BITTERNESS and hatred tilled the heart of Esau because Jacob had got the blessing that would have been his if he had not sold his birthright. His hard thoughts went so far that he intended to kill his brother. He spoke of this purpose to others, and his words were carried to Rebekah, their mother. When she heard of the dreadful thoughts that were working in Esau's heart she sent for Jacob and told him that his brother purposed to kill him. Then she told him to obey her voice; to arise and flee to the land where her brother Laban lived and stay with him until his brother's fury would turn away. She said also to Jacob that she would send for him to come back when Esau's anger was turned away.
Rebekah then went to Isaac, her husband, and said to him that she was weary of her life because of the daughters of the land, and asked what good her life would do her if Jacob took one of these daughters for a wife. Isaac, recognizing the difficulty, called for Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him not to take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, but to go off to Padan-aram to the house of his mother's father and there take a wife of the daughters of Laban his mother's brother.
Jacob thus sent of his mother and his father, started on his lonely journey to Padan-aram, leaving those he loved behind. No doubt his heart was full of sorrow to be thus thrust out, knowing that if he remained at home his brother would take his life. Perhaps, too, he would reflect upon the cunning and deceit that led to this sad state of things.
When the sun went down and night came on, he took a stone for a pillow and lay down on the ground to sleep. Many of you, dear little readers, would think that was a hard bed; and so it was. And poor Jacob had many other hardships before him. In God's government we must reap as we sow; and Jacob had a reaping time before him. But God had chosen him to be His servant and He was going to bless him, and to teach him as God only can teach.
Although Jacob's bed was hard, he went asleep; and he dreamed that he saw a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven; the angels of God were going up and down the ladder, and the Lord stood above it; He spoke to Jacob telling him that He was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and that He would be with him, and, would keep him wherever he went, and would bring him back to that land and would give it to him and to his seed.
When Jacob awoke from his sleep he was afraid. He said, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." He took the stone that he had had for his pillow and set it up to mark the place, and he called it Bethel, which means the house of God.
The angels on the ladder showed God's care for Jacob in that lonely place. He; perhaps, did not understand it, although God had told him that He would go with him and would scare for him. But we who believe in Jesus know that God sends His angels to be ministering spirits to us; and they watch over us and minister to us in many ways, although we cannot see them. (Heb. 1:1414Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14).)
And does not the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with the angels going up and down upon it, show to us that God would make a way to reach man? For us, Jesus is the way — the ladder, so to speak, that leads to God, He came down from God bringing God's love to us. He has gone back to heaven and He is the way to the Father, and to heaven for us. Jacob said, "This is the gate of heaven." The gate of heaven is open now for us, and we have no need to fear as Jacob did. By faith we can look in and see Jesus there for us, in the presence of God.
Messages of God’s Love 12/1/1901