"And He saith unto him, verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." [Jn 1:51]
When Jacob and Esau were in Rebekah’s womb, it was said to her of The LORD, “the elder shall serve the younger.” [Gen 25:23] It was a promise akin to that given regarding Isaac, Jacob’s father, when The LORD spoke to Abraham, saying,
“Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his Seed after him.” [Gen 17:19]
In this promise the gospel appears, where The LORD says, “I will establish my…everlasting covenant…with his Seed.” The Hebrew word “Seed” is in the singular, thus indicating to us that which The Holy Spirit interpreted in Galatians, “He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy Seed, which is Christ.” [Gal 3:16] Again, we can see the gospel when we remember God’s words regarding Abraham’s Seed, when after Abraham went to offer Isaac in faith, God said, “and in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice;” [Gen 22:18] and The Holy Spirit again interprets, saying through Paul,
“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” [Gal 3:8]
This same promise, that through Abraham’s son Isaac, The Seed, (that is, The Christ) would come, was also given regarding Jacob in that The LORD, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand,” said, “the elder shall serve the younger;” and again, speaking solely of God’s sovereign choice of the Messianic line, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” [Rom 9:11-13, Gen 25:23, Mal 1:2-3] And so, seeing that The LORD had predetermined the Messianic line – that is, the genealogic line through which God would bring forth His Son – Isaac being privy to such a promise, blessed Jacob unbeknownst to himself, but known to God and known to Jacob, saying,
“Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.” [Gen 27:28-29]
Isaac’s knowledge of his blessing’s significance is pronounced and felt in that he said, “cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee,” for this was also the promise of the gospel given to Abraham regarding the Messianic line which would come through him, we thus reading The LORD’s promise from his early life,
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” [Gen 12:2-3]
After Jacob had deceived his father and taken that blessing which Isaac intended to give Esau, Jacob left home to go to Laban in order to find a wife. It was on that journey that Jacob encountered The LORD. It came to pass,
“[That] he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night…and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, The LORD stood above it, and said, I am The LORD God of Abraham thy father, and The God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy Seed…and in thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” [Gen 28:11-14]
It is to this event and dream which Jesus pointed when He told Nathanael,
“Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these…Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon The Son of Man.” [Jn 1:50-51]
Jesus our Lord is Jacob’s Ladder; He is the Ladder which Jacob dreamt of. For Jesus is the means by which we receive aid and help from heaven; the intermediary between heaven and earth, by which we can interact with God in His heavenly place and by which we can receive blessings originating from thence. Jesus Christ, that blessed Ladder, is He who shall be the way: God’s chosen and ordained way to reach heaven, a connection between earth and heaven which is only bridged through the glorious work of Christ Jesus.
As it relates to angels, we read in Hebrews, “are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” [Heb 1:14] Because we are heirs of salvation: heirs “of the grace of life,” [1 Pe 3:7] and “joint-heirs with Christ,” [Rom 8:17] we are those whom God is pleased to give aid through angels. Those great angels, described in Kings as “chariots of fire round about Elisha,” [2 Ki 6:17] and in Ezekiel as “living creatures,” each having “four wings…and [whose legs/feet] sparkled like the color of burnished brass…[and whose] appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps,” and wherein it is said, “the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning;” [Ezek 1:5-14] yes, these very creatures are those whom God has ordained to help and serve us, heirs of salvation. What a glorious position we hold as men, as those whom Jesus The Lamb has redeemed with His own blood, that Christ would become one of us and save us, and that we should be served by angels who are no doubt presently higher in position, authority, and beauty. But as it is written temporarily of Christ on earth, so too of us, who “shall inherit glory,” [Prov 3:35] and shall even “judge angels,” [1 Cor 6:3] “for thou hast made Him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned Him with glory and honor;” [Psa 8:5] and again, “for verily [Jesus] took not hold of angels; but He took hold of the seed of Abraham.” [Heb 2:16] Therefore we should draw encouragement; for our LORD who is the LORD of The Heavenly Armies, and has all authority over their power and reach, is well pleased to send them on ministerial missions for our benefit.
Further, Jesus is the means by which we receive blessings from heaven. He is the only avenue by which a man may be blessed; as it is written, “men shall be blessed in Him.” [Psa 72:17] We are blessed in and through Jesus, even just as we have read regarding the promise given to the patriarchs, “in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” [Gen 22:18] And again, “for all the promises of God in [Jesus Christ] are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us.” [2 Cor 1:20] Thus, as it relates to Jesus being the Ladder to heaven, we see that He is the means by which a man receives blessings from heaven, from God. And this point should, even in time to come, remain true, as we are promised, “that in the ages to come, [God] might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” [Eph 2:7]
Finally, let us see how that Jesus is the way, the way for us on earth to be reunited and reconciled with God in heaven. For we read in Jacob’s account that there was “a ladder set up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.” Do notice here that the ladder was first “set up on earth,” and then “reached to heaven.” Thus, it is because of Jesus’ humanity, because He, verily God, took upon Himself human flesh, that we can be reconciled with God. It was necessary for a man; and not just a man, but God, and herein Jesus fulfills both: being both God and man, as it says, “God was manifest in the flesh,” and, “there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” [1 Tim 3:16; 2:5] Because of this, Jesus can be the way, as Jesus said, “whither I go ye know, and the way ye know…I am the way…no man cometh unto The Father, but by me.” [Jn 14:4, 6] Jesus is the way: the means by which a man can reach God and have fellowship with Him. For, “He is our peace” and “through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto The Father;” [Eph 2:14, 18] and, “[God] hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.” [2 Cor 5:18] It is not only through Jesus that we are reconciled to God, but Jesus is also, as He says, “the way…and the life.” Jesus is not just the way to God in a future sense, but also the way in a very practical and daily sense.
Jesus Christ is The Way of life; that is, He is the means by which, the power through which, a man lives. Jesus said, “because I live, ye shall live also;” [Jn 14:19] it is through Jesus that a man truly lives: by abiding in and following Jesus. And this way is an upward path, even as a ladder goes upward, so too Jesus as our way of life goes upward. We read in Philippians the attitude of Paul which we are encouraged of The Spirit to adopt, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” [Phil 3:14] Notice that it is “the upward call.” It is not downward, nor sideways, but upward. God is calling us upward upon Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ, for He is The Way, He is the Ladder. If we are to progress and become more like God, more like Jesus, in our practical living, it is to Jesus’ life that we look, and to His person that we cling, for, a man “increaseth with the increase of God.” [Col 2:19] And regarding this progress and this way, God is pleased to help us, giving us His eternally indwelling Spirit, and saying to us through the prophet,
“Thus saith The LORD, thy Redeemer…I am The LORD thy God who is training thee to ascend on high, which leadeth thee by the way which thou shouldest go.” [Isa 48:17]
Notice that The LORD is training us upon a way, “the way which thou shouldest go,” and that this certain path which God has chosen for us is that which ascends on high, as God said, He is “training [us] to ascend on high.” The path is Christ Himself, to whom we gaze and to whom we fervently cling. It is Jesus’ very life, shown to us in the scriptures, that we are led by and led on, and which causes us to rise and rise – for it is the upward call of God, not the downward call. Day by day, The LORD is renewing our new man, Jesus Christ within us, making us better and more like Himself; daily The LORD is calling us upward, out of this world into a lifestyle more like Jesus’.
May God be praised, for Jesus is The Ladder. He is that unique and single means of blessing, refreshment, help, and growth. There is not another Savior like Him, who is so multi-faceted, master of all areas, and who has done all things well. May we ever look to Him and cling to Him, our blessed Ladder.
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