According to God, the world is condemned and ready to burn. Everyone on it should have at least a mild curiosity if a rescue ladder is available.
What a fascinating story here in Genesis 28! Jacob, traveling north, seems to stop at random in the very place where his grandfather Abraham first called on the Lord. Now in his night dream he sees something not entirely understood until Jesus explains it centuries later. “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” (v 12). What, or who, is that ladder to heaven? People have had all sorts of explanations of the stairway to heaven. Is it our goodness? Obviously not with Jacob! Does it represent man’s religious efforts to reach up to God? Human good works? Here is the Lord Jesus’ explanation to one of His early disciples: “Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn 1:51). Ah, that’s it! As the apostle Paul would describe it, “There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…” (1 Tim 2:5-6). This one fact is crucial in determining the way to heaven. We cannot build a pile of good works or religious activity and climb on them up to heaven. But, thank God, the way is already provided! Jesus, the ransom—the word means a price paid to set someone free—has already made it possible to bring us home to God. In Abraham’s day, the place where Jacob camped was called Luz. Now Jacob renames it “Beth-el,” which means “the house of God.” “How awesome is this place!” exclaimed Jacob. “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Gen 28:17). Yes, God’s house is now open to us when we come to God through Christ, the Savior for sinners like us.