Day 78 of 365
A STAIRWAY FROM HEAVEN
Fleeing to Harran to escape his brother's wrath, Jacob stopped for the night. Jacob dreamed that a stairway stretched from heaven to earth, with angels ascending and descending the heavenly staircase. The picture portrayed the grand, cosmic reality of life on this earth. While it may seem that all that is real is that which can be seen, there is an eternal, heavenly world closely connected to this one. The heavenly realm is consistently interacting with this world in ways that lie beyond what the human mind can comprehend and the human eye can see.
Jesus' birth would bring this reality into greater focus. The fully divine and human Son of God would serve as the ladder between heaven and earth (Jn 1:51). At his baptism, the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended on the Son of God, indicating his divine status and God-ordained mission (Mt 3:13 - 17). In Jesus, heaven met earth, and with him came glimpses of the coming kingdom as the lame walked, the blind regained sight and prisoners gained freedom (Lk 4:18). At the incarnation, the Son of God descended the heavenly staircase in order to usher sinful humanity into the kingdom of God.
Jesus, when I feel overwhelmed by circumstances, remind me that there is a heavenly realm I don't see or understand. Help me to trust you, who can see everything, with my problems. Amen.
Genesis 28:10-19 NASB
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 L ord stood above it and said, "I am the L ord , 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. 14 Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants 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 L ord is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 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."
John 1:51 NASB
51 And He said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
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