1. The story of Jacob is an illustration of God's grace. Alexander Whyte said, "There was no Old Testament saint...who, first and last, saw more of the favour and forgiveness of God than Jacob" (Bible Characters from the Old and New Testaments).
2. I have noticed that when preachers preach about Jacob they usually deal with his conflicts with his twin brother Esau or his uncle Laban, or Jacob's crisis at Peniel, when the LORD told him, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed" (Genesis 32:28).
3. But before the crisis at Peniel (Gen. 32), there was the dream at Bethel (Gen. 28). Here we see the grace of God bestowed upon Jacob.
4. Jacob was a wanderer far from God, and as he went to sleep the LORD gave him a wonderful dream -- a ladder set up on the earth that reached all the way up to heaven (28:12).
5. Jacob was very dull spiritually. He was full of self. For God to get through to Jacob, He waited till he went to sleep. This was Jacob's first great crisis. His next great crisis was also very unusual. In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestled with God until the breaking of the day.

1. THE LADDER
2. THE ANGELS
3. THE VOICE OF GOD

I. THE LADDER

1. Jacob was far from God, and being far from God meant being far from heaven. So God provided a ladder to heaven (28:12).
2. Earth is not a wandering star. Unlike the other planets, earth is connected to heaven by a ladder.
3. This ladder represents communion, communication, and fellowship.
4. In Genesis 28:13 we read, "And, behold, the LORD stood above it." That is reassuring, knowing that the LORD is on top, holding the ladder. This is not some shaky, wobbly, unreliable ladder.
5. Later on, in John 1:51 we see something even more marvelous -- the Lord Jesus Christ is the ladder! He is not just holding the ladder, He is the ladder.
6. There is no way to heaven but by the Lord Jesus Christ. He stated very plainly in John 1:51 that He is the only ladder to heaven.
7. Our Lord said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
8. People talk about getting to heaven through Islam or Mormonism or Mary or through Buddhism or Hinduism, etc. but Acts 4:12 says, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
9. First Timothy 2:5 says, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
10. People complain that they cannot see this ladder, but it can only be seen through the eyes of faith.
11. We can only come to Christ by faith. Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
12. Second Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." The weakest sinner can see the ladder, and he can climb that ladder but only by faith.
13. F.B. Meyer said, "The weakest and most sinful may climb through Jesus from the verge of the pit of hell to the foot of the eternal throne" (Israel, Prince with God).
14. People today are making their own ladders, but these ladders are very dangerous and unsafe. A person can climb up on one of these ladders, and then fall headlong into the fires of hell.
15. I am referring to the shaky and unsafe ladders of false religion, good works, church membership, etc.
16. Many religious people are offended when we tell them their church membership or baptism or good works cannot get them into heaven, but the Bible is very clear (Eph. 2:8-10).
17. If a sinner could climb up to heaven by his church membership and good works, than why did Jesus have to die such a terrible death?
18. Years ago, the great evangelist D.L. Moody invited a young preacher named Henry Moorhouse to preach for him at his church in Chicago.
19. For seven nights Henry Moorhouse preached from the text, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
20. Every night the preacher rose to a higher and higher plain of thought, beginning at Genesis and going through the Bible all the way to Revelation, showing over and over how much God loved the world.
21. He pointed out how God loved the world so much that He sent patriarchs and prophets, and other holy men to plead with the people, and then He sent His only Son, and when they had killed Him, He sent the Holy Ghost.
22. In closing the seventh sermon from that same text, he said: "My friends, for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor stammering tongue. If I could borrow Jacob's ladder and climb up into heaven and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence of the Almighty, to tell me how much love the Father has for the world, all he could say would be, 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."'
23. Beloved, God has graciously set up this ladder so that you and I can spend eternity with Him in heaven.

II. THE ANGELS

1. The most important feature of Jacob's dream is the ladder because the ladder represents Christ, as He Himself has told us in John 1:51.
2. Another fascinating aspect of Jacob's dream is the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder (Gen. 28:12).
3. The hymnwriter said,

Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!  -- Sarah Flower Adams

4. Later on the LORD sent angels to encourage Jacob (32:1-3).
5. Beloved, we will not fully comprehend the ministry of angels until we get to heaven.
6. Psalm 91:11 says God gives His angels charge concerning us, to keep us in all our ways. Psalm 91:12 says, "They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone."
7. Psalm 34:7 says, "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."
8. Hebrews 1:14 says the angels are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation."
9. When Jacob laid down to sleep in that quiet, lonely place, using stones for his pillow, he did not realize that lonely place was crowded with angels.
10. F.B. Meyer said, "We need never yield to feelings of loneliness again, if we remember that, in our most retired hours, we are living in the very heart of a vast throng of angels; and we should hear their songs, and see their forms, if only our senses were not clogged with sin."
11. Yes, if our senses are clogged with sin, and our eyes are dimmed with unbelief, we will not be able to appreciate these things (cf. II Kings 6:1-17).
12. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy" -- Hamlet, William Shakespeare.
13. The angels ascend into heaven with our prayers, and they descend from heaven with the answer to our prayers. I am not suggesting or implying that we should pray to angels. We are to pray to God only. What I am saying is that angels are God's ministering spirits (cf. Daniel 10:1-21).
14. Daniel 10 explains why sometimes answers to prayers are delayed.
15. We must remember that God promises to answer all our prayers if they are according to His will (I John 5:14, 15).
16. God's delays are not denials.