Family Talk - The Stairway to Heaven

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THE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr

Reading: Genesis 28

One of the most beautiful dreams in the Old Testament is the dream Jacob had as he fled from the wrath of his brother Esau toward Haran.

Through trickery Jacob had taken Esau’s birthright and blessing. Esau was so angry about this that he was planning to kill Jacob. So, at the advice of his mother, Rebekah, Jacob fled toward the city of Haran, which was the home of Abraham and Sarah’s cousins.

We can picture Jacob with only a few supplies he could carry, travelling over the narrow little roadway that went north up and down over the mountains of Canaan. In those days there were no hotels or sleeping places along such roads, so when night came you had to sleep out in the open with only your cloak to cover you and protect you from the chilly night air.

So when night fell Jacob took a stone to use for a pillow and went to sleep. Then it was that he saw a great stairway, going from the earth to heaven. On the stairway were angels going up and down, and the Lord Himself was standing at the top.

Jacob was so awed by the beauty and power of his dream, that as soon as he woke up, he took the stone he had used for a pillow and made a marker to remember this wonderful place. He called the place Bethel, because that name means the house of God, and Jacob certainly believed that God dwelt there on the mountain top.

Now Jacob was a shepherd boy who knew very little about the Lord or about heaven. Remember that in his day the Word did not exist as we know it. The Old and New Testaments had not yet been written. And the Ancient Word had long since been lost. Only a few of its stories were spoken about and remembered.

Wouldn’t Jacob have been surprised if he had known the real meaning of his dream?

For it is the Word that connects our minds on earth with the minds of the angels in heaven and with the Lord Himself. The Word not only connects our lives with their lives, it actually makes it possible for them to send us feelings of love and affection.
The Word contains thousands of goods and truths. There are high or spiritual good and truths, and there are lower or natural goods and truths. They are hidden in the Word like a stairway, because this is how the Lord sends His life down to us, from high things all the way down to worldly things.

When we use the knowledges from the Word then our mind not only receives the loves and affections of the angels, but we in turn, our good loves rise up to give happiness to the angels. This is why Jacob saw angels “ascending and descending.”

The Lord’s life comes down to us through the Word, and it goes back to Him through our use of the Word. The Word is the starting place for everything that is good about our lives.

Jacob wanted to be sure to remember this place. So he set up a stone as a pillar, and he called the name of the place Bethel, which means the house of God.

The Word is the place where the Lord lives - it is His house. Because the angels love the Word, they come down to us whenever we are in the same love. They come to us when we read the Word, and when we listen to it, and when we think about it. They also come to us as we sleep at night, and bring spiritual presents from the Lord, that we too may know the blessings of His love.

Amen.  

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