Please read the passage before reading the comments.
Jacob left the land of Canaan for Haran the home of his ancestors. He was running away from his brothers who was extremely irate towards him. Jacob had designs on inheriting the land, but by running away he was giving up his claim. He would find out that only by giving up his claim could he gain the land. He came to a particular place and had a dream about a ladder reaching up the sky which allowed divine messengers to travel between earth and heaven. He experienced the Lord standing next to him and promising to give Jacob the land. This experience taught him that God was in that place and that the ground was holy. He called the place Beth-el, which means House of God. The ladder is real. In sending the Son of God, Jesus, God established a permanent ladder between heaven ands earth. In forming us into his likeness Jesus has established us as that ladder, in himself. We, then, have become God’s ladder between heaven and earth. Jesus has made us into the House of God on this earth. We are Beth-el, the place God dwells on earth.