"1-800-2HEAVEN"
INTRODUCTION
If you were to go to sleep and when you woke up in the morning God was standing by your bedside, how would you react?
Please open your Bibles to Gen. 28 as we see this statement exemplified in the life of Jacob.
Gen. 28:10-19 is where we find the story of "Jacob’s Ladder." But before we actually get into this dream that Jacob had, let’s talk a little bit about Jacob.
His name in Hebrew, "Yakob" comes from the Hebrew verb meaning "to take by the heel", "to grab" or "to deceive." He was actually born grabbing or taking holding of what wasn’t his.
That’s all we hear about him until one day, after they are grown, Esau comes back exhausted from a day’s hunting and asks Jacob for some of the lentil stew that smells so good. It’s at this moment that Jacob invents the adage, "there are no free lunches." He barters for his brother’s birthright. He says, “After all, I can’t help I was born 5 minutes later than Esau. I deserve it more than this brother of mine who just chases rabbits all day long.” All the rationalizing Jacob does.
Say what you will about Esau not caring enough about his birthright in that he’s willing to trade it for a full stomach, Jacob never should have tempted Esau like that. He takes advantage of his own brother when he is at his weakest moment.
Like airlines who charge their highest fares of the year during the Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. They know people will need to travel at these times of the year so they take advantage of this fact by raising prices.
Imagine a family member who sees a real legitimate need of yours and then charges you for filling that need! It’s unthinkable in a loving family but that is exactly what Jacob does.
Sometime later in Gen. 27, Jacob’s at it again. He proceeds to deceive his father. Sure, it was his mother’s idea but Jacob is a grown man of 77 at this time. He’s quite old enough to say, "No, mom, I don’t want any part of your schemes."
And so this patriarch in Gen. 27:15 puts on Easu’s clothes for the purpose of deception.
In verse 19 - he lies
In verse 20 - he not only lies but actually makes it much worse by claiming God has helped him.
And vs. 24 - he lies again.
And notice what Esau says about Jacob after he finds out what his brother has done. Verse 36 - "Isn’t he rightly named Jacob?" In other words, as the Living Bible says it, "No wonder they call him, `The Cheater."
Now Esau is raging mad at Jacob and plans to kill him just as soon as dear old dad dies. Jacob is told about Esau’s plot and that brings us to Gen. 28:10.
VERSE 10
"Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran." Haran is where his Uncle Laban lives. And I like those words, "set out." How about he took off like a cat covered with Milk-Bone gravy in the middle of a dog pound.
VERSE 11
"When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there he put it under his head and lay down to sleep."
I guess he must have felt that he had put enough distance between him and Esau. The Bible calls it a desolate place. So desolate and left in such a hurry that he doesn’t even pack everything he needs. So he uses a stone for a pillow.
It must have been a fitful sleep.
- Not knowing if Esau might have followed him.
- Wondering if he would wake in the middle of the night with a spear in his stomach.
- And a stone for a pillow! When he awoke in the morning he must have been sorry he didn’t pack Eleazar’s Amazing Headache Powders.
I can’t help but think of a comment my brother Carmen made during a camping trip we took. After sleeping out in the open in 34 degree weather and a tree root under his back all night he said the next morning, "Now I know what it’s like to wake up 37 times in one night!"
But Jacob’s situation is even worse. Not only does he sleep out in the open, use a stone for a pillow, and have a brother who wants to turn him into a gourmet meal for vultures. But worst of all he goes to sleep with a guilt-laden conscience.
The sleep of a guilt-laden conscience is always fitful.
VERSE 12
"He had a dream in which he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it."
Jacob’s ladder was not a ladder as we think of one. Conventional ladders were not invented until many years later by the Assyrians. Instead it was staircase.
But the most important thing to keep in mind was what the ladder symbolized. SDA BC Vol. 1 pg. 382 says,
"The ladder was a visible symbol of the real and uninterrupted fellowship between God in heaven and His people upon earth. The angels ascend to present men’s needs before God, and descend with promises of divine assistance and protection."
And so if Jacob was alive today he wouldn’t have a dream about a ladder but about a car phone. Because a cellular phone in our day comes closest to symbolizing what the ladder did in Jacob’s day. A link between man and God. A two-way medium of communication. But somehow I can’t picture us singing, "We Are Talking on Jacob’s Cellular."
VERSE 13 - 14
(Read text.) God reiterates the promise made to is dad and granddad.
VERSE 15
(Read text) Notice how 3 times in this one verse God assures Jacob that His presence is still with Jacob.
"I am with you"
"I will watch over you."
"I will not leave you."
We often talk about Jacob’s trouble. And we call the last days on this earth, "the time of Jacob’s trouble." But please notice something very important here.
Jacob is assured repeatedly by God that His presence will not leave him until he passes through his trials and he’s back home.
Nowhere can you find in Scripture or in the Spirit of Prophecy that God will desert us in the last days. The Spirit of God will leave the world but not God’s people. In fact. just the opposite is true. We are told that God will be with us in an extra-special way through divine protection, meeting our physical needs and supporting us emotionally and mentally and spiritually.
"God will not lead you where His grace cannot keep you."
Jesus promised in Matt. 28:20 that He would be with us until the very end of the world.
And now the best verse in verse in this entire story.
VERSE 16
Jacob wakes up from his dream sometime during the night and says, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it."
The question that comes to mind is, "why wasn’t He aware of it?"
There are two explanations:
Some scholars tell us that it had to do with tribal belief in God. Ancient civilizations felt that their gods were restricted geographically to where people lived. And since Jacob was a citizen of that time period than he naturally felt that once he left Beersheba he left God behind and would not meet him again until he got to Haran.
Well, this explanation really doesn’t wash because already in the Bible it is shown that God is even with individuals alone on mountaintops such as when Jacob’s own grandfather went to offer his dad on Mount Moriah.
The true explanation for Jacob’s response had to do with his guilt. If I can paraphrase this statement by Jacob, what he is really saying is, "I didn’t know God stays by me even when I do wrong!" He thought that because of his deception that he was out of God’s presence. One of the most wonderful truths of the Scriptures is that God is ALWAYS with us, even when we occasionally do wrong.
But what about Isa. 59:2? Our occasional sin may destroy the SENSE of God’s presence but not the reality of God’s presence.
Let’s look up some wonderful passages that show God is always with us.
Ps. 139:7 - God is everywhere!
Jer. 23:24 - God says, "I’m not a God who’s out of reach but am always near to you."
Ps. 34:18 - When we hurt God is there. And there is no difference whether others hurt us or we bring it on ourselves.
Deut. 4:7 - He’s only a prayer away.
Acts 17:27 - “God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him, because he is not far from each one of us."
He’s right there with us even when we may not realize it.
This past summer I was sitting at our kitchen table with my mother and sister who were visiting. It was getting close to supper and Ruth Anne was not home from work yet. I said that I would try calling her on her car phone to see where she was and how soon it would be until she was home.
While dialing her car phone number I told them how one time I called her and she was on the road just in front of our house. In about 15 seconds Ruth Anne answered. I told her that supper was almost ready and we were wondering how long it would be until she got home.
She said, "Rick, don’t you know where I am?"
I said, "No!?"
She said, "Rick, I’m in the garage."
She was right in our very home and I didn’t even know it!
Jacob says, "Surely, the Lord IS WITH me and I didn’t even know it!"
God is with Jacob in spite of his sin just hours before.
God is with us in spite of when temporarily leave the center of His will. He never gives up on us or forsakes us. He’s a wonderful God.
VERSE 17
"He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place!"
If Jacob was a So. Calif. teenager he would have said, "Like, wow. Like what a totally extreme experience!"
VERSES 18 - 19
Jacob changes the name of the place from Luz meaning "almond tree" to Bethel meaning "house of God." What a transformation for that place. To go from being named after an almond tree to being named after the God of the universe!
But it was no less of a transformation that Jacob had in his belief about God when he realized that God is ALWAYS with him.
CONCLUSION
Centuries later, Jesus says that the ladder in Jacob’s dream represented Himself because HE is the bridge between heaven and earth, the ultimate link between man and God.
- Jesus will never leave you or forsake you.
- God is always with you.
Isa. 49:2 - "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee."
