Christ Speaks for God by being the Ladder joining God and Man for God’s Building

...You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. John 1:51

Christ speaks for God by being the ladder joining God and man for God’s building; He is the heavenly ladder installed in our spirit to make us one with God for God’s building today.

Christ as the Word of God speaks for God through His becoming the ladder that brings heaven (God) to earth (man) and joins earth (man) to heaven (God) as one for God’s building; today God is working to gain His building, His built-up church, for the Lord to return soon. Amen!

This week we have been enjoying the matter of Christ as the Word of God, as seen in John chapter 1.

If we read the first chapter of the Gospel of John and have the Lord’s light shining on us, putting on the glasses of God’s economy as we read it, we will realize that there are five major events that took place in the universe, and all of them are mentioned or implied in this chapter.

As the prologue to the Gospel of John, John 1 is an abstract of the history of the journeying Triune God as the Word of God in eternity past, on the bridge of time, and eventually stepping out of time into eternity. Hallelujah!

First, we have God Himself creating all things; in John 1 we are told that all things were created through Christ as the Word of God, and He is the One holding and sustaining all things. Hallelujah!

Christ as the Word of God created all things, and even more, in the second major event in the universe, Christ as the Word of God became flesh.

Incarnation is the second great event; the Word became flesh (John 1:14) and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality.

How amazing it is to see that God Himself as the Word became flesh, and He dwelt among us to express God in a bountiful way, even to give grace upon grace to man. Amen!

Then, the third major event is redemption; at the end of His human life on earth, Christ as the Word of God spoke for God by dying on the cross to accomplish an all-inclusive redemption.

He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as mentioned by John the Baptist in John 1:29.

Hallelujah, by believing into Christ as the Lamb of God, we are redeemed by faith and we are saved! Praise the Lord!

Furthermore, the fourth major event in the history of the universe is that Christ as the Word of God who has become flesh and died on the cross resurrected to be a life-giving Spirit, even to be the anointing Spirit, mentioned in v. 32. Wow!

The Spirit descending upon Christ as a dove is a type of the Spirit whom Christ was to become (7:39), which Spirit is the Spirit of reality (15:16), even the Spirit who gives life (1 Cor. 15:45).

This One is the anointing Spirit to anoint God’s people for their regeneration, transformation, and building. Hallelujah!

In this article, we want to see the last major event that will take place in the universe soon, which is the building up of God’s people in Christ for Him to obtain a built-up church consummating in the New Jerusalem, as indicated by John 1:51.

Christ as the Word of God Speaks for God through His Becoming the Ladder bringing God to Man and Joining Man to God as One for God’s Building

And He said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. John 1:51

In John 1:51 the Lord Jesus told Nathanael, Truly, truly I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Hallelujah!

We don’t know what the context was, that is, what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree, but the Lord said to him that he is a man with no guile, and then Nathanael exclaimed, Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel!

To this, the Lord replied, You shall see heaven opened and angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Wow.

What does this refer to? It must refer to Jacob’s dream in Gen. 28; when he was running from his brother, he arrived at a certain place where he took a stone and made it a pillow, and during the night he had a dream.

And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Gen. 28:12
He dreamed that there was a ladder set up on earth reaching heaven, and on the ladder, the angels of God were ascending and descending.

When he woke up, he said, This is an awesome place, this is the house of God; so he called the name of that place, Bethel, and he took the stone pillow and made into a stone pillar, pouring oil upon it.

What is the meaning of this, what is the connection with Christ, and how can we as Christians experience this?

John 1:51 is the fulfilment of Gen. 28:11-22 and shows us Christ as the Word of God speaking for God through His becoming the ladder that brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven as one for God’s building.

Christ is the heavenly ladder set up on earth to bring God to man and to join man to God as one for the building of God. Hallelujah!

This is a dream that Jacob had, which was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, and we are in the fulfilment of that dream.

The principle of a dream is that something impossible happens to you; when you wake up, you are either happy or sad that the dream ended, for a dream is something that is impossible yet it happens to you.

For example, when we were saved, we were like in a dream, for we thought it is impossible to be saved, and when we came into the church life, again, we felt it was like a dream, for here we have God mingled with man and God enjoyed by man!

The stone that was a pillow and became a pillar signifies the Christ who has been wrought into us and on whom we rest becoming the material and support for God’s building, God’s house. Amen!

Christ as the Word of God speaks for God through His becoming the ladder that brings God to man and joins man to God as one for God’s building. Hallelujah!

When we received Christ as our life and everything, He became the heavenly ladder set up in our spirit to bring God to man and man to God for God’s building. Hallelujah!

Christ, in His being the heavenly ladder at Bethel, speaks to us how God desires to have a house on the earth.

God desires to gain not just a group of people who have His life and nature but even more, a house, a built-up corporate person.

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. 2 Tim. 4:22 In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. Eph. 2:22
He wants to gain a house constituted with His redeemed and transformed elect so that He may bring heaven to earth and join earth to heaven, to make the two as one for eternity!

Hallelujah, whenever we are in our spirit, we are in the house of God, and we are in the building of God with man!

We need to see that, first of all, Christ as the Word of God speaks for God in creating all things, in His incarnation, in His redemption, and in His becoming the anointing Spirit.

As the anointing Spirit, he comes into us to regenerate us and transform us, and He also builds us up with other transformed believers in Christ.

We may be in one of these three situations: we may be a created man who needs to be regenerated, a regenerated man who is quite natural and needs to be transformed, or a transformed man who is still separate and individualistic who needs to be united with others, built up together.

First, we need to be regenerated, then, we need to be transformed, and finally, we need to be united for God’s building.

Thank the Lord that He is in us as the Spirit doing a transforming and building work in us. Amen!

Day by day Christ as the Spirit is the imparting life-giving Spirit speaking within us, rebuking us, touching our heart and conscience, and working God into us.

As we remain in the process of transformation, we are also being built up together in God’s building to be God’s house.

May we keep turning to our spirit day by day so that we may be built up together as the church, the house of God, to be God’s dwelling place on earth!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming in us as the heavenly ladder to bring God to man and man to God for God’s building! Hallelujah, Christ is the ladder set up in our spirit to join heaven to earth and earth to heaven, to bring heaven to earth and cause us to live a heavenly life on earth! Amen, Lord, we open to You today. We exercise our spirit to live one spirit with You. Thank You for being the Word of God speaking for God through Your becoming the ladder that brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven as one for God’s building! Hallelujah, in our spirit we are one with God, joined to Him in Christ as the heavenly ladder, to be the building of God! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit and we want to remain in the process of transformation and building so that we may be Your built-up dwelling place in spirit today! We want to live a life for Your heart’s desire, for the church as the house of God on the earth!

Turn and Live in our Spirit to Experience Christ as the Heavenly Ladder for God’s Building, the Church, Consummating in the New Jerusalem

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Rom. 8:6 But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh...If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Gal. 5:16, 25
Jacob’s dream in Gen. 28:12 is a revelation of Christ, for Christ is the reality of the ladder that Jacob saw at Bethel, the house of God (John 1:51).

And today Christ is in our spirit; the Lord is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), and when we turn to our spirit, we touch Christ as the heavenly ladder for God to be brought into man and man to be brought into God as one for God’s building.

At Bethel, the house of God, the habitation of God, which is the gate of heaven, Christ is the ladder that joins earth to heaven and brings heaven to earth.

The key is our spirit; whenever we turn to our spirit, we experience Christ as the ladder bringing God to us and us to God. Amen!

Our regenerated spirit today is God’s dwelling place on earth (Eph. 2:22).

Our spirit is the base on earth where Christ as the heavenly ladder has been set up.

If we see this, we will realize that what Jacob dreamed of in Gen. 28 and what the Lord spoke in John 1:51 can be experienced by us today in a simple way by turning to our spirit.

When we turn to our spirit by calling on the name of the Lord, we experience and enjoy Christ as the heavenly ladder, and enjoy God and God infuses us more with Himself.

How amazing it is that we believers in Christ have Christ as the heavenly ladder set up in our spirit to bring God into man and man into God for God’s building! Amen!

We have not only been created by God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated by the Spirit, but even more, we’re in the process of being transformed and built up together to be the house of God, the habitation of God on earth!

As we turn to our spirit and live in our spirit, we experience Christ as the heavenly ladder for God’s building, the church as the Body of Christ today consummating in the New Jerusalem. Amen!

May we practice daily setting our mind on our spirit (Rom. 8:6) and walking according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16, 25) so that we may experience Christ as the heavenly ladder!

As we turn to our spirit and live in our spirit, we enjoy being joined to the Lord as one spirit, and God works Himself into us little by little, causing us to live a heavenly life on earth for God’s building. Amen!

The issue of Christ as the heavenly ladder is God’s building – Bethel, the church, the Body of Christ in this age.

For eternity, the consummation of Christ as the heavenly ladder is the New Jerusalem.

Today in the age of the church we need to enjoy and experience Christ as the heavenly, divine, and mystical ladder in our spirit that joins us to God, the ladder that brings God into God and brings us into God.

The Lord's coming back needs a solid building of His seekers. This building will be a stepping stone, a beachhead, for Him to take the earth, and it will be a mutual abode for both God and man. It will be the mingling of divinity with humanity and of humanity with divinity forever…This building will be the ultimate fulfillment not only of Jacob’s dream but also of God’s eternal plan. It will terminate the bridge of time and usher in the blessed eternity in the future. We must be for that building, and we must be that building! Witness Lee, Life-study of John, 2nd ed., p. 65
As we enjoy and experience Christ as the heavenly ladder, God is brought into us and we are brought into God, and we become the same as God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. Amen!

This is Bethel, the house of God. The issue of our experience of Christ as the heavenly ladder is that we become God’s building, His house on earth, the church as the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem for eternity. Praise the Lord!

Especially as we live at the end of this age, what the Lord needs is a solid building of His seekers; when He gains His building, He can return.

When the Lord gains a solid building of His seeking ones, He will have a stepping stone, a beachhead, for Him to come and take the earth, for He has a mutual abode for both God and man.

He wants to gain this, the mingling of divinity with humanity and of humanity with divinity forever! Amen!

God’s building will be the ultimate fulfilment of Jacob’s dream and also of God’s eternal plan. When God gains His building on earth, the bridge of time will be terminated and the blessed eternity will be ushered in.

Today we want to live for that building and even be that building so that we may hasten the Lord’s return.

Lord Jesus, we choose to turn to our experience to experience Christ as the heavenly ladder set up in our spirit bringing God to us and us to God! Amen, Lord, we turn to our spirit and we want to live in our spirit today. We set our mind on our mingled spirit. Saturate and permeate more with Yourself for God’s building. Build Yourself into us and build us into God. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to experience and enjoy You as the heavenly ladder set up in our spirit so that we may be part of God’s building, the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem! Amen, Lord Jesus, gain a solid building of Your seekers! Gain a stepping stone, a beachhead, for You to take the earth! Gain the mutual abode for both God and man! Mingle Yourself more with us today! We want to live one spirit with You for Your building today. We want to be Your building today! Amen, Lord Jesus, build Yourself into us and build us into You today!

References and Hymns on this Topic
  • Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of John, msg. 5, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 6, Christ as the Word of God.
  • Similar articles on this topic:
    God’s building, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
    The house of God, a portion from, The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
    Eternal Bethel, Eternal Mount Zion, via, New Jerusalem blog.
    The prayer and the subjective experience of Christ that we must have for God’s building, article by Ed Marks in Affirmation and Critique.
    Does Your Christian Journey Need Road Signs? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
    The heavenly ladder, a portion from, The Building of God, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
    A proper Christian life has three aspects: fighting the good fight against Satan and his kingdom of darkness for the interests of God’s kingdom; running the course for the carrying out of God’s economy… – via Living to Him instagram page.
    The presence of God, an open heaven, Bethel on earth, and the heavenly ladder in the church meetings, a portion from, The Building of God, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
    The Prologue to the Gospel of Life—the History of Christ as the Word of God, pdf outline via, LSM.
    Life-Study of Genesis: Messages 66-68, via, Living to Him.
  • Hymns on this topic:
    – Thou art the spotless Lamb of God, / Who died for our redemption; / Thou art the Spirit-giver too, / For our regeneration… / Thou even art our breath of life / Thyself we breathe in spirit; / By Thee we live, in Thee we walk, / Thy riches we inherit… / Thou art the ladder Jacob saw, / By Thee the heav’n is open; / In Thee we are the house of God, / And earth is joined to heaven. (Hymns #187 stanzas 14, 21, 25)
    – In us all the fulness of God dwells in Him; / As Spirit He brings God Himself thus within, / Revealing and making God real unto us, / God one with us building in life glorious. / The Savior ascended in heaven now dwells, / And soon He’s returning for us His Word tells; / Deliverer indwelling, He now in us lives, / And soon will transfigure, His glory to give. (Hymns #536 stanzas 5-6)
    – In God’s house and in Thy Body / Builded up I long to be, / That within this corporate vessel / All shall then Thy glory see; / That Thy Bride, the glorious city, / May appear upon the earth, / As a lampstand brightly beaming / To express to all Thy worth. (Hymns #840 stanza 5)
About aGodMan

A God-man is a normal believer in Christ; the author of this article is one who is learning to be a normal Christian, a daily enjoyer of Christ, a living and functioning member in the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, make us such ones for the building up of the Body of Christ!

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brother L.
brother L.
3 hours ago

The Lord is truly doing a transforming work within us. He is not a great eagle but a little dove—the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This little dove is the continuation of the little Lamb. Since the Lamb has died on the cross, the dove now in resurrection has His turn to work. Day by day, the little dove as the life-imparting Spirit speaks within you, rebuking you and touching your heart or conscience…

In a sense, we have inward rest; in another sense, the little dove troubles us constantly. The inward working of this little dove is the anointing. We all are under the process of transformation…God has destined us to be transformed for His building. After creation, incarnation, redemption, and anointing, we have building. This building is for the house of God. God is building a dwelling place for Himself, and He is using transformed people as the stones (John 1:42). Praise the Lord that we are not only undergoing the work of transformation but are also in the process of building. What God needs is not a great number of stones but a house. For eternity God needs a builded house, a Bethel, as His habitation.

Life-study of John, 2nd ed., pp. 62-65, by Witness Lee

RcV Bible
RcV Bible
3 hours ago

This is the fulfillment of Jacob’s dream (Gen. 28:11-22). Christ as the Son of Man, with His humanity, is the ladder set up on the earth and leading to heaven, keeping heaven open to earth and joining earth to heaven for the house of God, Bethel. Jacob poured oil (a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate expression of the Triune God reaching man) upon the stone (a symbol of the transformed man) that it might be the house of God. Here in this chapter are the Spirit (v. 32) and the stone (v. 42) for the house of God with Christ in His humanity. Where this is, there is an open heaven.

John 1:51 footnote 2 on “you shall see the heaven,” Recovery Version Bible

Stefan M.
Stefan M.
3 hours ago

Dear brother, we have not only been created and redeemed by Christ but we are also in the process of being transformed and built up by Christ as the anointing Spirit.

Even more, in our spirit we have Christ as the heavenly ladder joining heaven to earth for God’s building.

Hallelujah for God’s building, the mingling of divinity with humanity!

Lord, keep us turning to our spirit today so that You may build Yourself into us and build us into God. Gain Your building. Hallelujah for Christ as the word of God speaking for God!

Truly-truly-I-say-to-you-You-shall-see-heaven-opened-and-the-angels-of-God
M. D.
M. D.
3 hours ago

Amen, the Lord is constantly working within us to transform us.

Lord, thank you for speaking to us as the life-imparting Spirit. Transform us and gain us day by day for the building of your church!

Mario V.
Mario V.
3 hours ago

Ammeeen!!!

The Lord’s coming back needs a solid building of His seekers. This building will be a stepping stone, a beachhead, for Him to take the earth, and it will be a mutual abode for both God and man.

It will be the mingling of divinity with humanity and of humanity with divinity forever. This building will be the ultimate fulfillment not only of Jacob’s dream but also of God’s eternal plan. It will terminate the bridge of time and usher in the blessed eternity in the future. We must be for that building, and we must be that building!

Thank You Lord for entering into the bridge of time with those wonderful events of creation, incarnation, redemption, resurrection, and the building. Lord transform us and build us up. Thank You that You are preparing Israel and You are building the church. Lord Jesus we give ourselves to You for Your building!🙏🙏🙏

Seni A.
Seni A.
3 hours ago

Amen, we need to be transformed by the Spirit Dove which regenerates, transforms, and unites us.

Thank you, Lord, for the little Dove, the life-giving spirit which works through us day by day by the inward anointing.

Work us today Lord to the building of God’s house

M. M.
M. M.
3 hours ago

Praise the Lord for the revelation of His Word as follows:

Word > creation 
Word > Incarnation 
Word > Lamb of God
Word > Anointing 
Word > Ladder 

In addition to these, I really enjoyed the message that we are not allowed to remain only on our redemption, but we also need to move to the next stages of spiritual growth, which are regeneration and transformation from clay into stones for God’s spiritual building. Amen.

Furthermore, I am touched by the two ways of being Antichrist:

  1. to stand against and
  2. to replace Christ with any other things unconsciously.

Thank you, God, for your speaking in this morning revival!

Christian A.
Christian A.
3 hours ago

Hallelujah for the work of the Spirit within. Transformation is for building, brother

Richard C.
Richard C.
2 hours ago

Whenever we turn to our spirit we experience Christ as the heavenly ladder, bringing God to us and us to God! Hallelujah!

Such heavenly traffic has an issue which is the building up of God’s habitation, the Church as the Body of Christ to be consummated in the New Jerusalem!

Lord keep us turning to You today as the one who speaks for God!