Bible Story of the Day: Stairway to Heaven

https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Bible-Story-of-the-Day-Stairway-to-Heaven

Bible Story of the Day

Scripture is the story of Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation. There are over 400 prophecies and representations of Jesus in the Old Testament alone. The Old Testament pointed forward to the coming Christ, and the New Testament points back to Jesus. The Bible is a record of redemption through Jesus Christ who conquered sin and death when He died on the cross and resurrected three days later. The New Testament was written almost 2000 years ago. Some of the Old Testament was written over 4000 years ago. The Bible Story of the Day not only shows Jesus throughout scripture but shows how scripture is relevant to our lives today. Seeing Jesus in scripture is a major step into understanding who our God is, and how He impacts and affects our lives in every moment. I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your mind to understanding the verses and how they affect your life and gives you a better understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will post a link to the chapter that each passage is from, so that you can read further on your own.

Stairway to Heaven

Genesis 28:10-13

10 Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching 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 your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. (NASB).

Where is Jesus and What Does This Mean to Us?

Visions in the Old Testament can, at times, be difficult to understand because the one with the vision is trying their best to describe what they saw using things they knew of in their time. This vision of Jacob is straight forward. The angels may not literally be climbing up and down a ladder, but it was the best way Jacob could describe it to others around him so that they would understand what he saw. What we can know from this vision is that the angels do the will of God and can cross from heaven and earth in some manner that we cannot fully understand.

This image of angels going up and down to Heaven parallel Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, but more specifically Jesus being our bridge or stairway to Heaven. Imagine this illustration, if you will, God is in Heaven (although He is also everywhere), we are on earth. The angels work for God and cross back and forth between Heaven and earth to assist us, however, they are unable to take us to Heaven with them. We are stuck here, detached from God. Jesus came to create the way for us to ascend to God in Heaven. Jesus is our stairway to Heaven. It is only through Him that we can obtain a right standing with God and can enter His kingdom.

What does this mean to us? There are two take-aways from this; the second being the most important. The first takeaway is that there are angels on earth with the intention to do God’s will, which is to help us not hurt us. There is a spiritual world that we cannot see that is alive and active. We are not alone in our fight on earth. The second, and more important point, is that we are not stuck here in this world. If you are able to watch the news for 30 minutes you will be bombarded with clips of war, violent crimes, people trying to harm others, and all other kinds of evil that make us sick to our stomach. Everyone that loved the last president hates this one and vice-versa. We hear people non-stop talking about how today is worse than yesterday, and so on. The point is, no matter who you are, you can see the world is on fire. It would be a sad life, indeed, if this was all there was to our existence. We were created for more. God created us to live better than we are living. Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves. He came to show us safe passage to a better world, an eternal world of peace. Jesus bridged the gap between us and God. Jesus is our stairway to Heaven.

Resource

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen+28&version=NASB