A Stairway to Heaven

“When Jacob woke up, he said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.’” — Genesis 28:16

Jacob was running away. His brother Esau was furious with him, so he had left home and was walking all the way to his uncle Laban’s house, hundreds of miles away.

He was all alone. He had tricked his father and his brother, and now he had nothing but the clothes he was wearing and a walking stick.

As the sun went down, Jacob stopped for the night. There was no house and no bed, so he took a stone, put it under his head for a pillow, and lay down to sleep in the open.

And while he slept, Jacob had a dream.

He saw a stairway, or a ladder, standing on the earth, with its top reaching all the way up to heaven. And God’s angels were going up and down on it!

And there, above it, stood the Lord. “I am the Lord,” He said, “the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your children the land you are lying on. Your family will be as many as the specks of dust on the ground. They will spread out in every direction. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your children.”

It was the same promise God had made to Abraham. And then God said something just for Jacob.

“Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Jacob didn’t deserve that. He had lied and cheated. He was running away. But God came to him anyway, and made him a promise full of grace.

When Jacob woke up, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn’t know it!” He was amazed and a little afraid. “This is none other than the house of God,” he said. “This is the gate of heaven!”

Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had used as a pillow and set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it, to mark the special place where God had met him. He named the place Bethel, which means “house of God”.

Then Jacob made a promise of his own. “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey,” he said, “and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, and bring me safely home, then the Lord will be my God.”

Jacob still had a lot to learn. But God had found him, out there in the middle of nowhere. And God would keep His promise to be with him wherever he went.

Looking ahead to Jesus: Jesus told His friends, “You will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). Jesus is the true stairway between heaven and earth. He is the way we can come to God.

Read it in your Bible: Genesis 28:10–22

Dear God, thank you that you are with me wherever I go, even when I don’t realise it. Thank you that Jesus makes the way for me to come to you. Amen.