Ladder
What is the significance of a ladder to heaven?
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place-- and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." - Genesis 28:10-17
It would be great if we could climb the ladder to visit people we have lost, or if they could come down to visit us.
But this ladder is not for us. It is for the angels to come and go.
It must be a very busy place. I would imagine we humans need a lot of help from angels every day, so the traffic on the ladder would be something to watch.
Do you think the angels need to go back up after they do something for someone? Or do they stay a while, help a few people and then go back?
Do you think the angels have to walk on the ladder, or is it more like an escalator?
It would have to be a double escalator so some could go up while others come down.
But Jacob saw this in a dream, so it could be something totally different, something we have never seen, but looks like a ladder to Jacob.
So, we call it Jacob's Ladder, even though it isn't his. It is God's ladder, or the Angels's ladder.
Regardless of what it is or how it works, it is nice to know there is a way for angels to come and go. It shows that God truly is always with us.
More to come...