Genesis 28 records that when Jacob was on his way to Padan Aram, he came to a certain place and rested for the night, and as he slept in that place, he had a dream, and dreamt that 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. Also, the Lord stood above it and spoke to him. When Jacob awoke from his dream, he said that the place was “the gate of heaven”, and named it Bethel, or “the house of God”.
It is an interesting idea, to know that there may be special places on earth where gates or portals exist, which bridge this world and the heavenly dimension. Besides Bethel, the Book of John records that there was in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool with five porches called Bethesda, where an angel would visit at specific times to stir up the water, and whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, would be made well of whatever disease he had.
Such places existed before, and probably still exist today. Just the thought that there may be places on earth where divine aura lingers long and strong, where you may just accidentally stumble upon and find yourself reaching right into the heavenly dimension, is exciting in itself. I guess that is why the magical portal in the Chronicles of Narnia fascinates the imagination of so many.
Such places will most probably be very well concealed and closely guarded, though. They will also most probably only be revealed to appointed persons at appointed times for appointed purposes. If two angels could blind the eyes of a whole city of men such that they could not find the door of Lot’s house, it would be an easy feat to blind the eyes of the irrelevant vast majority to prevent them from stumbling upon places they have no business stumbling upon. One doesn’t find such divine places of magical proportions; they find you.
So the world must have turned over when they come looking for you instead.
In John 1:51, Jesus told Nathanael, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus was referencing Jacob’s heavenly ladder at Bethel. What I took away from this verse was that Jesus was saying that Jacob’s heavenly ladder was somehow now symbolically manifested upon the Person of Jesus instead, if not actually transferred from Bethel to the Person of Jesus, I.e. Jesus is now the gateway to heaven, the house of God.
John 10:3 says, “9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved,
and will go in and out and find pasture.”
John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
How and when had the transfer happened? You would remember that just a little while ago in John 1:33, it was recorded that when John baptized Jesus, John said that he saw the Spirit descending, and remaining on Jesus. The transfer probably happened then.
So with that, Jesus has become the gateway to heaven, the house of God. The magical gateway to heaven is no longer anchored to a specific physical location in Bethel, where the curious and interested may wish to pilgrimage to pay homage – if it could be found. Bethel has grown legs and now come looking for us.
Luke 19:9 says, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
神啊，您怎么对愚昧龌龊卑微不堪的我们这么好？
There is something more. When Jesus came visiting men as the gateway to heaven, He also brought a gift with Him – the gift of the Holy Spirit, therein depositing within Holy-Spirit-baptized believers the potential and ability to also become a mini gateway to heaven.
Astonishing idea, isn’t it?
Yet although every Holy-Spirit-baptized believer can be that, unfortunately, like actual such places on earth, such people are also rare and few and far between.
Oh well.
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