Jacob’s experience, as recorded in Genesis 28:10–22, was none other than a temple experience—“This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (v. 17; emphasis added); Jacob “called the name of that place Beth-el” (Hebrew: “house of God”) (v. 19; emphasis added), and “this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house” (v. 22; emphasis added). Furthermore, this same text makes it clear that Jacob was in God’s presence, because Jacob stated, “Surely the Lord is in this place” (v. 16; see also vv. 12–13). As Elder Marion G. Romney explained, “Temples are to us all what Bethel was to Jacob.”126
“The gate of heaven” (v. 17; see also Hel. 3:28) means that the temple signifies an entryway into heaven. Every temple is, symbolically, a gate of heaven. Those who worthily enter the temple and receive the ordinances are enabled to enter into God’s presence through the gate. “Temples really are the gateways to heaven,”127 explains President Ezra Taft Benson.