TRUTH LESSONS—LEVEL THREE
THE TYPES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

LESSON NINE

THE LADDER SET UP ON THE EARTH
AND REACHING TO HEAVEN
AND BETHEL

OUTLINE

1. The ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven typifying Christ as the way for the communication between God’s elect on the earth and their God in heaven:
   1. Set up on the earth and reaching to heaven, signifying that Christ brings the earth into communication and union with heaven.
   2. The angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder, signifying that the ministering angels serve from the earth to heaven for the sake of God’s elect.
   3. God speaking to Jacob above the ladder, signifying that God converses from heaven with His elect on the earth through Christ.
2. Bethel as God’s house on the earth typifying the church as God’s dwelling place on the earth:
   1. Produced by the pouring of oil on the stone, signifying that the church is formed by the pouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers as stones.
   2. As the gate of heaven, signifying that the church is the entrance leading to heaven.
   3. Becoming the hope of God’s wandering elect, signifying that the church is the home and the hope of the roaming and wandering believers.

TEXT

After Isaac and Rebekah as a type of Christ and the church, we have the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven in Jacob’s dream and Bethel as the house of God on the earth as types portraying Christ and the church in another aspect.

I. THE LADDER SET UP ON THE EARTH
AND REACHING TO HEAVEN TYPIFYING CHRIST
AS THE WAY FOR THE COMMUNICATION
BETWEEN GOD’S ELECT ON THE EARTH
AND THEIR GOD IN HEAVEN

Genesis 28 shows us that Jacob was forced to leave his home and family, and from Beersheba he went toward Padan-aram. He came into a situation where he was lonely and helpless. Because the sun had set, he took a stone and made it his pillow, and lay down in that place to sleep. In his dream he saw a ladder set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending on it (vv. 10-12). The dream that Jacob had was fulfilled in the New Testament, in John 1:51, where the Lord 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.” The Son of Man here is the ladder in Genesis 28:12. This reveals that the ladder set up on the earth and reaching to heaven which Jacob saw in his dream typifies Christ as the way for the communication between God’s elect on the earth and their God in heaven. Through Christ as the heavenly ladder, the living way (John 14:6), God and we, we and God, can have contact and communication with one another.