When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
The place Jacob had found was indeed a physical spot on the earth, one of which you and I could try to find, and to BE there. How many such Holy places are there one wonders? God tells him about where he is, that he was giving this land to him and his descendants,
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… Genesis 28:13
How many years later does Jesus allude to this dream of Jacob’s.
Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.” John 1:50-51 NIV
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. Genesis 28:12
My heart wants to explore this truth…
I never understood what Jesus meant by those words: “ascending and descending on the Son of Man”
In John 4 Jesus tells the woman at the well>
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun…”
I hope Joe has come along so far… and patiently waded through to this moment where I’m mentioning him. Joe, I’m not quite sure who, if anyone at all, reads what I write… I feel the need to explain, the need to defend… who I am… maybe that’s ultimately what I need to write about. But this here is more evidence of what you witnessed the other day… myself and a christian brother, sharing with one another… food on the plates, and food in our souls. Communion is one way to put it… but fellowship is also another word for it.
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:19-20
Its God that I love to be with, in the presence of, and interacting with. And the way he’s designed things, its through us loving one another, being with one another, his body… that is true worship, in spirit and in truth…
I was having a time of fellowship with Art, and God had arranged for Joe to come share in his presence (God’s presence) . . . then Joe dared to mention, “I hope you don’t mind, but I couldn’t help listening in…” and Joe found himself warmly invited in… because he is my brother, who loves to be in the presence of the Lord.
This is an ongoing conversation, an ongoing exploration of all these things on my heart, but the focus is:
- Loving God (reading and meditating on his word)
- Loving others (reflecting on God’s word, and listening to the musings and reflections of my brothers and sisters in Christ)
Running Down Vimy 