This post is Day 13 in a series of studies about “Angels”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

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Angels – Day 13

Jacob was on his way to find a wife from his maternal family. The previous verse tells that he took a stone and laid his head on it!! No modern day hotels for him! He obviously slept in spite of his uncomfortable pillow because he had an amazing dream.

Genesis 28:12

Jacob 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.

The Thought

Jacob was on his way to find a wife from his mother’s family. The previous verse tells us that he took a stone and laid his head on it!! No modern day hotels for him! He obviously slept in spite of his uncomfortable pillow because he had an amazing dream.

Not only did he see angels going up and down the steps, but he saw Father God the Creator of the world at the top! When Jacob awoke from the dream he built an altar, renamed the area and made a vow, promising The Lord that if his mission was successful he would give one tenth of his earnings back to God.

What surprises me about this whole event is that there was no suggestion of any repentance on Jacob’s part. He had cheated his brother out of his birthright! Was that not a sin? But God encouraged and didn’t rebuke!

It is worth noting that Jacob was sent away to find a wife because his mother had heard that Esau his twin brother had plans to kill him. The two boys had never been friends, even in the womb (Genesis 25:21-24)! Jacob had cheated his brother out of his birthright and the blessing of his father (Genesis 25:29-34).

With all that in mind, we see the mercy of God in giving this dream to Jacob.

We have no idea what the angels were doing except going up and down the stairs but Jacob honestly felt as though he had slept at the entrance to Heaven, and he was encouraged.

Action

Read Genesis 28, but don’t be encouraged to react as Jacob did saying “If God does this and this, then I’ll give to Him” That is not what our relationship with God should be!

Think about what your reaction would be to a dream like that.