“Jacob’s Ladder”
Genesis 28:10-22

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Second Sunday in Lent—February 28, 2021

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our text is today’s Old Testament Reading, the story of “Jacob’s Ladder.”

Human beings are funny creatures.  It is one of the great paradoxes of humanity that even though all of us go through life knowing mentally that one day we will die, yet emotionally we seem to think that day will never come for us. But, then something happens that brings the reality of death so close that we can no longer gloss over it. The death of a loved one; some serious trouble or dangers; perhaps a terminal illness for us or a loved one, with the prediction of only a short time to live. This past year all of us have been confronted daily with the reality of death due to the coronavirus pandemic. All of these awful things bring home to us the harsh reality of our mortality. All of these awful things can make us feel alone and afraid.

In our text, Jacob was alone and afraid as he camped out that night at Bethel. It reminds me of one summer nearly 40 years ago when I was working as an archaeologist in the Middle East, at a site not too far from Bethel. Because of my fair skin I was assigned to the crew excavating ancient underground, cavelike tombs.

One afternoon just as we were about to quit for the day we discovered several fully intact skeletons. That’s actually quite rare because over the centuries the bones have usually been disturbed. They asked for volunteers to spend the night camping out in the desert to guard the tomb, and I and another fellow foolishly thought it would be a fun adventure. But, after a few hours, all alone, in the dark, trying to sleep next to skeletons on the rock floor of a tomb in an ancient cemetery in the middle of the desert, expecting grave robbers to possibly come and attack us during the night, it no longer seemed like a fun adventure but a frightening nightmare.

Jacob wasn’t out sleeping in the desert for fun or adventure, but was all alone on a long, hard, dangerous journey. You may recall how Jacob had cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright and inheritance, and how Esau plotted to get revenge on Jacob by killing him. So, the boys’ mother Rebecca arranged to send Jacob away to stay with his uncle, her brother Laban. And so now Jacob is off on a long, hard, dangerous journey, all alone—or so he thinks.

For, in a dream at Bethel the Lord God reassures Jacob that he is not alone. First of all, there are the angels of God ascending and descending on Jacob’s Ladder; going up to God with the needs of Jacob; coming down from God to watch over Jacob, help, and protect him.

And the Lord God himself appears at the top of Jacob’s Ladder: “I am the Lord” he declares. “I will be with you and will watch over you wherever you go . . . I will not leave you . . .”

Do you sometimes feel like your life itself is a long, hard, dangerous journey? Do you sometimes feel like Jacob did that night at Bethel, alone and afraid?

Remember the angels of God, ascending and descending on Jacob’s Ladder. Going up to God with your needs; coming down from God to watch over you, help, and protect you. Remember the promise of the Lord God, standing at the top of Jacob’s Ladder: “I am the Lord . . . I will be with you and will watch over you wherever you go . . . I will not leave you . . .” And remember and take comfort from Jacob’s Ladder.

What is the significance for you of Jacob’s Ladder? Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Remember and take comfort from Jacob’s Ladder, because Jacob’s Ladder is a symbol of your Savior.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” he proclaims. Jesus is the way to heaven, symbolized in Jacob dream by a ladder reaching up to heaven. Jesus is Jacob’s Ladder; Jacob’s Ladder is Jesus.

Imagine that ladder laid down so that it becomes like a bridge. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus says, “whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Think of a huge gorge or canyon. On one side is death; on the other side is eternal life. On one side is damnation; on the other side is salvation. On one side is hell; on the other side is heaven. But, how will you cross over from death to eternal life? How will you cross over from damnation to salvation? How will you cross over from hell to heaven?  “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

As St. Paul says in today’s Epistle Reading from Romans: “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . Christ died for the ungodly. . . God shows his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. . . we have been justified by his blood. . .”

Christ died for you, to pay for your sins and earn your pardon by his blood. That is what God’s promise to Jacob in our text means when he says, “through your Descendant all people on earth will be blessed.”

According to his human nature Jesus Christ is the promised Descendent of Jacob, and through the blood of Jesus Christ comes the blessing of salvation for the whole world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Trust in Jesus; he is your Savior; you have peace with God through your Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God means that there is no more punishment to suffer; peace with God means there is no more price to pay. Because, Jesus bore it all for you and paid it all for you, in his body on the cross.

Jesus is Jacob’s Ladder; Jacob’s Ladder is Jesus. He is the means by which you will ascend to heaven. “I Am the Resurrection and the Life,” he declares. “Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live.”

Death is no longer the bitter end, but the new beginning.  Jacob declared at Bethel, “This is the gate of heaven.”  And through faith in Jesus, that’s what death has becomes for you, not the fearful end, but the glorious gate of heaven.

I read an article recently that poignantly recounted how one of our young soldiers in the Middle East beautifully expressed this comforting confidence in his last telephone call home before a big battle: “Don’t worry honey” he told his wife. “If I get killed, I am goin’ to heaven, and I’ll see you there. Either way, I am goin’ home.” “We are climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” Death is now “the gate of heaven,” and like that soldier said, we are goin’ home.

When I served as pastor at Sylvan Grove, Kansas, the old church register listed the cause for those who had died.  The entry for a ten-year-old boy in the late 1800’s caught my eye.  Under cause of death it had Genesis 28, the story of Jacob’s Ladder, and then in the pastor’s beautiful script it said: “He rested his head on a rock and closed his eyes.” 

There was another column with an explanation: the boy had been thrown from a wagon and was killed instantly when he hit his head on a rock.  So, like Jacob, “He rested his head on a rock and closed his eyes.”

Your death also will be like the sleep of Jacob. Like that rock under Jacob’s head, your death might be hard and painful. But, when the sleep of death comes, like Jacob you will see God. Only it will not be a dream; in fact it will be more real than anything you have ever experienced. And the angels of God will carry your soul up Jacob’s Ladder into paradise. And so you shall be asleep in Jesus, forever with the Lord.  As the prayer says: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; and if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take; guide me safely through the night and wake me with the morning light.”

“Weeping may remain for the night,” says the psalm. “But joy comes in the morning.” The night of this world may be full of weeping, but joy is coming in the morning of eternal life. When you lie down in the sleep of death, the Lord will take your soul and you will awaken with joy in paradise. For, death is for you “the gate of heaven,” because “we are climbing Jacob’s Ladder.”