04.16. SHADOW: Jacob's Ladder- Touching Heaven From E

SHADOW: Jacob’s Ladder- Touching Heaven From Earth Genesis 28:10-19 AUDIO http://www.exposingtheword.com/SHADOWS/MP3s%20Shadows/16%20Shadow-%20Jacob’s%20Ladder.mp3

Men have always wished to reach into the heavens to explore beyond the known to the unknown. Men will risk their lives and many have given them surrendering to the call of the unknown. NASA sends all kinds of spacecraft into space. In one sense, this is man trying to touch heaven from earth. Is it possible to reach heaven from earth? In the sense we are talking about here it certainly is. Men have lived in what we call space. From Jan 8, 1994- March 22, 1995, Valeriy Poliyakov (Russian) spent 437 Days 17 hours, 58 minutes and 16 sec on a space flight. Most of that was on Mir the space station. You may recall when US businessman Dennis Tito paid the Russian $20,000,000 to visit the International Space Station from April 28-May 6, 2001. Men want to find a way to reach heaven from earth. We, a collect group of nations, are building a space station so that men can stay for extended lengths of time in space. We are talking about a trip to Mars in the next years to come. In the Bible, you will recall the tower of Babel that was built by Nimrod. Genesis 11:4 "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven..."

    May I say that God has prepared a way that men can reach heaven from earth? Our Shadow today will give us a special look and insight into this access to God.

I- The Shadow:

We go to the time in the history of Israel when Isaac’s, the son of Abraham, sons are grown and it is time for them to find a wife. We find that Jacob was instructed to not marry a Canaanite woman. Genesis 28:1 "And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan."

    Esau, Jacob’s brother was upset and in Genesis 28:8-9 Esau took a Canaanite woman because his father disapproved of them marrying them. Jacob goes to Padanaram to find his wife.

Our text if found in Genesis 28:10-19 set in the context of the journey. The journey would end years later but first he would be deceived by Laban and marry Leah after he worked seven years for Rachel. It is from Jacob that the twelve sons would be born that became the twelve tribes of Israel. On the journey, Jacob lies down with a pillow of stone and dreams a dream. He dreams of a ladder that reaches into heaven. This ladder gives us a picture of touching heaven from earth.

II- The Tie:

Let us now look at a place in the New Testament that I feel ties Jacob’s ladder to the Lord Jesus. John 1:51 "And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." Jesus said that what would be seen concerning Him was what Jacob saw in the vision. All four of the gospels record that the spirit of God descended upon Jesus at His baptism. We can understand the vision of Jacob as a foreshadow of Christ. How do you touch heaven from earth? Through the Lord Jesus Christ!

III- The Intercessor:

    We see in the vision of Jacob that God stood at the top of the ladder that reached to earth.     Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

    Who is the one, the only one, who has a foot in heaven and a foot on earth? I am not talking in the sense of one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. May I say that Jesus in one sense is the one at the top of the ladder and the one at the bottom? Ephesians 4:8-10 "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. ⁹(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

    There are two critical things we need to see concerning Christ in this context. First he was fully human (foot on the earth) and fully God (stands in Heaven). John 1:14 "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

    There are two names that are used of the Lord that give us this also. "Son of Man," [used 85 times in the New Testament] and "Son of God." [used 46 times]. So simply by these two names we know that we have one who is Hebrews 7:25 "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

    God stood at the top and Jesus is the way we reach the Promises of God.

IV- All the Promises Fulfilled in Christ.

    Genesis 28:13-15 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. This tells us of the promise renewed that God had given to Abraham. We know these promises as the Abrahamic covenant. Please notice that the promises were not only to Abraham but to Isaac, Jacob’s father. Now they are renewed to Jacob with this vision.

This reminds me that all the promises of God are true in Christ. Now we know that the promises of God are spectacular and awe inspiring. They are even beyond your wildest imaginations to see how God would keep them for us. Many times when people promise us something we think it is too good to be true. But, I’m reminded that DL Moody said, "God never made a promise that was too good to be true." How big is your faith tank? Have you stretched it lately by trusting God.

Since the time our children were very young, we have always read to them The Chronicles of Narnia, these wonderful children’s stories about the magical land of Narnia. In the second book, Prince Caspian, Lucy enters Narnia again, and she hasn’t seen Aslan, this lion figure who represents Christ. She has not seen him in a long, long time, and so they have a wonderful reunion. Lucy says to Aslan, who represents Christ, "Aslan, you’re bigger now."

Aslan says, "Lucy, that’s because you are older. You see, Lucy, every year that you grow, you will find me bigger." Hasn’t that been the case for many of you? For many of us, every year we grow, we find him bigger in his grace and in his goodness and in his faithfulness and in those promises that he has given us upon which we can depend all the days of our lives.

-- Ron Lee Davis, "Rejoicing in Our Suffering," Preaching Today, Tape No. 74.

    God has fulfilled all His promises to mankind in the Lord Jesus Christ. The promised Savior, the promise on Heaven, the promise of eternal life are all found in Christ. Galatians 3:22 "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

V- Touching Heaven From Earth:

    So how do we touch heaven? May I say that touching heaven is easy? You see that God sees all things and He is a tender compassionate God who is watching over us. There are two ways that we can touch Heaven. There are probably many you could add to this list but look with me at just three.

1- Touch it with Faith:

    Can we take God at His word? Certainly! Notice Mark 9:23 "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

    Matthew 21:21 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done."    

About a year and a half ago, I bought a new navy blazer at Nordstrom. It was one of those cases you may have gone through where you buy an item of clothing and the more you wear it, the more you realize you don’t like it. My blazer wasn’t the right color, and to make matters worse, it attracted lint like it was going out of style. After wearing it pretty regularly for six months or so, I stuck it in my closet and didn’t wear it for a long time.

Tucked away in the back of my mind all the while was that famous Nordstrom unconditional-return policy. I thought, I’ve had this thing for a year and a half. I’ve worn it lots of times, and there’s just no way they’re going to take it back. About two weeks ago I decided I had nothing to lose. I pulled the blazer out, threw a lot of lint on it to make it look bad, and took it down to Nordstrom’s men’s department. I walked in, and immediately I felt nervous. I felt like I was about to pull a scam of some sort, but I played it straight. I walked right up to the first salesman I saw and gave this little prepared speech. I said, "I am about to put your famous unconditional-return policy to its ultimate test. I have here a blazer. I’ve worn it lots. I’ve had it for a year and a half. I don’t like it. It’s the wrong color, and it attracts lint like it’s going out of style. But I want to return this blazer for another blazer that I like." Then I stood there.

I couldn’t believe it. This guy with a big handlebar mustache just looked at me and shook his head. He said, "For heaven’s sake, what took you so long? Let’s go find you a blazer." Ten minutes later I walked out with another blazer that was marked seventy-five dollars more than I paid for the one that I brought in. It was perfect for me. Didn’t cost me a penny. God is like Nordstrom.

God makes all sorts of outlandish promises that we cannot bring ourselves to believe. Can we? When we get up enough courage or we’re desperate enough, we finally take him at his word. He looks at us and he shakes his head. "For heaven’s sake," he says, "what took you so long?" -- Vic Pentz, "A Twinge of Nostalgia," Preaching Today, Tape No. 88.

2-Touch it with Prayer:

    How many times would God have given His children the riches blessing He has in heaven if they would have only asked. Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: ⁸For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. ⁹Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"    

    Matthew 6:8 "Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."        

3- Touch it with Tears:

May I say sometimes we think that God doesn’t care. How many times have we felt the weight of life and cried tears of hopelessness and helplessness thinking no one noticed them. How far from the truth that is. It is a lie from the pits of hell. Beloved the tears of earth touch the heart of God in heaven. Notice a verse set during the time of bondage in Egypt. Exodus 2:23 "And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage."

    Jacob’s ladder gives us a picture of Christ and our provision in him. Have you trusted Him?