Stairway To Heaven

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on earth, with its top reaching to heaven.”

                                                                                                                                                                Genesis 28:12

Although we’re not Jewish, a few in my family must be kin to Jacob.  Blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere at any time, these folks can rest in the rowdiest or roughest of circumstances.  I’m not saying I’m jealous, but the certainty of a good night’s sleep, no matter the conditions, would be rather reassuring.

Noise pollution wasn’t Jacob’s problem in the middle of nowhere, but his accommodations that evening were anything but cozy.  On the run from his brother’s rage, he stopped at sundown to sleep.  He had forgotten to pack a pillow, so “taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down…”  This should be no surprise when we realize how hard-headed Jacob was, but it couldn’t have been comfortable!   However, no insomnia inflicted Jacob.  He soon dozed off and started dreaming.

He saw a stairway connecting heaven and earth with angels going up and down and God standing at the top.  Jacob might have been in the desert doing his own thing, but God had an Almighty agenda for this deceiver.  In grace, God promised to give him the land on which he was lying and to go with him as he wandered.

Jacob awoke with a sacred scare.  “How awesome is this place!” he exclaimed.  “This is none other than the house of God.”  Anointing oil quickly transformed his stone pillow into a pillar—a place of connection and covenant with God.

Jacob’s ladder wasn’t about his climbing up. It was about God’s coming down.

As you prepare for Christmas, know that Jesus made Jacob’s dream come true.

Visions of sugar plums pale in comparison to the reality of a God who came to be with us.

So sleep well.