The Dream of Bethel

Prophecy note, 5 October 2014
Jacob’s pouring oil
upon the stone
signifies the Triune God
flowing to reach man.
God is in heaven,
but He has been poured out
upon man.
When the Triune God reaches man,
He makes man
the house of God.
Before the oil was poured
upon the stone,
the stone was merely a stone.
But after the oil had been poured
upon it,
the stone
became the house of God.

In Genesis 28,
Jacob was
in a homeless and restless situation.
Since Jacob was homeless,
he was also restless.
Whenever man is separated from God,
both God and man
are homeless.
When man is homeless,
God is made homeless,
but when we are at home,
God also has a home.
When we have God
as our home,
we become God’s home.
What is man’s real home?
For eternity,
man’s home
will be God.
If you do not have God,
you do not have
a home.
No unsaved person
can ever feel at home,
for man’s real home
is God.
What is God’s home?
Man.
Man’s home
is God,
and God’s home
is man.

Day 5

The ladder in Genesis 28:12
is the center, the focus, of Jacob’s dream. 
This dream 
is a revelation of Christ, 
for Christ is 
the reality of the ladder 
that Jacob saw. 
Christ as the Son of Man, in His humanity, 
is the ladder 
that brings heaven (God) to earth (man) 
and joins earth and heaven as one. 
Our regenerated spirit, 
which is God’s dwelling place today, 
is the base on earth 
where Christ as the heavenly ladder 
has been set up. 
Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, 
we experience Christ 
as the ladder 
bringing God to us and us to God.
Where this ladder is, 
there are 
an open heaven, 
the transformed man, 
the anointing upon this man, 
and the building up 
of the house of God with this man. 
The issue of Christ as the heavenly ladder 
is Bethel, the church, the Body of Christ, 
and the consummation of this ladder 
is the New Jerusalem.

In John 1:51 
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 title the Son of Man 
indicates that God no longer is merely God 
but that He has become a man. 
This reveals 
that God is no longer just in the heavens 
but that He has become a man 
living on the earth. 
The ladder has been set up on earth 
because God has become a man. 
Before He was incarnated, 
He could not be called the Son of Man. 
When the Lord Jesus told Nathanael 
that he would see the angels 
ascending and descending on the Son of Man, 
Nathanael must have realized immediately 
that this was the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream.

In speaking of the gate of heaven, 
Jacob indicated 
that heaven was open, 
and there was the possibility 
for people to enter into it. 
In other words, 
there was the possibility 
for people to enter into God. 
A ladder is a way, like a street, 
except it is vertical. 
That ladder was a vertical way 
between earth and heaven, 
that is, 
from man up to God 
and from God down to man. 
With this ladder, this vertical way, 
is the opening of heaven 
where God is. 
This signifies 
that there is an access for man 
to touch God and contact God.

As far as the opened heavens 
are concerned, 
this place is the gate of heaven, 
but as far as the very spot on the earth 
is concerned, 
it is Bethel, the house of God, 
the dwelling place and resting place for God. 
The resting place for God 
is not in heaven but on earth. 
We may want to go to heaven, 
but God wants to come down to earth. 
Matthew 6:10 says, 
“Your will be done, 
as in heaven, so also on earth.” 
God is desirous 
to come to earth 
because earth has been 
corrupted, usurped, and occupied 
in a wrong way 
by the enemy of God. 
God’s desire 
is to recover this earth. 
Today in Christianity 
there is a wrong concept. 
People often speak about a “heavenly home,” 
but there is not such a thing in the Scriptures. 
Rather, God’s intention 
is to have a dwelling place, a Bethel, 
on the earth.

In Genesis 28 
there is a ladder 
upon which the angels of God 
ascend and descend, 
and in John 1 
this ladder is the Son of Man, 
upon whom the angels of God 
ascend and descend. 
Therefore, the ladder is the Lord Jesus Himself 
as the Son of Man, the incarnated Christ.

Moreover, in John 14:6 
the Lord said, 
“I am the way…; 
no one comes to the Father except through Me.” 
He is not the flat way 
but the vertical way 
by whom and through whom 
we come to God. 
As the way, 
He is the ladder. 
It is He 
who brings heaven to earth, 
and it is He 
who unites earth with heaven. 
It is He 
who brings God into man and man into God. 
He is the very way, the vertical way, 
to bring God and man together 
and to make heaven and earth one.

Day 3

Rev. 3:12
He who overcomes, 
him I will make a pillar 
in the temple of My God, 
and he shall by no means go out anymore, 
and I will write upon him 
the name of My God 
and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, 
which descends out of heaven from My God, 
and My new name.

Jacob’s dream 
is a most crucial point in this book, 
and Genesis 28:10-22 
unveils the most crucial matter 
in the revelation of God. 
God desires to have a house on earth, 
and His intention 
is to transform His called ones 
into stones, material for His building. 
In the account of Jacob’s dream, 
the stone, the pillar, the house of God, and the oil (v. 18) 
are outstanding items. 
The stone symbolizes Christ 
as the foundation stone, the top stone, and the cornerstone 
for God’s building. 
It also symbolizes the transformed man, 
who has been constituted with Christ 
as the transforming element 
to be the material 
for the building of God’s house, 
which is the church today 
and which will consummate in the New Jerusalem 
as the eternal dwelling place 
of God and His redeemed elect. 
In Genesis 28:11 
a stone was used by Jacob for a pillow, 
signifying that the very divine element of Christ 
constituted into our being 
through our subjective experience of Him 
becomes a pillow for our rest.

After awaking from his dream, 
Jacob set up the pillow
-stone as a pillar, 
signifying that the Christ 
who has been wrought into us 
and on whom we rest 
becomes the material and the support 
for God’s building, God’s house. 
Eventually, Jacob poured oil, 
a symbol of the Spirit 
as the consummation of the Triune God reaching man, 
on the pillar, 
symbolizing that the transformed man 
is one with the Triune God 
and expresses Him.

Genesis 28:18 says, 
“Jacob rose up early in the morning 
and took the stone 
that he had put under his head, 
and he set it up as a pillar 
and poured oil on top of it.” 
How peculiar it was 
that Jacob set up the stone for a pillar. 
If I had been he, 
I would never have done that with the stone. 
What is the meaning of this? 
It certainly corresponds to 
the whole revelation of the Bible. 
The most striking thing here 
is the anointing of the stone with oil.
According to the Bible, 
this act is very significant. 
In the Bible, 
the stone undoubtedly signifies 
a transformed man, a lump of clay 
which has been transformed into a stone. 
In typology, 
the oil signifies the third person of God 
reaching people. 
When God reaches you, 
He is the Spirit. 
Thus, the stone 
which was set up as a pillar 
and which had the oil poured upon it, 
is a symbol 
that the transformed man 
is one with the Triune God. 
Now the Triune God 
is not only in heaven 
but also on a transformed man 
and is one with this transformed man. 
This man 
is God’s expression on earth. 
When you look at the stone, 
you see the oil. 
When you look at the transformed man 
standing on the earth, 
you see the expression of God. 
How did Jacob know 
to pour oil on the stone? 
Before chapter 28, 
there is no record of this type of action. 
Nevertheless, after waking up from his dream, 
Jacob did this.

After pouring oil upon the top of the pillar, 
Jacob “called the name of that place Bethel”. 
Why did Jacob call the name of that place 
Bethel, the house of God? 
As he was anointing the pillar, 
he was under the anointing of the Spirit. 
That pillar represented 
himself, the transformed Jacob. 
I do not believe 
that at that time 
Jacob understood what he was doing. 
He was not as clear 
as we are today.

Day 1

While Jacob, the young supplanter 
who had gotten into trouble due to his supplanting, 
was on his lonesome journey, 
he had a dream. 
What Jacob saw 
was a dream; 
it was 
not yet a fact, 
because Jacob was still a supplanter. 
Deep within, 
he was probably 
still holding on to Esau’s heel. 
How could such a supplanter 
be the house of God? 
It was impossible. 
Hence, at that time, 
Jacob’s dream 
was only a dream.
Every spiritual vision 
is a dream.

What is the significance 
of a dream? 
The principle of a dream 
is that in it something impossible 
happens to you. 
Our being saved 
was a dream, 
the initial dream 
in our spiritual life. 
Although getting saved 
was an impossibility, 
we have been saved. 
Coming into the church life 
was also a spiritual dream. 
Everyone who has come 
into the church life 
has had a dream 
in which something impossible 
took place. 
I like these heavenly dreams.

As nearly all the called ones 
can testify, 
before they were saved, 
they were forced to suffer, 
to be lonesome, 
and to be in an environment 
in which everything man-made 
had become nothing. 
According to their understanding, 
everything man-made 
was useless, 
and they trusted 
in God’s creation, 
in the things 
made by God. 
It was at such a time 
that the dream from heaven came.

The principle 
is the same today. 
If you want another heavenly vision, 
then you must have some suffering.
Most heavenly visions 
come at a time 
when you are suffering 
or ill-treated.
When we are happy 
in the wonderful church life, 
the heavenly dream 
may not come.
But whenever we are deprived of 
so many man-made things 
and are brought to the place 
where there are 
only the God-created things, 
that is, 
when we are cut off from 
what is of man 
and put our trust in 
what is of God, 
the vision comes.

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.
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.