Genesis 28:10-22 “Jacob’s Ladder”
(Preached at Cross of Christ Fellowship in Naperville IL [May 2026])
AUDIO here.
INTRO: What does a ladder do? It gives you access to what you can’t reach.
-God out of reach? Can we build a ladder high enough to reach him?
-Some: God is out of reach. Others: attempt to reach him through meditation, pilgrimage, seminars and podcasts
TODAY’S TEXT: Is it possible to know the truth about God? How do we get access to God?
- God Meets with Jacob in a Dream (28:10-15)
-Jacob is on his way north east (21 day journey) to Haran, to meet with Rebekah’s family to find a wife (10)
-On the way he stops and goes to sleep (11)
-Makes a pillow with one of the stones (11b)
-God appears to Jacob (12-15)
NOTICE: God takes the initiative.
–ALSO: It is possible to know true things about God, even if our information is not comprehensive
-He has appeared already to Abraham and Isaac, now he appears to Jacob, in a dream.
–LADDER reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending (12)
-Ladder gives you access, and here Jacob is given access to God
-LORD STOOD ABOVE THE LADDER (13a)
-God is meeting with Jacob and appearing Him.
–GOD’S SPEEACH TO JACOB (13b-15)
–I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.
SAME God, the God Jacob has grown up hearing about
–The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
-Land promise (Gen 12:1-3)
–Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth
-Same promise given Gen 13:16
–and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south,
-The population will grow and flourish and spread out.
–in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
-Gen 12:3
-We are experiencing this RIGHT NOW in Christ!
–Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go
-God will be with Jacob
–and will bring you back to this land.
-One day he will return to the land (20 years later!)
–For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
-God will keep his promise and bring this about!
**QUESTION: How will Jacob respond?
II. Jacob Responds to God (16-22)
-Jacob Recognizes that He has met with God, and that this was a special place even if he did not know it (16-17)
-Significance of the PLACE—“how awesome is this place!”
-“House of God…gate of heaven.”
-Here is where access to God is possible—where God has come down and shown Himself
–Importance of this moment—Mentioned in Gen 35 and 48—“God appeared to Jacob/me”
-JACOB Transformed: PILLOW MAKER TO A PILLAR MAKER (18-22)
-Takes the stone and makes it a pillar, to commemorate and mark the place where God appeared (18)
-Place is renamed to Bethel—“house of God” (19)
-When you become a Christian, there is new posture of worship—God!
-You can’t “become a Christian” and then live the same: new love for God and hatred for sin.0
-Jacob makes a vow (20-22)
-If God will… Either he is not fully committed or he assumes it will happen
-the LORD shall be my God: Jacob will be a WORSHIPPER of God!
-We all worship something—God or self, God or possessions.
Jacob will worship God!
–this stone…pillar…shall be God’s house—Jacob will build a place of worship (see Gen 35)
-I will give you a full tenth to you—Jacob will honor God with his wealth.
III. Rest of the OT—God Meets with His People in a PLACE
FIREàTABERNACLEàTEMPLEàEXILEàRETURN FROM EXILE
QUESTION: Where do we GO to get access to God? What is the PLACE?
Do we need a vision like Jacob’s? Do we need go to a temple like Israel?
-Where we can we get ACCESS to God?
ANSWER: We don’t need a place to get access to God, but a person.
-JESUS—he is THE ONE WHO GIVES US ACCESS TO GOD.
-JESUS=THE BETTER LADDER!
John 1:14: “became flesh and dwelt among us”
-God dwelling among us.
John 1:18 “he has made him known”
-Revealing the truth about God to us.
John 1:43-51: Jesus quotes Genesis 28 to show that he is the better Ladder.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
-Jesus gives us ACCESS to God!
-Through Jesus we can know God and come to know the truth about him!
GOSPEL: THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD MADE KNOWN
Gospel—Good news from God about God.
-GOD, SIN, CHRIST, RESPONSE
-All of this is confirmed and authenticated through the person and teaching of Jesus, the LADDER!
Unbeliever: Do you want to know what God is like and who He is? Look to Jesus!
Jesus is a better revelation that we can anywhere else!
1. Authenticated by miracles.
2. Proven true by his resurrection
3. Access is FREELY give (no entrance fee) and FREELY offered to you through faith
4. Historically verified and not a religious myth
5 Power is seen today in lives that transformed by Christ
-Hear the call from Christ “Repent and believe the gospel”
-Come to him in faith and experience His love and forgiveness.
Believer: See this again: JESUS IS THE LADDER—He is the revelation of God and gives us access to God!
–When rattled by arguments from unbelievers: Jesus has shown me the truth about God, and I can trust Him.
-When shaken by false religion: If Jesus is telling us the truth, than all other claims to God must be false.
-When tempted to grow cold: See the love Jesus who gave up his place in heaven to come down to Earth!
-When feeling confused: Fill your mind with the words of Christ who is the light of the world
-When afraid of future: See Jesus who revealed the truth in the past and will be with you and me to end of the age.
-When disheartened by sin: See Jesus who revealed the truth about a way of salvation and secured it for us!
CLOSE: What to know who God is? LOOK TO JESUS, the Ladder, who reveals the truth about God and gives us access to God now and forever.
