Will you please turn to Genesis? Genesis 28. We will begin with verse 10.
And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.
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.
And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
And Jacob vowed 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 raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee once again for all that Thou hast done for us. We who were once strangers, sinners, rebels—we had no part with Thee. And yet, Lord, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast come to seek and to save the lost.
We do praise and thank Thee that once we were far apart from one another, but now, in Christ Jesus, we are one—one body. O Lord, it is all Thy doing, and we worship Thee. We thank Thee.
As we continue in Thy presence, Lord, we pray that Thy Spirit will breathe upon Thy written Word and make it living and operative in our lives. Dear Lord, we do not want to be those who are dull in hearing—hearing and not hearing. Lord, open our ears and our hearts, that we may understand what Thou art speaking to the churches. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Three weeks ago, when our brother Jerry was speaking, he mentioned how we are all occupied with our own houses and neglect the house of God. That word touched my heart, so I began to meditate before the Lord. This is what I would like to share with you, dear brothers and sisters, this morning.
The house of God is an integral part of the eternal purpose of God. It is not something insignificant. It is not something in which God is not very much interested, and therefore we do not need to be interested.
Actually, according to the Word of God, this matter of the house of God is very dear to God’s heart. Even before the foundation of the world, God had this in His heart; and throughout time, He has been, and still is, working towards it.
And thank God, in that house of God, we have a very, very important part.
But when we mention the house of God, I wonder how many really know what the house of God is, how much we should be involved, what our relationship to it is, and what our responsibility is.
You know, it is very strange. This vision of the house of God was first given to Jacob. I think if it had been given to Abraham, that would be just right, because Abraham seems to be a worthy person to receive such a revelation.
But strangely—and thank God for it—this vision was first given to Jacob.
Jacob was a very smooth person, so smooth that he was slippery. He was tricky, full of maneuvering, always having his own interest at the center. He tried his very best to gain what he wanted.
Even though he seemed to have a heart for spiritual things—at least for blessing—how he longed to have the blessing of the firstborn, a double blessing. He was willing to do anything, everything, to get it.
But when he seemed to have that in his hand, he lost it.
So here you find in Genesis 28 Jacob leaving Beer-sheba on his journey to Haran. Jacob was a homely person; he liked to be at home. But here you find that he became a wanderer.
After he bought his brother’s firstborn privilege, and then again deceived his father to get the blessing of the firstborn, he lost everything. He did not know what the future would be.
He was on the way to Haran, and night had come. He had to take a stone for a pillow. Now, I wonder how many of us have ever taken a stone for a pillow. How can you sleep with that hard, cold stone as your pillow? That is how tragic it was.
But the end of man is always the beginning of God. Or, to put it another way, unless we come to our end, God has no way to begin with us. Is that not true with every one of us?
He was so tired that he went to sleep. Amazing. And he dreamed.
This dream did not come out of his mind, because that was the least thing that could have been in his mind. It was a God-given dream, a vision.
Behold, a ladder was set on the earth, and it reached to heaven. Second, behold, angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder. And then third, behold, God stood—literally, was stationed—at the top of the ladder. That was the vision.
You know, whenever the Bible uses the word behold, it is telling us that something is coming which we must see. Do not miss it. It is something so important that you cannot just take a look at it and forget it. You have to concentrate and see it until it is really registered in your heart.
Behold, a ladder was set on the earth, and the top of it reached heaven. Now, brothers and sisters, no one knows the distance between heaven and earth. Who can measure the distance between heaven and earth? Who can bridge it?
Heaven is so far apart from the earth. It belongs altogether to another realm. As the psalmist said in Psalm 103:11, “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness.” In other words, God is the only One who can bring heaven and earth together—two different realms, entirely different in nature.
And yet here you find a ladder that joins heaven and earth together.
Now, of course, brothers and sisters, we who have read the New Testament are aware that, in the beginning of the ministry of our Lord Jesus, Nathanael was brought to the Lord by his friend Philip.
Nathanael was a true Israelite. Philip told Nathanael, “We have found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.” So Nathanael said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
But when he came to the Lord, the Lord said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said, “How did You know me?” The Lord said, “I saw you under the fig tree.”
Now, to us it may mean nothing, but to Nathanael it was striking. Why? Because a fig tree is a type of the nation of Israel, and evidently Nathanael, under that fig tree, was thinking of the future of the nation of Israel. The Lord knew his heart.
So when our Lord told him, “You are a true Israelite; I saw you under the fig tree,” immediately he said, “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art King of Israel.”
Then the Lord Jesus said to him in John 1:51:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall see the heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
So, brothers and sisters, today we know what that ladder represents. It was set on earth: the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth.
The Son of God came to this earth to be a man, set on the earth; but He reached heaven. The One who came from heaven and is on earth is still in heaven. He is the ladder. He is the One who joins heaven with earth. He is the One who brings heaven to earth and brings us from earth to heaven.
And then, behold, angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder. If you read Hebrews 1, you know that angels are ministering spirits. God created angels to minister unto those who are to inherit salvation.
The angels ascending and descending means that they are very busily engaged, and all their activities are on the ladder. In other words, based upon Christ, all the work of the angels is based upon Christ and what He has done for us.
They are bringing what Christ has done for us to those who will inherit the salvation of the Lord. That refers to us. They bring heaven’s news to us, heaven’s finished work to us, and bring us in Christ to heaven.
And then, behold again, God stood at the top of the ladder. God stationed Himself at the top of the ladder. You know, when you station yourself, there is a reason; there is a purpose behind it.
So God stationed Himself at the top of the ladder in order to speak to one who was lying at the end of the ladder.
Brothers and sisters, what is the picture you see? You see God and man coming together in Christ Jesus. There is no other way for God to come to man, or for man to come to God. There is no other way that God can communicate with man, and man with God. There is no other way that man and God can be joined in one. It is only in Christ Jesus that it is done.
And God said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and of Isaac.” All that He promised to Abraham—the blessing of Abraham that Jacob sought for—God would give to him: the land, the seed, and all the nations blessed by him and by his seed.
God said, “Behold, I will be with you wherever you go, and I will not leave you until I have done all I have said to you.” So, brothers and sisters, this is the vision.
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep, and he was surprised. He said, “I did not know that God is here.” He thought he was all by himself, finished. He did not know that God was with him.
Brothers and sisters, I sometimes feel that we are all Jacobs. None of us is worthy even to have a vision of the house of God. The house of God is so glorious. The house of God is a heavenly thing.
But it pleases God to give people such as we are a glimpse of the house of God. Are you surprised that, when you think you are alone, deserted, forsaken, and have come to the end of your life, yet God is with you? He has never left you, nor has He forsaken you.
In spite of what we do, God is still with us.
Jacob was not only surprised; he was afraid. He said, “This is a dreadful place.” Now, we think of the house of God as a blessed place. What can be better than God with man?
And yet, to Jacob it was a dreadful place. Why? Because he knew he was unfit. He knew God was so holy, and he was so earthly. God was so pure, and he was so deceiving, tricky. He knew he was totally unfit for God.
To be in the presence of God is a dreadful thing. If you do not realize it, you may think that to be with God is the most blessed thing. It is true. But on the other hand, when you think of the holiness of God, the heavenliness of God, the perfection of God, and the glory of God, and you reflect and begin to realize how unfit you are, it is dreadful.
But still, even though he said, “How dreadful is this place,” he understood that this was the house of God, the gate of heaven.
What is the house of God? The house of God is basically where God and man are joined together in Christ Jesus. That is the house of God.
The house of God is where God can be with man. Impossible, so far as man is concerned; and yet God has made it possible in Christ Jesus.
Jacob said, “This is the gate of heaven.” Now, he was so earthly—down to earth, as we say—but this was the first time he realized that there is a way to heaven. There is a gate there, and by that gate you can reach heaven.
You remember our Lord Jesus said in John 10, “I am the door of the sheep.” And you remember He also said in Matthew 7, “Enter in by the narrow gate,” because that will lead you to life.
So, brothers and sisters, even Jacob at that time realized, on the one hand, that this is the house of God, where God and man are joined together. But at the same time, he realized that the way is in Christ Jesus.
The Lord said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” The way to the house of God is through Christ Jesus.
To put it another way, we are so earthly. The cross of our Lord Jesus has to work in our lives to bring us out of the earthly into the heavenly.
The cross, on the one hand, will deal with that which is earthly, carnal, fleshly, of the world, and of the enemy. All these are unfit for God, unfit to be united to God in Christ Jesus, and unfit in the house of God where God can rest. All these things have to be dealt with.
And all that which is heavenly—of Christ, of God—will be added into us. This is the gate of heaven.
So, brothers and sisters, in the house of God that process is going on. God has come to man. God is bringing man back to Him. God is working by His Spirit in each one of us to deliver us out of all the earthly and to fit us for the heavenly, that God and man may rest together. Now this is the house of God.
And then you know what Jacob did. He took that stone that was his pillow and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on it.
In other words, even though he knew he was unfit, yet he accepted what God had revealed to him. So he set that stone up as a pillar. A pillar in Scripture always speaks of testimony: “This is my testimony.”
He poured oil on it, and oil always represents the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies everything and sets it apart for God. So that was his action.
But unfortunately, you find that he was so limited in his understanding, and he was so unfit, in a sense, to rise up to what God had promised him. So he began to make a vow.
He made a vow to God, and that was a tremendous vow. But actually, to God that was nothing, because it was far, far below what God had promised him.
He said, “Now, if God will be with me, and if He will give me food to eat and a garment to put on, and bring me back to my father’s house, then I will make Him my God.” You know, he was still bargaining. That Jacob was still there.
“And this pillar will become God’s house, and I will not fail to give one tenth to Him.”
Now listen to what his vow was. First, he challenged God. He said, “Now, are You real? Are You really faithful to what You say, that You will be with me? I only want some food to eat, a dress to put on, and the opportunity of coming back to my father’s house. That is all I ask of You.”
You know how limited we are. We are limited by ourselves. God is so great. What He has in mind is beyond our understanding, but that is what He is going to do. He wants to do far more than we have ever thought of.
“And if God does that, then I will make this pillar the house of God.”
Now, brothers and sisters, you remember when David became king and had a heart for God. He told Nathan the prophet, “How can I dwell in a house of cedar, and God’s ark is still in a tent? I want to make Him a house.”
Nathan said, “Well, go ahead. You are loved by God, and what you suggest should be all right.” Yet God spoke to Nathan: “Go back to David and say to him, ‘I will make you a house first.’”
Do you think you can do things better than God? David had a heart to build God a house, but God said, “Wait a minute. I will build your house first. And then, when your house is built, build My house.”
Now this is always the principle. Brothers and sisters, do you realize why God builds our house? Why does God bless your family? Is our house, our family, the end of everything?
I do not say family is not important. Family is very important in the eyes of God. The world today really despises the idea of the family. People become so selfish, so independent, so self-centered; not even their family is important.
But thank God, we know that family is important, and it is God who builds our house. He said, “I will bless you. I will do it to you.” But beware that we do not use our own house, our own family, as the end of everything.
In other words, we put too much emphasis on the family and neglect the family of God, the house of God. We need to remember: He builds our house in order that we may be able to build His house. His house is the end, not our houses.
You remember Haggai the prophet. God used him to challenge the remnant who returned to Jerusalem to build the temple. Yet because of some opposition, their hands were weakened, and they stopped building the house of God.
During that period they built their own houses and left the house of God lying waste. So God sent Haggai to challenge the people and said, “Is it time for you to build your own paneled houses, and let the house of God lie waste? Is it time for that?”
And thank God, the remnant rose up and built the temple.
So, brothers and sisters, what are we going to do? Is there a danger in our midst because we put so much emphasis on our house, our family, that we neglect the house of God?
We forget that God blesses our house for a purpose, and that purpose is that the house of God might be built. So I do hope that God will show us His way, that we may not go to the other extreme, but really walk in the way of God.
Jacob, in spite of his weakness, at least understood this. He said, “Now, if You build my house, then I will build Your house. And I will be responsible in the house of God. I will give my one tenth.”
Now, of course, today, as we look at Jacob, we say, “Jacob, you really do not know God. You are still self-centered. You should do more.”
But where are we? Are we still like Jacob, bargaining with God? Only when we are blessed do we say, “Well, we will give one tenth to You.”
What the Lord requires is all. By the mercies of God, I beseech you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. This is our reasonable service; this is our spiritual worship.
So, brothers and sisters, may the Lord have mercy upon us, that we may begin to see what the house of God is. Having a glimpse of that vision, may we know how much we are in it and how much we should be responsible to it.
This morning, I would like simply to share this and lay a foundation for what the house of God is.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee, for Thou hast been so gracious and merciful to us. We thank Thee that Thou hast been building our houses, our families, and we have received so much from Thee.
Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst remind us that the house of God is still lying there waste. So, Lord, we pray that Thou wilt stir our spirits up, that we may rise up and, by Thy grace, whatever Thou hast blessed us with, build together the house of God.
May it be a place for Thee to rest among men. And we give Thee the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus.