Genesis 28:10-22
At church camp, when I was a child, I remember sitting around the campfire, singing the song, "We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder." At the time, I misunderstood it to mean that everyone in this life was on a journey up to Heaven. Not true. The real interpretation of this passage shows us the Divine Trinity: God the Father standing above the ladder; Jesus Christ, the Son, depicted as the ladder, touching heaven and earth; and the Holy Spirit running messages to and from those who are yielded to God.
Jacob was a young man who was on the run. He had been deceitful in the past, and now, fearful of God and man, had chosen to run away. But still, deep inside, he really wanted to know God. When he came to a certain place in life, he laid down to sleep and dreamed: "Behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it." He saw the Lord standing above it, and heard Him speak directly to him with a promise of peace and blessings for himself and his family, for generations to come. God told Jacob that He would bring him back to this land, and that he, and his seed, would then be a blessing to all the families of the earth. The Lord had vowed to plant him in good soil, and grow him step by step, according to God's direction. The ladder in his dream represented Jesus, the only way to Father God in heaven. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14) The angels going up and down the ladder was a picture of the Holy Spirit, as He brings messages from God to us and from us to God. This was an awesome place of fellowship with God! When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he was afraid, and he realized that the Lord was in that place, He called that place "awesome," "none other than the house of God," and the "gate of heaven!" Jacob, as a testimony to God, set up the stone he had laid his head on, pouring oil on it as a sign that now the Holy Spirit was a vital part of his new relationship with his Lord. Now God would be able to grow him in his faith as his Lord and Provider.
So, in conclusion, we are not all climbing a ladder to Heaven, but we can stop running, and come to the Gate of Heaven, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the only way to the Father in heaven. We must confess that we do not know God as we should, and have not let Him direct our lives, but rather, have done what was pleasing in our own eyes. As we turn from selfishness and receive the abundant life, we trust in the only Triune God, and say, as Jacob did, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it." Come back, in perfect peace, letting the Lord plant you in the good land, and grow you in faith so that you are no longer running from God, but rather, you and your family will be blessed by God, and be a blessing to God Himself and to all the families of the world.
~ Ruth Ann Ward
