Again, I must bring to your attention that parables, which are so common in the teaching ministry of Jesus while on the earth, were also what He used when He was the God of the Old Testament called Jehovah. Exodus 6:3 These parables have often been reduced to “children bed-time stories” or Sunday School stories to entertain our young and start them on a Biblical understanding of God. They ALL pointed to a New Testament truth. This would be lost IF WE DO NOT use them as Author-intended!!
The life of Jacob is full of such. Jacob’s two marriages, having already been discussed, is just a pattern. When Jacob fled from Esau he spent his first night ALONE. Oh! What an agony for a momma’s boy. What is interesting about this “place” he spent the night was what it was. It was a certain place, you know like the place Abraham “happened” upon when he offered his “only begotten son” for a sacrifice at the command of God. In this “certain place” Jacob rested on his journey to Syria. The Hebrew word leads to the thought it was a place of waiting, a place of hope. Here, with God as his canopy and stones as his pillow he dreamed. All my life I was taught of Jacob’s ladder. Unfortunately it has been named incorrectly. Maybe it should have been called HOPE. On this ladder were the messengers of God (angels) descending (bringing the message from God) down to man and angels (messengers of God) ascending (having the privilege to be with God in the Heavens!!) At the top of the ladder (the pathway to Heaven and peace) stood one lone figure, the Great I AM. He had a message to give mankind. “Thy seed (Christ) shall bless all the families of the earth.” Genesis 28:14
This was a great revelation to a scared boy with no friends in the world, all alone, in a strange place, without direction. God, Christ in the New Testament, wanted Jacob to know He was with him even though his travels took him away from everyone he loved. (In fact, Jacob NEVER saw the face of his beloved father and mother, again. So someone else MUST sustain him.) I don’t think by now I have to spell out the obvious; Jacob is like those of us who have had to forsake father, mother, sisters, and brothers for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. We might have to be the ONLY one in our families who get in the Ark (the Church of Christ) to make it to the other side, the rest are in “feel-good” churches who think “one is as good as the other”. But tell me, all alone, no friends, no hope, where would you expect Christ to house those who are His?? You’re right!!, He adds them to His church (the one God LEADS to). Acts 2:47 We might be the ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD who is a member of the Church of Christ, bought by the blood of God’s only begotten Son (Acts 20:28) left on the planet, yet holding true to God’s word and promises, like Noah, we will arrive home after awhile!! Of course it helps to know that the word Bethel (Genesis 28:19) means “house of God”. House is the New Testament equivalent church and God (the name of a nature, not an individual, has to be defined by the action mentioned. This being called God is the One who would DIE for His bride, the church!!). In the New Testament, the God who “purchased His church with His own blood, is Christ.” Acts 20:28, Ephesians 5:23-25 The “certain place” Jacob spent the first night was in, at the Church of Christ—the place of Hope!!, that to whom Christ adds. YES, THERE IS ONLY ONE!! Ephesians 4:3-4
Again, Jacob states a truth, “this is none other but the gate of Heaven”. Paul wrote Timothy and nailed down this point when he, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote; “until I come, that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God (Christ)…1 Timothy 3:15 There is only ONE!!
