January 13, 2018
On Jacob’s trip to Haran to find a wife, he had a vision from the Lord. As he slept on the ground with a rock for a pillow, he dreamt of a stairway between heaven and earth. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, who told him that “all the families of the earth” would be blessed through his family. This was a confirmation of God’s covenant with Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, to whom God had promised the same (See Gen. 12:3).
Has God kept His covenant promise to bless all the families of the earth through Jacob’s descendants? Yes! First of all, God has blessed the world with the gift of the Bible, which was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit almost entirely by Jacob’s descendants. And most importantly, God has blessed the world with the gift of Jesus, who is a descendant of Jacob and the Son of God.
Jacob saw a stairway, a ladder, between heaven and earth. In chapter 11 of Genesis, mankind tried to reach God through their own effort by building the tower of Babel, but failed. Yet, Jacob saw a ladder from heaven that reached all the way to earth. Isn’t that ladder Jesus? What man couldn’t do, God did by sending Jesus. “For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Jesus is the Promised descendant, God’s greatest blessing to all the families of the earth!
January 13, 2016
Jacob, sleeping on a rock for a pillow, dreamt of a ladder that connected heaven and earth. He heard God promise that his offspring would fill the earth and that through them all peoples would be blessed. He awoke and named the place “Bethel,” which is Hebrew for “House of God” (“beth” house + “el” god). I’m sure he meditated on this vision for the rest of his life. I wonder, did he foresee that God’s Son would be born into the line of his son, Judah? Did he understand that God would send Jesus as the Ladder of Love to open the way to heaven for those who would believe?
January 13, 2013
Jacob, sleeping on a rock for a pillow, dreamt of a ladder that connected heaven and earth. He heard God promise that his offspring would fill the earth and that through them all peoples would be blessed. He awoke and named the place “Bethel” (“beth” house + “el” god). I’m sure he meditated on this vision for the rest of his life. I wonder, did he foresee that God’s Son would be born into the line of his son, Judah? Did he understand that God would send Jesus as the Ladder of Love to open the way to heaven for those who would believe?
January 13, 2012
There is a spiritual principle here for singles. Don’t be unequally yoked (2 Cor. 6:14). This includes dating. Why tempt your heart? Put a person’s spiritual condition at the top of your “What I’m looking for in a mate” list!
January 13, 2011
How often we go through life thinking like Jacob. Yet, our God is present. We are not alone in the wilderness. God is there.