Saturday, May 7, 2016
Genesis 28:11-12 When he [Jacob] reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. John 1:51 Jesus said, I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
"I AM THE WAY"
The LORD God used a visual to reinforce His promise to be with Jacob and bless him. A stairway to heaven with angels going up and down on it pictured Jacob's prayers rising to God and the Lord's blessings coming down. The stairway itself visualized the fact that God Himself would make the way between us sinners and Himself in order to bless us.
In the early days of His ministry Jesus told one of His new disciples that He Himself is the Way between God and us. I wonder if Nathaniel was there that day on the Mount of Olives when Jesus ascended into heaven. For on that day our LORD used a visual to reinforce the fact that He is the stairway between earth and heaven, between God and man.
When Jesus laid down His life as the atoning sacrifice for all sinners, the temple curtain in front of the Most Holy Place was ripped open from the top to the bottom. When Jesus paid our sin-debt He gave us sinners access to God through Himself: "the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain (that is, through His flesh)" (Hebrews 10:20). What Jesus' Resurrection certified, His Ascension visualized.
The way to eternal life with God is not through some jury-rigged ladder of our good works and intentions. Being like Jesus is not the way to heaven--Jesus Himself is.
Put your whole weight on Him. Trust in Him. He will make it happen. Jesus is the Way, just as He said (John 14:6), and as His Ascension plainly pictures.
