On his way to procure a wife, Jacob had a dream. With a wife in mind, the dream of most would be the type of wife that they would find. That would be the natural thing to do. But Jacob’s dream was about finding God.
Much later, it is seen that finding God is as a wedding. Jesus said a parable; “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son…” (Gen 22:2). Was that “certain king” Abraham? Was the wedding to be Jacob’s? Was the wedding between the nation of Israel and God? Possibly all those things, because Abraham, certainly that king, made a marriage for Israel, and on the way, Israel found the Kingdom of Heaven!
Jacob laid down his head on a rock… not a random rock but “The Stone of Jacob”. Legend has it that, that stone is the “Stone of Scone” (aka; “The Stone of Destiny”) and is the coronation stone of British and Scottish kings. That may be legend but that it is a Stone of Destiny came true. King after king would symbolically sit on that stone, per se the kings of Israel and Judah.
Now, consider the key verse for today’s commentary:
12 And he (Jacob/Israel) dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it… (Gen 28:12-13a)
A ladder was set up on the earth. It is not known where on Earth. However, since God promised Jacob the land where he was, the ladder sat on the earth of the Promised Land. Continuing with the story, the top of it reached the heaven, to the Promised Heaven for those of the Covenant.
Jacob’s dreamt ladder was the “Stairway to Heaven”. It was on the path to the land and to the realm. It was the Way of Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).
Well, angels were climbing the path to heaven on that ladder, but “behold the LORD stood above it.” That was Jacob’s “Jesus Moment”. He saw the LORD Jesus “standing”. Jesus is the manifestation of God, and anytime the LORD is revealed in the Old Testament, He Is the Person of Jesus.
Paul revealed the “mystery” of Jacob’s dream: “To Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest… (Rom 16:25-26). Jesus is the LORD GOD made manifest, and Jacob was revealed the mystery of God! The pathway and stairway to Heaven was past angels and the by the Way of Jesus.
Now remember Paradise on Earth: “So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen 3:24). God revealed to Jacob how driven out men could find the Way to the Tree of Life. Scripture reveals that Jesus is the Way, then Jacob was revealed the Way to the Tree of Life in Paradise in Heaven. Paradise in Heaven? Yes! Consider this: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev 22:14).
Abraham, before the sojourn from Gerar, had blessed Jacob and asked God to bless Jacob as well. Jacob’s dream was the blessing, not only the weddings, for He saw Jesus! [i] Years later, when the LORD GOD walked the Earth of the Promised Land, the Greeks asked Philip for the same blessing: “Sir, we would see Jesus.” (John 12:21).
Jacob had discovered the Way to Heaven past the cherubim and saw the Tree of Life standing there, just as was written in the beginning! Those angels, most certainly, were cherubim, and they are described as such in Revelation 4:6. How is it known that the Tree of Life was specifically in Paradise in the realm of heaven? “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev 2:7).
“The heaven” in that passage is the Hebrew word, “šāmayim” and means, “the lofty.” It is the same word that was used in the beginning when the heaven and earth were created. [ii] Jacob found the other half of the Creation, and saw the Creator still in Paradise.
Had Jacob truly been asleep, or did he see into the heaven? He said, “Surely the LORD is in this place” (Gen 28:16). He saw Emmanuel — God with him. He was certain of that. So certain that he said, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this Way that I go” (Gen 28:20). He had found the Way between Paradise on Earth and Paradise in Heaven; between God’s footstool and His throne! [iii]
Jesus had His “footstool”. The Cross that he died upon had certain identifiers: one was the sign that said “King of the Jews”, thus indicating that His throne would be at his death. His feet, as was the tradition, was supported by a footrest. Indeed, the Holy Cross was the “ladder” that Jacob saw. It is the way and only Way to Paradise.
Dismus, the repentant thief, traveled that Way with THE ANGEL OF GOD that day [iv] — the day that Jesus went from one Paradise to the next. Jesus was translated there by one specific “Ange;”, named “Jesus”. Jacob saw that, he was certain of it!
Note that Dismus was baptized! He was sprinkled by his nearness to Jesus, by His blood and water! Then Dismus received the baptism of the Holy Ghost when the Ghost of Jesus accompanied him that day to Paradise!
Wherever that stone was, was what Jacob said of it: “This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen 28:17). Inferred therein, the House of God is access to Heaven, but this “House” and “Gate” were visions unto the heaven.
It would not be the Temple of God nor the Gate to Jerusalem (Peace), but to Paradise in the Heaven… a place in another realm.
The Cross, therefore, is the Gate to Heaven, and it stood on the outskirts of the walls of Jerusalem. Bethel is none other than the place that Jesus died and Dismus accessed Paradise. The trip was “today”. It was up the ladder as close as the top of the Cross! Calvaraie Locus (Calvary) is the House of God [1] and that “House” is “the place of the skull” possibly referring to the cranium of God. Why else was the crown of thorns placed on the cranium of Jesus? It was the place of the skull of Jesus as well!
Jacob said of that “House”, “How dreadful is this place!” [v] Had he seen the crucifixion and the resurrection? Had he seen God’s Face defaced and scars from thorns on his cranium? Surely, he had because although he was blessed, he saw it as a “dreadful” place.
To this day people from all over the world are buried at Mount of Olives Cemetery to be near the Gate to Heaven. They are not buried in the city of Bethel, but in Jerusalem. Somehow, the Israelites have always known that, that great city is the Gate to Heaven.
Finally, John had a similar vision as Jacob. He revealed, perhaps what Jacob saw in his dream and wrote of it in the Book of Revelation. It was John’s revelation and Jacob’s as well — Jacob the Revelator.
John saw the end of the story. Jesus said, when He died and gave up the Holy Ghost, “It is finished.” [vi] Much was finished, but surely the rest of the story, what Jacob may have seen as well:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. ... (Rev 21:1-3)
Jacob saw Heaven; John saw a New Heaven. Jacob laid on the earth; John saw a New Earth. The heaven and earth by the time of John’s vision, was a re-creation of Genesis 1:1.
Jacob saw the God standing in the Garden; John saw God standing as the Tree of Life in Paradise in Heaven. Jacob saw Jerusalem and laid there on stone; John saw New Jerusalem and the Rock of Salvation, the Stone that the builders rejected, was there.
Jacob was on the way to a wedding; John saw the Holy City coming out of Heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. Jacob was indeed, dreaming of a wedding but not his own! He was dreaming of the wedding between the Church — the Spiritual House of God — and the bridegroom, Jesus.
Jacob’s wedding with Leah and Rachel would be after seven years each. The wedding of the bridegroom would be the seven thousand years of rest during His Millennial Reign when Jesus returns to be with His Bride the Church.
Why did Jacob have two wives? Because the Bridegroom has many. They are the “lively stones” of the Church. [vii] Leah and Rachel were both “stones”, but not always so lively. At times their servants served God His heirs.
Jacob saw dreadful things. Perhaps he also saw that some of his future sons would be not so lively “stones”. Most of his sons’ seeds were dispersed and sowed on unholy ground (Samaritans and the Diaspora). Only two others remained on Holy Ground. Perhaps Jacob saw that dreadful thing on the ay to his wedding!
I am not always joyous. In my mind’s eye, how could I be? I wonder about my seed and much of the seed of the House of Herrin. Will they see what Jacob saw as a blessed or dreadful thing? The Good Father worried more about the fate of His seed, the Jews, than He did about His own Son, Jesus. Good fathers to this day worry about their own seed more so than themselves!
I worry about the condition of the world, not necessarily for my sake, but the sake of my children, grandchildren, and onwards to the third or fourth generations. Like Abraham, this father blesses his children, not to find a bride or groom in the world but find the Bridegroom Jesus before going to their destination; to wit: “The Stone of Destiny.”
(picture credit: Wikipedia; "Replica of the Stone of Scone")
[1] See yesterday’s commentary at https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2021/07/emmanuel-gods-house.html
I have been receiving your "Daily Thoughts" at my rac647@centurylink.net email address. I have not received on since 7/9/21. They just stopped coming. Can't figure out why. It is not a problem with spam.
ReplyDelete