And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
Jacob awoke to realize with joyful wonder, solemn awe and gratitude that God had been present where he had not recognized Him. He was a lonely, discouraged fugitive lying in the open wilderness fearing his sin had separated him from God and lost him everything, when God in pity met him with the ladder of shining brightness reaching from earth to heaven. That ladder is Christ, whose humanity encircles the race and whose divinity grasps the throne, bridging the gulf sin made and restoring communication between God and humanity through ministering angels. The vision assured him that God had not forgotten or forsaken him, but was near to comfort, protect and save even the hopeless sinner who feels cut off from Him. Awareness of that presence makes even a lowly hillside, workplace, home or sickroom holy as the house of God, calling for reverence, gratitude and climbing upward by clinging to Christ round after round until entering the kingdom.
Jacob's Night at Bethel
Jacob lay down alone in the open as a discouraged fugitive fleeing for his life after gaining the birthright by deception, injustice and falsehood. His bed was the earth with heaven for a covering and a stone for a pillow in a dreary wilderness, and he was weary, homeless, outcast and condemned. He spent the night pondering his transgression and fearing that his sin had separated him from God and heaven. He feared that God had forsaken him and cast him off, and that he had lost everything, his connection with God and his home. Fallen daylight had overtaken him and darkness found him a wanderer with only a stone for his rest.
In that hopeless and disappointed condition God had pity on him and met him with a dream. He saw a ladder of shining brightness with its base firmly planted on the earth and its top reaching to highest heaven and entering the throne of God. God stood above it with His glory streaming down from heaven to earth. Bright angels ascended and descended upon it, shining in brightness on every round. A voice renewed mercy, protection, promise and future blessing, revealing the plan of salvation.
He awoke in the deep stillness of night with a solemn sense of awe. The shining forms were gone, the ladder and messengers gone, leaving only the dim outline of the lonely hills and the star-bright heavens. Yet he felt an unseen presence filling the solitude. He looked to see the heavenly messengers again and heard God's voice still echoing with promise. He felt angels peopling the place and God looking down in compassion and love.
The light that came to him in his discouraged state was most precious to him, so that the hard stone became the most desirable pillow his head had ever rested upon. That night Jacob, the petted son of his mother, experienced the new birth and became a child of God. He felt gratitude that he was not destroyed, with deep fervent gratitude mingled with holy joy. That joy kept him from further sleep and led him to rise early, set up his stone and make his solemn vow. Remembering that meeting where God promised mercy and was with him on his journey later moved him at his return to renew his commitment to God and prepare his household to worship Him.
Meaning of Unrecognized Presence
Jacob awoke to the discovery that the Lord had been present in that place though he had not known it, and his words express joyful wonder, solemn awe and gratitude at finding God there. After the vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven with God above it and angels ascending and descending, he recognized that God had met him in his discouragement and had not abandoned him but was near and ready to help in every emergency. The place became sacred because of that special presence, and its holiness and connection with heaven called for reverence.
By those words he recognized the place as holy, the house of God and the gate of heaven to his soul. Awareness of God's special presence makes a place sacred and solemn because of the presence of the Most High. Even after the shining forms had disappeared and only the dim outline of the lonely hills and the star-bright heavens remained in the deep stillness of night, he held a solemn sense that an unseen presence filled the solitude and that God was with him. That discovery makes the place a setting of sacred awe, for God's presence is holy and is not to be approached presumptuously.
Where the Lord manifests Himself His presence makes the place awful. When God fills the room with His power, that presence is painful and terrifying to opposers and oppressors, making them stagger and fall backward. It drives out the company of darkness and gives a lasting check to wicked fanatical work, while to His tried children the same presence brings liberty from bondage, rejoicing and the sweet rest of His Spirit.
A person may become aware of God's unrecognized presence through a profound experience of comfort and peace. As God revealed Himself to Jacob in a desolate wilderness and made him aware the place was holy and near to heaven, so the feeling belongs where the power of God is at work upon hearts and has been at work from the beginning. This was seen when about one hundred students in a school felt that power, leading to giving His name all the glory.
Christ the Ladder to Heaven
The ladder Jacob saw is Christ, the appointed link between heaven and earth and the way of salvation, joining what sin had separated. Its base planted firmly on the earth and its top reaching to highest heaven and entering the throne of God signify His humanity and His divinity. With His human arm He encircles the race, and with His divine arm He grasps the throne of the Almighty, bridging with His own body the gulf that sin made and reinstating the world that sin had separated from heaven. Through Him people are united with God and receive heaven's light, help and protection. God stands above the ladder, and His glory streams down upon it.
Through Christ the Father looks with compassion upon sinful people, and communication between God and humanity is restored. God maintains continual communication between humanity and heavenly places, carrying out His will through angels who ascend and descend upon the Son of God to minister between heaven and earth. They bring heaven's light, help, protection, instruction, comfort and every blessing, and every blessing comes through Him. So God's promises to Jacob were later fulfilled when His angels came to instruct, comfort and protect Joseph in need and in exile.
People return to God and are saved by holding to Christ and climbing away from earthly customs, practices and fashions toward heaven. Salvation comes by clinging to Christ as to the rounds of a ladder, climbing on, clinging to Him and being made one with Him, for He is the appointed way of salvation reaching from earth to heaven. The light and glory of God shine on every round, and God stands above with outstretched arms to watch and help every soul that keeps climbing into the everlasting kingdom. He strengthens climbers to press upward round after round until they step off the highest round into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ, and persevering climbers will enter the heavenly city. From foundation to topstone the church is built on Him and in Him, for He is the hope and center of life, the source of power and the secret of success in service for God.
Ascending the ladder means advancing in harmony with the great truths of the gospel and following on to know the Lord, with His brightness guiding those who ascend heavenward. By it a person becomes refined, sanctified and rightly employed as a channel of light for the saving of souls. Failing to ascend comes from choosing one's own selfish way and letting interest in gatherings for pleasure eclipse the light of heaven and separate the soul from God.
Heavenly things are discerned by spiritual vision and faith, not by natural sight, and the angels of the ladder represent heaven's activity on earth. If eyes were opened, the angels of God would be seen all around. Evil angels are also present trying to destroy, but good angels press them back.
God Near Discouraged Sinners
God had not forgotten or forsaken Jacob after his sin and flight. The loving Father found the helpless wanderer in dreary waste places as he fled for his life from his brother's wrath and from the wrong he had done, lying alone with a rock for his pillow. He looked upon him in his hopeless, disappointed condition, when he thought his sin had separated him from God and heaven and that he had lost everything, his connection with God and his home. He saw disappointment and material that would return glory to God, and took pity on him and sought him with the glorious vision of the plan of salvation. No place where those striving against God put His precious faithful ones is beyond His presence.
The vision assured Jacob that he was not abandoned, renewing the connection between heaven and earth by the ladder and the angels. It teaches that God is near and ready to help in every emergency, and that His presence and saving purposes reach people even when they feel cut off from Him. Though his difficulties remained, confidence in God's presence comforted him. God meets people in their weakness and encourages them by His presence when they fully surrender to Him, so that heaven is open to them and God may be entreated to help. The Lord is in the place where His lonely, discouraged people are, even when they do not know it.
God sends angels whose whole work is to draw those who shall be heirs of salvation and to hold back the powers of Satan. Whenever a sinner takes a step toward Jesus, Jesus takes steps toward him. God is present in a particular place to save, not to destroy. Knowing He is there means becoming acquainted with Christ, receiving what is asked in His name while laboring in harmony with Him, having the mind enlightened by wisdom from above, and by constantly beholding the Saviour becoming more and more like Him until complete in Him.
The promises of the night vision at Bethel were precious to Jacob, and he later recalled and pleaded with God to fulfill them. They were fulfilled, and the vision taught that God could be with and protect His people even in exile, with angels coming to instruct, comfort, and protect in need.
Sacred Places in Life
God's presence and glory consecrate even a lowly resting place, not only a splendid edifice. Jacob's humble resting place in the open was consecrated by a manifestation of divine glory, showing that God's presence and communion are not confined to a sanctuary or a splendid building. Christ met Jacob on the hillside, and God makes sacred the hillside, the caves of the earth, the forest, the humble barn and the cotton tent, making each a tabernacle where He meets and blesses servants who humbly seek truth, peace and righteousness. The grandest cathedral is repulsive to Him if it encloses pride, dead forms and hollow hypocrisy, because He seeks those who worship in spirit and in truth.
To say the Lord is in this place belongs to workers who realize they are in the presence of angels in the place of daily work. The place of daily labor is related to God and under His supervision as a channel for heavenly light to the world, and workers who see their publishing house or sacred institution in that way can recognize the Lord's presence there where it had not been perceived before. That recognition brings respect and reverence, restraint on thoughts, words and actions, moral strength, precious experience, faith to act rightly, wisdom, understanding and growth in spirituality. It gives a power of inward life that circulates and is felt throughout the whole institution as heavenly intelligences cooperate with human beings, so that united faith and works send rays of light into moral darkness. Those doing any branch of His service stand in close connection with heavenly instrumentalities and cooperate with supervising angels, and are to stand loyal and true at their post with silent prayer and thankfulness, regarding service as a privilege and offering ability, service and constant care with humility and unselfish vigilance.
The image of Bethel is applied to the sickroom: through faith and prayer it can become a place where Christ's presence is felt. Christ is present in the sickroom filling the heart with the sweetness of His love, present in a particular place to save, not to destroy. Physicians and nurses must make plain beyond misunderstanding in word and deed that the compassionate Saviour is in the room working to restore the sick to health, living and serving so the sick become convinced He is present. That conviction helps heal both soul and body and brings comfort.
A God-fearing mother's home through her close connection with Christ and loving ministry becomes a Bethel that brings God into the children's thoughts as a place of God's presence. The name Bethel marks recognition of God's presence, and the boat became a floating Bethel when its passengers praised God after deliverance from the storm. The same words describe gatherings where people felt God's presence and blessing. Those who gathered in 1843 and 1844 to testify to the truth felt that awareness and regarded their assembly place as sacred, a house of God and a gate of heaven, as did people gathered in Cleveland who testified to the truth and a meeting in Basel that was moved to humble confession.
Waking to know the Lord was in that place filled Jacob with love to God and joy, with assurance that the Unseen was with him and angels were his companions on his journey. Every blessing, special deliverance and unexpected favor calls not for indifference but for gratitude and tangible return, with time, talents and property devoted to God in pledge to the Lord.
Jacob awoke to realize with joyful wonder, solemn awe and gratitude that God had been present where he had not recognized Him. He was a lonely, discouraged fugitive lying in the open wilderness fearing his sin had separated him from God and lost him everything, when God in pity met him with the ladder of shining brightness reaching from earth to heaven. That ladder is Christ, whose humanity encircles the race and whose divinity grasps the throne, bridging the gulf sin made and restoring communication between God and humanity through ministering angels. The vision assured him that God had not forgotten or forsaken him, but was near to comfort, protect and save even the hopeless sinner who feels cut off from Him. Awareness of that presence makes even a lowly hillside, workplace, home or sickroom holy as the house of God, calling for reverence, gratitude and climbing upward by clinging to Christ round after round until entering the kingdom.
Jacob's Night at Bethel
Jacob lay down alone in the open as a discouraged fugitive fleeing for his life after gaining the birthright by deception, injustice and falsehood. His bed was the earth with heaven for a covering and a stone for a pillow in a dreary wilderness, and he was weary, homeless, outcast and condemned. He spent the night pondering his transgression and fearing that his sin had separated him from God and heaven. He feared that God had forsaken him and cast him off, and that he had lost everything, his connection with God and his home. Fallen daylight had overtaken him and darkness found him a wanderer with only a stone for his rest.
In that hopeless and disappointed condition God had pity on him and met him with a dream. He saw a ladder of shining brightness with its base firmly planted on the earth and its top reaching to highest heaven and entering the throne of God. God stood above it with His glory streaming down from heaven to earth. Bright angels ascended and descended upon it, shining in brightness on every round. A voice renewed mercy, protection, promise and future blessing, revealing the plan of salvation.
He awoke in the deep stillness of night with a solemn sense of awe. The shining forms were gone, the ladder and messengers gone, leaving only the dim outline of the lonely hills and the star-bright heavens. Yet he felt an unseen presence filling the solitude. He looked to see the heavenly messengers again and heard God's voice still echoing with promise. He felt angels peopling the place and God looking down in compassion and love.
The light that came to him in his discouraged state was most precious to him, so that the hard stone became the most desirable pillow his head had ever rested upon. That night Jacob, the petted son of his mother, experienced the new birth and became a child of God. He felt gratitude that he was not destroyed, with deep fervent gratitude mingled with holy joy. That joy kept him from further sleep and led him to rise early, set up his stone and make his solemn vow. Remembering that meeting where God promised mercy and was with him on his journey later moved him at his return to renew his commitment to God and prepare his household to worship Him.
Meaning of Unrecognized Presence
Jacob awoke to the discovery that the Lord had been present in that place though he had not known it, and his words express joyful wonder, solemn awe and gratitude at finding God there. After the vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven with God above it and angels ascending and descending, he recognized that God had met him in his discouragement and had not abandoned him but was near and ready to help in every emergency. The place became sacred because of that special presence, and its holiness and connection with heaven called for reverence.
By those words he recognized the place as holy, the house of God and the gate of heaven to his soul. Awareness of God's special presence makes a place sacred and solemn because of the presence of the Most High. Even after the shining forms had disappeared and only the dim outline of the lonely hills and the star-bright heavens remained in the deep stillness of night, he held a solemn sense that an unseen presence filled the solitude and that God was with him. That discovery makes the place a setting of sacred awe, for God's presence is holy and is not to be approached presumptuously.
Where the Lord manifests Himself His presence makes the place awful. When God fills the room with His power, that presence is painful and terrifying to opposers and oppressors, making them stagger and fall backward. It drives out the company of darkness and gives a lasting check to wicked fanatical work, while to His tried children the same presence brings liberty from bondage, rejoicing and the sweet rest of His Spirit.
A person may become aware of God's unrecognized presence through a profound experience of comfort and peace. As God revealed Himself to Jacob in a desolate wilderness and made him aware the place was holy and near to heaven, so the feeling belongs where the power of God is at work upon hearts and has been at work from the beginning. This was seen when about one hundred students in a school felt that power, leading to giving His name all the glory.
Christ the Ladder to Heaven
The ladder Jacob saw is Christ, the appointed link between heaven and earth and the way of salvation, joining what sin had separated. Its base planted firmly on the earth and its top reaching to highest heaven and entering the throne of God signify His humanity and His divinity. With His human arm He encircles the race, and with His divine arm He grasps the throne of the Almighty, bridging with His own body the gulf that sin made and reinstating the world that sin had separated from heaven. Through Him people are united with God and receive heaven's light, help and protection. God stands above the ladder, and His glory streams down upon it.
Through Christ the Father looks with compassion upon sinful people, and communication between God and humanity is restored. God maintains continual communication between humanity and heavenly places, carrying out His will through angels who ascend and descend upon the Son of God to minister between heaven and earth. They bring heaven's light, help, protection, instruction, comfort and every blessing, and every blessing comes through Him. So God's promises to Jacob were later fulfilled when His angels came to instruct, comfort and protect Joseph in need and in exile.
People return to God and are saved by holding to Christ and climbing away from earthly customs, practices and fashions toward heaven. Salvation comes by clinging to Christ as to the rounds of a ladder, climbing on, clinging to Him and being made one with Him, for He is the appointed way of salvation reaching from earth to heaven. The light and glory of God shine on every round, and God stands above with outstretched arms to watch and help every soul that keeps climbing into the everlasting kingdom. He strengthens climbers to press upward round after round until they step off the highest round into the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ, and persevering climbers will enter the heavenly city. From foundation to topstone the church is built on Him and in Him, for He is the hope and center of life, the source of power and the secret of success in service for God.
Ascending the ladder means advancing in harmony with the great truths of the gospel and following on to know the Lord, with His brightness guiding those who ascend heavenward. By it a person becomes refined, sanctified and rightly employed as a channel of light for the saving of souls. Failing to ascend comes from choosing one's own selfish way and letting interest in gatherings for pleasure eclipse the light of heaven and separate the soul from God.
Heavenly things are discerned by spiritual vision and faith, not by natural sight, and the angels of the ladder represent heaven's activity on earth. If eyes were opened, the angels of God would be seen all around. Evil angels are also present trying to destroy, but good angels press them back.
God Near Discouraged Sinners
God had not forgotten or forsaken Jacob after his sin and flight. The loving Father found the helpless wanderer in dreary waste places as he fled for his life from his brother's wrath and from the wrong he had done, lying alone with a rock for his pillow. He looked upon him in his hopeless, disappointed condition, when he thought his sin had separated him from God and heaven and that he had lost everything, his connection with God and his home. He saw disappointment and material that would return glory to God, and took pity on him and sought him with the glorious vision of the plan of salvation. No place where those striving against God put His precious faithful ones is beyond His presence.
The vision assured Jacob that he was not abandoned, renewing the connection between heaven and earth by the ladder and the angels. It teaches that God is near and ready to help in every emergency, and that His presence and saving purposes reach people even when they feel cut off from Him. Though his difficulties remained, confidence in God's presence comforted him. God meets people in their weakness and encourages them by His presence when they fully surrender to Him, so that heaven is open to them and God may be entreated to help. The Lord is in the place where His lonely, discouraged people are, even when they do not know it.
God sends angels whose whole work is to draw those who shall be heirs of salvation and to hold back the powers of Satan. Whenever a sinner takes a step toward Jesus, Jesus takes steps toward him. God is present in a particular place to save, not to destroy. Knowing He is there means becoming acquainted with Christ, receiving what is asked in His name while laboring in harmony with Him, having the mind enlightened by wisdom from above, and by constantly beholding the Saviour becoming more and more like Him until complete in Him.
The promises of the night vision at Bethel were precious to Jacob, and he later recalled and pleaded with God to fulfill them. They were fulfilled, and the vision taught that God could be with and protect His people even in exile, with angels coming to instruct, comfort, and protect in need.
Sacred Places in Life
God's presence and glory consecrate even a lowly resting place, not only a splendid edifice. Jacob's humble resting place in the open was consecrated by a manifestation of divine glory, showing that God's presence and communion are not confined to a sanctuary or a splendid building. Christ met Jacob on the hillside, and God makes sacred the hillside, the caves of the earth, the forest, the humble barn and the cotton tent, making each a tabernacle where He meets and blesses servants who humbly seek truth, peace and righteousness. The grandest cathedral is repulsive to Him if it encloses pride, dead forms and hollow hypocrisy, because He seeks those who worship in spirit and in truth.
To say the Lord is in this place belongs to workers who realize they are in the presence of angels in the place of daily work. The place of daily labor is related to God and under His supervision as a channel for heavenly light to the world, and workers who see their publishing house or sacred institution in that way can recognize the Lord's presence there where it had not been perceived before. That recognition brings respect and reverence, restraint on thoughts, words and actions, moral strength, precious experience, faith to act rightly, wisdom, understanding and growth in spirituality. It gives a power of inward life that circulates and is felt throughout the whole institution as heavenly intelligences cooperate with human beings, so that united faith and works send rays of light into moral darkness. Those doing any branch of His service stand in close connection with heavenly instrumentalities and cooperate with supervising angels, and are to stand loyal and true at their post with silent prayer and thankfulness, regarding service as a privilege and offering ability, service and constant care with humility and unselfish vigilance.
The image of Bethel is applied to the sickroom: through faith and prayer it can become a place where Christ's presence is felt. Christ is present in the sickroom filling the heart with the sweetness of His love, present in a particular place to save, not to destroy. Physicians and nurses must make plain beyond misunderstanding in word and deed that the compassionate Saviour is in the room working to restore the sick to health, living and serving so the sick become convinced He is present. That conviction helps heal both soul and body and brings comfort.
A God-fearing mother's home through her close connection with Christ and loving ministry becomes a Bethel that brings God into the children's thoughts as a place of God's presence. The name Bethel marks recognition of God's presence, and the boat became a floating Bethel when its passengers praised God after deliverance from the storm. The same words describe gatherings where people felt God's presence and blessing. Those who gathered in 1843 and 1844 to testify to the truth felt that awareness and regarded their assembly place as sacred, a house of God and a gate of heaven, as did people gathered in Cleveland who testified to the truth and a meeting in Basel that was moved to humble confession.
Waking to know the Lord was in that place filled Jacob with love to God and joy, with assurance that the Unseen was with him and angels were his companions on his journey. Every blessing, special deliverance and unexpected favor calls not for indifference but for gratitude and tangible return, with time, talents and property devoted to God in pledge to the Lord.