Jesus is the Ladder

Oct. 27

Read: Genesis 28:10-22

Dreamer; Part 3

Jesus is the Ladder

“And (Jacob) dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!” (v.12)

Jesus is the link between this world and the in-breaking Kingdom of God. Jesus declares, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In Jacob’s dream there is a ladder which is the link between where he is and the presence of the Lord who is positioned at the top. Jesus is this “ladder”. Jesus would one day come from the offspring of Jacob - bringing to the world and humanity the very “way”… the only path… to connect us to God.

In his dream, Jacob could see that he needed something or someone to be able to ascend to God. It was clear that these angels had the capacity to come and go, but in his dream there was not a moment where he - Jacob - would climb up that ladder. The truth is, we cannot “climb our way” up to God. We do not have that capacity on our own. It is God who makes his way to US! This truth is embedded in the words that the Lord speaks to Jacob:

“I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (v.13-15)

Take a subtle shift in this idea and it is easy to imagine that not only is Jesus the very “way” being sent down coming the Father as well as the only “way” of going to the Father - the “ladder”; Jesus’ incarnation is also the very act of God climbing down the proverbial ladder to us as his people. Philippians 2:5-8 declares:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

It is the Lord himself who took on flesh and walked among us. It is God who walked down that ladder. He came to earth. He is the one who opened a “gate to heaven”. (v.17) The coming of Christ is the linking of these two worlds - heaven and earth… God’s dwelling place and the realm of humanity. Jesus, like that ladder, spans these two words. His humanity like the bottom of the ladder firmly planted on earth and his divinity like the top of the ladder linked to heaven and the Father. Every good thing that comes to us today as the children of God comes down via Jesus, and any good thing brought up to the Lord is brought the same way- via Christ. Jesus is our “perfect high priest” who mediates on our behalf. (cf. Heb. 8:6)

Jesus is the one who carries us to the Father. He is so much better than a cosmic ladder. We need not “climb” by our own efforts. He has come to meet us and bridge the gap. Like Jacob, we have been shown a ladder. Like Jacob, we have had our eyes opened - as children of God - to the presence of the Father. Like Jacob, we realize that we NEED something - more precisely someone - who bridges the gap between us and our creator. What comes down to this earth through Christ and what goes up to the Lord in praise is so much more magnificent and powerful than even those angels that Jacob saw in his dream. Forget the “corporate ladder” - Jesus is the “ladder” that I want to climb! He has opened a “gate to heaven” and God’s beauty and presence has broken into this world. Jacob foreshadowed in his dream what was coming to US through Jesus. How cool is that! Love you guys. - JDP