16 Jul What’s It Like When Heaven Visits Earth? (Genesis 28:10-22)
- Lenses (events happen, our lenses frame our interpretation)
4 Lenses for Life
- Atheism – there is no God and all that we have is a material universe
- Panentheism –no personal God, impersonal force (Star Wars, NA, Avatar, Wicca, Rad Env)
- Deism – if there is a personal God, separate from world & does not get involved in our affairs
- Creationism – Creator separate from involved in Creation & supersedes natural laws
= pillar of fire & cloud, tabernacle, Temple, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Jacob’s ladder,
The Place You Need to Be is Often the Place You Don’t Want to Be
Genesis 28:10-11 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that 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 to sleep.
Jacob – Abraham (grandpa); Isaac (dad); does not yet seem to have his own faith
-Momma’s boy – liked being @ home
-Took 1). Birthright 2). Blessing Esau = running for life
-70-mile journey, stops where Abr built 1st altar & worshipped God (12:8) & later (13:3)
- Sometimes God separates us from our families to connect us with Him
- Major life changes are unique opportunities for God to show up.
Heaven Visits Earth
Genesis 28:12-15 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it 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. 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 in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, 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.”
- Dreams & Visions (asleep vs awake) = CAMERA ANOTHER PLACE
- Angels = Worshippers; Ministers & Messengers
- angels 300X Bible, “stars” =roughly 90% of the books
- “innumerable angels”, “a thousand thousands and 10k X 10k “
- 3 named angels Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer? (Isaiah 14:12 KJV, NKJV)
- Categories (archangel, commander, cherubim/seraphim, guardian, church Rev 2-3)
- ++++ other Divine Beings = “sons of God”, “the gods”
- Not us UP. God DOWN. (Babel vs Ladder) -(Immanuel; incarnation)
- The God who showed up in our life can show up in our kids life
- Kids need their own relationship w/God
God’s Divine Council
Psalm 82:1 “God [Elohim] has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods [Elohim] he holds judgment.”
THRONE – indicator ———— (thrones earth & HEAVEN)
Genesis 1-3
- 2 realms = 1 reality (Creator/created) e.g. body/soul
- God’s desire = 1 family 2 realms (90% books Bible angels; “sons of God”)
Eden – “Garden of Delight”
-Connecting point between realms – God/angels; Adam/Eve; Satan
-Sin = we kicked out. We cannot get to God. God can get to US! = wormholes, teleporting
Kingdom Down
Genesis 28:16- Then Jacob awoke 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 early in the morning Jacob 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 the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
- May not yet be a mature believer – conditional bargaining prayer
- 1st time we see Jacob worship
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- Worship w/wealth – Tithe – 10% 2. Worship w/witness (stone & oil HS)
Where Temple later built
- Luz – “almond tree” may have been place of pagan worship
- Bethel – “house of God”
- Places are not sacred. God’s presence is our sacred place.
- People. =Blessed to be blessing (Jacob’s life doesn’t change. Jacob begins change)
Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Kingdom Come Down
John 1:51 he [Jesus] said…“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Acts 10:44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
(KEYS) OUR PRAISE GOES UP; GOD’S PRESENCE COMES DOWN
Revelation 4:1-10 I looked…behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures…And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
LEFT – RIGHT UP – DOWN
