The Scripture is from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 28, verses 10-19a… This was given at the Lynnville (IL) church on July 17, 2005…

       A book I have on the history of Silver Dollar City, outside of Branson, MO, tells how it actually built-up as a playground of sorts to entertain the families who were waiting for the cave tour through Marble Cave. The cave was called that because of some of its earlier visitors mistaking certain geological features for marble and trying to mine it. However, the only thing of value that was actually taken out of it was bat guano, which is used in ladies make-up and such. Once it was gone, it was only a matter of time before the cave was opened for tours, and as I said, Silver Dollar City grew up around and because of it. Today, the name has been changed to Marvel Cave, and tours leave out every 45 minutes or so, depending on the crowds.

       I have to admit that I have not been through it in some years, now… as best I recall, the tour is over an hour long and involves quite-a-bit of stair-walking, steep grades, and narrow passages… all of which seem to be more difficult to deal with these days! However, when I was younger a trip through the cave seemed to be in order on many of our visits there… and so it is that I have heard many different tales told by different guides over the years. One such story centered around one of the first actual expeditions to attempt an exploration of its depths sometime in the early 1800’s.

       The only known entrance at the time was through a sink-hole in a pasture and required being lowered by rope into utter darkness some hundreds of feet… for those who have never been there, the main chamber is so huge that hot-air balloons used to be launched from the floor and flown around inside! From there, though, this intrepid group of explorers had to craw through a narrow passage of rock, mud and guano for quite some distance before dumping out into another large chamber, and a short way into this, they came upon a ledge in the darkness. The feeble light from their lanterns could not reach the other walls nor into the depth in front of them, and the stones that they threw into the darkness never made any sound of landing. It turns out that they landed in mud, but to these brave souls it seemed as if the abyss in front of them was bottomless! In addition to that, there was another entrance down the line that was unknown to them, so the air that was blowing up on them from the darkness was warmer than that in the rest of the cave. So we have a bottomless pit with warm air coming up from it… our brave spelunkers naturally assumed they had found the entrance to Hell and beat a hasty retreat out and away!

       In contrast, our verses from Genesis tell how Jacob thought that he had found the entrance to Heaven! Let me read what Barnes’ Notes has to say about these verses…

“Setting out on the way to Haran, Jacob was overtaken by night, and slept in the field. He was either far from any dwelling, or did not wish to enter the house of a stranger. He dreams. A ladder or stair is seen reaching from earth to heaven, on which angels ascend and descend.

This is a medium of communication between heaven and earth, by which messengers pass to and fro on errands of mercy. Heaven and earth have been separated by sin. But this ladder has re-established the contact. It is therefore a beautiful emblem of what mediates and reconciles. It here serves to bring Jacob into communication with God, and teaches him the emphatic lesson that he is accepted through a mediator. “The Lord stood above it,” and Jacob, the object of his mercy, beneath.

First, He reveals himself to the sleeper as “the Lord”, “the God of Abraham thy father, and of Isaac.” It is remarkable that Abraham is styled his father, that is, his actual grandfather, and covenant father. Second. He renews the promise of the land, of the seed, and of the blessing in that seed for the whole race of man. Third, He then promises Jacob to personally to be with him, protect him, and bring him back in safety.

Jacob awakes, and exclaims, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” He knew his omnipresence; but he did not expect a special manifestation of the Lord in this place, far from the sanctuaries of his father. He is filled with solemn awe, when he finds himself in the house of God and at the gate of heaven. The pillar is the monument of the event. The pouring of oil upon it is an act of consecration to God who has there appeared to him. He calls the name of the place Bethel, “the house of God.”

Now, this is one of those passages which I don’t have much memory of ever hearing as a child… indeed, the first recollection I have of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ was a toy in the gift shop at New Salem when I was there with my son and someone telling me that the name was from “the story in the Bible!” I didn’t have a clue! And the truth is, it would seem as if even those who are supposed to be ‘well versed’ in such things aren’t real sure about it either… one commentary that I read said that this ‘ladder’ was probably more like a huge stack of stones like the one he was using as a pillow… another said that the ladder was Jesus, Himself, making the connection between Heaven and earth… and the fact is, none of that really makes much difference to what I want to talk about this morning… I’ll leave the business about the ladder to another day and/or someone more knowledgeable than me. Instead, I have two points that I’d like to draw this morning.

The first comes from verse 14 where God tells Jacob… “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” Think about what God is telling him, here… even though Jacob could not possibly have had any inkling of what God was referring to, we today know that He meant that the Messiah… Jesus… would come to the world through Jacob’s descendants! God had it all planned out even then… indeed, Jesus tells us that God has known from the beginning of time all that was to transpire in regards to this timetable of his. And all things happen in His time, not ours!

My second point is from verse 16 where Jacob wakes up and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” As the commentary I read said, Jacob knew of God’s omnipresence… he knew that God was everywhere at every second of every day. Even our Psalm this morning says… “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me… your right hand will hold me fast.”

Sometimes it seems as if the lyrics from a song really help say what I’m meaning… These are from a song titled ‘Praise You’, and again, I would recommend looking it up on YouTube… (Search for ‘Praise You’ and add ‘Gaither’s’…)  

There’s no place where You’re not there.

I’ll never drift from Your love and care.

There’s not a thing about me that You don’t know.

The wings of the morning will take me to You.

The blackness of night, Your light will shine through.

You’re already there no matter where I may go.

Even before I came to be,

Your loving eyes were looking at me.

You’re even closer than the very breath that I take.

Mother and father, more than a friend to me,

beginning and ending and living of life to me;

The song I find myself singing when I awake.

I overheard a young girl one time explaining why she didn’t believe in a god… “Look at all of this around us! How can you tell me that any one person is responsible for creating and maintaining all of it!” I didn’t get to, but I wanted to turn to her and say, “You’re right, one person couldn’t! But one God did… and does!”

Our God is truly an awesome God! He has created each of us out of so much dirt and water… He knows how many hairs are on each of our heads… he knows when we get them cut and exactly how long each one is before and after! Our God can turn water into wine… He can heal the sick and crippled… and He can bring the dead back to life!

But you want to know what I sometimes find to be the most unbelievable thing He can do? He can forgive me of my sins over and over and over… because He loves me! Just as he loves and forgives each of you! Now… isn’t that a truly amazing and awesome thing to do?