Dream or Reality?
Genesis 28:10-19a
Sunday July 23rd, 2023
Rev. Rhonda Blevins, pastor
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a stairway set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” 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.” So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel.
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Have you ever had a dream so vivid, so real, that when you woke up you couldn’t tell whether it was dream or reality?
My husband once had a dream that I was cheating on him (I wasn’t!), and he was mad at me for DAYS! Because of a dream HE had!
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether our dreams are dreams or reality. And sometimes—Jungian psychology says much of the time—our dreams point to reality—wisdom from our subconscious makes its way to the surface. Jung believed dreams are how the subconscious communicates with the conscious mind.
When we consider the biblical story of Jacob’s ladder—this dream Jacob has about a ladder that extends from earth to heaven—we get a sense that Jacob isn’t quite sure if his dream is dream or reality. When Jacob wakes up, he believes that the place where he had fallen asleep is sacred, because of his dream. He is afraid, because of his dream. He builds a pillar there, because of his dream.
Is “Jacob’s ladder” dream or reality?
I want to suggest the answer to that question is a resounding, “Yes!”
Yes, it is a dream. The scripture is quite clear about that.
Yes, it is reality. It points to a deep truth that Jacob is consciously unaware of—so something must break in and break through. Something must wake Jacob up to an important truth—the truth that there really is no separation between heaven and earth. And with that in mind, I want to propose this:
Until you’re ready to go up to heaven, your job is to bring heaven down to earth.
The first thing I want to point out is that it’s not up to perfect people to bring heaven down to earth.
Jacob, you may remember, is far from perfect. In fact, when we encounter Jacob in this story, he is running from his brother, Esau.
Jacob has just tricked Esau out of their father’s blessing (Jacob means “trickster” you may recall). Esau vows to kill Jacob upon father, Isaac’s, death. So their mother, Rebekah, finds a way for Jacob to outrun the wrath of Esau.
“Let us send Jacob away to our ancestral homeland,” she coaxes Isaac, “so that he won’t marry one of these godless, foreign women.” (My paraphrase.) Isaac agrees. Jacob leaves home to journey toward the birthplace of his grandfather, Abraham.
Jacob is (for all practical purposes) a fugitive. He has done everything to deserve his brother’s wrath: he stole both his brother’s blessing and his brother’s birthright.
There’s not much to like about Jacob up to this point in the story. Jacob is far from perfect. But remember . . .
It’s not up to perfect people to bring heaven down to earth.
The second truth I want to point out is that it’s not up to holy people to bring heaven down to earth.
With little more than a blessing for his future, a birthright from his past, and a brick under his head, Jacob settles down to sleep a fugitive’s sleep.
Up to this point in time, Jacob has not been particularly religious or interested in the God of his forebears. In the dialogue in which he deceives his father and steals Esau’s blessing, he tells Isaac that “the Lord your God” has blessed him. Not my God. Not our God. “Your God.” (Genesis 27:20) There’s a disconnect between Jacob and divinity. Jacob was far from holy.
It’s not up to holy people to bring heaven down to earth.
The third truth I want to point out is that it’s not up to clever people to bring heaven down to earth.
With his head on a brick and nothing but a tunic between Jacob and the stars, Jacob falls asleep. And falling into REM, Jacob dreams the dream of a lifetime. A ladder from earth to heaven. Angels ascending and descending. God standing beside Jacob, promising to bless him. And maybe most importantly, promising to be with him:
Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.
When Jacob awakens, he remembers his dream. “How awesome is this place!” he exclaims. He calls the place Bethel—the house of God—the gate of heaven. But Jacob is so dense, he thinks that the ladder he saw in the dream was about a special place. He could not imagine a ladder from earth to heaven in all places at all times. He wasn’t terribly clever.
It’s not up to clever people to bring heaven down to earth.
So if it’s not perfect people, or holy people, or clever people that God uses to bring heaven down to earth, what kind of people does God use?
People like us!
Until you’re ready to go up to heaven, your job is to bring heaven down to earth.
You see, we call it Jacob’s ladder, but it isn’t just Jacob’s ladder. It doesn’t belong to him. We give the ladder to Jacob just like Esau gave him his birthright, just like Isaac gave him the blessing, just like Rebekah gave him an escape plan. Jacob thinks it is all about him, but it isn’t. It isn’t “Jacob’s ladder.” It’s your ladder. It’s my ladder. It’s our ladder.
And the ladder between earth and heaven doesn’t exist so that one guy thousands of years ago could watch an angel display—the ladder exists so that ordinary people like Jacob—imperfect, far from holy, and thick-headed—would recognize an eternal connection between heaven and earth.
Until you’re ready to go up to heaven, your job is to bring heaven down to earth.
Every Sunday we pray for God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” Who do you think is in charge of making that happen? The same people who pray the prayer!
This week I got to listen to the teachings of Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist who worked alongside Mother Teresa and founded a ministry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He talked about hearing a mentor say, “When you ask God to move mountains, you better be prepared for God to hand you a shovel!”
Until you’re ready to go up to heaven, your job is to bring heaven down to earth.
Now, this story of Jacob’s ladder isn’t just some Old Testament story that doesn’t show up in the New Testament. Jesus refers to this story in a conversation he has with Nathanael: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)
I’m reminded of Jacob’s ladder when I read Revelation 21:1-4:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
I used to read that as something that will happen in the future, at the end times. But this passage doesn’t point to some future reality, that one day, when Jesus comes back, God’s dwelling place will be among mortals. But that’s not what the scripture says. It says God’s dwelling place is now among mortals. Now!
Our job, as Christ followers, is to fling heaven’s gate wide open! To become living portals of God’s presence here on earth.
Until you’re ready to go up to heaven, your job is to bring heaven down to earth.
What does that look like?
It looks like being a part of providing affordable housing for someone like Antwon Foster. Antwon was the recipient of the faith build house we participated in through Habitat for Humanity. Antwon is a young man who works in the Transportation and Parking department for the City of St. Petersburg. When his mother died, he got custody of his teenage sister. I can’t really imagine how challenging that situation must be. But with Antwon’s drive, his sweat equity, alongside the money and volunteer labor from people from the Chapel and other faith communities, we watched Antwon receive the keys to his brand-new home a few weeks ago. No more slum lords. No high interest loan. Rather, a zero percent loan, and a chance build real equity—equity he may one day be able to pass down to his children.
What I love about Habitat is how it isn’t just a band aid for families in need—the model of affordable housing Habitat utilizes breaks the cycle of poverty in a way that builds confidence and skills for a lifetime and creates generational wealth for families.
With your gift to Habitat today, you’re bringing heaven down to earth! And what did I say about our role in bringing heaven down to earth?
Until you’re ready to go up to heaven, your job is to bring heaven down to earth.
Habitat is one example. There are so many ways we can become portals of God’s presence here on earth. That’s our job as people of faith: to bring heaven down to earth in ways small and large, every single day.
I close with a poem inspired by Jacob’s ladder and our calling to bring heaven down to earth:
A ladder from on high to here,
A bridge to break the rod and spear,
The reign of Christ to usher near,
On earth as it is in heaven.
In every act of love we share,
With tender hearts and souls laid bare,
When kindness blooms, God’s heart we bear,
To earth as it is in heaven.
When we embrace the lost and lone,
Extend our hands to call them home,
We mend the hearts that once were stone,
On earth as it is in heaven.
The hungry fed, the thirsty sate,
No one left to bear their fate,
In unity we break the gate,
To earth as it is in heaven.
Through selfless acts we sow the seeds
Of love to all the world’s deep needs,
From every heart, God’s reign proceeds
To earth as it is in heaven.
In every soul, may love ignite,
A radiant blaze, a guiding light,
Dispelling darkness, ending night,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Through selfless deeds of hearts ablaze,
We usher in eternal days,
One love, one faith, one voice we raise,
With earth as it is in heaven.
So my friends, let me ask you, are you ready to go up to heaven? If not, then get busy bringing heaven down to earth.