Section 4
of this fact. "In the beginning was the Word… In Him was life" (vv. 1, 4). The Gospel of John does not say, "In the beginning was doctrine, and in it was knowledge." No, it says that in the begin ning was the Word, that the Word was God, and that in this One, the Word who was God, was life. Therefore, we find life in the first chapter of John. Furthermore, verse 42 of the same chapter speaks of a stone. When Simon was brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew, He gave him a new name, Cephas, which means "a stone." In the same chapter we are told that in the Lord was life and that one of His disciples became a stone. What is the meaning of this? It means that life not only quickens, enlivens, and regenerates but also transforms. Life will transform the believer into a piece of stone.
The purpose and use of the piece of stone are revealed in verse 51. Speaking to Nathanael, the Lord said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascend ing and descending on the Son of Man." The an cient Jews knew the meaning of this word. It was the fulfillment of Jacob's dream recorded in Gen esis 28:10-22. In that dream Jacob saw a ladder set up on the earth, the top of which reached to heaven and on which the angels of God ascended