If there were Olympic Games for the person with the saddest story in all the Bible, obviously Job would take the gold medal, but do you know who I think would take silver? Jacob. His story has always fascinated and attracted me. It\u2019s not only sad, though; it\u2019s also redemptive and, in the finish, even hopeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I recently wrote an entire seven-part sermon series on his life titled Jacob: The Faking, Breaking, and Making of a Man.<\/em> The goodness of God and echoes of the gospel are found throughout his narrative. In the sermon series, I highlight many of these. Here\u2019s one of my favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the larger narrative flow of the book of Genesis, Jacob\u2019s vision at Bethel of the divine staircase (Genesis 28) is seen to be the reversal of the Tower of Babel <\/em>(Genesis 11)! And that reversal of Babel profoundly illumines the love of God as revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. How so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m so glad you asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put simply, the Tower of Babel went up<\/em> while Jacob\u2019s staircase went down.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Humankind cannot reach from earth up to heaven, but God can reach from heaven down to earth.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The goal of the Tower of Babel was to build \u201ca tower that reach[ed] to the heavens\u201d (Genesis 11:4). That is, humankind was planning, by their efforts, skill, and considerable ambition, to reach the very dwelling place of God Himself. This makes the Tower of Babel the perfect illustration of humanity\u2019s attempt to save itself. It was, we might say, \u201csalvation by architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will reach the very heavens ourselves!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jacob\u2019s staircase is the utter antithesis of this ambition. Humankind did not build the ladder up; God brought it down. \u201cAnd there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it\u201d (Genesis 28:12, NIV). This architectural marvel is not a symbol of human ambition, effort, and rebellion, but a monument to God\u2019s love, mercy, and humility. The message, in its simplest form, is this: earth and heaven are connected<\/em>. Humankind cannot reach from earth up to heaven, but God can reach from heaven down to earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus is Jacob\u2019s staircase! He said so to young Nathanael: \u201cMost assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man\u201d (John 1:49).<\/p>\n\n\n\n God showed Jacob\u2014deceitful, fearful, guilt-ridden Jacob\u2014the gospel. Yes, all the way back in Genesis! God then gave him a glorious assurance that echoes down to us today: \u201cBehold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go\u2026 for I will not leave you\u201d (Genesis 28:15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friend, hear those words to you, and to all who believe in Jacob\u2019s staircase, Jesus: \u201cI will not leave you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If there were Olympic Games for the person with the saddest story in all the Bible, obviously Job would take the gold…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/blog-mu2302-devotional.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAh8r-3Ct","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13917"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15464,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13917\/revisions\/15464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n