Nothing was going right in his life. He had lied to his father, stolen from his brother and now that brother had made plans to kill him. He had left the security of the home where he had been raised and was headed to a foreign land, hoping to find a wife there. As night approached he decided to sleep out in the open, found a rock to use for his pillow and fell asleep.
The dream that he had was no ordinary one. It was one given by God. He saw a ladder which extended from earth on which he lay and reached the top of heaven. On this ladder, angels were ascending and descending, and at the top of the ladder was God who blessed him and gave him three special promises. When he woke up, he realized that he had received a message from God. He named that place Bethel, which in Hebrew means “the house of God.”
That ladder was not mentioned again for nearly two thousand years. When Nathanael confessed that Jesus was the Son of God, the Lord responded, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). The importance of that ladder and its meaning is obvious. The ladder which reached from earth to heaven was Jesus Himself!
What can so easily be overlooked is the significance of the name Jacob gave the place where he had the dream. That ladder began at Bethel and reached to heaven. Since Bethel means the house of God, the message is obvious. The path to heaven goes through Bethel. It goes through the house of God.
The story becomes complete when we establish the identify of the house of God. Paul’s first letter to Timothy leaves no doubt. “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:14-15). The house of God is the church of the living God. The ladder reaching from earth to heaven is the Lord. To “climb the ladder” you must begin at Bethel, the house of God. To climb that ladder you must begin at the church of the living God. In one brief story, God forever shows the importance of the church. The entrance into heaven begins at Bethel!
On the practical level, think of how this relates to our work here at the house of God, the church of the living God. Do you see this place as a portal to heaven? Do you see it as the place where the ladder to heaven touches the earth? How do you see it? More importantly, how does God see it?