Genesis 28:13–15

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.