I’m not one for ladders. Oh, I’m ok w/ 6 foot step ladders . . . but take one of those babies that you have to stretch out and climb up beyond just a few feet . . . where it starts to rattle, shake, and maybe bow a bit . . . and I just don’t “feel it.” Actually, I do . . . in my gut . . . kind of a queasy feeling. I’m pretty much a “keep your feet on the ground” sort of person. But the reality is, that for some things you just need a ladder . . . and I’m reminded this morning that encountering heaven is one of those things.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:47-51 ESV)

Heaven opened . . . angels ascending and descending . . . sound familiar? Yeah, if you go back to Genesis 28 it sounds like the vision that Jacob had at Bethel where he dreamed he saw a ladder set on earth and the top of it reached to heaven and “behold, the angels of God were ascending descending on it!” (Gen. 28:12) Almost identical . . . except, in Jesus’ version, the Son of Man is the ladder. Hmmmm . . . yeah, pretty much.

Nathanael was amazed to encounter Someone who knew him before He had met him . . . Someone who had seen him before He had encountered him . . . and Jesus says, in effect, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” There would be greater things to behold. And, at the essence of them all, was access to the very throne of God . . . heaven opened up and accessible . . . the holy interacting with men scarred by the fall . . . mere mortals engaging with the divine . . . the kingdom of God, with the chaos of men . . . people of darkness, with the unapproachable light of glory. And this access had been foreshadowed in Jacob’s dream . . . and it would leverage a ladder of sorts that breached the chasm between the wonders of heaven and the day to day realities of earth. And that ladder, Jesus said . . . was Jesus!

I wonder if I don’t take for granted these “greater things” that Jesus spoke of . . . this amazing access into the very realm and presence of God Himself. I wonder if I haven’t been “up and down the ladder” so many times that I forget the dynamics that make possible my ability to “boldly approach the throne of grace” . . .

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:19-22 ESV)

The ladder that accesses the things of heaven is Jesus . . . by His blood . . . through His flesh. The price paid to put the ladder in place is beyond my full comprehension. The love that was willing to pay the price is also beyond fully appreciating. And the access provided? . . . the new and living way opened for us? . . . how do you fully describe that? Amazing just doesn’t seem big enough . . . but it will have to do.

I am amazed. Amazed that before I knew Him, He knew me . . . amazed that while I was yet a sinner and enemy of God, He died for me . . . amazed that though I had gone astray, as a sheep wanders from the flock, the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost . . . amazed that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to redeem the world . . . amazed that through the blood of Jesus there is unfettered access into the Holy of Holies where I might behold the glory of God . . . amazed by the Ladder. You too?