Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” — Genesis 28:12

The Torah portion for this week, Vayetze, is from Genesis 28:10–32:3 and Hosea 12:13–14:10.

The Jewish Sages teach that when Jacob was on his journey to the city of Harran, he ended up somewhere that he had not intended to go. But it was late, and so Jacob found a few stones, made a pillow, and went to sleep. As providence would have it, the place where Jacob slept was the holiest place on earth.

There, he had his famous dream in which Jacob saw a vision of a ladder resting on earth, stretching up to heaven. Angels were going up and down on it. When Jacob woke up he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). Jacob had unintentionally, but providentially, stumbled upon a virtual stairway to heaven.

The God of a Second Chance

John Grant

“Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” Psalm 30:2
Recently I heard the story of a rebellious young man who got caught up in drugs, alcohol and a lot more. He left home and struck out on his own looking for something, but he didn’t know what. Things went from bad to worse and he was running with the wrong people. They all ended up in jail in a foreign country. He scraped up all the money he had and hired a lawyer, but the lawyer absconded with the money and failed to show in court and the young man was sentenced to five years in prison.

While in prison he met a murderer and a drug smuggler who were also serving time for their crimes, but had given their life to Jesus after reading Bibles given to them. The young man began meeting with them but the Bibles were in Spanish and he could not read the Word. Eventually someone got him an English Bible and through reading it, he too gave his life to Christ.

After five months in prison, his father and another man came to see if they could get him freed, but their efforts were not met with success. It was too late to appeal or re-open the case. The night before they were to leave they were in a local restaurant and began weeping over their failure. The manager observed their behavior and asked what was wrong. When they told him, he introduced them to a judge who just happened to be dining across the room. Through that introduction, the young man was freed.

The Sufferings of Jesus

In a loud voice they sang: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Revelation 5:12

In heaven, not only will our sufferings win us merit, the sufferings of Jesus will have an eternal perspective, too. Our Lord will be honored as the slain Lamb. His sufferings will never be forgotten. Unlike us, he will always visibly bare his wounds to the universe, and for that, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will enjoy praise as never before! If any dark demon in the corner of the universe ever doubted the righteousness of God in stooping to rescue debased sinners, he'll be set straight. No evil spirit will dare accuse God of having defiled His purity in order to redeem wicked men. No one will question God's righteous reputation for having condescended to save sinners.