Mon., 1/21/19 Devotion (Gen. 28:12)

Today's encouragement comes from Genesis 28:12, where we read these words:

"Then he [Jacob] 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."

In Jacob's dream, notice where the ladder is "set up." It is not set up in heav-en, but on the earth. This is intriguing, because sometimes we mistakenly di-vide heaven and earth, and imagine that they are radically "separate" from one another. The actual truth is that they are *united* in the "Ladder," the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why is this an encouragement for us who are alive "down here” on earth to-day? Because it reminds us that our lives here are as full and rich as the lives of the saints above (in the triumphant church). They have Jesus; we have Jesus. Heaven is where Jesus is. The closer we are to Christ in this world—as the church, the closer we are to heaven (in its essence).

[Puritan quote of the day: "Let me not deny myself comfort and God glory both at once.” —Richard Sibbes, in "Glorious Freedom"]