The story in the Old Testament of Jacob’s ladder is often viewed as a fairy tale or a bad dream that Jacob had, probably brought about by his choice of a pillow (a stone). The story goes as follows: “And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac…And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth… and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
(Genesis 28:10–14) The Lord later changed Jacob’s name to Israel, from thus we get ‘The House of Israel,’ and ‘The Twelve Tribes of Israel (based upon his twelve sons),” etc. The dream that Jacob had was very significant, with a great deal of symbolism, only a small part of which we will refer to here.
The ladder symbolizes the conduit between heaven and earth. The angels, ascending and descending, represent God’s method of communication between Himself and man. This communication can take many forms: actual angels appearing to man; revelation via a still small voice; a heavenly vision; a dream such as Jacob had; inspiration flooding one’s mind after a fervent prayer; etc.
There is an interesting scripture in Alma where the Lord describes His plan, “And after God had appointed that these things should come unto man…then he saw that it was expedient that man should know…therefore he sent angels to converse with men, and made known unto them the plan of redemption.” (Alma 12:28–29)
The scriptures are replete with such events: ( Judges 13:3) “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman…” (1 Nephi 11:14) “And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me;” (Numbers 22:31) “Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way” (Luke 1:13) “But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias.” (Matthew 2:13) “…in a dream Joseph was warned by an angel” (Chronicles 36:15) These are just a few of the hundreds of recorded events in the scriptures where angels have appeared to man to give them messages from God.
The symbolism of the ladder, with angels descending and ascending, was a very appropriate and simple way for the Lord to reveal His way of communicating with us, His children. The God of Heaven and Earth has the greatest and most refined order of government imaginable, called the Patriarchal Order. His method of communicating is also very sophisticated for those with ears to hear. In Jacob’s dream, the angels descended to deliver their message, and then they ascended to report back. Earthly governments and organizations that try to mimic that communication procedure are the most proficient and successful organizations on earth.
Prophetic statements concerning family history have been made by some members of the church. Those, I believe, who have communicated with angelic messengers from on high.
The following was written in 1911 by Nephi Anderson “And so throughout the years, reaching into the Millennium of peace, this work of salvation will go on, until every worthy soul that can be found from earthly records will have been searched out and officiated for; and then the unseen world will come to our aid, the broken links will be joined, the tangled threads will be placed in order, and the purposes of God in placing salvation within the reach of all will have been consummated.” The unseen world mentioned by Nephi Anderson represents our ancestral angels who will come to our aid when we have done all that we can do on our own. President Monson has added “Is it any wonder that barriers in due time evaporate, as mists before the morning sun, when one has performed the work, experienced the test of faith and qualified for the desired blessings?”
Might our ancestral angels descend down that ladder to us, that very conduit of communication that Jacob saw in his dream? Nephi of old said it best: “And when they shall say unto you: Seek unto them that have familiar spirits…should not a people seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead?” (2 Nephi 18:19) May we be so blessed as to be worthy of such a visit, when we have sought in vain and have run out of earthly records.