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After Isaac and Rebekah as a type of Christ and the church, we have the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven in Jacob’s dream and Bethel as the house of God on the earth as types portraying Christ and the church in another aspect.
Genesis 28 shows us that Jacob was forced to leave his home and family, and from Beersheba he went toward Padan-aram. He came into a situation where he was lonely and helpless. Because the sun had set, he took a stone and made it his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep. In his dream he saw a ladder set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending on it (vv. 10-12). The dream that Jacob had was fulfilled in the New Testament, in John 1:51, where the Lord Jesus said to Nathanael, “Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” The Son of Man here is the ladder in Genesis 28:12. This reveals that the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven which Jacob saw in his dream typifies Christ as the way for the communication between God’s elect on the earth and their God in heaven. Through Christ as the heavenly ladder, the living way (John 14:6), God and we, we and God, can have contact and communication with one another.
Christ as the heavenly ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven signifies that He brings the earth into communication and union with heaven. He is the One who brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven. First, through His incarnation He brought heaven to earth; then, He went through death and resurrection to join earth to heaven. Now He is not only in heaven but also on earth. Christ has been set up on the earth and has reached into heaven for the purpose of bringing God to us and bringing us to God.
On the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven the angels of God were ascending and descending. The angels of God are the ministering spirits, sent forth for service for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14). They ascend and descend on Christ as the heavenly ladder, signifying that they serve from the earth to heaven for the sake of us, God’s elect.
In his dream Jacob saw Jehovah standing above the ladder and speaking to him, giving him the promise concerning his seed and the land and giving him also the blessing for his living (Gen. 28:13-15). This signifies that God converses from heaven with His elect on the earth through Christ. Hebrews 1:2 says that God “has...spoken to us in the Son [Christ].” Today, in the New Testament age, God is speaking through Christ that we may know God’s intention and enjoy God’s promise and supply.
In Genesis 28:16-17 Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Jehovah 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.” Jacob’s calling that place the house of God must have been the result of a revelation from God. This indicates that Christ, as the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven, keeps heaven open to earth and joins earth to heaven for the producing of the house of God, Bethel, which is God’s dwelling place on earth. Today this dwelling place is the church (Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15).
Genesis 28:18-19 goes on to say, “And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel.” And he vowed a vow to God, saying, “This stone, which I have set as a pillar, will be God’s house” (v. 22). First, he made the stone his pillow. Next, he set the stone up for a pillar. The pillow is for man’s rest, and the pillar is for God’s building. Jacob’s making the pillow-stone a pillar signifies that, first, Christ is the stone as the lodging for the wandering believers, and then He is the material for the building of God’s dwelling place on the earth. He is a living stone, and those who draw near to Him also become living stones to be material for God’s building (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
Jacob poured oil on the stone and made it Bethel, the house of God. Here oil signifies the Spirit as the ultimate expression of the Triune God for reaching people. The stone signifies a transformed believer. Thus, the stone which was set up as a pillar and which had the oil poured upon it, symbolizes that the transformed believers are one with the Triune God so that they become the house of God. In John chapter one we see also that prior to the mentioning of Christ, the heavenly ladder, as the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream (v. 51), there is the mentioning of the outpouring of the Spirit (v. 33) and the stone for building (v. 42).
We were made of dust (Gen. 2:7). Our life and nature were natural. However, at the time of our regeneration Christ was wrought into us as the divine element within us to be the pillow-stone for rest in our human life and to transform us into stones as pillars for the building of God’s house. Furthermore, He pours the Holy Spirit upon us for us to be mingled with the Triune God for the constituting of God’s dwelling place on the earth—Bethel—the house for the mutual enjoyment and mutual satisfaction of God and man.
Jacob called the place where he met God the house of God and the gate of heaven (Gen. 28:17b). Although that place was on the earth, it was joined to heaven. This signifies that the church, constituted with the transformed believers, is not only the house of God but also the entrance to heaven; it is the house of God that brings the earth into union and communication with heaven. Here, the believers are one with Christ, in union with Christ, and in communication with heaven, and here also the earth is joined to heaven and heaven is brought to the earth.
In Genesis 28 Jacob was homeless and without rest (vv. 10-11). He had lost nearly everything and had no hope and no future. Under such a circumstance he was met by God. As a result, he saw the vision of a ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven and he also received the revelation concerning God’s dwelling place, Bethel. Thus, Bethel became the hope of God’s wandering elect, who left their home and wandered about, sleeping at night in the open air. This signifies that the church is the home and the hope of the roaming, wandering believers. Before we enter the church life, we do not have real satisfaction and rest; we are always suffering hardships and wandering about. However, when we come to Bethel, the house of God, and set up our pillow-stone for rest, which is the subjective Christ within us, as a pillar to be the material for the building of God’s house, we experience the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit and enjoy the satisfaction and rest of God’s house.
Jacob’s dream was fulfilled first when the children of Israel erected the tabernacle in the wilderness after their being delivered out of Egypt; that was God’s first house among men. Later, when the children of Israel built the temple in the good land, God had a more solid house on the earth. In the New Testament the church is the house of God. Eventually, in the new heaven and new earth the New Jerusalem will be God’s eternal dwelling place (Rev. 22:1-3), where God and we, we and God, will enjoy eternal rest and satisfaction. Today we are in the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream. We have not only the heavenly ladder, the stone, the pillar, and the oil, but also Bethel, the house of God. This house is a mingling of divinity with humanity, a composition of the Triune God and the transformed believers, as the place of rest and satisfaction for both God and man, a place where heaven and earth are merged.
The ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven in Jacob’s dream and Bethel as the house of God on the earth are types of Christ and the church. The ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven typifies Christ as the way for the communication between God’s elect on the earth and their God in heaven. The ladder’s being set up on the earth and reaching to heaven signifies that Christ brings the earth into communication and union with heaven. The angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder signifies that the ministering angels serve from the earth to heaven for the sake of God’s chosen people. God’s speaking to Jacob above the ladder to give him the promise concerning his seed and the land and to give him also the blessing for his living signifies that God speaks from heaven to His elect on the earth through Christ that they may know God’s intention and enjoy God’s promise and supply.
Bethel as God’s house on the earth typifies the church as God’s dwelling place on the earth. That Bethel was produced by the pouring of oil on the stone signifies that the church is formed by the pouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers as stones. That place was also the gate of heaven, signifying that the church, which is composed of the transformed saints, is not only the house of God but also the entrance leading to heaven that the earth and heaven may be in union and communication with one another. Eventually, Bethel became the hope of God’s wandering elect, who left their home and wandered about, sleeping at night in the open air, signifying that the church is the home and the hope of the roaming, wandering believers.
