Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven
By Shirley Mitchell

"When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, 'Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.'
'How do you know me?' Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, 'I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.'
Then Nathanael declared, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.'
Jesus said, 'You believebecause I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.' He then added, 'I tell you the truth, youshall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'
John 1:47-51

Jesus traveled from town to town preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. While He was in Galilee, He called Philip to follow Him. Philip found his friend Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael questioned how anything good could from Nazareth.

From human eyes, Galilee seemed like the least likely place for a Messiah. It was the farthest province from the holy city of Jerusalem. Culturally, it was the most backward. Galileans were known as the country bumpkins. Nazareth was a small village in the hill country of Galilee. Scholars say the lack of respect by Nathanael was most likely due to an unpolished dialect, a lack of culture, and perhaps a lack of religiousness and morality.

In verses 50-51, Jesus makes a startling promise to Nathanael. He will see greater things than Jesus being merely able to see him under the fig tree. He told him that he would "see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Jesus is making a direct reference to a story from the Old Testament. As a Jewish man, Nathanael would have known it very well. The story is from Genesis 28:12-15a when Jacob left his father's household after he deceived his father and stole his brother Esau's blessing. When he stopped for the night, he put his head on a stone and lay down to sleep. He had a dream "in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: 'I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.' "

In Jacob's dream, the angels were ascending and descending on the stairway to heaven. Through Jacob's ladder, we have yet another picture of Jesus in the Old Testament. God gave Jacob the dream of the stairway to heaven symbolizing that His Son would sacrifice Himself on the cross for mankind, including you and me, hundreds of years later. Jesus would be the Gate to heaven. Jesus connected man to God and gave us access to the throne room of heaven. God promised Jacob in verse 14 "All peoples of earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." Indeed, all people were blessed. Every person no matter her race, class, or education can be saved if she will believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for her sins, repent, and accept Him as her Savior. I am overwhelmed at God's desire to be accessible to mankind. He longs for us to use that ladder to approach Him, sister! Anytime, anywhere.Full access to the throne room.

Jesus promised Nathanael, one of His chosen, that he would see the fulfillment of Jacob's dream. Jacob never could have understood the full meaning of his dream. I understand why Scripture ends after the story Jesus told Nathanael. He must have been left with his mouth gaping open. The story his father had taught him since he was young was going to be fulfilled in front of him! He probably had visions of a royal coronation as Jesus overthrew the Roman rule over Israel with His throne set up and angels all around it. I am sure Nathanael never could have predicted the stairway to heaven would be a Roman cross. Neither would we. Oh, beloved, let's give God room to be unpredictable and to astonish us, too.

Pray with me: Thank You, Jesus, for being our stairway to heaven. You showed Nathanael so many great things. He was astonished that day, many days of the next three years, and the rest of the days of his life! We invite You to keep astonishing us, too. Show us greater things than You already have. Take us deeper with You. When will we ever stop thinking with our thoughts and begin to grasp Yours? Just as You saw Nathanael under the fig tree, You see each one of us. Nothing goes unnoticed. May we take comfort in this. Give us a hunger for Your coronation Day, King of Kings! It's in Your Name, Yeshua's Name, we pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study

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