Jacob’s Stairway

Jacob’s Stairway

Jacob was fleeing the consequences of his own deceit when he set up camp and stopped for the night. As sleep overtook him, he began to dream. But this was no ordinary dream. God, who has spoken “many times and in many ways” (Hebrews 1:1), revealed himself to Jacob in this dream. “He dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway” (Genesis 28:12).

God repeated the blessing he had promised to Abraham. He would give Jacob the land he was lying on, and his descendants would be as numerous as the particles of dust. Above all, the Lord pledged his own presence to Jacob: “I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15).

This was the stairway that connected the worlds of deity and humanity. This was the stairway on which God came down. And it was the stairway to God’s abode—the only way to enter the throne room of God.

Jesus referred to this stairway in Jacob’s dream early in his ministry. As Nathanael approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity” (John 1:47). Jesus was obviously comparing Nathanael favorably with his ancient ancestor Jacob, who was known as a schemer and deceiver. When Jesus told Nathanael that he saw him under the fig tree, Nathanael realized that Jesus knew his innermost thoughts. That’s when Jesus hearkened back to Jacob’s dream: “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth” (John 1:51).

Jacob saw the stairway and knew it was the way to God, and yet that way was still not clear. Jesus made it clear. He is that stairway. He is the way. He is God come down, and he is the One through whom sinners can ascend to the presence of God. Jesus can lead us up this stairway only because he was lifted up on the cross. We can ascend to God only when we come to the foot of his cross.

Stairway to heaven, you planted yourself in the soil of this earth, and you rise up into the very throne room of God, providing me with solid footing to ascend from life on this earth into the presence of God.