JACOB'S LADDER

Genesis Twenty-eight

Sermon of the Week #200637 – September 17, 2006

Genesis twenty-eight is the story of Jacob’s ladder, and it begins with the flight of Jacob to escape the wrath of his brother, Esau. Esau had promised, since the days of mourning for his father were at hand, that he would kill Jacob as the first order of business after the funeral.

Esau had gone hunting to find venison for Isaac’s favorite dinner, and then to receive the blessing. Now Rebekah favored his twin brother Jacob, and the two of them deceived Isaac who was blind, by killing a couple of goats, and Jacob took the stewed goat into his blind father, and told him he had brought him the venison. Jacob lied, it was not venison; it was stewed goat. Isaac recognized the voice of Jacob, and said, “Who are you?” Jacob lied, and said, “I am Esau.” Isaac knew Esau was a hairy man, and Jacob a smooth man, so Isaac said, “Come here, and let me feel you.” Isaac felt him, not knowing that Jacob had goatskins on his arms. Isaac said, “It is the voice of Jacob, but the hand of Esau.” Isaac trusted his feelings rather than the voice, and fell for the lie, and blessed Jacob.

There are many who are deceived today, because they trust their feelings, rather than the voice of God, speaking through His Word. One prime example is when Jesus told the wicked on the Judgment Day to depart into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. Even though Jesus said it, and in some Bibles it is written in red letters that flash like the sign on a power plant, “Danger High Voltage”, millions will still say they don’t believe Jesus would do it. Is their faith based on the voice of Jacob, or the hand of Esau? Is it what God says, or how they feel God says? Millions today base their faith on the sandy foundation of the hand of Esau.

So Jacob leaves, and goes out. Sin always drives a person out. Sin drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Sin drove Peter out when he denied the Lord. We are told that he went out and wept bitterly. Sin drove Judas out when he would betray Jesus. He went out and it was night. Here in this story, Jacob is driven out because he deceived his blind father. Sin always drives a person out.

Sin drives many out today. Some are driven out of the Church by worldliness. That is why some drop out of Church; they are driven out by sin. The obedient to the Lord and disobedient cannot live together. Some are driven out altogether, never to return. Sin always drives out. The final driving out will be on the Day of Judgment when we are told that the sinner will be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. So Jacob is driven out.

Before he leaves, Isaac gives him a further blessing, and then charges him not to marry one of the daughters of Canaan. He is to go and marry a wife from Isaac’s kindred in Padan Aram. The blessings of God always come with a charge. The Christian’s promise is tied in with sacrifice. In Jacob’s case he was not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

It would be a mistake for him to make the same mistake as his brother, Esau, who married out of the faith. A person who does this usually makes a sad mistake. Why marry a person and possess their body, when the Devil possesses their soul? Why marry someone, and be wedded to one who is wedded to his or her sins? Why hold to your bosom one who will not be in the bosom of Abraham? Why be unequally yoked with another in this world; then be separated in eternity? Be not unequally yoked together. Isaac charged Jacob.

Jacob is driven out, and now comes the story of Jacob’s ladder. Jacob came to a certain place and lay down to sleep. He made his pillow from stones. This pillow of rocks would turn out to be the best night’s sleep he ever had. That night he had a dream that has haunted men for thousands of years. In this dream the Lord appeared unto him and gave him a message.

The dream that Jacob had is one of the greatest dreams ever recorded; the dream of Jacob’s ladder. He dreamed that he saw a ladder set up on earth, and it reached all the way to Heaven. At the top of the ladder was God, and scampering up and down the ladder were angels, going up and down, up and down. God stood at the top of the ladder, and announced to him, “I am the God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of thy father, Isaac, the land whereon thou liest; to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

God Himself was at the top of the ladder. The message of God emanated from Heaven from the top of the ladder, and not at the bottom of the ladder on earth. The message from God always comes from Heaven, and not from men at the bottom of the ladder.

Jesus told the Apostles in John 14:26, “But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.” Jesus did not trust the memory of the Apostles to write the gospel message as they remembered it, but sent the Holy Spirit to make sure they remembered it correctly. Therefore, when you read the Word of God you are reading the inspired Word of God that come right off the top of the ladder.

Paul declared, “I make known unto you the gospel that I preach unto you, that it is not after man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul also got his message from the top of the ladder.

Then Peter said that God’s divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. All the writers of the Word of God received their message from the top of the ladder.

A great example of God speaking from the top of the ladder was on the Day of Pentecost. There came from Heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind. The sound came straight down from Heaven. The Apostles were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spake the Word of God as the Spirit gave them utterance. The sermon preached that day came right off the top of the ladder.

Forty different men wrote the Bible over a period of fifteen hundred years. They lived in different generations, and different centuries, and yet there was one theme, all the way through. That theme is, “Jesus is coming, Jesus has come, and Jesus is coming again.” There are one thousand, one hundred, and eighty-nine chapters in the Word of God, and every one of them came from the top of the ladder.

There are many ladders that men may try to reach Heaven, but none of them are tall enough. Some try the ladder of money. Money may conquer cancer, and extend life on earth a few more years, but that ladder is not tall enough to reach immortality in Heaven.

Men may try the ladder of scientific achievement, and find a way to populate Venus and Mars; but Jesus is the only way to populate Heaven.

Some may try the ladder of good works, but there is none righteous, no not one, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus said, “No one cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He that try’s to climb up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

There is only one ladder that will go all the way to Heaven, and one elevator. The elevator is for Christians only, and no one else and it will be used just one time when Jesus comes again. Paul tells us that the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and all the Christians, both living, and dead will rise right up, and meet the Lord in the air, at the top of the ladder, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Now when Jacob awakened out of his dream he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” There is nothing like a pillow full of rocks to draw people closer to God. It is when we are down for the count that we draw closer to God. Look at the Sunday bulletin, and see the numerous requests for prayer for the sick. The list is like an organ recital. It is full of requests for hearts, livers, and kidneys. I hate to admit it, but when the funds are low, I pray harder than ever for the ongoing of this broadcast. It was not until Jacob slept on a rocky pillow that he awakened and said, “The Lord was in this place, and I knew it not.” He did not say, “I know it not”, he said, “I knew it not”, past tense. God was there all the time, and Jacob had no idea God was there.

How many times has God worked in your life, and you knew it not? I can think of a few times when there was a crossroad in my life, and later on I had to say, “God was in that place, and I knew it not.” This is the House of God, and this is the Gate of Heaven. And now look at the ladder.

THE LADDER IS JESUS

The ladder is Jesus. In the gospel according to John, we note the real meaning of that ladder. Jesus had called Philip, and Philip went to find Nathanael. He told him he had found the Messiah. Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming and said: “Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile.” Nathanael said, “Rabbi whence knowest thou me?” Jesus said, “Yesterday when you were under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Because of this insight of Jesus, Nathanael said, “Rabbi thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.” Then Jesus exploded this explanation on him about Jacob’s ladder. He said, “You shall see the angels of heaven ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

According to the Lord, He Himself is Jacob’s ladder. Jesus is a perfect explanation of the Ladder. Jesus came down to man from Heaven, and now man can go back up that ladder to Heaven. Jacob saw the angels going up and down the ladder; first to earth, then back to Heaven, then back to earth again. Remember how the apostle Paul, said, “The angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit eternal salvation.”

The angels are serving the Christians today. We can’t see them because they are spirits, and we can’t see spirits, because we walk by faith, and not by sight. They go up and down the ladder continually. First they go get orders from Jesus, then they come down the ladder, and carry them out, then they go back up again for more orders, and then back down again.

Jacob took the stone and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on it. He made God a promise, “If you will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and let me come again to my father’s house; then thou shall be my God, and of all that thou shalt give to me I will give unto thee the tenth.”

Although this seems to be a good rule to live by for Jacob, it does not satisfy the Christian today, who sees Jesus as the ladder to Heaven. When I think of the fact that Jesus is the real Ladder to Heaven, and that He died on the cross to make my salvation possible, and that I have the promise of a Heavenly Promised Land, personally I cannot be satisfied with a ten percent life. I want to be more than a Sunday-go-to-meeting Christian.

Evidently earth is not as isolated from Heaven as far as some think it is. Jacob was afraid when he saw the ladder. He said, “This is a dreadful place.” He was afraid. This was only natural for him to be afraid. He had pulled a dirty trick on his blind father, and then had to take it on the lam, the idea of seeing God face to face would be a frightening experience.

The story of Jacob is a tremendous example of the grace of God. Think about what Jacob had done, and then heard God say to him, “The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed.” Now that is grace. But as I think of the grace of God with Jacob, I know that His grace in dealing with me may be just as great. Come to think of it, the idea of having to stand in the presence of God is pretty shaky for anybody. The reason the idea is disturbing is because we, like Jacob, know that we have sinned.

Paul said in First Corinthians, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” We all know that we have sinned, and sin is the sting of death. Through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, the stinger has been removed for the Christian, but the dreadfulness is still there. Like Jacob, as we contemplate having to stand in the presence of God, it is a sobering experience and expectation. On the face of the most sainted corpse you will ever see is the reminder of the wrath of God. Now let us take another look at Jacob’s ladder.

WE MUST CLIMB THE LADDER

We must climb the ladder. In his vision Jacob saw God standing at the top of the ladder. God welcomes all who will climb the ladder. However, remember it was a ladder Jacob saw in his dream, and not an escalator.

Some think that everybody some day will glide right into Heaven; no effort is required. Heaven is automatic after death. Everybody is going to Heaven. How many times do you hear people say of the most Godless reprobate when he dies, “He is looking down at us from Heaven.” Actually, he may be looking up from some place else.

A ladder requires some climbing. The gospel chorus says, “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, we are climbing Jacobs ladder, we are climbing Jacob’s ladder, Soldiers of the cross.” Now here is the way it really is: Heaven is not gained by a single bound, but by climbing the ladder round by round.

Here we go. Put your foot on the first rung, hearing the Word of God. In Romans 10:17 Paul says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Next, put your foot on the second rung of faith. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Hold on now, you are not there yet. No one believes in Jesus any more than the Devil, and remember James tells us the Devil believes and trembles.

The next two rungs are found in the second chapter of the book of Acts when Peter told thousands who believed that Jesus was the risen Son of God, “Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Then Luke who wrote the book of Acts tells us, “The Lord added to the church day by day those that were saved.” The saved were those who believed, repented, and were immersed for the remission of sins.

The words of Jacob are suggestive when he awoke from his dream, and said, “This is the House of God and this is the gate of Heaven.” Those who are in the Church are living next door to Heaven.

We hear much of the space program. God’s space program is a grace program. There is a concentrated program today in the world to get rid of every mention of the cross. They say the cross is offensive. They are absolutely right. The removal of the cross is most offensive to Jesus who suffered the agony of the cross for them.