Place or Person
Christian children’s songs are not known for their deep theology. That makes sense because small children usually are not able to grasp deep theological concepts. However, even though children’s songs need to be understandable, what they teach must be true. A familiar song I sang as a child is “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” I’m sure many are familiar with the song. The first verse says,
We are climbing Jacob's ladder
We are climbing Jacob's ladder
We are climbing Jacob's ladder
Soldiers of the cross
The big problem is that the song has the meaning of Jacob’s ladder backwards. We are not climbing Jacob’s ladder. That is works-based righteousness. Jacob’s ladder represents God descending to us.
The account of Jacob’s ladder is found in Genesis 28:10–22.
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 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. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder 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! And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 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.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 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.” 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. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” (ESV)
Jacob left his home because he had just stolen Esau’s blessing. He was heading for Haran to obtain a wife because his mother, Rebekah, wanted to get Jacob away from Esau. One night on this trip, Jacob stops to rest. He lies down with a rock for his pillow. During the night, Jacob dreams. Let’s consider what happened to Jacob in light of a place and then in light of a person.
The Place
In his dream, Jacob saw something, and he heard something. What he saw was a ladder planted on the earth reaching to heaven. The footnote in the ESV gives the alternate translation “a flight of stairs,” and I think that is the better translation. God showed Jacob a stairway of his making, not for Jacob to climb, but for God to descend. The children’s song and Led Zeppelin’s song “Stairway to Heaven” both miss the point. God descended to Jacob. Jacob had been trying to manipulate God’s blessing, but now the Lord showed Jacob that his deception and manipulation are pointless. Unless God comes with a blessing, there is no blessing.
So, Jacob saw a stairway and the Lord beside him (see ESV footnote), and he heard the Lord speak. When the Lord spoke, he made two promises. First, in verses 13–14, he promised the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob. Second, he promised Jacob his presence and protection. Verse 15 says, “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.” The direct application for Jacob is that he doesn’t need to fear Esau. The Lord not only will guide him back to the land, but will guard him along the way.
Jacob woke up, and he was no longer in just a certain place on the road from Beersheba to Haran; he was at the Lord’s place, the house of God (Bethel). He made two confessions about the place where he slept. First, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” Jacob realized he had encountered God personally. He received the blessing of the Abrahamic covenant. Second, Jacob said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Jacob realized that the place was a temple of the Lord. It was no longer just a “certain place.” Because the Lord showed up, it was now the house of God.
However, Jacob didn’t just offer a confession about the place; he also consecrated the place. That’s what we see in verses 18–19. Jacob took the stone that he used for a pillow, set it up as a pillar, and anointed it with oil. He named the place Bethel, which means house of God. The place was now different because the Lord had been there, so the old name had to be changed to reflect what he had seen and heard.
Jacob vowed that if the Lord returned him safely, the pillar he set up would be God’s house. The Lord did bring Jacob back to Bethel, but the Lord wanted something different. Pillars were common in Canaanite worship, and later they were forbidden in the Mosaic law. After Jacob wrestled with the Lord and his name was changed to Israel, the Lord had Jacob return and build an altar. Look at Genesis 35:1–7.
God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. (ESV)
While Jacob setting up a pillar after his dream was significant, it is the Lord who determines how he will be worshiped. There is no true worship of the Lord without sacrifice. Note that part of returning and building an altar was putting away all foreign gods. Also, notice the Lord kept his promise to guard Jacob’s way. Finally, when Jacob returned, he called the place El-bethel, the God of the house of God. Jacob realized that God himself is to be treasured far above a place or experience. The person we worship is more important than the place where we worship or some type of religious experience.
So, Jacob left Beersheba on his way to Haran, and along the way, he stopped to sleep. The Lord showed up and blessed him with the promises of the Abrahamic covenant and promised to be with him and protect him until Jacob returned. Of course, Jacob was overwhelmed by this experience, but did you notice how many times an earthly location was mentioned?
Jacob came to a certain place
Jacob used a stone from that place
The Lord said to Jacob, “The land on which you lie.”
Jacob’s offspring will spread to the west, east, north, and south.
The Lord told Jacob, “I will bring you back to this land.”
Jacob said, “Surely the Lord is in this place,” and “How awesome is this place.”
Jacob called the name of the place Bethel.
Places on this earth are temporary, and Jacob seemed to be focused on the place where he had this experience. The problem is that every place on this earth will pass away. As Jacob learned later, what is more important than the place is the person who met him at the place.
The Person
So, we have considered Jacob and what happened at the place Bethel. Now, I want us to consider that same passage in light of a person, and that person is not Jacob/Israel, but the true Israel. This is because every single promise of a place in the Old Testament was pointing to a person who would eventually take us to a much greater place, an eternal place where we will dwell with that person face to face. Of course, that person is Jesus. You really don’t have to work very hard to find Jesus in this passage because Jesus put himself there. In John 1:43–51, Jesus called Philip and Nathanael as his disciples.
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (ESV)
There is much we could glean from this passage, but I’ll just point out the connections to Genesis 28. Note that when Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he said of Nathanael, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Jesus did not call Nathanael a Jew, but an Israelite, and this Israelite has no deceit. Jacob (later called Israel) was the deceiver. Isaac said to Esau, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing” (Genesis 27:35). However, Jacob learned that the only true source of blessing is God himself. Here, Jesus awed Nathanael with his knowledge of him, resulting in Nathanael’s confession that Jesus is the Son of God and King of Israel. However, Jesus tells Nathanael that Nathanael will see greater things than what he has just witnessed. Given what Jesus said to Nathanael, let’s consider our passage in light of the person of Jesus.
First, just as Jacob left his home to go to a foreign land to get his bride, so the Son left his home to go to a foreign land to get his bride. Not only did the Son leave his home, but he also “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6). Also, just as Jacob was sent by his Father, so the Son was sent by his Father. Unlike Jacob, though, the Son was not fleeing an enemy but coming to defeat the enemy.
Next, let’s consider Jacob's dream. Jacob saw a stairway with angels ascending and descending, but Jesus said in John 1:51, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus emphasizes his statement with truly, truly, and the “you’s” are plural, so he’s saying, “All of you listen up. This is important. The Son of Man is the true stairway.” The one who descended and took on flesh (John 1:14) then ascended into heaven and received a kingdom that will not pass away (Daniel 7:13–14) is the stairway. As Matthew Henry said, the one who planted his feet on the ground in his humanity and reached the heavens with his divinity is the one who opened the gates of heaven. Only in him is the Abrahamic covenant fulfilled. Only in him are we Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:24). Only in him will the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that their “offspring shall be like the dust of the earth” and “all the families of the earth be blessed” become “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9). Only in him will the land promise be fulfilled in a new heaven and a new earth. Only in him is eternal loving presence and protection because he will never leave us or forsake us. So, what we need is not a place, but a person, because only a person who came down from heaven and took on flesh can fulfill the covenants and hold us fast until he brings us home.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he called the place the house of God. Unlike Jacob, though, we don’t set up pillars and anoint them with oil to mark the house of God. We need something permanent. Only in the Son of Man is found the house of God, the true temple. Even now, “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:21).” Only in him can we enter the gates of heaven because “No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).” Only through him we . . . have access in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). Only in him can we worship acceptably “like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).
Finally, Jacob vowed that if the Lord would guide and protect him and bring him back to the land, then he would establish Bethel as the house of God and tithe from all he had. As we saw in Genesis 35, the Lord had Jacob come back and build an altar at Bethel. Unfortunately, we know Bethel did not remain the house of God. Bethel is where Jeroboam set up a golden calf for worship after the split between the northern and southern tribes. However, before Jesus ascended, the one who descended from heaven vowed to return and set up a house as the New Jerusalem, where the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. No idols will ever be found there because “nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). Those in Christ are part of the true house of God, the true Bethel, and one day we will not just wake up from our sleep and be amazed at a place because of a dream, but we’ll rise from the dead and stand before the Lamb on the throne in the place he has prepared for us.
So, where are we looking? Are we looking at a place, which is temporal, or to a person, who is eternal? Where is our ultimate hope? Where is our joy? Where is our peace? Is our hope, joy, or peace in a place or a person? Is our hope, joy, or peace in the temporary or the eternal? How often does our gaze drop from the person of Christ to the place of this world? Do we just love God’s promises or do we love God himself through his Son, Jesus Christ? Anytime we look to anyone or anything other than Christ, we abandon what is lasting for what is temporary. We are abandoning what eternally satisfies for that which passes away.
Rightly, Jacob was awestruck by the place because of God’s work of grace; even more, though, we should be awestruck by God’s grace displayed in the person of Jesus. We don’t need to travel to Bethel because God himself descended to us in the person of Christ, and Christ will return, so that where he is, we will be also with him in the eternal Bethel.
Photo by Genadi Yakovlev from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-wooden-and-metal-crosses-leaning-outside-a-concrete-wall-9899084/