Jacob's Ladder.

Opening:

It is a beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

We are continuing on in our study of the book of Genesis. This morning our passage is Genesis chapter 28. If you recall, Genesis is divided into two major sections. The first section is dedicated to early human history. It deals with how God created the world and how sin entered the world. That first section ends with the tower of Babel.

The tower of Babel was where man set out to access heaven by their own work. They wanted to link heaven and earth by recapturing the pre-flood demonic worship. They wanted to build a tower, a stairway up to heaven.

Immediately after this Genesis begins it’s second section where God calls Abraham to make a people for Himself. In this section we see God, in a sense, descending to man to call himself a people.

In our study we have examined the life of Abraham where God called Abraham out of paganism, away from his people, to follow the Lord. The Lord blessed Abraham, promising that the Lord would bless him and bless all those who blessed him. God promised that through his Seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This was important because the New Testament emphasizes that this promised Seed is Jesus. From Abraham, the promised Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, would come.

This promise was then given to Isaac, Abraham’s heir. God promised to be with Isaac. And last week we saw how the promise was given to Jacob, even though Isaac tried to give it to Esau. That passage ended with Esau desiring to murder Jacob. Isaac and Rebekah are planning to send Jacob to Laban, Rebekah’s brother in order for Jacob to take a wife.

Chapter 28 pics up right here. We will not read all of chapter 28, but we will read verses 10-22. So if you are able, please stand with me out of reverence for the reading of God’s holy Word.

Reading of the Passage:

Genesis 28:10–22 “10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 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 spoken to you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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!” 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.””

These are the very words of Almighty God. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Our Gracious Heavenly Father, we commit this time in your Word to You. We pray that it would be glorifying to you and edifying to us. Speak to us through your Word, oh Lord. We ask this through our only Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Introduction/ Opening Illustration:

Many philosophers have debated on what the primary question of man’s existence is. What is the big question or questions? There are some good answers to this. Many narrow them down to this.

Who am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here? Where am I going when I die?

These are of course on the list of central questions to our existence. They are questions we will all have to wrestle with in our life. Our worldview is shaped by how we answer these. But there are other essential questions as well. One that I think is at the center of human existence is this: “How do we get to heaven?”

Need:

How can man have access to God? This is at the center of almost all religious questions. It is at the heart of man’s very being. We all long for heaven. We all long for a relationship with the divine. As Christians we often phrase this as “man has a God shaped hole in his heart.” Man longs to get to heaven. But again, how?

Text Idea:

This question is answered in our text this morning. How does man have access to God?

Sermon Idea:

Man has access to God through Jesus Christ.

Transition:

But let’s back up just a little bit and briefly address what happens in verses 1-9. In these verses Jacob leaves.

Jacob Leaves.

Genesis 28:1–5 “1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.”

Explanation:

Isaac calls Jacob in and reiterates the blessing, but along with this he gives him a command.

Jacob must not marry a Canaanite.

This has been an ongoing theme. Abraham commanded Isaac this, and one of Esau’s great failures was taking women of the land. Now Isaac is giving this command to Jacob. He must corrupt himself and his offspring by intermixing with the pagan women of the land. Instead he is to go to Laban, who is also of the family of Abraham, and take one of his daughters as a wife.

Isaac then blesses Jacob once more. This is really just a confirmation of the blessing in the previous chapter. Isaac is here submitting to God’s will on who is to receive the blessing. And Isaac gets a bit more specific on this blessing. Most of it is similar to what we saw in the blessing last week, but in verse 4, Isaac explicitly asks that God give Jacob the blessing of Abraham. This will come into play in our later verses.

After this, Jacob leaves for Padan Aram in Mesopotamia, to the house of Laban his uncle. This will be around a 500 mile journey.

And after this we get a snippet of Esau.

Esau marries a daughter of Ishmael.

Esau sees what Isaac commanded Jacob, and he sees that his two Hittite wives displease his parents, literally that they were evil in the sight of Isaac. So he goes and takes for himself Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. He is now trying to marry back into the Abrahamic line.

Some point to this as Esau repenting, but we know from the New Testament that Esau never repents. It is interesting that he would do this though. I think we see here, not repentance, but a desire for something good. Even the evil have a desire for righteousness and good. There is still something there that desires to occasionally do something good. I think that is what is on display here. But even in this, Esau seems to do it for the wrong reason. He isn’t doing this to please God, but to please Isaac.

Transition:

But now we come to the central part of this passage: Jacob’s dream.

Jacob’s Dream.

Explanation:

As Jacob is journeying from Beersheba, the camp of Isaac, to Haran, the home of Laban, he becomes tired. And he stops outside of the city of Luz. He does not go into the city, but is camped outside it. And he makes camp there for the night. He finds a rock to sort of prop himself up on, and he lies down on the rock and goes to sleep.

As he does, he has this dream. Genesis 28:12–15 “12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 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 spoken to you.””

This is where we get the term “Jacob’s Ladder.”

Jacob’s Ladder.

Jacob sees a ladder set up on earth and reaching into the heavens. Now, this was likely not a ladder like what we think of with the two poles and rungs in-between that you step on. Some translations render it as stairway. What this seems to be is more like a tower. A ziggurat. A stepped tower staircase. And on this staircase there are angels ascending and descending on it.

And as the top, above it, stands the Lord Almighty. But here is where it gets very interesting. Some translations render this as the Lord standing there over Jacob. Like He is standing on the earth there next to Jacob looking over him. This is because the language is ambiguous. It could mean either. It could mean that God is standing in heaven at the top of this tower, or it could mean that God is there standing with Jacob looking over him.

I think the terminology in the original language is purposely ambiguous. And I think this because of what this ladder or tower is.

Argumentation:

So that raises the question. What is the ladder? What is this tower?

And it is here that we discover a link we might not expect. The description of this tower matches one other tower in the Bible. One we have already covered. And that is the tower of Babel. This might seem shocking at first, but let’s draw this out.

What were the people at Babel building a tower for? They wanted to build a tower to the heavens. They were trying to get to heaven. Remember our question we opened with. Fundamental to mankind is the question “how do I get to heaven?” At Babel, the people attempted to answer this by building a tower in order to get there. They were attempting to get there under their own labor, their own works. They wanted to achieve heaven.

I think they were attempting to rekindle the demonic, pre-flood worship. Prior to the flood, man had communed with angelic beings. These were demons, but still, man had relations with them. And then after the flood, at Babel, man was attempting retake heaven. They wanted to recapture this demonic, pagan worship and commune with the heavenly again. They wanted to make a name for themselves. They in essence wanted to become divine. They did what Lucifer did, they wanted to ascend to heaven and become gods. They wanted access to heaven.

And now, in the wilderness outside of Luz we see another tower. We could call this the true and better Babel. And in confirmation of this, listen to what Jacob calls this place. Skipping ahead to Jacob waking up, he renames the place he is in. First he calls it “the house of God,” Bethel. But the second name he gives this is the “gate of heaven.” In the ancient Akkadian language, the language spoken in that region at that time, do you know what word means “gate of heaven?” Babel.

Jacob is saying here that this is the true and better Babel. Here is the true Gate of heaven. At Babel, man attempted to build the gate themselves. They tried to build their way up to God. They attempted to take heaven by force. And God scattered them, sent them into exile. He divided them and confused them. But now, Jacob has seen the true thing. The real path to heaven. The true way to God. A staircase leading to heaven. At last, access to God, to heaven. Here it is!

But we still may be somewhat confused. What do these things mean? What is all of this? Well, Jesus himself told us what this meant. Jesus, in the New Testament, directly tells us what this staircase is.

John 1:51 “51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.””

Did you catch that? Jesus is referencing our passage this morning. Heaven opens. Angels ascending and descending. But He changes on point. Notice what the angels are ascending and descending upon. The Son of Man.

Jesus is the Ladder.

He is the tower in this passage. He is the bridge between heaven and earth! How does one have access to heaven? We cannot build our own way there. We cannot achieve heaven. God must come down. We need a bridge between heaven and earth. We need God to come down to us. God must be the one who builds the stairway, and that stairway is Christ. He is the bridge.

John 3:13 “13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” No one can ascend to heaven. No mere men can build their lives in such a way as to get there. Only one can, the one who came down from heaven to bring us there with Him.

What did Jesus say? John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” How do we get to heaven? There is only one way. Christ.

What did Jacob see there in the wilderness outside of Luz? It was the Way to heaven. The link between heaven and earth. It was Christ.

This is also why I say that the language of this text is important. Was God standing at the top of the tower or was He standing there with Jacob? Both. In Christ, God came down to us. He is in heaven and He is here with us. Christ is our bridge, our stairway. Through Him we access to the Father.

I love the way the old preacher Matthew Henry puts it, “He is this ladder, the foot on earth in his human nature, the top in heaven in his divine nature: or the former in his humiliation, the latter in his exaltation. All the intercourse between heaven and earth, since the fall, is by this ladder. Christ is the way; all God’s favours come to us, and all our services go to him, by Christ. If God dwell with us, and we with him, it is by Christ. We have no way of getting to heaven, but by this ladder.”

This is what the author of Hebrews rejoices in! Hebrews 10:19–23 “19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

How is it we draw near? We draw near by Christ! He tore through the veil, that is His flesh to bring us near. Now we can come before God boldly, with true hearts, in full assurance of faith, washed clean by the sprinkling of our hearts with the pure water!

Transition:

And if this were not enough, then the Lord speaks to Jacob and we see:

God’s promise.

Explanation:

Genesis 28:13–15 “13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 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 spoken to you.””

We have covered these promises numerous times. This is God confirming the blessing Isaac just gave him. This is the same promise given to Abraham. God will bless Jacob. He will give Jacob the land. He will multiply him to have descendants as numerous as the sand of the sea, the stars of the heaven.

Here God goes on and even expands the promise. These descendants will spread across the west, east, north, and south. This means they will cover the entire earth.

God confirms that all this and the blessing are to Jacob’s Seed. If you recall, Paul explains this in Galatians 3:16 “16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.” This promise is fulfilled in Christ. Christ is the Seed. Galatians 3:7–9 “7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Those who bless Christ are blessed, those who curse Christ are cursed. And the descendants of Jacob will grow, they will cover the entire earth as Christ promised in His parables about the Kingdom being like leaven in a loaf or like a mustard seed.

So rather than repeating myself, I’ll summarize. These promises apply to Christ and His church. No one else.

Because of this, I want to hammer down on one point. In this promise, God gives Jacob perhaps the most comforting promise of them all.

It is beautiful that God promises Jacob countless descendants and land, and blessing. But look again at verse 15. Genesis 28:15 “15 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 spoken to you.””

Argumentation:

These are some of the most incredible and comforting words we could ever imagine. God promises to be with him always. To never leave him.

Can you imagine how you would feel if God spoke these words to you? Can you imagine if God told you directly this? That He would always be with you, that He would never leave you. No matter where you go, no matter how hard life gets, no matter the situation, the circumstance, the pain, the tragedy, God promising you that in the middle of it all, He would be right there with you.

You do not have to imagine. As I’ve already said, this promise is about Christ and is for you, but beyond this, Listen to these words of Scripture.

Matthew 28:20 “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

Hebrews 13:5 “5 ...For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

Joshua 1:9 “9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

Psalm 23:4 “4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Romans 8:38–39 “38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Is not Jesus’ name “Immanuel.” What does that mean? God with us. Here is the truth. God is with us. We can embrace this promise and trust it. The Lord is with His people.

Transition:

The passage comes to a close with Jacob waking and making a vow. Let’s quickly look at:

Jacob’s Vow.

Genesis 28:16–22 “16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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!” 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.””

Explanation:

Two things of note. First, Jacob names the place “Bethel” which means the house of God. This is worth note because it is in the house of God where we meet with God.

Have you ever wondered why we sometimes refer to the church as “God’s house?” It’s because of this. When we come into worship, we are entering God’s presence.

I love what Hebrews 12:22–24 says speaking of our worship. “22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

Notice what is being said here. The implication is that when we come into worship together, we are at the true Mount Zion, we are taken into the New Jerusalem. We are brought up and into God’s house. When we gather for worship, it is as if we are transported into heaven.

Second: What does Jacob do after seeing this vision? Two things. He fears the Lord, and he worships God. He is in awe of God and his response is to worship.

He sets up the stone he was sleeping on and pours oil on it. This was an act of consecration. Years later, he will return and build an altar here.

The lesson is this: The proper response to God is to, in awe, worship Him. Trembling before Him, we worship.

Conclusion:

Here is the crux of the whole matter. There is one way to God. There is one way to heaven. And that is Jesus. There is one way to God’s blessing. And that is Christ.

Christ is the Ladder. He is the only access to heaven. He is the only way.

Visualization:

We could really view this as a tale of two towers. One tower built by man in an attempt to get to God by his own work. This tower ends in confusion, scattering, death, and eventually hell. The other tower, the true tower is built by God. It’s end it life, joy, blessing, and eventually, heaven.

Reiteration:

How do we get to heaven? There is only one way. We cannot climb our own way up. One must come down and bring us there. The only hope is for God to come to us. And God has come to us, in Christ Jesus.

Here is the reality, you are either trusting in Christ or you are damned. You are either resting in Christ or you are striving to build a new Babel. And it’s end will be the same as the old Babel.

Application:

There is only one question.

Which Tower will You Rely On?

Will you trust in Christ? Or will you trust in the work of your own hands? The message of the gospel is this, you cannot earn your salvation. You cannot ever build high enough or good enough to get there.

How far away from heaven was the first tower of Babel? How far away are the sky scrapers of New York City away from heaven? Your good works are even farther yet. There is only one who can reach heaven, and it is the One who came down from Heaven. Jesus Christ.

Appeal:

Are you trusting in Christ? Or are you trusting in yourself? Are you trusting something else? Being a good person can’t save you. No one is even good. Going to church can’t save you. No, only Christ can save you.

I ask you, examine yourself. What are you trusting in? Christ? Or something else? If you are not trusting in Christ, do not wait. Turn to Christ today. Please speak to myself, or one of the elders today if you have questions about how to trust in Christ. But do not trust in anything other than Christ. He is the only Way.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Benediction:

1 John 5:11–13 “11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

Collect: