Genesis 28:10 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 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 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. 15 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.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

A. Unsought Grace

Jacob was not looking for God. He had not gone out into the woods on a Spiritual retreat. He was running for his life, and running away from both the land and family of promise. Yet, once again we see God appearing in grace to someone not expecting it.

I hope this will encourage those of you who feel hypocritical even sitting in a church service. You may think you have to clean yourself up, or you have to at least start back home the way the prodigal son did. I’m telling you, God comes to the least suspecting people in the least suspecting places. If God is beginning to convict your heart of your sin, and make you long for the sweetness of forgiveness and fellowship with your father, don’t wait until you have gotten yourself ready. Begin this journey today.

B. Unstinted Grace

Note how God comes to Jacob. He gives no words of reproach. He does not rebuke him for all the things he has done wrong. He does not demand a turn around or a promise to do better in the future.

We expect God to look down and say: what did you do wrong? What are you going to do? But he doesn’t. He simply makes outlandish, lavish promises of Grace. God promises to bless all the families of the earth through the seed of this deceptive liar.

C. Undeserved Grace

Some people do not like the way I teach the old testament. We have grown up seeing the O.T. as a book of virtues. In a book of virtues, we are taught to climb Jacob’s ladder so that we too can be blessed as Jacob was blessed.

So we read the OT looking for examples. We tell ourselves to be forgiving the way Joseph forgave his brothers, be strong the way Samson was strong, be brave like David was brave and be wise like Solomon was wise.

That method is wrong about the bible. God has not given us a book of stories that have no relation to each other. He has given us one story, the story of his redeeming creation. A story he invites us to enter.

That method is wrong about our hearts. It assumes that we can follow these examples of forgiveness, courage and wisdom. When in fact our hearts are filled with bitterness, cowardice and foolishness. If Jacob’s ladder is a our way to climb into heaven, that is the worst news I can imagine. I can never climb it.

That method misses Christ. You see the ladder is not for us to climb, it is for the angels to descend and ascend upon. The Angels descend bringing grace and ascend taking prayers.

Jesus would refer to this ladder early in his ministry. Nathaniel claimed Jesus to be the king of Israel, and Jesus responded – And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus claims to be the ladder. He is the one who spans heaven and earth. He is the one our intercessions climb to heaven upon. He is the pipeline through which grace pours upon us. He is of heaven, very God of very God. And he is of earth, coming in the likeness of sinful flesh. He is the eternal Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. He is the true son of Mary, offspring of a virgin’s womb.