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Sulum Yaakov...
 ...Jacob's
Ladder |
B'resheet (Genesis 28:10-17 CJB):
"Ya'akov (Jacob) went out from Be'er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep. He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai (Lord)
"Ya'akov (Jacob) went out from Be'er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep. He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai (Lord)
were going up and down on it."
"Then suddenly Adonai was standing there next him; and he said, 'I am
Adonai, the God of Avraham(Abraham) your [grand] father and the God of
Yitz'chak(Isaac). The land on which you are lying I will give to you and
to your descendants. Your descendents will be as numerous as the grains
of dust on the earth. You will expand to the west and to the east, to the
north and to the south. By you and yours descendants all the families of
the earth will be blessed. Look, I am with you, I will guard you wherever
you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won't leave you
until I have done what I have promised you.' "
In Genesis 28 we read of
Yaakov's vision of the Sulum Yaakov, which we know as Jacob's Ladder. In
his dream, Jacob saw a vision of a ladder connecting heaven to earth upon which
angels ascended and descended.
We are told that, on yet
another ordinary day on his solitary journey, Jacob stopped in an ordinary
place, placed a stone under his head, and went to sleep. Although most of
us have probably never camped on that ordinary spot, I think we may have
nonetheless been there at one time or another. Some of us, in fact, may be
there right now.
It’s that place we come to
when we've worked hard for something, gotten it, and found out that it’s not
what we hoped it would be.
It’s that place on the
other side of the fence or over the rainbow where we discover that we're no
happier there than we were here.
It’s that moment of
exhaustion when we've tried everything we know, when we feel completely alone,
and when we have nowhere else to turn.
The ladder represents Yeshua, the Messiah. It signifies that wherever you are, no matter how low of a place, there is a 'Ladder' that comes from heaven to meet you. When you are down and depressed, feeling hopeless or unworthy, the 'Ladder' of God's grace is always there.
This is a beautiful and important story to remember, but, there is a second part of which you need to be aware. As Paul Harvey would say, "Now for the rest of the story!"
A ladder is not an escalator!
A ladder requires climbing. You must make the effort to climb it! The 'Ladder' to Heaven's grace is on the ground right next to where you are standing, but you have to take hold of it, step up on it, and ascend. You are not supposed to just stand still!
Choose to make the higher step. Rise out of your situation and rise even higher from glory to glory. Yeshua opens the way for each of us to "ascend to heaven" and to bring "heaven to earth" in the daily circumstances of our lives. God's kingdom is present in those who seek Him and who do His will. Do you pray as Yeshua taught, "May Your kingdom come and Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven? "
"Heavenly Father, through Your Son, Messiah Yeshua, You have opened the way to
heaven for us. As You revealed Yourself to Your beloved Patriarchs and
Apostles, so reveal Yourself to us that we may glorify You in our daily lives.
May we always find joy in Your presence and never lose sight of the kingdom of
heaven, as we climb...
higher and higher.... from glory to glory!
Hallelujah and AMEN!
Sulum
Yaakov.........Jacob's Ladder!
