When we come to the New Testament, we see that Christ is the ladder which Jacob saw. In John 1:51 Jesus said to Nathanael, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Christ is the One who brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven. Firstly, He brings heaven to earth and then He joins earth to heaven. Genesis 28:12 says that the ladder was "set up on the earth." According to our concept, Christ has gone away from the earth. But according to God's concept, Christ has been set up on earth, and no one can move Him. For nineteen and a half centuries, people have tried their best to shake this ladder, but they have been unable to do it. Do not think that Christ is coming down. No, He has already been set up on earth.

According to your deep, inner sense, where was Christ at the time you were saved—in heaven or on earth? According to your natural concept, He was in heaven. But according to your inner sense, Christ was directly in front of you, for He had been set up on earth. We have all experienced this. However, due to the influence of religion, we went along with our mental figuration instead of with our experience. In our experience of salvation, Christ was on earth.

Our Christ, who is the ladder bringing heaven to earth and joining earth to heaven, is now not only in heaven but also here on earth. Christ has been set up on earth and He is reaching into heaven for the purpose of coming to us and bringing us to Him. As we have already pointed out, in Jacob's dream the angels of God were ascending and descending on the ladder. The angels are waiting to ascend. I believe that whenever a sinner receives the Lord Jesus and is saved, many angels ascend to heaven bearing the good news. Firstly, the angels gladly ascend to heaven and then they immediately descend with good things for the new believer. This traffic does not start from heaven; it starts from earth and goes to heaven and back to earth again. In like manner, whenever we repent and say, "Lord, I want to gain more of You and to be gained more by You," the angels, who truly are reporters, bring the news to heaven.

Christ, the sent One, the One who brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven, is here on earth right now. Many times in my room I have had the sense that Christ was there. As soon as I responded to Him, it seemed that some angels, moving faster than a rocket, ascended to heaven to report the good news. Many of us can testify that on some occasions we had such a wonderful time with the Lord that we had no words to describe what was happening. That was a strong proof that the angels were there ascending and descending. Then, as we continued to have this good time with the Lord, we went a little further with Him, and the angels happily ascended to heaven again to report something new and to descend immediately with more good things for us.

According to the proper vision, the angels of God are ascending and descending. There is no need for us to pray or fast. We simply need to be forced by God's hand to leave everything human and to come into an environment where we have a dream and our blind eyes are opened. Then we shall say, "Amen, Lord Jesus. The ladder is here, and the angels are ascending and descending on it." When we were saved, something like this happened to us. But we did not have the words to explain it. Today, Christ, the ladder, the center of the universe, is here. This ladder has been set up on the earth and is waiting for us to see and touch it again and again. Whenever we have a vision, we may not have the understanding or the words to describe it, but we sense that a ladder is before us. Whenever we enjoy a spiritual experience, we have the sense deep within that something either before us or inside us is joining us to heaven and that if we touch it, we touch heaven. This is Christ. Often, when we have a further experience in the church life, we smile and say, "Why didn't I see this before? How stupid I was! Something has been set up on earth that reaches to heaven, and when I touch it, it brings me and joins me to heaven." This is the ladder. As we shall see in the next message, this ladder produces Bethel, the house of God, the gate of heaven. Using today's term, it produces the church.

Jacob's dream at Bethel was not of him; it was absolutely of God. Jacob had lost everything and was fully disappointed. He had become a hopeless and homeless case. But, much to his surprise, in the midst of his disappointment, the dream came. What is this dream? It is simply a vision, a seeing. In our experience, the ladder was there, but we did not see it. Now that we have the sight, we see the ladder which was there all the time. This is the significance of Jacob's dream.

Every spiritual experience is a dream. I cannot tell you how many dreams I have had through the years. Coming into the church life is a dream. Knowing the practicality of the church is also a dream. Many times we have said, "My, this experience is so good that it must be a dream. What a dream has come to me!" The more dreams we have, the better, for the more dreams we have, the more we touch and enjoy the ladder.

The center of every spiritual dream is Christ as the ladder, as the One who brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven. Whenever we sense deep within that we have been brought into heaven and have been joined to and made one with heaven, and that heaven has been made one with us, that is an experience of Christ. We should forget about trying to overcome sin and weaknesses. The proper experience in life is to have a dream of Christ as the heavenly ladder which has been set up on earth and which brings us into heaven. Do not try to overcome sin, nor to conquer your weakness. When you touch this ladder, you will be in heaven, heaven will be yours, and there will be much traffic between earth and heaven and between heaven and earth. You will have whatever you need, and every negative thing will be under your feet. This is the experience of Christ as the heavenly ladder.

Do not pray that the ladder will come down to you. Whether you pray or not, as long as you are God's chosen one and have a desire which corresponds to God's intention, you will sooner or later be forced to come to Bethel where you will have a dream. The purpose of this dream is always that we see Christ as the ladder. This heavenly ladder issues in Bethel, the house of God, the church. Here, in 28:10-22, we see the Christ who brings forth the church. This is truly a dream.