Good morning,
He was on the run, having committed a heinous deception. He had been driven from his home and pursued by an angry man, as a result. He was young and fearful, having traveled 40 miles on foot that day, through a desert wilderness. It was nighttime. He was cold and exhausted.
His father was Isaac, the one nearly sacrificed by Abraham, the one to whom God promised that his descendants would be as "the stars of the sky" (Genesis 26:4). He knew, however, that it was not assured a living relationship with God came with one's parentage or birth order. He had proven that, through the committing of his dastardly scheme, in which he had received his father's blessing. No doubt he was questioning the efficacy of that blessing, as well as everything he had ever known. He found himself at the "end of himself". His name was Jacob.
Perhaps you have met someone like Jacob who, by the very means of his talents and wily ways, is able to achieve anything his heart desires. Perhaps you are like him. Jacob had, all his life, trusted in his own abilities. Admittedly, they had taken him far... until this point, where they had taken him to Bethel, a desolate stopping point on his 500-mile trek to his uncle Laban's house, the place his mother had sent him to find refuge. (Jacob did not suck his scheming ways out of a baby bottle, you understand...)
As he slept the sleep of the dog-tired, bone-tired, dead-tired, with a stone for his pillow, God revealed Himself to him. Isn't it that, sometimes, we are so busy trying to carry out our own plans during our waking hours it is only during our sleep that God can get our attention? I'm laughingly thinking about how there've been times I was praying and suddenly find myself worrying about my to-do list...right? Come on, now, can I get an amen?!
But, look! It was when Jacob was "at the end of himself" that God came to Him. God peeled back the veil which separates Heaven from Earth and shifted Jacob's paradigm, big-time. This was the first time God had appeared to Jacob. To remove all question, from the top of the ladder God introduced Himself, after which He reaffirmed to Jacob the promises He had made to his forefathers, Abraham and Isaac.
There was never any invitation extended for Jacob to climb that ladder. If you are familiar with the old spiritual, "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder", you can retire that one. It is unscriptural. Attempting to "climb a ladder to God" is man's way of salvation. It is the way of every other religion on earth, apart from Christianity. False religions are sets of steps, like rungs on a ladder, which supposedly will restore one to God by climbing them. You see, the ladder in Jacob's dream is a foreshadowing of Jesus. (He alluded to Jacob's dream, establishing Himself in it, in John 1:51.) He is the only way to God. Yet, in proclaiming Himself to be the only way, He does not ask us to climb up to Him.
God came down to us, at Christmas. We rejoice at His coming, because we are all so horribly unable to reach up to God ourselves. All of our attempts eventually come crashing down.
Jacob probably rejoiced at God's affirmation that he would get the land on which he was sleeping. But, God's promise was for a much, much greater blessing - - the blessing of His Son, whose human lineage would come from Jacob's descendants. One of the names of Christ is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah - - the same Judah who was one of Jacob's 12 sons.
And, we are. Hallelujah, we are!
Look up, you weary, you debtors, you abandoned, you broken, you beleaguered, you lost. See the Christ who descends to you, who condescends to you. See Him in this Advent season, and claim Him as your own, your glorious salvation. His coming - - - this is amazing grace.
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of what family we are from, regardless of our past, we find true and eternal blessing only in You. None of any family are excluded from Your blessings, unless they exclude themselves by rejecting Your salvation. Open our hearts to receive You today, whether by taking that initial step to ask You to be our Savior or to ask You to give us who already know You more of You. May we not profane Your coming down to us by regarding it as trivial or meaningless. Reveal Yourself to us, not only on this day of Advent, but more and more every day, as we stop to listen for Your voice, as we open our hearts to you. It is in Your name I pray, Lord Jesus, amen.
Sources:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/genesis/28.html
Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. Print.
Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 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. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder[a] 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! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it[b] 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. 14 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.
Genesis 28:10-14
Perhaps you have met someone like Jacob who, by the very means of his talents and wily ways, is able to achieve anything his heart desires. Perhaps you are like him. Jacob had, all his life, trusted in his own abilities. Admittedly, they had taken him far... until this point, where they had taken him to Bethel, a desolate stopping point on his 500-mile trek to his uncle Laban's house, the place his mother had sent him to find refuge. (Jacob did not suck his scheming ways out of a baby bottle, you understand...)
As he slept the sleep of the dog-tired, bone-tired, dead-tired, with a stone for his pillow, God revealed Himself to him. Isn't it that, sometimes, we are so busy trying to carry out our own plans during our waking hours it is only during our sleep that God can get our attention? I'm laughingly thinking about how there've been times I was praying and suddenly find myself worrying about my to-do list...right? Come on, now, can I get an amen?!
But, look! It was when Jacob was "at the end of himself" that God came to Him. God peeled back the veil which separates Heaven from Earth and shifted Jacob's paradigm, big-time. This was the first time God had appeared to Jacob. To remove all question, from the top of the ladder God introduced Himself, after which He reaffirmed to Jacob the promises He had made to his forefathers, Abraham and Isaac.
There was never any invitation extended for Jacob to climb that ladder. If you are familiar with the old spiritual, "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder", you can retire that one. It is unscriptural. Attempting to "climb a ladder to God" is man's way of salvation. It is the way of every other religion on earth, apart from Christianity. False religions are sets of steps, like rungs on a ladder, which supposedly will restore one to God by climbing them. You see, the ladder in Jacob's dream is a foreshadowing of Jesus. (He alluded to Jacob's dream, establishing Himself in it, in John 1:51.) He is the only way to God. Yet, in proclaiming Himself to be the only way, He does not ask us to climb up to Him.
God came down to us, at Christmas. We rejoice at His coming, because we are all so horribly unable to reach up to God ourselves. All of our attempts eventually come crashing down.
Jacob probably rejoiced at God's affirmation that he would get the land on which he was sleeping. But, God's promise was for a much, much greater blessing - - the blessing of His Son, whose human lineage would come from Jacob's descendants. One of the names of Christ is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah - - the same Judah who was one of Jacob's 12 sons.
and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And, we are. Hallelujah, we are!
Look up, you weary, you debtors, you abandoned, you broken, you beleaguered, you lost. See the Christ who descends to you, who condescends to you. See Him in this Advent season, and claim Him as your own, your glorious salvation. His coming - - - this is amazing grace.
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of what family we are from, regardless of our past, we find true and eternal blessing only in You. None of any family are excluded from Your blessings, unless they exclude themselves by rejecting Your salvation. Open our hearts to receive You today, whether by taking that initial step to ask You to be our Savior or to ask You to give us who already know You more of You. May we not profane Your coming down to us by regarding it as trivial or meaningless. Reveal Yourself to us, not only on this day of Advent, but more and more every day, as we stop to listen for Your voice, as we open our hearts to you. It is in Your name I pray, Lord Jesus, amen.
Sources:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/genesis/28.html
Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. Print.
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