A Significant Vision

Good morning everyone, it is so good to be here this morning with you all. Right now we get to send out the kiddos to their class where you have the opportunity to learn about God in a way that makes sense to you. Then, remember, you gotta pay attention real good so that you can come find me after service and tell me something you learned today. Then of course we also want to welcome those of you joining us online, etc.

So today we are going to be talking about an old school toy called Jacobs ladder. (get out the toy and start playing with it). This towy was fascinating as a kid because it just kind of keeps on going right…I mean, it doesn’t matter how many times you turn this top, it just keeps on flipping down and it keeps going, you never hit the bottom of it…its just kind of eternally going…Which is kind of interesting.

See, today we are going to look at a passage of Scripture that initiated this toy, as well as movies, and countless songs over the years… but what does it mean? Well the basic meaning is this picture of being never ending, or like an escalator. Actually, these songs typically reference the natural phenomenon of the sun breaking through the clouds in visible rays. Of course that was named after the Biblical ladder to heaven that Jacob saw angels traveling up and down into Heaven in a vision. That’s what we are going to talk about today…However, before we get to far into this story I want to remind you of another story in Genesis. A story that we talked about a couple of years ago. I’ve actually linked the Spotify link to the email and to the online description so that you can go back and listen to that again if you would like to.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0U6YaeqYTZwzCpEQxizmW9?si=yLpGmViAS2uXPH7vpDrotA

Anyway, I want you to think about this story from Genesis 11 where we talked about the group of people were were attempting to build a tower up to the heavens to find a way to get to God without the need for God himself. One of the things that was very important from that message that is still important for us to remember today is that there were a group of people that were attempting to make a great name for themselves. However, as Christians we should have an opposite view. Actually… Instead of saying “I will make a name for myself”…my mission is to “Proclaim the name of God”. Now, I’m going to ask you to just keep in small view for yourself about these people who attempted to go to God on their own merits, and we are going to return to that later.

Now, I’d like to go ahead and read this whole text today together so that we can more easily follow the story. So, go ahead and turn over to

Genesis 28:10–22 ESV

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he 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! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “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.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Thats a pretty significant vision right there…However, before that vision was a pretty powerful transformation that took place within Jacob. You remember Jacob was the home body, right? He was the son that stayed around the house, maybe he worked the crops right around the house, but he didn’t venture to far off like his brother Esau the hunter did. Now he has started this 500 mile hike to get to Haran…thats like leaving here and heading to Fargo ND, or if you’d rather go south then head on down to Nashville, TN. I mean this is a hike folks, and for a guy that likes to hang out at home…Jacob the home body will become Jacob the pilgrim, and he would have to learn to walk by faith as his father and grandfather before him.

Jacob left, it would take him around 3 days to get to Bethel. These next three days would be the toughest days for him…These are the days he is on his own. Will Esau chase him down and kill him in the wild? Will he be attacked by some traveling highway men. Will he have enough food to get him to his destination? These are all questions that would have been running through his head as he was traveling. Then he made it to Bethel and decided to make camp and stop for the night. When he chose a smooth stone to be his pillow that night. Now, in case anyone is wondering what kind of ancient Egyptian cotton he might have been using for his pillow case, a pillow was not so much used for comfort as it was to prevent bugs and critters from crawling into the hair, ears, nose, and mount, so this was purely a utilitarian purpose, not a comfort purpose. See, Jacob was going to sleep and he had no idea God was going to meet him that night.

Really quickly this morning I want to share with you a number of significant things about this vision, and this lasting impact of this vision of Jacob’s ladder. Starting off with

A Significant Dream: (vs.11-12)

Yeah, this vision came as a part of a pretty significant dream. Jacob laid down to sleep and and as he laid there he saw a ladder, or a stairway with angels coming up and down between Heaven and Earth. In this moment…during this dream, Jacob discovered he was not alone…God was with him. The God he had heard stories of…The God of his father Isaac, and of his grandfather Abraham were watching over him in this place. Jacob saw that the angels were sent there to guard, protect, and serve him

That’s not all though…We also see

A Significant Declaration: (vs. 13–15)

This is huge…I mean, Isaac has already blessed Jacob, but that is nothing compared to God saying these words to you. The Lord didn’t rebuke Jacob for participating in the scheming of his mother Rebekah, instead he made him a promise. The Lord, Yahweh, spoke words of assurance to Jacob. Now think about this for a moment…this is the same God who had cared for his father and his grandfather. Jacob would have heard the stories for sure…and now he is hearing these words directly from the mouth of God. The Lord is now pledging to care for him and to give to him the very land where he was laying down. The Lord is pledging to multiply his descendents and fulfill the promise to bring a blessing to the entire world through his descendants. Basically God is confirming his father Isaac’s blessing to him and ensuring that it has the power of the Lord behind it.

The Lord promised to be present with Jacob no matter what happens moving forward. In those days, people had the idea that when you left home, you left your god behind you. But the Lord of all the earth promised to go with Jacob, protect him, and one day bring him back home. This was an unheard of idea! No matter what happened, the Lord would accomplish His will in and through Jacob. The promise of God’s presence with His people is repeated throughout Scripture. For example,

Psalm 46:7 (ESV)

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

God will continue to appear to Jacob at least five more times in the years ahead, but this first meeting was a significant one. He learned that God was interested in him and was at work in his life. From that night on, as long as he trusted the Lord and obeyed His will, he had nothing to fear. Many of us in this room today have had that exact same experience. We have met the Lord somewhere, somehow and God has shown his interest in you personally, and is working in your life…now as long as you trust the Lord and live a life pleasing to him, which means to love God and love others, then you have nothing to fear…although, I know…sometimes we forget about that in the midst of the stuff we have going on in life.

Let’s keep going though because all of this demands som sort of a response…

A Significant Decision (vv. 16–22)

Jacob had to wake up from this eventually didn’t he. I mean, I am certain he wish he could have just stayed in the peace of the Lord, but he did just realize that he is in the presence of the Lord, so that means he doesn’t really need to be concerned about anything coming at him, right…Although that’s not really the only fear one might have after a dream like that. After a dream like that there are some decisions that really and truly need to be made.

Jacob woke up and his immediate response was one of fear and surprise…that tracks. God was here in this place with him, and he didn’t realize it before. We read in Prov. 1: that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”, so really Jacob’s reaction is the right reaction. The fear of the Lord will lead to wisdom. Jacob has just discovered, or more accurately realized that he could find God in unlikely places, and that means that any place is in fact the house of God. All of creation is God’s house.

Jacob continues in an act of worship to the Lord. The headpiece he had laid his head on, he turned into a pillar to create a memorial of this great experience that God had given him that night. Jacob poured oil onto the stone, consecrating it to the Lord. This was not an alter, and there was no sacrifice made on this memorial stone, it was simply a memorial, set apart for this vision from the Lord. Later in the Hebrew traditions it is seen that pouring oil out on something is a symbolic way of pouring your own life out in devotion to the Lord.

There is something more important happening here though. You see, Jacob has set up some visuals and he has created a place of worship, but more than that Jacob dedicated himself to the Lord, and claimed the promises of God that morning. Jacob is the only patriarch to make a vow to the Lord. However, don’t take this as Jacob making a bargain with God, but instead this is Jacob affirming his faith in God. The God of Abraham and Isaac has promised to care for him, and to he with him, and then to bring him back home safely to the Land that has been promised to him. If that is true, which God just confirmed, then Jacob would affirm his faith in God and seek to worship and honor him alone.

Jacob’s life would not be easy, and in this promise from the Lord was no promise of ease. Even though God forgave his sins and was with him in his journeys, Jacob still must suffer the consequences of his sins…just like you and I do. God in His never-ending grace forgives us, but God in His righteousness also sees to it that we reap what we sow and many times our consequences are not removed from us.

Let me give you a preview of these consequences. Jacob deceived Isaac, but Jacob’s father-in-law Laban will lie and deceive him. Jacob used a goat to deceive his father, and later Jacob’s own sons will use a goat to deceive him about Joseph. While working for Laban Jacob will endure many hardships, both as a shepherd, and as the husband of four wives with many children. The thing that will keep him going through all of that is his faith in the promises of God. God promised to be with him, and that is what Jacob would depend on…The promise that he was introduced to during this significant vision. God didn’t fail Jacob, and he will not fail us today.

Now…earlier I told you about the passage in Genesis 11 where we read about the Tower of Babel. I want to bring out some pretty interesting things here with these passages. These two passages are seen as opposites views on the topic of salvation. One the one side you have a group of men trying to reach heaven based on their own actions aside from any help from God. The other group however, has access to heaven based strictly on the provisions of God, with nothing being added from the efforts of man.

Within the Christian faith there has grown many branches that will pretend to show a picture of heaven but this picture will always be seen with some effort of man. The only truth is that when there was a group of men that were trying to get to the heavens God removed them, not because he was afraid they would succeed, but because he knew they wouldn’t. As Christians we see this dream of Jacob’s as highly symbolic, representing the Mediator, Jesus Christ, who came to earth and became that ladder or stairway for us to reconnect the relationship with God that was severed because of sin.

Later when Jesus was walking this Earth and he was choosing who would walk with him in ministry he came to a couple of men named Phillip and Nathanael. Well, first he found Phillip and he told Phillip to follow him. Then there was a discussion about Nathanael, and Nathanael didn’t think anything good could come from Nazareth. Well, Jesus kind of jokes with him about it referring to the comment when he meets Nathanael. Of course that does it for him, and he proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus rightly recognizes that they only reason Nathanael said that was because he has seen what happened, and then Jesus says this,

John 1:51 (ESV)

And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus is referring to the vision of Jacob’s ladder becuase according to Scripture, Jesus is the real, "Jacob’s Ladder" who came to earth, from the line of Jacob, through the provisions of God, and redeemed us so that we may live in heaven for eternity. What about

Your Significant Decision

Yeah…you have a significant decision to make today also…Is your decision one of belief for the first time? Is your decision one of recommitment finally realizing that the promises of God’s provision are real for you? If your decision one of public profession realizing that you need to be baptized in order to publically profess your faith to the world? Or is your decision one of needing to commit your life and your effort to the glory of God and not the glory of self? There’s lots of different ways to do that, but let me tell you it starts with prayerful surrender, and it ends with serving others…in between, thats where you get to discern God’s will in your life. Grab a buddy and go along that journey together…if you need help, or a place to start, send me a message and I’ll be happy to get you started. If you are making one of these other decisions, please message me so that I can pray with you as you seek to make these significant decisions.