"Jacob's Ladder"

 "And he saith unto him, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John 1:51 KJV) 

  "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 28:12-14 KJV)

  If you have been walking with the Lord for any length of time, you probably have discovered by now that there are some things that are not all that different from the trials of those saved and the unsaved. The people that are not saved will be sick, as well as those that are saved; the unsaved will die suddenly, as well as those that are saved. But, there is a very distinct difference between these two sets of people: the salvation of one brings hope to cope, while the other has no hope to cope! 

  I know that might appear rather sever and dogmatic, as if you can cast people into certain categories based upon their belief or faith. Well, if you really want to be on the side of truth, then it is pretty much the way that it is: those who are saved have hope that goes beyond the trials of this life; those that are not saved, have no hope beyond anything, but this life. End of story! 

  So what is the deal with this Ladder? Something of a mystery, but one that is somewhat easy to make heads or tails over, if you are willing to figure it out. Because I have another life, I really don't have all day to interpret every little detail of what this means; but if you have any imagination of your own, you can certainly figure out that one illustration has God at the top of the Ladder, while the other has Him at the base of the Ladder. You can work at the rest and see what you come up with! 

  I have always been interested in Jacob's name, as one of the meanings is, Heel-Catcher. If you can be willing to look past the deceiver part of the meaning, as if that were even an issue, Supplanter is a term that can be one that is good, depending upon your point of view...

"To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:19-21 KJV)