Here are more thoughts on what we found out last night...
Christian arrives on the island and then apparently rises from the dead. It is Christian who then occupies Jacob's old cabin and eventually tells John that he has to die to get everyone to come back to the island. John does this, returns to the island also in a coffin, and then is also apparently brought back from the dead. We then find out at the end that the "risen John" is actually Jacob's beach buddy. It's very clear that Jacob and this other fellow are adversaries, and that both appear to be working towards something.
Jacob facilitates Nadia dying which sends Sayid on the path to where he shoots Ben, yet when John falls out of the window and seems like he should die, Jacob possibly brings him back to life and then apologizes and reassures.
Richard is the advisor to Jacob...then was Widmore the advisor to the beach dude? It certainly seems like the actions of the Widmore camp are in line with beach dude while Ellie and those associated with her are in line with Jacob. And it seems like Ilana and her gang are on Jacob's side too (oops...I just remembered that Jacob actually came to her bedside and asked for help, so this would make sense).
Random ramblings for sure...