Stairway to Heaven - Genesis 28:10-22

©Copyright July 21, 2019 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

We have been following the life of Jacob. He is especially significant in Biblical and world history because his name was changed by God to "Israel" and the 12 sons born to Jacob (Israel) later formed what we know as the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob's story is quite complex. Jacob was a twin. His brother Esau was born first which made him the chief heir to the family. Jacob's dad favored his brother, but God told his mom, Rebekah that the "older will serve the younger." Perhaps this is the reason Jacob set out to wrestle the inheritance from his brother. We don't know but through some underhanded trickery he was able to steal the blessing from Esau. However, the result was Esau (the hunter) threatening to kill his little brother! Everyone seemed to understand that this was no idle threat.

Rebekah told Jacob he had better get out of town and hide out at her brother Laban's house. So, here is where we are in the story: God intended to leave the promised land to Jacob but because of his dirty tricks he is now the one leaving town and Esau is staying in the land of Canaan with mom and dad. I am sure this isn't the way Jacob pictured it. This is where we pick up our story.

10Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. 12As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.

13At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

Jacob's Dream

We can't know what Jacob was feeling but we can imagine. I imagine he felt like he had really messed things up. He had resorted to deception and taking advantage of situations and now his brother wanted to kill him, and he didn't know if he would ever see his parents again. He must have felt like a very lost man. But here in the wilderness God meets him.

Immediately, let's draw a lesson from this: God is also with you, even if you feel desperately alone.

Maybe you feel completely overwhelmed by life to the point where you feel you are going to have a breakdown.

You may be having problems at work. Maybe you are misunderstood, and you are getting blamed for things you did not do.

Your children may avoid you and call you names. You may feel like a complete failure as a parent.

Perhaps for you it is a relationship that has been lost. You feel rejected, scarred and cast aside. You feel so desperately alone.

Maybe you struggle with a particular sin and in spite of all your good intentions you stumble over and over. However, you know if you tell anyone or ask for help, you will be rejected.

Here is the good news: God is with you. He is there to help you heal, to stabilize you and to help you put the pieces back together. This is not the way God designed things to be, but our problems and failures do not negate His power and His love. You can count on Him even when you feel like there is no one else you can count on.

Jacob had a dream of angels going up and down the stairs. At the top of the stairs (or ladder) God was there and it was from there He reiterated his blessing to Jacob. The angels remind us that "angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation." (Heb. 1:13) This perhaps is where we get the idea of guardian angels. I don't see any evidence in the Bible that we are given a particular angel who is in charge of watching over us. But angels are around to assist us even though we don't see them.

It is likely this dream was meant to address some of the very real issues of Jacob’s life.

To Calm His Fears Jacob is on his own perhaps for the first time in his life. He was forced to flee from his home and his family. He is concerned his brother may hunt him down and kill him. Can you imagine the healing power of God's words,

What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. (v.15)

Jacob had nothing to fear because God was with Him and promised to protect him.

Jesus makes the same promise to those who follow Him, to us. In the gospel of Luke. we read:

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

Jesus promised He will never leave us or forsake us. He told us not to let our hearts be troubled because in His Father's house are many rooms . . . (John 14:1). In John 16 He promised to (and then did) send His Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. In John 6 He said, no one can snatch us out of His hands.

Perhaps the words of Isaiah have brought us some of the most comfort,

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.

I have called you by name; you are mine.

2When you go through deep waters,

I will be with you.

When you go through rivers of difficulty,

you will not drown.

When you walk through the fire of oppression,

you will not be burned up;

the flames will not consume you.

3For I am the Lord, your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

Let me repeat what I said the first time I preached on this passage,

I know sometimes we need a hug, or someone to listen to us, or cry with us. But I suggest this morning that we don’t really understand what a blessing it is to have God at our side. We pass it off as nice sentiment but don’t understand the profound blessing it is. Do you realize that God is far superior to any friend you could hope to have?

He will never leave you like some of your friends will

He will always listen even when your friends are too busy for you

He will never bring up the past (if you have confessed it)

He will always know what to do

His guidance will always be appropriate

He will love you even when you don’t act the way He wants you to.

There is no one who understands better, loves us more, or is more capable than He is.

The Lord also appeared to Jacob To Reassure Him of the Promise. What the Lord said to Jacob was the same thing He said to Abraham and Isaac,

I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.

Jacob is reassured that God has chosen to work through Him to build a nation and to bless the world. I am sure Jacob had little concept of how expansive this promise really was, but at the same time, I can imagine Abraham sharing the promise God made to Him with His son Isaac. I can imagine Isaac telling Jacob about God's appearance and promise to him. And now Jacob has his own experience to share with children yet to come.

I think there is something to see here. There is a sense in which the Lord wants us to serve the God of our forefathers. But there is also a desire for us to serve Him in the present as our God. In other words, faith is handed down to us but . . . it is not a "hand-me-down" faith. Our faith is to be vital, personal, and very present (instead of merely past). God wants us to have a first-person experience of His presence and guidance in our lives. He is not looking for us to carry on a family tradition. He wants us to serve Him as our Savior, as the One who has captivated our own hearts.

Jacob laid down to sleep wanting to be faithful to the God He had heard about; He woke up wanting to follow the God He had met personally. Every person needs this personal relationship with Christ. Do you have such a relationship?

Jacob's Worship and Vow

18The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. 19He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.

20Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, 21and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. 22And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

When Jacob woke from his dream, He was ready to worship. He poured oil on the stone as a way of memorializing this place as the place where he met with God. He did not erect an altar or any kind of memorial. He simply acknowledged this spot as sacred in his life and experience.

Do you have a place like this? Is there a place you return to when you want to meet with God again and feel His refreshment? It is not so much the place that is important . . . it is the memory the place evokes which is special. I hope this sanctuary is one of those places for you.

What follows next sounds like a bargain with God; almost like Jacob is still trying to negotiate his way to a blessing. However, perhaps he was actually saying, Wow, if you are going to do all this for me . . . then the Lord will certainly be my God.

The promise of a tithe was interesting because it predates the law of the tithe in the time of Moses. (Tithing is the idea that we honor the Lord by giving Him 10% of our income). Perhaps Jacob had heard the stories of Abraham honoring Melchizedek with a tithe. We can't know. What we do know is our wallets are often the last part of us to get saved. Jacob acknowledged that everything he had received, and would receive, was a gift from God. He was willing to return 10% of that as a way of thanking God for His provision.

The person who has truly met God will, like Jacob, want to worship and celebrate God. They will also want to honor God in tangible ways. It is staggering what this church could do in making an impact on lives if we gave with this kind of attitude.

Jesus and Jacob's Vision

You don't expect Jesus in an Old Testament story. Of course, every Old Testament account is pointing to a coming day when Jesus will come as the promised Redeemer. This story, points to Jesus very boldly.

In the gospel of John chapter 1 we read about the first disciples of Jesus. Jesus met Simon who went and got his brother Peter. Philip went and found his friend, Nathaniel. Nathaniel was skeptical to say the least. When he heard Jesus was from Galilee, He scoffed. However, when Nathaniel came to meet Jesus, this is what we read,

47As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.”

48“How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”

49Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

50Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” (John 1:47-51)

Did you catch that? Jesus mentions a stairway from Heaven with angels going up and down. He is referring to the familiar account of Jacob's ladder! Notice what Jesus says, "HE is the stairway." Jesus is the one who makes it possible for us to gain access to Heaven. He is the One who makes eternal life possible. He also makes it possible for angels to come and assist His followers.

Jesus told Philip, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Peter speaking about Jesus to the Jewish leaders said, "There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Paul wrote to Timothy, "There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. (1 Timothy 2:5-6)

The Bible is clear: there are not many ways to Heaven, there is only one: through faith in Jesus. He alone gave His life to gain our freedom and our forgiveness. This is not a popular teaching today. Truthfully, it was not popular in the day of Jesus and the early church either.

We hear about lots of ways to get to Heaven: by following certain formulas, joining certain organizations, and even by just being true to yourself (whatever that means). None of these things can do for us what needs to be done: cleanse us from sin. Only Jesus can do that. If you want to meet, know and spend eternity with God you have to come through Jesus.

What that means is we must recognize that He is our rescuer. We must see that He alone is the one who can save us. And then we must admit our sin and embrace Him and follow Him as the One who alone can lead us home.

Conclusion

It is tempting to envy Jacob. Perhaps you wish God would speak to you in a dream. That still happens to some people today. Usually, it happens to people living in countries who have not heard about Jesus. However, God can speak to us any way He likes.

We have such an advantage over Jacob. We see what God has done in history. We have His Word written down. We don't have to guess who God is or what He wants us to do. And most of all, we have the record of Jesus and the presence of His Spirit in our midst. We see what Jacob could only see as a blur before him. We are blessed beyond all measure.

This blessing doesn't mean much if we don't take advantage of it. It is like the person who is given a great inheritance but starves to death because he never gets around to cashing the inheritance check. Are you taking advantage of the blessing we have been given.

As we conclude, I must stop and ask: Have you embraced Jesus? I'm not asking if you are religious, or even if you call yourself "Christian." I'm not asking if you LIKE Jesus. The question is: have you run to Him as the only One who can save you from the quicksand of sin? Have you ever asked Him to save you? If you haven't, I encourage you to do so today. Right now. In simple trust, talk to Him. Tell Him you believe Him to be the one you need and have been looking for. Ask Him to empower you by His Spirit and make you new.

Once you have done so, you can cast off fear and be sure that through His grace toward you, you too will receive the inheritance that is eternal. You won’t need a dream to assure you. You have His Word.