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Jacobs Ladder (Jacques Stella)
The fathers of the Church saw Jacob’s ladder (Gen 28:11-16) as a foreshadowing of the Cross of Christ, a Theophany, a supernatural manifestation of God in the world.
In the year 400, in his Sermon 1.6 Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Chromatius, Bishop of Aquileia wrote, “Through the resurrection of Christ the way was opened. Therefore with good reason the patriarch Jacob relates that he had seen in that place a ladder whose end reached heaven and that the Lord leaned on it. The ladder fixed to the ground and reaching the heaven is the cross of Christ, through which the access to heaven is granted to us, because it actually leads us to heaven.
On this ladder different steps of virtue are set, through which we rise toward heaven: faith, justice, chastity, holiness, patience, piety and all the other virtues are the steps of this ladder. If we faithfully climb them, we will undoubtedly reach heaven. And therefore we know well that the ladder is the symbol of the cross of Christ. As, in fact, the steps are set between two uprights, so the cross of Christ is placed between the two Testaments and keeps in itself the steps of the heavenly precepts, through which we climb to heaven.”
Day 14 Isaac Blesses Jacob
Isaac Blesses Jacob (Gerbrand van den Eeckhout)
CHALLENGE: “Why should I believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah?”
DEFENSE: The answer depends on one’s viewpoint.
If one is already a believer in the Hebrew Scriptures, then one can point to various prophecies that
were fulfilled by Jesus. There have been a number of understandings of the Messiah in Judaism,
which makes the study of Messianic prophecy complex and beyond the scope of these daily entries.
However, it is worth pointing to a particular prophecy that was fulfilled through Jesus. The prophets
declare that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa.
11:9; cf. Hab. 2:14).
When these prophecies were given, the number of people who believed in the God of Abraham
was vanishingly small. The vast majority of people were polytheists, and the world was covered in
pagan darkness.
Today, however, the situation is very different. Half of the human race worships the God of
Abraham, and virtually everyone has heard of him. By comparison to the days of the prophets, the
world is now covered by the knowledge of the Lord the way the waters cover the sea.
This did not happen by accident. It is part of God’s plan.
It also did not happen apart from Jesus of Nazareth. It was through him that the nations came to
worship the God of Abraham. Consequently, he has a very prominent role in God’s plan.
This role is linked to his claim to be the Messiah. Without this claim, the nations would not have
come to believe in God through him, and he is the single most successful messianic claimant in
history, such that even those who do not believe in him routinely refer to him as “Jesus Christ” (
Christos being the Greek word for “Messiah”).
As a result, his role as Messiah must be given serious
and open-minded consideration.
If one is not yet a believer in the Hebrew Scriptures, or even if one is, a particularly striking proof of
Jesus’ role as Messiah is provided by his Resurrection. We have good evidence that this event
happened (see Days 206–215), and just as miracles validate the ministries of prophets (see Day 78),
this miracle validates Jesus’ ministry and qualifies him to tell us what his role in God’s plan is.
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