Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™ I AM Ministries
“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”
Monday, May 23, 2016
Stairway to Heaven
A young fellow once said to his girlfriend: “I dreamed about you last night.” Naturally, she was intrigued and wanted to know all about it. He said, “I dreamed I proposed to you. I wonder what that means!” She said “That’s very simple. It means you have more sense when you’re asleep than you have when you’re awake!”
Jacob experienced the opposite of this phenomenon when he fell asleep one night near the Jordan River – he woke up with more sense than he had when he fell asleep. The man whose very name means deceiver, schemer, or supplanter was about to undergo a life-transforming experience – He was about to meet Jesus Christ. When you know Jesus, you have all the sense you need.
It happened unexpectedly, as is typical with God’s revelations. As he dozed off, Jacob’s mind was not on God. He had been on the run for a day or two and he was tired, anxious, frustrated, and afraid. The threats of his twin brother were still ringing in his ears and his heart was anxious. Trying to escape his Earthly troubles, Jacob found a suitable spot for the night, located a smooth stone for a pillow, yawned in the face of God, and fell asleep without communicating with Him. God, however, was about to make an epic communication with Jacob.
Jacob couldn’t have been very comfortable with his Earthly troubles besieging him and with nothing but a rock for a pillow. Even though he ignored God that evening, he needed God and God would favor him. God’s time to visit people with His comforts is often when they are most destitute of other comforts. When afflictions abound, so do the consolations of God abound even more. Such it was that, on a starlit night, Jacob saw a vision of amazing encouragement that would transform his life. He met Jesus Christ, our Savior, on that beautiful stairway to Heaven.
Jacob had a dream of a ladder reaching from Heaven to Earth. This ladder signifies a beautiful Old Testament prophecy and picture of Jesus Christ. Angels were ascending and descending upon it, and God Himself was at the head of it. This picture represents two things that should bring comfort to all Christians. First, this is the Providence of God, by which there is a constant correspondence kept between Heaven and Earth. The counsels of Heaven are executed on Earth, and the actions and affairs on this Earth are known in Heaven and are executed here on Earth.
Providence does its work gradually, step-by-step, just like climbing a ladder or ascending a stairway. Angels are employed as ministering spirits and to serve all the purposes and designs of Providence. The wisdom of God occupies the upper end of the ladder or stairway, directing the activities of the second causes to the glory of the First Cause. The angels are active spirits, continually ascending and descending, not resting day or night. They ascend, give an account of what they have accomplished, receive orders, and descend once again. This vision should give comfort to us all as we have both good guides and good guards in their going out and coming in on behalf of the Living God.
The second aspect is that the ladder is Jesus Christ, our mediator. Just as the stairway or ladder, Jesus is grounded on Earth in His human nature and divine in nature with His position in Heaven at God’s right hand. His human nature represents His humiliation, His divine nature, and His exaltation. All happenings between Heaven and Earth since the fall of man are accomplished by Him, the Stairway to Heaven. He is the only connection. Christ is the Way, the only Way (John 14:6). We have no way of reaching Heaven except by means of this ladder, Jesus Christ. If we climb up any other way, we are thieves and robbers.
It is normal to access Heaven through the ladder or stairway Jacob dreamed about (Genesis 28:12). Jacob learned, as we do also, that there is such a place as Heaven. But Heaven does not just exist, it is an accessible place through the One who makes it possible, Christ Jesus. Centuries later, LORD Jesus identified Himself to Nathaniel as the stairway Jacob witnessed (John 1:51). Jesus is the link between Heaven and Earth, for as both God and man He bridges the immeasurable distance between deity and humanity, Heaven and Earth.
We are able to approach God and reach Heaven only through Jesus Christ. He is the only bridge, the only mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). Jacob fell asleep a sinner and awoke a son of God. Jacob had a life-changing experience that night when he met Jesus Christ, the Stairway to Heaven. Jesus is available to us today as He was to Jacob long ago. You don’t need to be asleep to have good sense. Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your stairway into Heaven?
In His love and service,
Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ
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