Jacob was on the run. Sure, he could tell people that he was on a mission: to return to his larger family in order to find a wife. But really he was running from his twin brother, Esau. He had managed to snatch both his brother’s birthright and his blessing. Because of Jacob’s cunning and deception, Esau had promised to kill him after their father, Isaac, died. Now he comes, in Genesis 28, to “a certain place” and puts his head on a stone to sleep. Then he has an amazing dream involving a ladder (or stairway) to heaven. Angels are ascending and descending on the ladder. In the dream God promises to be with him, to watch over him, and to bring him back to the land of Palestine—the very place he was running from! When Jacob awakes, he cries out in fear: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
This “certain place” becomes Bethel. (Beth-el means “the house of God.”) It was what Celtic Christians called “a thin place”—a place where the gap between heaven and earth seems very thin.
For this week: what Bethels do you have in your life? What are some times and places in your life where you have experienced the presence of God?
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;
Soldiers of the cross!
- Mike Cope
