Jacob’s ladder has been used for everything from a rope ladder to little bolts of electricity to beams of light coming down from heaven. Jacob’s ladder was a vision that God allowed him to see for his comfort and for ours.
Jacob always seemed to get his way, through tricks and gimmicks. His name meant heel grabber! For all the scheming, for all the underhanded tricks, what did it accomplish? He had worked so hard for the blessing that God promised him, and all it got him was a death threat from his brother. Jacob’s life in Genesis 28 was about to take the first of many turns. As he leaves his home God comes to him in a vision and repeats his promise of grace. Included with this was the promise of the Savior of the world. Jacob certainly hadn’t earned this favor, but grace isn’t earned. Grace is a gift from God. We see this in Jesus, God’s gift to the world for its salvation.
The topic of angels comes up in this section. Jacob sees a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (that’s you and me, along with every other Christian on the planet). God certainly doesn’t need any help to keep us safe and provide for our needs, but this truth that there are good spirits looking out for us is for our comfort. It was a comfort for Jacob whose life was only going to get harder. God has not promised that our lives would be easy either, but that he would always be with us, protecting and providing us wherever we go.
This is the fourth Bible Class on our summer series – VIC: Very Important Chapters of the Bible.
Please click HERE to view the Bible Class slides.