The Narrow Ladder

Jacob didn't dream of a wide rose-strewn stairway to ivory palaces. He dreamed of a ladder, a narrow, well-anchored toe-climbing-hand-grabbing ladder with angels ascending and descending. 

The ladder was an open invitation to Jacob, the presenting of a proposed covenant between two hearts, a herdsman on earth and a divine sovereign in heaven. It was a reaching down to pull Jacob up, a helping hand to one who needed the climb. The ladder was a two-way path, seen in the ascending and descending of the angels. Jacob could climb up and God could come down. Heaven's gate would be open at all times, and the throne room would be reachable, available and touchable, as long as Jacob honored the covenant.

The day we were invited to receive the Living Christ within our hearts and lives, we received our covenant ladders as well. And as it was with Jacob, who struggled in those early years of his climb, you and I must seek to continually companion with our Father God, while leaning into the strength and power of His infallible Word, if we are to win the race against the satanic forces that oppose us at every rung.

Above all else, we must at all times revere and esteem the blessed Name of Jesus, that Name that is above every other Name. There is no other name on earth or in heaven through which man can be saved, though there are many diverse deceptions on this earth that lay snares for the weak and foolish. Hell is filled with those that swallowed the lie and desecrated the ladder, deserting the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Let us therefore be vigilant against all wiles of the enemy, and protective of the truth that has brought us to God's great salvation in Christ Jesus.

The Lord above the ladder spoke irrevocable promises to Jacob (Genesis 28:13-15) that would cover him and his descendants for all the earth ages to come. In these promises, as in the promises made to his grandfather Abraham,"all the families of the earth would be blessed." Today, even today, God continues to fulfill this promise.

God also spoke of the future nation of Israel and the wickedness of Jacob's descendants that would cause them to be cast out of their promised land. Even so,  God would go with them into all the lands and places they would go to and He would bring them back again and again to the land of their inheritance until, "I have done that which I have spoken to you of."

Jacob didn't know that twenty years later God would change his name to Israel. He didn't know he would have twelve sons that would father the twelve tribes of Israel. He didn't know - nor could he imagine - his descendants numbering the dust of the earth or that there would be one born among his seed that would bless all the families of the earth. Of course, Jacob didn't know the size of the earth either...

When Jacob awakened, he was afraid, so he took the stone he had used for a pillow and set it up as an altar, poured oil over it and called the place Beth-el, "House of God." Then he vowed a vow, saying,

"If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."

What wonder awaits the student of this story, what conviction rises within us that drowns us in Godly repentance, that we may taste of His Grace and rejoice in His great salvation. What ecstasy fills us as the Holy Ghost takes up residence within, becoming our faithful friend and companion, going before us up the ladder.

The Holy Spirit is the author and life of the Word, even the Word made flesh. Jacob's ladder beckons us to climb by faith in that living Word who is God Incarnate, God in the flesh, savior, redeemer, joy of hearts and giver of eternal life to all those that believe. (He is judge to those that don't.)

As I said earlier, Jacob did not dream of an elegant stairway to an ivory palace, he dreamed of a ladder reaching up to heaven. A plain ordinary ladder. He would not glide gracefully on a heavenly stairway but he would exert his all to hold onto a ladder. It would take effort on his part and it will take effort on your part and mine.

It was a vision of the spiritual content of faith, a prophetic word to a people yet future that God had already chosen. It was a prophetic declaration of the Seed that would come through Jacob, the Seed in whom Jacob's vision would be fulfilled. The families "of all the earth" would include Jew and Gentile - even before there was a Semite or a Jew or a nation called Israel...

So what is the story? It is a story of Grace, a story of love born in the heart of the Father who calls without ceasing to all those that sleep:

"If you will hear my voice today, and answer me, I will show you Jacob's ladder that still stands in the narrow way. It is however, a ladder you must climb yourself. You cannot be piggy-backed, you cannot be grandfathered in, you cannot buy your way or work your way or negotiate your way. I don't make deals. I make promises. And surely you understand my promise to Jacob applies to you also. Did I not say all the families of the earth would be blessed? Does that not include you?

"When Jacob said I would be his God if I would provide him with meat and raiment, he thought to make a deal with me. But, had I not already said to him that I would be with him and keep him and would not leave him until my promise was fulfilled? What part of my promise "to keep you" did Jacob - and do you - not understand?" Be careful you do not fall into the same trap Adam and Eve fell into..."

Why did God establish a narrow way? Why didn't He open up a wide broad way for the billions he had invited? Well, unlike you and me - with our big plans and little brains - God knew what Satan had dropped into the hearts of men and He knew it would be an uphill fight all the way to the top for those that persevere in their climb of the narrow ladder.

There wouldn't be trillions, perhaps not even millions, that would grab hold of the ladder and stay the course. The earth and Satan would have six thousand years to test the children of God, and God would have six thousand years to encourage the weak and restore the repentant fallen. A war was on. And in this war, the men and women of every generation, in all their  ways, would battle their way up the ladder or they would poke around on the earth, looking for 70 temporary years of wealth and fame.

So it was in the beginning and so it continues today...

Even Jesus. begotten Son of God, the Father's ultimate gift to the world, warned the generations to follow, "Enter in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which enter it: Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

The world today is in a mess. Though it has always faced the temptations and drawings of hell and its cohorts, it is today in the fiercest battle of all time. America is in the tight grip of evil-doers and wicked weavers of lies, and the world watches while it too heads toward the cliff that abruptly drops from the great broad way into the abyss thousands of feet below the surface of the earth.

When God created the earth He built a fire in the center of it. This had a two-fold purpose - it would make the earth a warm planet for habitation, and it would form a prison of never-ending sulfuric flames for the fallen angels who had left their first estate to follow Satan. It was never meant for men. But Hell has since enlarged itself again and again to acommodate the wicked who have joined - and are joining - those fallen giants in the center of the earth.

The whole world appears to be racing toward the great broad way to destruction but why should you? Why should you lose what God offers you and what Jesus Christ has purchased for you?

The word we hear today is "investment" - a worldly word meaning to put your money and your gold into safe earthly deposits. Well, in an uncertain world, in an uncertain age, there truly is a fool-proof investment that will never fall, never fail, and never diminish in value. It is the Lord's investment in you and your investment in Him.

An unbelieving world will laugh at you, you will be persecuted and reviled, you may be beaten and even martyred, but you will never lose what you have invested. When your spirit steps out of the flesh that holds you here, and you step into the new life you have only imagined, Jesus will be there to welcome you into His Kingdom, and to the new home He has built for you.

There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears. But in hell, there is today, and will be tomorrow and forever, screaming and gnashing of teeth. Will there be, can there be, repentance in hell? No - never - it is the finality of hell that is so horrible. There is no escape and no reprieve.

In hell there is no forgiveness, no compassion, no love and no kindness. And there is no mention anywhere in the Living Word of God, either in the accounts of Creation, or in Jesus' teachings of hell, that there is a pergatory. Rather, I refer you to His most famous account of death for the saint and the sinner in Luke 16: 19-31. It is as it is written - there is no pergatory...

Hearts that hardened against Christ while they were on the earth will resent and reject Him even more in their torment. They may cry out to Him to save them, using wiles or faked repentance and adoration, but they are just that - fakes - and Jesus weeps over such as these but He will not cheapen His own sacrifice and the sacrifices of those that followed Him. Thus, these who are lost forever will forever bear the fruits of their wickedness.

Which path have you chosen? Have you taken hold of the ladder or are your feet still planted on the earth? Jesus Himself said there would be only a few that would find the path to life. How few will they be and, will you be one of them? How many will follow you because you follow Jesus?