Behold a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28:12).

In our previous study, we learned that there is a “Gate to Heaven” and that gate is Jesus, the only door that leads us to heaven. Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, was fleeing from his twin brother Esau, who had vowed to kill him. Esau was furious with Jacob because Jacob had stolen Esau’s birthright. On his way to his relative’s house at Haran, Jacob lay down for the night. As he was dreaming he had a vision of a ladder, or stairway, between heaven and earth. God’s angels were on it, ascending and descending. Isn’t it amazing when it comes to our salvation, to see God employing all of heaven in order to save one person’s life from total ruin and the degradation of sin? You see, God is not like us; we have this tendency to react in a negative way when someone hurts us.

Our heavenly Father is a wonderful God. In Exodus 34:6–7, Moses said; “And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” This is our God whom we serve, merciful and gracious; and He is the same God whom Abraham, Isaac and Jacob served. One of the greatest men in history was the patriarch, Abraham. Three religions look to him as their spiritual progenitor—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Christians view him as “the father of all them that believe.” Romans 4:11. “The Faith of Abraham” was based upon revelation; God revealed Himself to Abraham and that led him to an obedient faith, a trusting faith, a growing faith—this should be our experience also.

Before leaving this narrative of Jacob’s ladder, let us turn to the New Testament and John 1:51. There you will find that Jesus made reference to this dream as He spoke to Nathaniel. Nathaniel was amazed at the supernatural powers demonstrated by Jesus. But Jesus promised him that he would see even greater things. He promised Nathaniel that he would see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. In this clear reference to Jacob’s dream, Jesus puts Himself in the position of fulfilling this dream or vision. Heaven has opened and God has come down to dwell among men. Angels, messengers of God, come and go upon the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. He is the Word become flesh, the living word of God. Nathaniel, you and I are wonderfully blessed, for in Jesus Christ we have something more awesome and wonderful than even the dream of Jacob. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” said Jesus.

Three times in the last book of the Bible—Revelation—Jesus promises to come quickly, and He said that His reward is with Him to give each one of us accordingly. This is good news, brothers and sisters, friends; we still have time to prepare ourselves for eternity. Do you have time for Jesus, my friend? Do you take Him seriously? Are there things between you and Jesus that make you stumble, not letting you go forward in your walk with Jesus?

Today, let us look at this man, Jacob, as he was fleeing from his parent’s house and friends, fleeing into a solitary place, and followed by the consequences of his wrong doing. Let us look at him from God’s perspective and let us identify ourselves with Jacob, because in one way or another all of us at a certain point in our life have done something wrong, something that we are ashamed of. Do you think God forsakes any person when he needs Jesus most? Certainly not. Let’s think for a moment, do you love your child only when he obeys you? Is he not your child also when you hear good things and bad things as well? The circumstances do not affect your love towards him, do they? Certainly not. He is still your child and we as parents should love our children with an unconditional love just as our heavenly Father loves us. There are, unfortunately, cases where parents abandon their children when they need them most. What would have happened to us if Jesus would have done the same when we made mistakes?

Jacob indeed was a liar, thief and deceiver and he ran away from the place where he had committed those sins, thinking now in his wanderings that God had forsaken him. In those moments, Jacob thought of how God would treat him—a God ready to punish when a mistake was made, a God following behind us to see if we have done wrong, in order to punish us. Sometimes we have the tendency to tell our children to follow us and our faith which we have formed, and not the faith of Jesus. We tell them, “look, my son, you have to follow the Lord Jesus the way I follow Him,” and if not we may say, “look to the door, children; if you do not obey me, look at that door, my child, and go wherever you want, I deny you from this moment on.” I have heard about people like that and I ask myself, if Jesus would have done this with me, how would I feel? Our problem is within us, my friends, and it is our ego, it is the false god we have formed, thinking that the real God is like us—human beings. This is a false and pagan religion that we should condemn and not approve.

But look at how wonderfully our heavenly Father reveals Himself to Jacob, showing him a stairway out from that pit of sin; and that stairway is Jesus Christ Himself in His divinity and humanity, making it possible for us all to receive sufficient power from on high, in order to live a righteous life through the power of the Holy Spirit in us.

Many times, my friends, we are like Jacob. We fall into sin and then we lose our faith, thinking that God cannot forgive us. I have seen many people in this situation—a perplexing one. Praise God there is still a remedy. I present to you, my friend, the One who can make your life happy no matter what this life will bring you—in the sorrows of life, in the joys of life, in the disappointments of life, He is there to help you. He never makes a mistake; Jesus never loses a case; if we put all our trust in Him, our lives, my friends, will be lives which will have an eternal continuity. Although we might go through the experience of death there is hope when Jesus comes, because the Bible speaks about those who die in Christ, that they will rise again and will be with Jesus forever (1 Thessalonians 4:15–16).

Look at Abraham, how he trusted God’s promises, without even knowing where he was. He obeyed God’s voice; he left his house, relatives and friends, obeying God without murmuring. Had he known from the beginning and all the way through his life, he would have known how to avoid those mistakes. There is a Bible principle there and also a saying—what we sow, that we will reap. If you deceive, then you will be deceived. Sometimes Abraham thought that he had to lie in order to save his life. This was sin, and it brought consequences with it.

When we look at the lives of these three patriarchs we notice the mistakes they made and the lessons they learned. This is a very important lesson to learn—to make mistakes is human and no one is exempt—but learning from mistakes, this is a wisdom and a science. When we learn from the mistakes of others, this is the most wise; and I believe God gave us His word to show us how important it is to obey His voice and trust Him completely.

Isaac followed the Lord and he followed in the footsteps of his father, and now we see that Jacob followed in the footsteps of his father also. Interestingly enough, we see how they were all tested individually. There will come a time when each and every one of us will be tested individually, as if no one else exists but you and God.

The Three Angel’s messages are going around the world and is being proclaimed with a loud voice, calling people from all corners of the world to worship God and fear Him, because the hour of His judgment has come. Do you hear that voice, my friend, calling you to a personal encounter with Jesus? Unless you have a personal experience with Jesus and His word there is no constancy in your life. There are people who think that life is all about money; if you have money, you have everything. Or if you are healthy then you will be healthy until you die, but that is not the case, my friend. There is no constancy unless you have a personal experience with Jesus. The only One who can bring constancy in our lives is Jesus and His sacrifice in our behalf. At the cross He showed humanity how much He cares for us.

I like what someone said about the Three Angel’s messages and the relationship between them. He said that we need the faith of Abraham in these last days of earth’s history, the life of Isaac and the faithfulness of Jacob, my brothers and sisters.

  • The first angel’s message is our relationship with God. “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.”
  • The second angel’s message has to do with the world, how we walk through the world. And that means Babylon and its attractions, which genuine Christians will have nothing to do with.
  • The third angel’s message is asking us to stand before the enemy—those who are opposed to or are against God’s law—against us. That is why the prophecy speaks about “Jacob’s trouble,” a trouble as we have never seen before. What was Jacob’s trouble? How did he meet that trouble? How are we going to come out from that trouble? In the same way, my friends, as Jacob went through.

We are not to be afraid because the same God, the God, the mighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (later called Israel, which means overcomer) is yours and my God, my friend. In Hebrews 13:8 it speaks about Jesus being the same yesterday, today and forever—there is no change at all in this mighty God we have—He is the same and has the same power in His words. The ladder represents Christ. The angels are God’s messengers, sent to all the earth to help God’s people. Throughout the Bible we find   that angels were sent as protectors. Psalm 91 and Psalm 46 are chapters where you will find assurance—complete assurance in time of need.

Let us read Genesis 28:12–15. “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 were ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD 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 in all places whither 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.”

What a mighty God. What a wonderful Saviour we have. Shall we not say, Amen? Instead of a curse we receive a blessing. Instead of being punished we receive a reward. This is the God we serve, my friends. Trust Jesus and receive Him today as your personal Saviour. God is not coming after us to catch us when we make mistakes, my friend; He comes to help us to overcome those mistakes. God gives each one of us free choices to make and our salvation depends on us, and the choices we make determine our destiny. Will you let Jesus Christ lead you through this life? Will you say, “Yes Lord Jesus, I want to surrender myself completely to You?”  The next time, with God’s help, we will learn about “The House of God.” Because Jacob, after having that dream, said “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

May our loving Father bless you richly.

Nicholas Anca