Gen
28:12 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.
Gen
28:13 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;
Gen
28:14 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.
Gen
28:15 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.
Gen
28:16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is
in this place; and I knew it not.
Gen
28:17 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.
A ladder
set up on the earth, the top of the ladder reached to heaven. On the ladder
angels of God went up and down between earth and heaven.
Joh
1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of man.
The
Ladder-Jesus Christ our Lord.
A ladder
enables a person to get to a place they otherwise would not be able to get to,
right? The only reason we use a ladder is because without one we couldn't get
to where we need to be. The other day I went up and down a ladder in my house
as I hung up Christmas cards in strings upon my walls. I had to climb the
ladder so I could reach the hook to place the string of cards. Without that
ladder I never would have been able to reach the hook, it would be impossible.
I could think about it all day long and still would never be able to do what I
needed to do without a ladder.
It's safe
to assume the majority of people have used
a ladder a time or two during their lives. Some people use them every
single day as their job or living arrangements dictate. Ladders are extremely
useful and most buildings in existence would not be built without a ladder.
When a young child climbs their first ladder a parent is usually right there
behind them, even if the ladder is just a step or two leading to a toddler
slide.
Ladders
need to be sturdy in order to work as they should. A ladder needs to be
dependable or else we risk falling and injury. Often people will have other
people hold a ladder to give it extra stability as they climb.
Ladders
can be frightening as well because even the most secure ladder in the world
will not keep our feet from slipping. Some people have hooks on a belt around
their waist they use to alternately hook themselves into the rungs of the
ladder as they climb so should their foot slip, or hand miss its mark throwing
them off balance they won't fall to the ground below which could be hundreds of
feet on some towers and such.
The fact
there exists a spiritual ladder one that reaches to heaven where God resides
and to earth below is truly an amazing analogy. That we read in the New
testament that the ladder is none other than the Lord, Jesus Christ is amazing. Jesus bridges the gap between what is
otherwise impossible to reach. There is no other way to reach heaven than
through Jesus Christ.
Joh
1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of man.
Jesus
touches the earth and anchors there, stretching all the way to God in heaven
above. Angels of God through Jesus - first through the hope of the promise of
Jesus to bridge the gap, secondly through the reality of Jesus' death and
resurrection when the gap was fixed permanently- Jesus has been the way to God,
to bridge the great gulf that exists between man and God. Angels help mankind
at God's command, ministering to us as needed towards our eternal life.
Gen
28:17 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.
Jacob was
in fear, in complete awe, overwhelmed with the reality of the majesty of the
place where He was. The House of God-
the Gate of Heaven. His spiritual eyes were opened, he was allowed to see
beyond the temporal realm, the tangible existence. The vision given to him left
him in complete and utter astonishment, shock flowed through him, he'd been
gifted with insight into Heaven and the house of God.
More on
all this tomorrow by the grace and will of God! All through HIS LOVE!
