13th January 2024

A stairway to heaven

… ‘Very truly I tell you, you will see “heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on” the Son of Man.’
John 1:51 (NIVUK)

In Genesis 28, Jacob, the forefather of all the Israelites, was running through the wilderness, fleeing for his life. His brother Esau wanted to kill him because Jacob had lied in order to cheat Esau out of his birthright and the blessing of the firstborn. Stopping for the night, he lay down to sleep, and put his head on a stone for a pillow. As he fell asleep, he had a dream in which he saw a giant stairway, upon which angels were ascending and descending between heaven and earth.

This was a puzzling vision, but it signified the heavens being opened and the presence of God being with Jacob. However, there was a problem. When God’s prophet Isaiah saw the holiness of the Lord, high and exalted, surrounded by angels, he said, ‘Woe to me…I am ruined!’ (Isaiah 6:1-5). Yet in Genesis 28 the presence of God is coming to Jacob, who is a liar and a cheat. How was that possible? How could heaven open to Jacob?

The answer is found several centuries later, in John chapter one. Nathanael’s friend Philip says to him we have found the one who was prophesied to come (John 1:45), and in the conversation that ensued with Nathanael, Jesus refers to the Jacob incident, and in doing so provides us with three key lessons.

First, Jesus is showing that he is the only bridge between heaven and earth. He is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Jesus is not telling us I can show you the way to God’s presence by doing this, that, or the other. Rather, he is saying that heaven and earth intersect upon me, angels are ascending and descending on me. It’s me: my coming, my life, death, resurrection, and ascension that fulfil all the requirements for your salvation and God can come into your life through me. This means all of us ‘Jacobs’ who have messed up and have nothing but a stone for a pillow can have the presence of God in our lives, because of Jesus. 

Secondly, Jesus is the dwelling place of God with us. After his dream, Jacob declared, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place…This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’ And so ‘He called that place Bethel’ which means ‘house of God’. (Genesis 28:16-17, 19). Jesus is the new dwelling place of God with man: ‘…and they will call him Immanuel’ which means ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23).

Thirdly, in describing himself as ‘the Son of Man’ Jesus is alluding to his divinity (because of its connection with Daniel 7:13-14), and to his humanity. Jesus was fully God and fully man, enabling salvation to be provided for all humanity. As Leon Morris says, ‘the term is always associated either with Christ’s heavenly glory or with the salvation He came to bring.’ ¹

By including this little reference to Jacob’s experience, John is confirming what he has recorded earlier in the opening chapter of his gospel: Jesus is the divine Word who became flesh to dwell with us (John 1:1,14); he is the Lamb of God who would take away our sins, opening the way for our salvation into the presence of God (John 1:29, 36), and through him we can become children of God, whatever our past (John 1:12). All this lays the foundation for what’s to come in the remainder of his gospel.

Prayer
Loving Father, thank you that heaven has been opened to us and that we can connect with you through the Lord Jesus Christ. May this empower us in the days ahead, as your life, power, and glory come into our lives. In Jesus’s name, we pray, Amen

Study by Barry Robinson

¹ Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, p 173.

About the writer:
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International and Regional Pastor for Southern England, the Midlands, and Wales

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church