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Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions

March 26 WE ARE CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDER Negro Spiritual He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. (Genesis 28:12) This delightful children’s song was inspired by the account of Jacob’s dream at Bethel as recorded in Genesis 28:10–22. In this dream, Jacob saw a stairway or ladder resting on earth with its top reaching to heaven, with God’s angels or messengers ascending and descending on it. From Jacob’s dream we learn that the gap between earth and heaven can be bridged. Although God revealed Himself in times past to various individuals as He did to Jacob, His full self-revelation required a God-Man—the Son of God in all of His deity and the Son of Man in full humanity to span the mighty gulf. Jesus Christ became the “ladder” for man to reach heaven and to enjoy even now a restored fellowship with the heavenly Father. In times past, God used dreams to speak to people, as He did to Job (Job 33:15), Joseph (Genesis 37:5–9), Solomon (1 Kings 3:5, 15), Daniel (Daniel 7) and the wise men (Matthew 2:11–12). But with the completion of the Bible, our divine guidance is much more reliably known through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the Scriptures than through dreams and visions that we may experience. In fact, God’s Word clearly warns against this kind of instruction (Jeremiah 23:16). It is this claim to extra revelation that forms the basis of all false cults. As is true of all real spirituals and folk songs, there is no known author or composer of “Jacob’s Ladder.” It was first heard about 1825, and it has been a favorite with young and old since. We are climbing Jacob’s ladder; we are climbing Jacob’s ladder; we are climbing Jacob’s ladder, soldiers of the cross. Sinner, do you love my Jesus? Sinner, do you love my Jesus? Sinner, do you love my Jesus? soldiers of the cross. If you love Him, why not serve Him? If you love Him, why not serve Him? If you love Him why not serve Him? soldiers of the cross. We are climbing higher, higher; we are climbing higher, higher; we are climbing higher, higher, soldiers of the cross. For Today: Genesis 27, 28, 29; John 1:51; Ephesians 4:13; 2 Peter 3:18 Keep this perspective in all you do: As Christians we are merely travelers in this life, moving forward and upward to our heavenly home. Even now, however, we have God’s messengers to help us live victoriously. Give Christ your thanks for making all of this possible. Use this little spiritual to help you as you reflect on these truths Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace : 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1990). 97.

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