Genesis 28:10–12 NKJV Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

•     Now stay standing for a moment as we have one more key text from the New Testament this morning, would you please turn to John chapter 1, verses 48-51

John 1:48–51 NKJV Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

This is the Word of the Lord, Amen?
•     Welcome back to our series titled “When Heaven Meets Earth” where we go through the events and vision that happened to Jacob in Genesis 28.

•     Now if you are new here, welcome! I am glad you are here. I am Pastor Christian and this is what we do, we preach through Scripture. We have been in Genesis 28 for three weeks now, and our sermons have centered around this vison of this ladder and the circumstances surrounding the vision. 

•     Now in our first sermon from this series we really focused on the circumstances of the vision.

•     Jacob is running for his life, he is tired, he is likely very ashamed of his sin… he is likely burdened by the expectations put on him… He has this blessing, but has nothing to show for it… no wife, no kids, no wealth… in fact all he has right now is a staff in his hand and a stone for a pillow.

•     So here, in the middle of the wilderness, tired, ashamed, and afraid, he falls asleep.

•     And don’t forget how venerable he is… He didn’t even bother to hide… at any point his brother could catch up to him and kill him…

•     Now it is in that state, that venerable, exhausted, and ashamed state… that God shows up.

•     God shows up and shows him this vision of a ladder… it’s feet on earth, but it’s top in heaven… it is a vision of heaven meeting earth.

•     On the ladder are angles descending and ascending… doing the work of the kingdom of God.

•     So in our first message we talked about what a comfort it is to know that God has assigned angels to us, that we are not alone, that we are not working alone.

•     In the vision God also reminds Jacob of the promise and blessing that has been spoken over his life… what a comfort it is when God reminds us.

•     Last week we talked about what a Blessing really is, we talked about asking God for a blessing, but also what it means to prophetically bless someone.

•     Isaac prophetically blessed his son Jacob, and here God confirms that blessing afresh.

•     We also talked last week about how God Keeps Us… and how that phrase does not mean God “holds unto us” or that God “Maintains possession of us” though God certainly does hold unto us… that word “keep” actually comes from the Hebrew word “protect” and here is used like a castle keep… God is our Keep, He is our fortress, a strong tower, a very present help.

•     So that was the last two weeks, but this morning I want to bring it all back to Jesus. Because all of scripture testifies of Christ, and this vision Jacob had is no different. In fact, Jesus references this vission when He is talking to Nathanal in the New Testament… so let’s get into our first point this morning… When Heaven Meets Earth, Jesus is There!

Point One – Jesus is There

John 1:43–50 NKJV – The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

•     Man I love these events… and I am going to tie it with Jacob’s ladder here in a little bit… but… man I love when the Bible just shows how the people surrounding Jesus are just that… people… they are human… they say stupid stuff… they put there foot in their mouths…

•     So Jesus calls Phillip and Phillip knows that Jesus is the Messiah, so Phillip goes and finds this Nathaniel guy and says “Nate, Nate! We have found Him! The Messiah whom Moses and the Prophets wrote about, HE IS HERE! His name is Jesus of Nazareth”.

•     And Nathan replies “ Can anything good com out of Nazareth?”

•     Bro! First of all… RACIST, you need to cool that language down Nate…

•     But second of all YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT JESUS! And you are going to bust on Him because of where he was born?

•     So Philip says “dude you just got to come see Him” and they go and see Him.

•     Now when Jesus sees Nathan coming Jesus says “Behold, Nathan, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”

•     Which I am like “That’s a wild thing to say, Jesus, after dude just busted on your home town”,  but that is why He is the author of Grace and I am not…

•     And Nathan is like “how do you know me” and Jesus said “I saw you under the fig tree”.

•     And that sentence “I saw you under the fig tree” blows Nathan away to the point that he instantly believes and confesses Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel!

•     Something must have been happening under that fig tree… something important to Nathaniel… something life changing… I mean it would turn out to be eternity changing for him…

•     I wonder what was happening, I wonder what was going on under that fig tree, that Jesus knowing about it instantly changed Nathan’s attitude from “Nothing good comes from Nazareth” to “Rabbi, You are the Son of God and King of Israel”.

•     I have a few theories to what might have been happening under that tree.

•     Maybe Nathaniel was sitting under the fig tree silently praying “GOD, there are rumblings of a man teaching Your Word… healing the sick, and raising the dead… some are calling Him the Messiah… oh LORD how I long for the Messiah, if this is Him, would you show me YHWY? If this is truly You God, would you make it known to me?”

•     Or maybe Nathaniel was in a dark place, wrestling with pain, or fear, or depression, or anxiety… maybe he was weeping under that fig tree.. “God I don’t know how I can go on… I love you LORD, despite the agony I know that I love You Lord… but I don’t feel like I see you right now… I don’t see your hand on my life… it hurts… I don’t want to do it anymore… I want to give up God…”

•     Or maybe it was a time of great need, sitting under that fig tree… trying to figure out how to survive “Aba Father… I don’t know how I am going to provide for my family this week… I don’t know how I am going to provide for them today… will the figs on this tree be enough to feed us… is there any hope for us… God I need you to provide for us, please Lord… give us this day our daily bread… because I don’t know how I am going to give it.

•     Whatever he was doing, I think it is most likely that Nathaniel was praying under that fig tree… that he was turning his face to heaven… that heaven was meeting earth in that moment.

•     Sometimes people call it the Holy Spirit goosebumps, others call it the palpable presence of God… but there are times in a believers life, times of prayer or spiritual warfare… or times of testimony… or times of worship… there are times where you just know “heaven is meeting earth in this place…” times when you just know “God is here”!

•     I think Nathanial was having one of those moments, a manifest presence of God moment, under that fig tree… where Nathanial walked away saying “God was here with me under this fig tree”.

•     So when Jesus said “I saw you under that fig tree” something clicked inside of Nathanial’s spirit… two and two came together in his mind “If God was there under that fig tree… and Jesus saw me under that fig tree… well Jesus must have been there… if God was there… and Jesus was there… then it must be true… JESUS IS GOD!”.

•     Now all of this is a bit of conjecture… we don’t know for sure what was going on beneath that fig tree… we don’t know what was going on in Nathanial’s spirit or mind… but I can speak from experience… I have seen God do this to me and to others.

•     When I had a dream about before I was saved, and demons were mocking me chanting “Your the salt of the earth and you have lost your saltiness”… and in the morning, unsaved Christian, resembling this dream… opened his Bible to a random page… a page he had never read… and his eyes dropped to that random page and read the exact words he had dreamed… Jesus was there… because it was He who turned my Bible to Matthew 5:13.

•     And Jesus was there that Sunday whispering in my ear “You have no saltiness, but if you give my life to me I will make you the salt of the earth”.

•     When I meet the man sitting next to his luxary SUV, and Jesus told me to give him 40 bucks… and I did… and he begain to weep “How could you know I needed this money? I was crying out to God to help me fill my gas tank!” Jesus was there in that moment, Jesus saw that man’s need.

•     Or the girl at my highschool, months after I was saved, and God said “Go tell her about Me” and I did, and the Holy Spirit told me what to say… and she wept and wept “How could you know?!” She asked through tears… I couldn’t but Jesus was there, and He could.

•     Or the man on the fountain in front of the Library… I prayed “Who do you want me to witness too? Who do you want me to tell the gospel too” and God highlighted this man sitting on the fountain “Are you an angel?!” he asks through tears? “No, why?! I ask”… “Because I was contemplating suicide and I was just praying “God if you are real send me a sign” and just then you walk up to tell me about Jesus!”.  Jesus was there, on that fountain… Jesus saw that man sitting on the fountain, and Jesus saved his life.

•     You see when you cry out to God, when you EARNISTLY cry out to God, God comes down and meets you there… heaven meets earth… and Jesus is there.

•     Under the fig tree… sitting on the fountain… on the curb next to the luxury SUV, in the Highschool car pickup line… Jesus is there.

•     So the takeaway here church… whatever you need… whatever the trial… whatever the burden… Find a fig tree… sit down… turn your face to heaven… invite heaven to meet earth… take it to the Lord in prayer… and Jesus will be there… Jesus will see you… and Jesus will make Himself known to you. When heaven meets earth, Jesus is there.

Matthew 6:6 NKJV – But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

•     Now this brings me to point two this morning church, and this is pivitol to the Nathanial example… Point two this morning – Jesus is the Ladder.

Point Two – Jesus is The Ladder

Genesis 28:11–12 NKJV – So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

John 1:50–51 NKJV – Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

•     Nathanial has gone from insulting Christ “Can anything good come from Nazareth” to confessing Christ “Surely you are the Son of God and the King of Israel”.

•     And Jesus says “Yeah you got it right… but let me tell you, there is so much more! It’s not just that I am omniscient… seeing you under the fig tree… that is only but a part of my glory… that is only but a part of my power… that is only but a part of my ministry… that is what got you in the door… but let me tell you I Am so much more than that… heaven is about to be open, and when it does… you are going to see something spectacular… angels descending and ascending from heaven”.

•     “You mean like Jacob’s ladder, Lord?” Nathanial would have known about Jacob’s ladder, he was an Israelite of Israelites after all… a true Israelite indeed.

•     “Angles ascending and descending, Lord?… You mean I too will see a vision of Jacob’s ladder”

•     And it as if Jesus responded “No, it is not the ladder of Jacob… don’t you see… I AM THE LADDER! The angles will ascend and descend on me… I AM THE LADDER” Jesus boldly proclaims.

•     Christ the human is the foot of the ladder standing on earth.

•     Christ the divine is the head of the ladder, sitting in heaven.

•     We always talk about “Jesus came to earth to die” and that is true… Christ came to die for our sins, to take our place, to bear our punishment… but that is not the only reason. Christ also came so that heaven would walk upon the earth.

•     How much more could heaven meet earth than Jesus walking upon it, teaching it’s inhabitants, healing the sick, raising the dead… heaven physically interacting with earth. JESUS IS THE LADDER.

•     And what is wonderful is right after He says this Jesus preforms His first miracle, in Nathanial’s home town none the less… He turns water into wine at the wedding of Cana!

•     Immediately His power on display. Jesus is the Ladder.

•     Do you se it now church, do you get what Jesus is saying?

John 1:51 NKJV – And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

•     Jesus says “I am the Ladder”.

•     Every good thing that has ever been done has been done upon My back!

•     Every good thing you have  done for God has gone up to the throne through Me/

•     Every healing came down from the rungs.

•     Every divine protection was upon these steps.

•     No angel has come down without coming through me.

•     No praise has gone up without going through me.

•     I am the one way between heaven and earth, the one mediator between God and man.

•     Jesus proclaims to Nathaniel “I AM THE LADDER!”

•     Jesus was there with Abraham when he defeated King CHedolamere.

•     And He was there in the wilderness as Melchaizadech.

•     And He was there when Sarah gave birth.

•     And He was there when Ishamel and Haggar where dying of thirst.

•     And He was there on top of the mountain to save Isaac and provide a ram in the bush.

•     And He was there when Rebekah cried out “Why is there so much pain and turmoil in my pregnancy. If all is well why is this so?”

•     And He was there when Isaac was blessing Jacob.

•     And He was there when Isaac feel alseep on that rock.

•     How do I know? Because in every single one of those situations good things happened… all good things come down from our Father in heaven… and if something is going to come down from heaven, well it needs a way to get here… it needs a ladder to come down… and Jesus just told Nathanial… I AM THE LADDER!

•     All of God’s favors come down to us through Christ.

•     All our service and praise goes up to heaven through Christ.

•     All the intercourse between heaven and earth… all the interactions between God and man… ever since the fall… ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden… all the interactions between God and man have been on this Ladder…

•     Christ is the Ladder.

•     What does this mean for you? Well it means that without Christ you are of no good to heaven.

•     But worse… it means without Christ heaven is of no good to you.

•     There is no connection between us and heaven… there is no connection between the workings of man and the workings of God in heaven without Christ Jesus the Ladder.

•     There is no angle asigned to protect you without Christ Jesus the Ladder.

•     There is no calling, no blessing, no covenants without Christ Jesus the Ladder.

Genesis 28:12–13 NKJV – Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

John 1:51 NKJV – And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

John 14:6 NKJV – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

1 Timothy 2:5 NKJV – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

•     So let me conclude this message by saying what this means to us… if someone wants to come and play.

Conclusion

Turn On Children’s Class Lamps

•     What does this all mean to us?

•     Well first let me address the saints in the room, the twice born, the born again… Listen Christians… if a day goes by without Christ… that day has been waisted… it was of no heavenly good.

•     I have heard it said before “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good”. NONESENCE! You should be so incredibly heavenly minded… every day, every hour, every moment… because without heaven, there is no good… without God there is no good… and the only way to be of earthly good is for that good to come down from heaven, and it comes down through Christ.

•     So Christians don’t be so caught up in your work, in your politics, in your identity, in your family, in your children… that you forget about Christ.

•     You can be of no good to your children without Christ… so don’t you ever neglect Christ in order to focus on your kids… or your job… or your relationships… or whatever… All good comes down from heaven on the ladder of Christ.

•     Now I will let you interpret that as you will… because many people put the things of Christ aside and they think they do so for the good of themselves or their family… they take jobs that take them away from Christ… put there children in programs that take them away from Christ… spend their money on hobbies that steer them away from Christ.

•     Jobs are good, hobbies are fine, children need your attention and activates to engage them… BUT NEVER AT THE SAKE OF CHRIST… because if it takes them away from Christ it takes them away from the source of God… Christ is the ladder.

•     Now if you are not a Christian I want to address you. I hope that you want to get to heaven… I hope that you want to live in perfect peace and love and joy for eternity in heaven with God… but the only way to get there is through Christ… He is the Ladder… He is the bridge that closes the gap between God and man… and so as I do every Sunday I am going to share the gospel with you, and if you are not a Christian would you please pay attention, because this is your chance to grab hold of the Ladder.

Join us this Sunday at either 8:30AM or 10:30AM for worship followed by this message from the Word of God.

Christian Life Church of Cedar Rapids
2808 Schaeffer DR SW,
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
www.CedarRapidsChurch.com