The Biblical vision of Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22):
(10) And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
(11) And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
(12) And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
(13) And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
(14) And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
(15) And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
(16) And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
(17) And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
(18) And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
(19) And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
(20) And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
(21) So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
(22) And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
The vision of Jacob is the only place in the Bible where the word "ladder" appears. One of the general exegetic interpretations placed upon this passage in the Bible* is that the steps of the ladder are an allegory for the path of good works and faith that leads the believer to heaven. In this exegesis, the sides of the ladder are then interpreted to symbolise Christ, as that which holds together the entire process, from start to finish.
The Rule of St. Benedict interprets Jacob's Ladder thus:
...if we wish to reach the greatest height of humility, and speedily to arrive at that heavenly exaltation to which ascent is made in the present life by humility, then, mounting by our actions, we must erect the ladder which appeared to Jacob in his dream, by means of which angels were shown to him ascending and descending. Without a doubt, we understand this ascending and descending to be nothing else but that we descend by pride and ascend by humility. The erected ladder, however, is our life in the present world, which, if the heart is humble, is by the Lord lifted up to heaven. For we say that our body and our soul are the two sides of this ladder; and into these sides the divine calling hath inserted various degrees of humility or discipline which we must mount.
- The Rule of Benedict, Ch. VII: "On Humility"
As translated by Rev. Boniface Verheyen, OSB (1949)
Disclaimer: While I am a Christian and a reader of the Bible, my faith is not particularly strong - I am secular in viewpoint. I am an historian, and as such, my approach to the Bible is as an historical remnant of the past, not as Scripture. Whatever interpretations you may place upon the Biblical passage quoted above are your own - I am merely noding it for your reference.