Needing help to get out of a boat led me to think that I might need a ladder to be able to exit the boat. Then this week, as I looked out of my kitchen window, I could see two ladders up against one of our farm buildings. First, a shorter one appeared but no one seemed to be using it. Then another appeared on another side of the same building. Only this ladder was taller and again, it didn’t seem to be being used. It was like they were being stored there but not necessary for anything. I watched the ladders for several days and never once did I see anything or anyone climb up the ladders or go down the ladders. I know that ladders have a purpose besides being propped up against a building. Turns out I just never saw them in use. Those two ladders were used for adjusting the signal for the radio transmission and the internet signals. All for a good purpose despite what I was thinking! Another ladder wasn’t in my sight but it allowed someone to go down into a newly dug hole for the basement and foundation for a new room to house a new radio studio. Ladders not only lift someone up, they help you go down deeper! and come back out of the deep hole you have dug! Guess I often need a ladder for that! Some people fear ladders. They are fearful of walking under them. They are afraid of the height that ladders can take them to. The fear of ladders is known as climacophobia, that can stem from acrophobia (fear of heights). It can cause dizziness and panic, leading people to avoid ladders and other high places. They have anxiety, dizziness, and excessive sweating and panic attacks or a feeling of being unable to control your body. Avoidance of ladders, stairs, and high places rules their life.
On our farm, we have several light bulbs that need a ladder when they have to be serviced. You definitely should not be afraid of heights or ladders when the bulbs need to be changed. Sometimes the tallest of our ladders is placed in a lifting tractor bucket to make them reach even higher. That is not for me! We need a tall ladder a couple of times a year when we need someone to go on our tallest roof and perform a chimney sweep duty! We must ask the right person for help as not many are comfortable with that job.
I can remember stories from long ago about days of filling the silo with silage. We often traded or shared many farm jobs with neighbors who also needed help. Filling the silo was one of those tasks. We had a silo and while it wasn’t as tall as some, it was impressively tall to me! And others! To fill the silo, a silo blower must be installed against the silo by adding blower sections until you reach the top of the silo. Of the various farmers who we shared work with in our neighborhood, there were not many who enjoyed ascending to the top of the silo. Many times, I heard them say to my father that he should do it because they were afraid and he was not! I don’t think he enjoyed it but someone had to do the job, and he never said no! He climbed the ladder because no one else would.
I also have a very strong memory of climbing a different kind of ladder! As kids, we often enjoyed playing around the barnyard during evening milking time. One day a new grain elevator was parked near where the cows were fed. This implement was also used to transport bales of hay up to the haymow during haying season. We were used to climbing the old elevator up the conveyor like monkeys to the haymow rather than using the barn ladders. So, when we saw the new one, as kids it was new fun to explore! We started up, never once thinking that it was not propped up against the barn. As we went up, the fulcrum allowed the weight of kids to teeter-totter, and the top came down and the bottom came up! Suddenly we had passed the point of no return and the top of the new implement came crashing to the ground with us in it! And we knew we were in trouble! As kids, we had a father and uncle who wisely let us have the mental punishment of guilt without severe other punishment. I absolutely know that we had learned that physics lesson well and never ever again thought an elevator was a fun ladder for play! We could see the evidence of our misdeed for months as the bent top remained for us to see daily!
My husband’s jobs in construction often had him climbing ladders. He actually enjoyed working on roofs and climbing ladders to get there! And there was never any great tragedy. I am sure there were scary moments though.
All this thinking of ladders transporting you up and down led me to wondering what the Bible has to say about ladders. In a familiar story, Jacob, while sleeping, saw in his dream, a ladder or stairway connecting the ground where he lay reaching to the heavens, with angels traveling up and down, ascending to the top and descending on it. In this dream, God makes a covenant with Jacob, promising him land and many descendants. This is the only place the word “ladder” appears in the Hebrew Bible and is famously known as “Jacob’s Ladder”. This vision is a symbol of a profound connection between heaven and the earth. For a wayward Jacob, God’s presence at the top of the ladder confirmed that he was not alone despite his circumstances where he had deceived and lied and stolen. He had decided to run away from his sins. And then he fell asleep with a rock for a pillow! I would think that a rock pillow might be the cause of bad dreams instead of a good dream of a bridge between heaven and earth.
The story of Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28, reveals themes of divine connection—God’s faithfulness, and the supremacy of Jesus. This biblical story stands as a powerful counterpoint to human efforts to reach God, emphasizing that reconciliation is a divine initiative. God meets us where we are. The dream came to Jacob while he was fleeing for his life and resting in a barren place with a stone for a pillow. It reminds us that God is willing to meet us in the most desolate and uncertain moments of our lives. Jacob had an awestruck response, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:17) ,and underscores that God can make any place a holy ground for divine encounter with Him. It became his personal gateway to God. God sends divine solutions to our human caused problems. God was answering Jacob’s sorrow of his sins, and the results, with comfort from Heaven with the ladder. The ladder in Jacob’s dream contrasts with the Tower of Babel. The people post flood, were afraid of another flood in the future despite God himself promising to never destroy the world by flood again in the rainbow promise. They thought that in their humanness, they could solve the problem by building a ladder tower high enough to get above their future problem. In Genesis 11, I can read about where humanity tried to build a structure to reach heaven through their own efforts. But Jacob’s ladder shows that the connection with heaven is initiated by God’s grace, not by human performance. Oh, so many lessons for me to remember. It is never my own effort that fixes my problems. It is only with God taking care of me that problems can get fixed! Then I can rise above and look down at them and wonder why I thought “I can do it!” would help me out of my trouble. Rest, don’t climb: Instead of striving to reach God through our own works, Jacob’s vision invites us to rest in God’s provision. Our worth and access to heaven is based on grace, not on our own efforts or achievements.
The New Testament reveals the ultimate fulfillment of Jacob’s ladder in Jesus. In John 1:51, Jesus told Nathanael, “You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” With this statement, Jesus identifies himself as the true and living ladder. As the perfect God-man and mediator, Jesus is the ultimate bridge between God and humanity. He came down to earth to connect us to heaven, and through his sacrifice, he provides the only way to the Father.
Through Christ, the broken relationship between us and God is restored. The promise of God’s presence, made to Jacob, is now fulfilled in Jesus, who brings believers into communion with God. Just as God found Jacob in despair in the wilderness, I can trust that He will meet me in my moments of despair and uncertainty. I need to release the need to climb a ladder of my own making. Rest in the finished work of Christ, and knowing my access to God is secure through His grace to and for me. I need to recognize that all blessings flow to me from heaven through Him.
I have read that 300 people in America die each year from climbing ladders. Whether you are using old rusty ones or wood ladders or safe telescoping ladders, climbing one is still taking a risk of falling down. And far more people die spiritually from climbing ladders. Climbing the ladder kills the spirit because it’s a way of not trusting God with our welfare and the outcomes of situations. Climbing the ladder is a way of trying to “make things happen” or “get ahead.” We may be under pressure to climb or feel discouraged that we can’t get up — both are deadly temptations to base our worth on our own performance rather than God’s grace.
“Don’t climb the ladder. Rest at the base of it.” The angels were going up and down the spiritual ladder for Jacob. They also do this for you and me! Continually angels are rising up to the heavens and coming back to earth to minister God’s grace to us and put his thoughts into our minds (Hebrews 1:14). In fact, Jesus himself is heaven’s ladder! Remember he said to Nathaniel and Philip: “You will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51, NIV).
The Spirit of Jesus and angels are visiting us right now! What a wonderful realization! If only we’d stop climbing the ladder—or stop feeling guilty or worried because we’re not climbing it well—and instead rest at the base of it, looking up to the Lord. Jesus reveals something important about Jacob’s dream. He reveals is that Jacob’s ladder points to Himself. The one who describes himself in John 10 as the door, or in chapter 14:6 as the “The Way, the Truth, and Life” is also describing himself in chapter 1 as the ladder—the way to heaven. We don’t have to climb the ladder. God, Himself—Jesus, has opened heaven and come down to us. And by faith in Him, there is a day coming when we will rise to God in resurrection.
Ziggurats, constructed in ancient Mesopotamia, can be described as rectangular-shaped towers, often with a temple at the top. The idea thought by those who built them was that you must climb them to meet with God, often at great heights. But the interesting thing is Genesis 28 describes what takes place next. Moses describes the scene and the Lord’s words to Jacob: “And behold, the Lord stood above it” 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.” Genesis 28:13. We often take for granted that the Lord is said to stand above the stairs, but you often will see a note in your Bible next to the phrase (in the ESV) “above it” which reads, “or beside him.” After reiterating to Jacob the promise made originally to Abraham in verse 14, he says in verse 15, “Behold, 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.” Instead of Jacob climbing up the ladder to God, God has come down to him. Jacob concludes that the special presence of God is where He is. Not above the clouds, but down below, and on his way to Haran. He says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” In John 1. “Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered 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, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” John 1:49-51. Jesus is quoting from Genesis 28, the account of Jacob’s dream. What are the angels of God ascending and descending on? A stairway or ladder. But what does Jesus say? That Nathaneal will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Who is the Son of Man? He is. By this, Jesus reveals something profound about Jacob’s dream. And what he reveals is that Jacob’s ladder points to Jesus, Himself. We don’t have to climb the ladder. God, Himself—Jesus, has opened heaven and come down to us. And by faith in Him, there is a day when we will rise to God in day of His coming and day of resurrection.
Waiting for the day when I won’t need a ladder to climb! Jesus will descend to me!