0 - Bible Commentary | Karuna Sadan

A Blessing for Newly Weds

"May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, (Genesis 28:3)

Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” (Genesis 28:6)

Notice scripture says, as Isaac blessed Jacob, he gave him a charge. A blessing will always carry a prophetic instruction. Many fail to understand this.

When God gives you a prophetic instruction or guidance, it’s in your interest to follow through. It may determine your whole destiny or the next level of your achievement, advancement, and glory.

Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had. (Genesis 28:8-9)

Esau knew that Isaac his father was not pleased with his Canaanite wives. Instead of obeying what his father’s will (of going and taking a daughter from Laban’s family) Esau did what he thought was best.

Esau is a type of the carnal Christian. A person who knows his father’s will but will do what he feels is best.

Jacob’s Dream of a Ladder

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. (Genesis 28:12)

John 1:51 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."

I believe God is saying to each one of you, “there are places, there are some posts, there are some levels you can never reach in your own strength, by your ability unless the father places you there.”

The significance of a ladder:

It takes you from the ground level to a higher level

It also brings you from a higher level to the ground level

The revelation of Jacob’s ladder…God is saying,

I want to visit humanity – Jacob I want to visit you

I also want humanity to visit me – I want you to visit me

It speaks of fellowship

It speaks of intimacy

In his dream, Jacob saw a ladder whose base was set on the earth, but the top of the ladder reached into heaven. When we think of a ladder, we picture a stepladder with steps that one climbs to reach the roof of his house. The Hebrew word for ladder is sullam referring to a staircase. This is evident as Jacob saw angels going up and coming down the ladder. This supernatural ladder may have been in the form of a spiral, a common heavenly design. Through the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that in the galaxy in which we live and in other galaxy forms, a “majestic disk of stars and dust lanes” can be seen in the form of spirals.

When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, there was a winding (spiral) staircase that wound from the ground floor to the second tier chamber, and a second winding staircase led from the middle to the third storey of the sacred structure. (1 Kings 6:8, KJV).

Above is a painting drawn by William Blake in the year 1799-1806

A reputed bible scholar made an interesting observation. He saw that the double-strand molecules of nucleic acids like DNA had the shape of a double helix. The double helix resembles a twisted ladder that is held together by base pairs acts as stairs from the top to the bottom of the helix.

While the DNA ladder is present in the blood molecules of all humans and is related to life itself, Jacob’s ladder was a ladder of life that linked and connected the heavenly to the earthly or the world of men with the realm of angels and the supernatural. Since the galaxies of the universe are spiral, perhaps this heavenly staircase was in the form of a spiral, connecting to the DNA spiral of life that God implanted in the first Adam at the beginning of Creation!

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." (Genesis 28:16)

God is about to change Jacob’s story….God is present but Jacob is ignorant…How do I know that?

There must have been a time in your life earlier when God was so close yet we did not know it. We let Him pass by….some of us just ignored him.

And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” (Genesis 28:17)

Jacob spent the night in a place where his forefather Abraham had "called upon the name of the Lord"--Genesis 12:8. As he rested his head upon a covenant stone, a portal opened. Jacob saw a vision of a ladder with angels ascending and descending on it.

The city of Jerusalem is a portal. In fact, it is the major portal on the face of the Earth. That's why both David and Isaiah said that Jerusalem is the center of the earth. Why do you suppose the enemy is trying to capture Jerusalem? He is trying to block or close off this portal.

A house of God is a gateway - a portal. No wonder the enemy opposes it so much.

Chapter 28