Opening the Gates of Heaven Perry Stone

And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” —G ENESIS 28:17

Two important points are noted in his statement. The term “this place” identified the land on which Jacob had slept that night. For years I pondered on the exact location of the place Jacob was speaking of where the dream occurred. The Bible says he called the name of the place Bethel , which in Hebrew means “house of God” (Gen. 28:19). He identified the land where he laid his head as the “gate of heaven.” At the time of the dream, no physical “house of God” had been set aside for the Hebrews (Jewish people) in the land, as the Hebrew family only consisted of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob. It would be centuries later, after Israel expanded to six hundred thousand men (Exod. 12:37), that Moses constructed the traveling wilderness tent called the tabernacle (Exod. 25:9). Generations later David’s chosen son, Solomon, built the sacred temple in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 3). However, centuries earlier than the building of either the tabernacle or the temple, Jacob had identified the site where he had the dream— this place— as the “gate of heaven.” T HE H OLY M OUNTAIN OF THE G ATE OF H EAVEN