angels work for God and are under God’s employ.”  

Vv. 14 - 15; “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

This is the Lord speaking directly to Jacob in his dream about Jacob’s future, his family's future and the future of the world at large.  God is explaining the divine activity that is not only happening for Jacob now as he has his suitcase in his hand, but what will happen for generations, even millennia from this time forward.  This is not just a man on a short trip of about forty miles; this is not just a young man leaving his home, his family and friends because there are much bigger implications.  God used Jacob’s family's circumstances to necessitate the trip. Jacob needed to get away so he could hear God’s voice without what had become distractions at home, namely, his descending relationship with his now dangerous brother, Esau. Do you see how God can use bad circumstances to fulfill God’s will for Himself and us? In the span of a forty-mile trip God showed Jacob how he would plan an important part in changing the destiny of the world! I would say the trip was worth taking! The trip was a requirement. If you want a change in your life, your circumstances may need to be changed also. Before you can change anyone else through your life and/or ministry, you need to experience change yourself. In Beersheba Jacob was not ready for this opportunity for responsibility. Are you ready to see your life changed and potentially the life of others around you? If things are not what you desire them to be with your relationship with God, you may need a change of scenery, a change of who is in your ear – stop listening to people who have proven to not give you good advice. You should love the Rebekah’s on your life, but you don’t have to solicit their advice. It hasn’t worked out very well. Second, you will need a change of attitude – stop thinking you’re the only smart person in the room and manipulating people and circumstances. How has that worked for you, Jacob? Third, you must be willing to commit to a change of plans or direction if that is what God tells you to do.

Are you aware of God’s plan and purpose for your life?

V. 16; Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”

There is a time to sleep and dream, then there is a time to awaken and work.  It is not spiritually healthy or spiritually profitable to only want dreams and visions and seek all kinds of supernatural spiritual experiences but never wake up and actually do something about it.   We have seen that God is always at work. The question is, are we?

Jacob discovered God was in Luz and he didn’t even know it! God was waiting for Jacob. ‘What took you so long, Jacob? I’ve been expecting you?’ God knows how to make a place like Luz attractive even though it was not a physically attractive place.

The Bible Atlas says ancient Luz was a bleak and barren place. It was a place that was dead in appearance with scant vegetation most likely, but God was telling Jacob in that still small voice, ‘Stay here.’ There were four springs there with good water that would have made Luz a logical place to spend the night since travelers and their animals would need water, so it was a practical place to stay. Sometimes God does direct change in our lives, so God's voice can be more clearly heard as God speaks to us!  Luz offered Jacob just enough accommodations; just enough comfort, enough quiet, and enough peace that God could speak to him and Jacob would clearly hear God’s voice. Surely God is everywhere, and Jacob must have known it, but the graphic dream was the manifest glory of God in Luz was of the magnitude that Jacob could not doubt this dream was a glorious visitation by his God.  This experience was so graphic Jacob was certain God was in this dream. This isn’t religion per se, this is a personal relationship, and God is full of surprises!

V. 17; “And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Professor Constable says the word here “afraid” insinuates ‘a worshipful fear’; I would say ‘reverence.’ Take notice the first thing Jacob does in the aftermath of having such an affirming experience with his God is to worship or acknowledge God!  He recognizes the presence and power of God.  Without God, this is just another night of rest and another place along the way!  Truly, God makes the difference.  

The purpose of the ladder is for Jacob's encouragement.  He would need it!Jacob is leaving the promised land, and he will now be challenged to trust God to honor His Word and bring Him back! Sometimes God takes our life on what might be a detour, but we must have enough faith to believe God will honor His Word and complete what He started.

This experience results in God certifying Jacob's part in the covenant promise first made to his grandfather Abraham.  

The ladder reveals the truth about Jacob and the truth about God.  Regarding Jacob's nature and character, there is a great distance between God and humanity.  For that reason, Jacob is a great example. And the truth about God is, God reveals to Jacob that everything is subject to the sovereign, providence of God and not himself. 

What is providence? The Apostle Paul said it like this to the Roman believers; "the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (8.27,28).

The Latin word ‘provideo’, from which we get our word providence, means “to see beforehand, a prior seeing, a foresight. Ligonier Ministry says about providence, 'It is not merely foresight, but providence also means 'provision’ as well.  The first time the word providence used is in the story of Abraham and Isaac when Abraham answers Isaac by saying, 'the Lord will provide" (Genesis 22).  Ligonier reminds us that the ultimate provision is God's only Son, the One who spans the great distance between holy God and fallen humanity "that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3.16).  The ladder is none other than God's fullest expression of God's providence, His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The one and only mediator between God and mankind!  The One from heaven who came to earth!  He, that is Jesus the Christ, is the ultimate ladder, the One who connects us to God!  

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3.18).

V. 18-19; “So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.”

The Proposition.

What if there was no ladder?  

What if there was no connection between heaven and earth?  What if God was not concerned with the affairs of boys and girls, and women and men upon the earth? What if God chose not to set a ladder on earth that reached all the way to heaven? What if there were not Mediator, no one who could connect God to humanity? How else could Jacob, or you, or me, get to where God the Father is unless there is a ladder?   I hope we can clearly see this ladder is necessary. By this ladder God accesses his chosen people, and we can access God!

Other than this ladder, there is no other way to reach eternal God and share in the promises of God.  But Jacob doesn’t have to reach God, God reached out and down to Jacob! 

Unregenerate people cannot get to God on their own power, but God through Christ can get to us!

Will you claim God’s promise of blessing because of Jesus the Christ who to all those who are numbered among God’s own?  Ultimately, do you want to see God our Father face to face, which is the purpose and goal of that ladder Jacob saw, through our saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?