ANGELS DESCENDING AND ASCENDING ON THE SON OF MAN
What do we make of the following verse? Is it important?
John 1:49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Here Yeshua quotes from Genesis 28. Jacob had left his home and was traveling to Haran to choose a wife from among the people of his grandfather, Abraham. Along the way he slept on the ground at a place named Luz.
Genesis 28:12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
In Jacob’s dream, the stairway resting on the earth and reaching up to heaven represented a door, window, portal or opening that connected the earth to heaven. It allowed those that dwell in heaven to interact with those that dwell on earth, to come and go and move about freely. Angels are God’s messengers. This was a visual picture of a spiritual reality. In Jacob’s dream this portal allowed him to see the Lord and hear a message from the Lord about a promise.
Genesis 29:16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Jacob renamed the place called Luz with the name of “Bethel” which is translated as “the house of God.” He perceived that God lived in that place.
But what of the conversation between Yeshua and Nathanael? When Yeshua spoke to Nathanial about seeing him under a fig tree, Nathanael was immediately convinced that Yeshua was worthy to be declared “the Son of God, the King of Israel”. Perhaps Nathanael had prayed to God to reveal the Messiah and considered Yeshua’s words to be that revelation.
John 1:49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Here Yeshua uses the visual picture that Jacob had seen in his dream, that of a portal between heaven and earth except here the angels are descending, not upon the earth, but upon the Son of Man, himself. He is showing himself to be the one through whom God is interacting with mankind. Yeshua is claiming to be the “stairway”, the “gate”, the “way” and the one through whom the message is to come. He is also declaring himself to be the “dwelling place of God.” Yeshua has declared for himself the same conclusions that Jacob had interpreted from his dream.
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Yeshua made it plain to Nathanael and to us that there is, in fact, an interaction between those in heaven and those on earth and that that interaction can be seen as a pathway from one to the other.
John 1:51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
This is for us also if we are born from above, of the spirit. We can and we will see heaven open and the interactions taking place between God and man. Let us open our spiritual eyes and perceive that heaven is all around us.
We live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth right here and right now. That is what Yeshua taught and he encouraged us to make every effort to enter in. This allows us to participate in the activities of the Kingdom. We can, if we are of Yeshua, communicate directly with God.
John 16:26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
We also can be the instruments of God as we love our friends, brothers, neighbors and enemies. We can be, in some small part, the stairway between them and God. Just remember that we are in Yeshua.
John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
The words of Yeshua spoken to Nathanael are often overlooked and yet they provide a bedrock foundation of how we should understand Yeshua’s role in God’s plan for us. These words also give us a true understanding of how we, on earth, can relate to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Listen to Yeshua
DB
1-10-25
