Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. Genesis 28:16.

Jacob awoke with a solemn sense of the presence of God…. Through the Spirit of God, the plan of redemption was revealed to him, not fully, but such parts as it was essential for him to know. The time of Christ’s first advent was yet far in the future, but God would not let His servant remain in ignorance of the fact that sinful men and women have been provided an Advocate with the Father.

Up to the time of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against the government of God, there had been free communion with God. Heaven and earth had been connected by a path that the Lord loved to traverse. But the sin of Adam and Eve separated earth from heaven. The curse of sin was upon the human race and was so offensive to God that fallen humanity could have no communion with their Maker, however much they might desire it. They could not climb the battlements of heaven and enter the city of God, for there entereth into it nothing that defileth. The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed medium of communication. Had He not with His own merits bridged the gulf that sin had made, the ministering angels, ascending and descending on that ladder, would have held no communication with sinners.

All this was revealed to Jacob in his dream. Although his mind at once grasped a part of the revelation, its great and mysterious truths were the study of his lifetime and unfolded to his understanding more and more. In his conversation with Nathanael, Jesus referred to this mystic ladder on which Jacob gazed with pleased wonder. Said He, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

It is our lifework to commence at the lowest round of the ladder and step by step to ascend toward heaven…. We ascend by successive steps. When we let go of one round, it is to grasp another that is still higher. Thus the hand is constantly reaching upward for successive degrees of grace, and the feet are planted on one round after another, until finally an abundant entrance shall be administered to us into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.—Signs of the Times, July 31, 1884.

From From the Heart

This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! Genesis 28:17.

Jacob was not perfect in character. He sinned against his father, his brother, his own soul, and against God. Inspiration faithfully records the faults of good men, those who were distinguished by the favor of God; indeed, their faults are much more fully transcribed than their virtues…. They were assaulted by temptations and were often overcome by them, but they were willing to learn in the school of Christ. Were these characters presented before us as faultless, it would tend to discourage us in our strivings after righteousness…. It shows that God will by no means clear the guilty. He sees sin in His most favored ones, and He punishes them even more decidedly than those who have less light and responsibility. But in contrast with the sins and errors of humanity there is presented one perfect character—that of the Son of God, who clothed His divinity with humanity, and walked a man among the children of men….

Jacob obtained by fraud the blessing designed for his brother. God had promised him the birthright, and the promise would have been fulfilled in good time had he been willing to wait. But like many who now profess to be the children of God, he lacked faith and thought he must do something himself instead of submissively leaving the matter in the hands of the Lord….

As he pursued his lonely way, he was greatly cast down and discouraged…. Yet God did not utterly forsake Jacob. His mercy was still extended to His erring, distrustful servant, although He would permit afflictions to come upon him until he should learn the lesson of patient submission. The Lord graciously and compassionately revealed just what Jacob needed, a Savior….

Wearied with his journey, the wanderer lay down upon the ground with a stone for his pillow. And while he slept, the Lord gave him a vision. He beheld a ladder, bright and shining, whose base rested upon earth while the top reached to heaven. Upon this ladder angels were ascending and descending, and above it was the Lord of glory, who addressed Jacob in words of wonderful encouragement. He assured Jacob that he was under divine guardianship in his absence from home, and that the land whereon he lay as an exile and a fugitive would be given to him and his posterity.—Signs of the Times, July 31, 1884.

From From the Heart

My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering. Genesis 22:8.

As they drew near the mountain, “Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” These endearing words, “My father,” pierced his affectionate heart, and again he thought, Oh! That I, in my old age, might die instead of Isaac….

Isaac assisted his father in building the altar. Together they placed on the wood, and the last work preparatory to the sacrifice is done. With quivering lips and trembling voice, Abraham revealed to his son the message that God had sent him…. Isaac was the victim, the lamb to be slain. Had Isaac chosen to resist his father’s command, he could have done so, for he was grown to manhood; but he had been so thoroughly instructed in the knowledge of God that he had perfect faith in His promises and requirements….

He comforted his father by assuring him that God conferred honor upon him in accepting him as a sacrifice, that in this requirement he saw not the wrath and displeasure of God, but special tokens that God loved him, in that He required him to be consecrated to Himself in sacrifice.

He encouraged the almost nerveless hands of his father to bind the cords which confined him to the altar. The last words of endearing love were spoken by father and son, the last affectionate filial and parental tears were shed, the last embrace was given, and the father had pressed his beloved son to his aged breast for the last time. His hand is uplifted, grasping firmly the instrument of death which was to take the life of Isaac, when suddenly his arm is stayed…. “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.” …

Our heavenly Father surrendered His beloved Son to the agonies of the crucifixion. Legions of angels witnessed the humiliation and soul anguish of the Son of God but were not permitted to interpose as in the case of Isaac. No voice was heard to stay the sacrifice. God’s dear Son, the world’s Redeemer, was insulted, mocked at, derided, and tortured until He bowed His head in death. What greater proof can the Infinite One give us of His divine love and pity?—Signs of the Times, April 1, 1875.

From From the Heart

Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Genesis 22:2.

[Abraham] was one hundred and twenty years old when this terrible and startling command came to him in a vision of the night. He was to travel three days’ journey and would have ample time for reflection. Fifty years previous, at the divine command, he had left father and mother, relatives and friends, and had become a pilgrim and a stranger in a land not his own. He had obeyed the command of God to send away his son Ishmael to wander in the wilderness. His soul was bowed down with grief at this separation, and his faith was sorely tried, yet he submitted because God required it….

Abraham was tempted to believe that after all, this might be a delusion. Stricken with grief, he bowed before God and prayed as never before for a confirmation of this strange command, for greater light if he must perform this terrible duty. He remembered the angels sent to tell him of God’s purpose to destroy Sodom and those who bore to him the promise that he should have this same son Isaac….

He finally awakened Isaac softly, informing him that he was commanded of God to offer sacrifice upon a distant mountain, and that he must accompany him. He called his servants and made every necessary preparation for his long journey. If he could unburden his mind to Sarah and they together bear the suffering and responsibility, it might bring him some relief; but he decided that this would not do, for her heart was bound up in her son, and she might hinder him. He went forth on his journey, with Satan by his side to suggest unbelief and impossibility….

The journey of the third day is commenced. Abraham lifts his eyes to the mountains, and upon one he beholds the promised sign. He looks earnestly, and lo, a bright cloud hovered over the top of Mount Moriah….

He was yet a great distance from the mountain, but he removed the burden from the shoulders of his servants and bade them remain behind while he placed the wood upon the shoulders of his son, and himself took the knife and fire.—Signs of the Times, April 1, 1875.

From From the Heart

In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory. Isaiah 45:25.

Abraham was called out from an idolatrous family and was appointed of God to preserve His truth amid the prevailing and increasing corruptions of that idolatrous age. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” …

The Lord communicated His will to Abraham and gave him a distinct knowledge of the requirements of the moral law and of the salvation that would be accomplished through Himself. It was a high honor to which Abraham was called, that of being the father of the people who for centuries were the guardians and preservers of the truth of God for the world—of that people through whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed in the advent of the promised Messiah….

God conferred upon His faithful servant special honor and blessings. Through vision and through the angels that walked and talked with him as friend with friend, he was made acquainted with the purposes as well as with the will of God….

But the descendants of Abraham departed from the worship of the true God and transgressed His law. They mingled with the nations who had no knowledge or fear of God before their eyes, and gradually imitated their customs and manners until God’s anger was kindled against them, and He permitted them to have their own way and follow the devices of their own corrupt hearts….

But when they humbled themselves before God and acknowledged His dealings and cried unto Him earnestly for deliverance from the oppressive yoke of the Egyptians, their cries and their promises to be obedient reached heaven. Their prayers were answered in a most wonderful manner, and Israel was brought forth from Egypt, and the covenant made with their fathers was renewed to them.

Thus was the knowledge of the law of God preserved through successive generations from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses.—Signs of the Times, April 22, 1886.

From From the Heart