Jacob's Dream-The Ladder to Heaven

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven:
and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Gen 28:12
The Vision at Bethel

"The vision at Bethel was the first step in Jacob’s Divine education—the assurance which raised him to the feelings and dignity of a man. He knew that though he was to be chief of no hunting tribe, there might yet come forth from him a blessing to the whole earth.
Jacob’s vision came to him in a dream. But that which had been revealed was a permanent reality, a fact to accompany him through all his after-existence. Now the great question we have to ask ourselves is, “Was this a fact for Jacob the Mesopotamian shepherd, and is it a phantasm for all ages to come? Or was it a truth which Jacob was to learn just as he was to learn the truth of birth, the truth of marriage, the truth of death, that it might be declared to his seed after him; and that they might be acquainted with it as he was, only in a fuller and deeper sense?” If we take the Bible for our guide we must accept the latter conclusion, and not the former. The Son of Man is the ladder between earth and heaven, between the Father above and His children on earth." (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

God's Interaction Between Heaven and Earth

"​Behold a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached heaven, the angels ascending and descending on it, and the Lord stood above it - This might represent The providence of God, by which there is a constant correspondence kept up between heaven and earth. The counsels of heaven are executed on earth, and the affairs of this earth are all known in heaven. Providence doth his work gradually and by steps; angels are employed as ministering spirits to serve all the designs of providence, and the wisdom of God is at the upper end of the ladder, directing all the motions of second causes to his glory. The angels are active spirits, continually ascending and descending; they rest not day nor night. ​They ascend to give account of what they have done, and to receive orders; and descend to execute the orders they have received.

This vision gave seasonable comfort to Jacob, letting him know that he had both a good guide and good guard; that though he was to wander from his father's house, yet he was the care of Providence, and the charge of the holy angels. The mediation of Christ. He is this ladder: the foot on earth in his human nature, the top in heaven in his divine nature; or the former is his humiliation, the latter is his exaltation. All the intercourse between heaven and earth since the fall is by this ladder. Christ is the way: all God's favors come to us, and all our services come 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; for the kind offices the angels do us, are all owing to Christ, who hath reconciled things on earth and things in heaven." (Col_1:20)
​(John Wesley)
​​Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

THE LADDER TO HEAVEN

​BETHEL WAS a bleak moorland in the heart of Canaan. The hill-sides and level downs were strewn with huge boulders. As he fled north wards, Jacob suddenly found himself overtaken by the swift eastern night while he was traversing this desolate moor. There was nothing for it but to lie down on the hard ground, taking one of the big stones as a pillow for his head. As he slept, he dreamed; and in his dream his mind wove together his last waking thoughts in fantastic medley. It seemed as if the big slabs of limestone came together, and built themselves into a gigantic staircase, reaching from where he lay to the starry heights above him; and on that staircase angels came and went, peopling by their multitudes that most desolate region, and evidently interested in the sleeper who lay beneath.
Let us think of that mystic ladder which is Jesus Christ our Lord, by which He descended to our humanity and ascended to the Throne of God. He is "the Way" by which "the sons of ignorance and night" can pass upward to the eternal Light and Love. Where are you? It may be on a moorland waste, in a ship's cabin, a settler's hut, in a humble cottage, in the crowded city, lying on a bed of pain in the hospital ward! Wherever you are, Jesus finds you out and comes just where you are. The one pole of the ladder is the gold of His Deity, the other the silver of His Manhood, which is placed against your life. Transmit to Him your burdens of sin and care and fear. "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." "We have a Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus." None of us is outside God's loving thought and care. There is always a linking ladder between ourselves and Heaven, and God's angels still pass to and fro, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. Let us see to it that we wait at the foot of the ladder to claim our share in the blessings which they bring to earth. (Our Daily Walk)

Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,
believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Joh 1:50-51
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​Ancient Visions Realized

"Jesus said to Nathanael, “Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,” etc. Jacob’s dream of the heavenly ladder has become a reality. The Son of man unites and reconciles heaven and earth; His angels carry the needs and prayers of believers up, and bring answers and aid down, this ladder. How the water becomes wine? No, thou wilt see greater things than these! Thou wilt see how Jesus comes with “water and blood”; how He who dies on the cross rises from the grave and ascends into heaven! And greater still than this, thou wilt at last be like Him, changed into His image from one degree of glory to another. With such sacred prospects Nathanael begins his public career. And Nathanael’s outward activity as an apostle would have been neither so hidden nor so fruitful, had not his life as a disciple been so retiring and receptive." (Idem)

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“Thou shalt see greater things than these”—“And He said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open”. The reference here seems to be to the vision of Jacob, and that vision helps us to understand Christ’s meaning. Christ declares the ancient dream to be fulfilled by faith in Him. The patriarch at Bethel found God near to him as his friend and guide, found the earth where he lay “a dreadful place,” and found the spiritual world close to him.

These three things are actually realised by Christian faith—these are the “greater things” that follow its dawning:--
1. The felt presence of God.—As to Jacob heaven was opened and the Eternal near, so to the Christian heaven is unveiled and God revealed. To the eye of faith the Son of man becomes the ladder between earth and heaven on which the angels of God ascend and descend. This is the consummation of faith. It does not come suddenly, but as the soul advances in the divine life, sin’s harsh discords die, the clouds which once veiled the heaven roll away, disclosing the smile of love and pity in the eternal countenance, and the believer walks with God as with a friend.
2. The sacredness of life.—“And Jacob was afraid and said”. The dream vision made him feel the sacredness of life. Again, this suggests a result of faith. Man naturally feels his nature defiled; faith in Christ, who wore it, transforms it into a sacred thing. In the light of that faith all life becomes glorified.
3. Union with the angelic world.—“The angels of God ascending”. To the unbeliever that world is a myth—he sees nothing beyond the material sphere; but were he convinced of its existence the belief would be terrible. We feel instinctively that sin has excluded us from that “glorious brotherhood.” But Christ brings us into it once more. Faith sees in Him the Son of man as our brother and representative there, uniting us with “the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.”
We have greater things yet to see. Another world is dawning, its sights and sounds are near. Nothing but the veil of the body hides us from its scenes. We long sometimes for the land of constant spring, of mountain grandeur, and southern beauty. My friends, great lands are coming. We long for the glorious companionships of the past, of the great dead, of our own friends; we shall know them if we are “counted worthy to obtain that world.” Therefore fight on. There are many weary conflicts before you yet, but “add to your faith patience,” and you shall see the “greater things” when the lamps of faith and hope expire in the eternal light of heaven."  (Idem)