“Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”
Genesis 28:12
In the dream of Jacob, we have in a vision a type of the Christ, that He is the gateway into heaven; for the description which is used, that of the “angels of God ascending and descending”, is quoted by Christ in reference to himself.
As Jacob fled from Esau, he set out for Laban’s house, in order to take a wife, as instructed by his parents. On the way, God appeared to him in a dream. He saw the angels on the ladder, and God gave to him the promise He had given to Abraham, that Jesus would come from his offspring. When he awoke from the dream, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Genesis 28:17. In the dream Jacob saw the way into heaven, and what prophecy his words truly are!
At the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus said to Nathanael, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man,” John 1:51. Jesus here shows the ladder of Jacob is himself, that He is the gateway into heaven. For does He not say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” John 14:6, and again, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture,” John 10:9-10? Jesus is the only way into heaven, and therefore He is the ladder into heaven which Jacob saw.