Genesis 28:11–15

In the first stage of his journey, Jacob lights on a certain place where he stays for the night. There we see him a lonely man with a stone for his pillow, only the sky above him, and darkness closing around him. Yet, strange as it may seem to us, the Lord meets him in this lonely place, lying on the stony bed his sin had made. The Lord had nothing to say to him by his father's bedside, in the place of his sinning. But in the dreary spot where his sin had cast him, the Lord draws near. He turns his comfortless bed into a place of correction and comfort.

Here we find the homeless wanderer in the very position where God could meet him, and where He could unfold His purposes of grace and glory. Nothing could speak of helplessness and nothingness more clearly than Jacob's condition here. He lies under the open sky, with a pillow of stone, helpless in sleep. This is how the God of Bethel unfolded to Jacob His purposes for him and his descendants.

I do not suppose he was too comfortable lying on a stone. I think that pictures his inner discomfort — he did not have an easy conscience. The stone speaks to us of the law. Several times in Jacob's history we see something that reminds us of the hard, cold stone tablets that carried the commandments. That is not the pillow you would choose. It stands in contrast to John's. John had for a pillow Jesus' chest (John 13:23) — what a difference!

Banished Jacob comes to Luz, weary and in darkness. He does not find even a hut to welcome him. He finds a stone, rejected by men, waiting for him on the ground. In the darkness he makes this stone his pillow. When the light comes, he sets it up with a holy anointing, as a pillar of testimony and worship.

The Lord appeared to Jacob in the dark after the sun had set. This is quite different from the Lord's appearance to Abraham in the heat of the day as he sat in his tent door (Gen. 18:1), where everything was clear and bright and Abraham ran to meet the Lord... If the Lord had appeared to Jacob in the heat of the day, what would he have done? If Jacob had seen the Lord coming he would have run away.

Jacob, in this movement away from God, comes to the end of his day. He lies down in a certain place to rest, and God withdraws him from the activities that filled his day. How often we are busy with the passing things of the day, with no time for the things of God! But God in His mercy is withdrawing Jacob and securing his attention in his sleeping hours... God had much in mind for Jacob. The great thing God had in mind was to fashion him as a worshipper.

As he passed over Peniel we are told, "The sun rose upon him." That is a designed contrast with Genesis 28:11, when he had left Beersheba: "the sun had set." The night of darkness in our lives passes only when the flesh is crippled (or judged), and we learn to cling only to the Lord.

There we see a lonely man with a stone for his pillow, only the sky above him, and darkness closing around him. Yet the Lord meets him in this lonely place, as he lies on the stony bed his sin had made. The Lord had nothing to say to him at his father's bedside, in the place of his sinning. But in the dreary spot where his sin had cast him, the Lord draws near. He turns his comfortless bed into a place of correction and consolation.

Jacob saw a ladder set up. Its top entered heaven, and its foot rested just on the spot where he was lying. It was a lowly, dishonoured place. It also bore witness to his wrong and his misery. But the ladder adopted it. The Lord was in His glory above it, and His voice spoke to Jacob of blessing, of security, of guidance, and of inheritance.

Some have imagined that this means man can climb up to heaven by his own spiritual energy, rising step by step through human effort into favour with God. But it has nothing to do with man going up. The same is true when the Lord tells Nathanael he would "see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man" (John 1:51).

At Babel men tried to raise themselves to heaven by a tower they built. It ended in scattering and confusion. But God has established a link between heaven and earth, shown by the ladder in his dream. In those days angels maintained that link. The LORD Himself was at the top of the ladder. Poor Jacob the fugitive was at the bottom, needing a blessing and getting it.

Above the ladder was the Lord Himself. This showed that He directed the angels' ministry. He sent them out on their missions on earth, and they came back to Him to give account of what they had done for Him.

The angels of God are there close to Jacob. These mighty beings excel in strength and always move in relation to the will of God, and they are near to the saints... Above all that, "The LORD" — God in relation to His people — is standing at the top of the ladder. The word "stand" there shows no casual stance. It shows the settled purpose of the blessed God to place Himself in relation to the circumstances of the saints, so that they come through with real gain and become worshippers of God. Nothing will make Him move from that stance.

It formed the means of communication between heaven and earth. And "behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it" — what a striking and beautiful picture of Him! By Him God has come down into all the depth of man's need. By Him God has also brought man up and set him in His own presence for ever, in the power of divine righteousness.

Some make the common mistake of saying that Christ is the ladder on which angels descend, joining heaven and earth. That error is repeated here, so I point it out. Christ has Jacob's place, not the ladder's. Jacob was at the foot of the ladder, and these messengers were coming down and going up from God to him, and from him to God. Now the Son of Man was to be the object. God's angels would have the Son of Man as the object of their service from an open heaven.

This will be fulfilled when heaven opens and the angels of God ascend and descend on the Son of Man. In short, it will be fulfilled when God carries out His purposes through Christ in a renewed earth. Angels will be His ready instruments for blessing and for government.

God has set up a link between heaven and earth. The ladder in Jacob's dream shows it. In those days that link worked through the service of angels. Jehovah Himself was at the top of the ladder and poor Jacob, the fugitive, at the bottom, needing a blessing and getting it.

Every word spoken by the Lord was in richest grace. There was not, as we might have expected, a solemn rebuke to Jacob for his shameful conduct. The Lord had not overlooked Jacob's sins, but at this time He was declaring His sovereign grace. This is clear from His opening words. He declared Himself "the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac." He had called Abraham and chosen Isaac by His sovereign choice. Now He was stepping in to bless Jacob, despite all that Jacob was by nature.

There was to be no mistaking it: Jacob's blessing did not depend on Jacob's faithfulness. Its source went back not only to his father and his grandfather, but to the living God. God had revealed Himself in grace to both Abraham and Isaac. He would not change His purpose, even though Jacob was a failing vessel.

Jacob was such a sinner, and so completely stripped of all claim, both by birth and by practice, that he had nothing left to rest on. He had only God's purpose of pure, free, and sovereign grace. So the revelation the Lord gives His chosen servant is simply a record or prediction of what He Himself would yet do. "I am … I will give … I will keep … I will bring … I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you of." It was all Himself. There is no condition whatever. No if or but; for when grace acts there can be no such thing. Where there is an if, it cannot possibly be grace.

The first thing promised to Jacob was the land on which he was lying, given to him and to his offspring. This renewed the promise given to Abraham and Isaac. That promise has already had a partial fulfilment. It awaits full fulfilment when Israel, under Messiah, will hold the promised land.

Jacob spent the night there with nothing but stones for a pillow. But Jehovah stood above the ladder and promised him the land — the land he was lying on so miserably — for him and his offspring. Whatever the sad and lonely beginning, this should be the glorious end.

Our Lord refers to the vision at Bethel in John 1:51. The Jehovah who stood above Jacob's ladder is the same One who spoke to Nathanael. He said, "You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." … Here again is sovereign mercy. What did Jacob do to deserve all this? Why should God meet him like this? Did he think of the Lord and call on Him for mercy before he slept on the stone? Nothing whatsoever. And Jehovah kept His promise and did all He had promised.

God reveals Himself to Jacob as the One who is determined to bless man in sovereign grace. "In you," says God, "and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Moreover, what God has promised He will perform. He will be faithful to His own word.

Every word spoken by the Lord was in richest grace. There was not, as we might have expected, a solemn rebuke to Jacob for his shameful conduct. The Lord had not overlooked Jacob's sins, but He was at this time declaring His sovereign grace. The One who in His sovereign choice had called Abraham and had chosen Isaac was stepping in to bless Jacob in spite of everything he was by nature.

The first time God made a promise to Abraham about his offspring He told him it would be as "the dust of the earth" (Gen. 13:16). The next time God spoke of that offspring in Genesis 15:5, He said it would be as "the stars." Then in Gen. 22:17 He added a third thing, saying it would be "as the sand." ... When God confirms it to Jacob, He tells him, "Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth" (Gen. 28:14). Isaac pictures the heavenly company and Jacob the earthly company. So to Isaac the stars are mentioned and to Jacob the dust. ... We have long understood the stars to stand for the heavenly company, the dust Israel and the sand the Gentiles.

God confirmed the promises to him — that his descendants would have the land, and that all nations would be blessed in his Seed. There was this difference. With the second promise it says "in you and in your offspring," because it includes the earthly blessings to his offspring in the millennium.

The Lord further stresses the earthly character of Jacob's blessing. He says that his descendants would spread "to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south." There are no such directions in heaven. More than this, in Jacob and his offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed. This is a firm, absolute declaration.

Scripture gives plenty of witness to the fulfilment of this part of the promise. Today, after all the efforts of different nations and people to wipe out the offspring of Jacob, it is reckoned that there are over thirteen million of them in the world.

God confirms the promise to Isaac in Genesis 26:4 and to Jacob in Genesis 28:14, and in both cases "the Seed" is mentioned. Once the Seed is introduced, He is never left out, for in truth everything in the way of fulfilment depends on Him.

Even the long-standing foes of Israel, Egypt and Assyria, will be blessed in relation to the offspring of Jacob. Of that millennial day it is written, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance" (Isa. 19:24-25). No doubt the latter part of this can be applied to Christ, as it is in the promise made to Abraham (Gal. 3:16), for it is under Christ's reign, and because of His death on the cross, that the blessing comes to Jew and Gentile, both now and in the world to come.

This is the order of blessing in the world to come. The Jews are in the inner circle, and in the outer are the Gentiles, blessed through them, glad and singing for joy, for God will govern in righteousness.