Fourth Sunday in Lent (March 30, 2025)

Stairway to Heaven: God’s Grace Descending

Since Ash Wednesday we have been on a journey examining the messages of Gospel from the Book of Genesis. And this morning we are in Genesis 28 where Jacob spent the night and had a dream.

Have you ever wondered why we often feel like something is missing in our lives? This longing traces back to our earliest ancestors, to Adam and Eve. Ever since humanity was expelled from Eden—Paradise—we have been trying to return, because we know something vitally important and necessary is missing from our lives.

Genesis 3:24 NASB95

So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

The cherubim is standing his post preventing us from returning on our own. Our own efforts to reach God or regain paradise are futile and can lead to further separation from Him. If we ever hope to regain Paradise—heaven—God must take the initiative in coming down to us rather than our futile efforts to climb up to Him.

From Genesis 3:15 God is promising a Savior who will crush the head of devil by taking our sins to the cross. And today in Genesis 28 He illustrates this even further where God comes down to us on this beautiful ladder—the stairway to heaven—to rescue us.

God is the only One who can make this happen due to

I. The loss of fellowship with Him and Paradise Because of our Sin

God created us to live in paradise, in perfect fellowship with him. And it was very good. But our sin fractured the fellowship between God and man—and we were expelled from the paradise of Eden. Every time we sin, God’s Law—The Ten Commandment—serve as a mirror to reveal what we are. We are sin.

The sad fact is since the Fall we have been missing the goodness that God created for us to enjoy, which has left us longing for something we were designed to have but now is missing.

In his Confessions, St. Augustine once described that longing by saying that “our hearts are restless.”

A child once found an old, dusty teddy bear in the attic. Although it was worn and missing an eye, the child hugged it tightly, longing for the love it once represented. In the same way, we cling to broken things in our lives, aching for the goodness we once had—be it in relationships, dreams, or our connection with God. Since the Fall, we are often left with the remnants of paradise, yearning for the embrace of the Creator who once held us in perfect love.

Despite our lost paradise, humanity never stopped yearning to bridge the gap. We've tried countless ways, just like Jacob in his pursuit.

II. Failed Human Attempts to Regain Paradise.

Humanity is trying everything they can think of to address this yearning, to bridge this gap in an effort to regain what was lost. Eastern religions and some Christians try, by meditation or mysticism, to ascend to the divine realm in their minds. During the late 1960s and 1970s young people experimented with drugs in an effort to ascend to the divine realm. The recent film, “Jesus Revolution” does a pretty good job of describing that time in history. But more commonly, we try building towers of good works, thinking that by them we can make our way to heaven.

No matter how hard we try, though, those efforts are in vain. What separates us from God and his glory is our sin—and nothing we do can free us of that sin. No attempts at self-enlightenment can erase what we in fact have done and said and thought. No good works can cancel them out. The answer does not lie within us and is not something we can work out. As long we rely on our own efforts to reach God, we will remain exiled from paradise. As long as we try to make our own peace, our hearts remain restless.

That is exactly the situation Jacob—from our OT Reading—found himself. He, too, shared this restlessness.

If you were here last Wednesday evening you heard how he manipulated his way to obtain the birthright and blessing. He manipulated his twin brother, Esau, and deceiving his father, Isaac. When Jacob had then learned that Esau was planning to kill him in revenge, he’d fled for his life. The plan was that he would travel far away to the hometown and relatives of his mother, Rebekah—and would come back if and when his brother’s anger had died down.

Jacob had been pursuing blessings on his own terms. But it wasn’t exactly making his life a paradise. In fact, as he now fled in search of safety, it meant leaving behind the Promised Land—which was part of the blessing he had sought.

But what happens when our own strategies fail us, leaving us more lost than before? Jacob’s journey sheds light on this struggle.

Jacob’s name, by the way, means “deceiver”—and Jacob was finding out that deception and self-promotion is tiring work. They do not calm a restless heart, and they cannot pry open the door to paradise.

III. God’s Revelation to Jacob Through a Dream.

As Jacob traveled, night fell, and he lay down to sleep, using a rock for a pillow.

Genesis 28:12–15 NASB95

He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching 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 your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants 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.”

When Jacob had sought the blessing on his own, the results had been conflict, fear, and flight. Instead of bringing him peace, it had sent him packing. But now he saw God coming down to him and freely blessing him. The blessings he had sought through manipulation and deception were now being given to him as a free gift from the Lord. What he had tried to reach out and grab for himself was now being given him by grace.

Just as Jacob found a divine ladder—stairway—bridging the heavens, we find the ultimate connection in Christ Jesus himself.

IV. Jesus Christ the Fulfillment of Jacob’s Dream

As God opened heaven and revealed himself to Jacob, he also spoke of how he would open heaven for all of us.

The Lord made the same promises to Jacob that he had made earlier to his father, Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham. Those promises included descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth and a land where God would be with them.

In our Gospel reading as Jesus was beginning to call his disciples, he said to his newest disciple, Nathanael, and to the other disciples who were with him,

John 1:51 NASB95

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Here, Jesus directs our attention back to Jacob’s dream of a stairway to heaven—and he opens our eyes to see by faith that he is the fulfillment of that dream.

Jesus Is the True Stairway to Heaven. He is the one who unites heaven and earth. He is the one who brings the riches of heaven to us—and who brings us to heaven.

We cannot work our way up to God, but in Christ, God comes down to us. He came down from heaven to earth in his incarnation, as the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. He willingly made his home with us in this sin-stricken world so that we can one day be at home with him in Paradise.

And to open the doors to Paradise for us, he let the doors of heaven be slammed shut on him as he was forsaken in our place on the cross. There he bore in his body all our sins—and as the just judgment for those sins, he suffered the exile of being cut off from all the comforts of heaven and cut off from life itself. You remember what He cried out from the cross? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” By passing through that judgment in our place—by his suffering and death—Christ opened to us the way of everlasting life.

In fact, not only has he made a way for us. He himself is the way. Jesus Christ is the stairway to heaven. All those who have Christ have the doors of heaven thrown wide open for them—and those doors will not be closed.

Of all the religions out there Christianity is the only “down to earth” religion, as it gives you the good news of God coming down to earth because we cannot climb up to him. He comes to you and freely gives to you himself and all that is his—so that in him, paradise is yours, and your heart can finally be at rest.

Our journey comes full circle, as the solution to our restless hearts is finally revealed in Jesus. He offers rest now and forevermore.

V. Restoration of Paradise Through Christ.

When Augustine described mankind’s longing by saying that “our hearts are restless,” he also pointed to where the rest that we need can be found. He said to the Lord,

You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

In Christ, we do have rest for our souls—and in him, the paradise that we lost by our sin is ours by God’s grace.

As Augustine rightly said, “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” In Christ, that rest is ours now in the comfort of this Gospel, and our future in Paradise is secure in the Resurrection when Christ come on the Last Day to make all things new again.

It will be very good—and it will be that way forever. Amen.

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Prayer of the Church—Fourth Sunday in Lent

30 March 2025

Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your steadfast love. Give us a proper knowledge of the evil we have done in Your sight. Forgive our foolish attempts of reaching you by our own efforts. Move us to confess our offenses against You, and justify us with Your holy absolution. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Holy God, You delight in truth in the inward being and teach us wisdom in the secret heart. Give to our pastors every good gift as Your ambassadors, that we may grow in faith and hope. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Father of mercy, remember Your baptized children who have left Your household and departed from the faith. Call them to repentance according to Your gracious will. Remember parents, grandparents and all who mourn their departure. Sustain them in faithful patience to wait and pray. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Almighty God, in Christ You reconciled the world to Yourself. Watch over our nation and all whom You have placed in authority. Give them wisdom and prudence, that Your people might live in peace and freely make known the message of reconciliation. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Everlasting Father, although this world is passing away due to sin, we pray that You would preserve Your creation for our provision until You usher in Your new creation. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers for all who cry out to You for mercy, healing and help and especially all of our shut-ins and residents of Bethel Home. Deliver them according to Your will, ease their loneliness with your reassuring presence and, as You have made them a new creation in Christ, remind them of the day when sorrow and sickness will be no more. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

O Lord, heavenly Father, we gratefully remember the sufferings and death of Your dear Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation. Rejoicing in His victorious resurrection from the dead, we draw strength from His ascension before You, where He ever stands for us as our own High Priest. Gather us together from the ends of the earth to celebrate with all the faithful the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end. Graciously receive our prayers, deliver and preserve us, for to You alone we give all glory, honor and worship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Our Father who art in heaven…