“The gates of heaven”

Many Christians have heard the story of Jacob’s ladder since childhood. We can most likely still remember the pictures in our children’s Bible. We can picture Jacob – lying with his head upon a rock with a host of angels ascending and descending on a golden staircase beside him, as God, shrouded in light, speaks to him from the top. But as fascinating as that story is, I believe there is within this story, another, perhaps even more powerful story that many of us may not have seen.

Rather than looking at the dream of the ladder, or even what God said to Jacob, lets pick up the story after Jacob woke up. In Genesis 28:16, having awoken from his amazing dream, Jacob declares, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” Then, in verse 17 he makes another statement: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

The phrase “the gate of heaven” is very significant. A gate is an entry point into a city. As a result of his dream, Jacob was convinced that this location served as an entry point from the earth to the divine kingdom of God. The reason this is so significant is because this is precisely what every local church should be – an entry point into God’s kingdom for the world around us.

The name of the place where this story took place was “Luz,” meaning “almond tree.” Verse 19 tells us that after this incident occurred, Jacob named the place “Bethel,” which means “The house of God.” Here we begin to see the story within the story – the transformation of an “almond tree” into a “House of God” and a “gate of heaven.”

This transformation is similar to the one described in Numbers 17:8 where, after the rebellion of Korah and some others, God told Moses to take a staff from each of the heads of the tribes and place them in the Tent of Meeting. The next day, the staff of Aaron had sprouted blossoms, and produced ripe almonds – a supernatural display of fruit that served as a clear indication of God’s favor.

A closer look at almonds in the Bible sheds even more light on this transformation of an “almond tree” into a “Gate of heaven.” The Hebrew word for almond comes from a from a root meaning, “to be alert, sleepless; on the lookout, watching.” (See Jeremiah 1:11-12) From this we see that a church that is in a position to become a “Gate of heaven” is one that is ever alert, sleepless and watchful spiritually.

The next thing we find is that of the 9 other times the word “almond” occurs in the bible, 6 of these are in reference to the lamp stand in the tabernacle, which had almond-shaped cups in which the oil was kept. From this we see that a church that is in a position to become a “Gate of heaven” is one that, like the lamp stand in the tabernacle, is filled with the “oil” of the Holy Spirit and shedding the “Light of the gospel” on the world around it.

Still another insight comes to us from Genesis 30:37-43. Upon being given all the striped and speckled sheep among Laban’s herd as his wages, Jacob came up with an ingenious plan to multiply the striped and speckled sheep of the flock. This plan involved, among other things, placing freshly peeled almond branches in front of the sheep while they were drinking so that they would mate and reproduce. The plan worked wonderfully, with the result that Jacob’s flock multiplied abundantly. From this incident we see that a church that is in a position to become a “gate of heaven” is one that is reproducing.

As Christians, both individually and collectively, we are to be “gates” through which the world can enter the kingdom of God. The question is, are we an open gate?