THE LIGHT OF VISION (9)

“Then he DREAMED, and behold, a LADDER was set up on the EARTH, and its top reached to HEAVEN…” – Genesis 28:12a

The Patriarch Jacob encountered the LIGHT of VISION through a Dream of the night: “Then he DREAMED, and behold, a ladder was set up on the EARTH, and its top reached to HEAVEN; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Gen.28:12). Having ‘stolen’ the blessing from his brother, Jacob was on the run for his life because Esau wanted to kill him in retaliation, but he least expected to encounter the God of the Universe! Jacob grew up hearing about God – God’s Faithfulness to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, yet he missed Him for years, until this day when he caught the Vision of a Ladder or Stairway to Heaven, and religion turned into relationship. For a young man who was only aware of his father’s faith – not his faith – this was the day for Jacob that changed everything!

When Jacob was receiving the blessing from his father, he had referred to “the LORD YOUR GOD” (Gen.27:20). Now, his eyes were being opened to the Presence and Power of God in a way that would completely and dramatically revolutionize his life. Beyond the religion of his father and forefathers, Jacob was meeting with the God Who is alive and well, not one to just play around religiously with. Jacob caught the Vision of God with angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth, depicting the entire world as His footstool! There’s not a corner of the globe where He is not! Rather than the dualistic understanding of the world, Jacob’s dream points out a beautiful and deep reality, that heaven and earth are powerfully intertwined. We can live under an open heaven where God is present at every place!

The ladders in other religions are for people to struggle to climb up or do enough in order to get to God. But the ladder Jacob saw was a picture of Grace! The ladder in the Christian Faith, is not for us to climb up, but for God to come down, meet us, and pull us up! This is a picture of God entering into the story of humanity with His Presence and His goodness that permeates all. That the encounter occurred in “a certain place” means that the God of the place was more important than the place. As for the timing, “the sun was set” not only in a physical sense, but his life felt the same – at his lowest ebb; so low that the best he could have as pillow was one of the stones of the place (v.11).

Praise God! In the Light of Divine Vision, every sunset is an opportunity to reset! Religion turned into Relationship. Pain became a portal to God’s Presence, hopelessness a catalyst for healing, and confusion led to a place of clarified Vision! The Patriarchal Promises were revived!