Stairway to Heaven
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
What was your lowest point
Jacob’s Situation
Jacob’s Situation
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
This is Jacob’s lowest point
Estranged from his family
Indirectly blessed but without proof
No People
No Place
No Plan
Poor
10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.
There has been no God in Jacob’s story since before his birth (he is now at least 40)
Jacob’s trip
He comes to a “certain place”
The Place is unnamed and insignificant
Jacob isn’t there for a purpose, it’s a roadside motel
He lays down to sleep
A rock for his pillow – emphasizes his lowliness
The same is said of Jesus
Matthew 8:20 “20 Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’”
Jacob’s is isolated from his family, running for his life, and apparently missing out on the blessing he had clawed for (isolated from God himself), But God comes to him.
Jacob’s Vision
Jacob’s Vision
12 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. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Stairway/ladder
This is the only time the word appears
Ladder has some problems with a group using it
The focus of the vision
The top of the stairway reaches heaven (contrast with Babel)
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Jacob is not ascending the stairway, but it is a way for God to bring his work down
Even in a seedy roadside motel, Jacob is not outside God’s grasp
The Lord himself is present above the stairway
The promise of the vision
13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Content
Place
People
Plan
Presence
The messengers/angels of God are being sent into the world to carry out God’s purposes
So this reaffirmation of God’s promises follows the vision
Recapitulation
The characters have changed
So underserving
God and his promises have stayed the same
Jacob’s Response
Jacob’s Response
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
This is a story of transformation
Understanding
Understanding
Jacob understands that he has always been in God’s presence but was unaware
Jacob doesn’t move and God doesn’t move; only Jacob’s awareness changes
Fear
Fear
Jacob is in awe of the presence of God
Fear is an appropriate and neglected response to the glory of God
The glorified angels and saints fall on their face in the presence of God
We cannot exchange the fearsomeness of God for intimacy, both coexist
God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence are frightening in a way that is not reduced but magnified by his grace
Worship
Worship
The fear of God, when accompanied by the grace of God, doesn’t cause us to run away and hide but to draw near.
Jacob responds to his new understanding of God’s presence by consecrating the place with a pillar
In the OT such pillars are intended to serve as reminders
“Ancient landmarks” – property lines
Sinai, Canaan
Loyalty
Loyalty
Then Jacob swears a vow
Conditional statements here don’t necessarily express doubt but are part of a typical “vow” construction
He’s already recognized the presence of God and laid the first stone of the pillar
Jacob commit’s to lead a life of loyalty to God as a result of God’s blessing not to ensure God’s blessing
Application
Application
How would the nation of Israel experience this text in the wilderness?
Do we experience the presence of God like Jacob did?
This isn’t the last mention of this dream in the Bible
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”
In Jesus’ ministry the sign of Jacob is going to be fulfilled
God’s people are formed by their understanding of Jesus
God’s plan is being advanced by Jesus
God’s presence is manifested in Jesus
Now that Jesus has ascended to heaven he is no less present
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We are participants in God’s program which he is carrying out through the power Christ
We are participants by grace
Understand
Fear
Worship
Serve
