The Bible is the greatest work of literature, the most accurate record of ancient history, and the most profound book ever written. Great men and women of history have looked to the Scriptures for inspiration, guidance and hope. Napoleon wrote, “The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that opposes it.” George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” Abraham Lincoln believed that “The Bible is the best gift God has ever given to men.” The great astronaut of Apollo 13, James Irwin, once said, “The greatest thing in human history is not that man had put his feet on the moon, but rather that the Son of God put His feet on earth and shed His blood on it.” All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this book, and I believe that God in His infinite mercy wants us to be acquainted with the stories of such men and women who have been changed thoroughly and completely from inside to outside in such a visible and tangible way, that no one may doubt such a transforming power which comes from above through the work of the Holy Spirit. I do believe in the Bible because it is God’s word—His love letter addressed to me.
In this particular study, as you may see, the title is “The Gate of Heaven”. I did not use the title, “The Gates” as if there would be many—so that I may not confuse somebody that there would be many ways to heaven. People and churches may say, “come to us because we have all the truth; here is the only church God acknowledges as His. Come to us because we have a history traced down through the centuries and it reaches until our time.” That may not be the case at all. I am not saying that we are the only one peculiar people in the world excluding other people. God still has those who are His people in the world today. Because Jesus said, “and other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring and they will hear My voice.” Jesus is the door, Jesus is the Shepherd, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He said, “no one comes to the Father except through Me.” It is obvious from these quotations that if we want to have eternal life we need to come to Jesus, just the way we are. This is good news, my friend; this is good news for us all because Jesus’ love was bestowed upon all people without any exception.
The Bible says that He gives rain upon the godly and the ungodly as well. The same sunshine we enjoy, other people enjoy who may not have the same beliefs as we have. Religion does not change people. What does change is our faith in God through the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave His life on the cross, making it possible for you and me to be redeemed. In other words, giving us the possibility to live an eternity, exploring the infinite universe and its creation with a loving Father who has bought us with an infinite price, the life of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. This is the price that has been paid for you and for me, my dear friend. Can we be indifferent? Can we say, “well—it was easy for Jesus to give His life because He had the power to take it again?” That is not the case at all because we are told, both in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy, that Jesus came to this world with the risk to lose His place with the Father forever if He would have sinned; and we would have remained without any chance to be saved. But praise God for the good news. That is why the Scriptures are called the good news, because Jesus wins and Satan loses—this is what we find throughout the pages of this Holy Book, from Genesis to Revelation.
Our story for this topic is inspired from the book of Genesis 28. First of all, my beloved reader, I want to remind you that heaven is a real and genuine place, heaven is a resting and residing place, and heaven will be a glorious place for those people who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. When we talk about Genesis 28, we talk about someone’s life to whom we can relate. Each one of us, in one way or another, has committed something that has separated us from God. I talk about sin. What is sin? The Bible simply says that sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4. Here we come to one very important point that I want to underline in our study. As I mentioned before, each one of us has experienced something similar to the case of Jacob, Isaac’s son and Abraham’s grandson. I mentioned all of them because we will deal with them all in our study and we will learn something for our spiritual walk with God while on this earth.
Jacob means “deceiver”, and maybe you ask the question—whom did Jacob deceive? Let us start our journey back to the time when God promised to answer Isaac’s prayer, in that he would have a son from his wife Rebekah, as we read in Genesis 26, beginning at verse 2. In fact, this chapter is a prophecy regarding two great nations as coming from her womb, and the prophecy said that the older shall serve the younger.
When the time was fulfilled indeed there were twins in her womb, the first was Esau and after him came out Jacob. The Bible says Jacob’s hand took hold of Esau’s heel. In fact, they are the first twins mentioned in the Bible. The boys grew. We find Esau a skillful hunter, loved by his father, Isaac. Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents and was loved, or better preferred by his mother, Rebekah, more than Esau. Here we find a family with two boys given by God as a result of prayer, followed by a prophecy. I should be frank with you—I have this tendency to do the same, although both of my two sons are precious to me and to my wife, sometimes I feel I have a preferred one, and I believe it is not right in God’s eyes. We sometimes have the tendency to love one more than another or to make a difference between them, classifying them after their qualities and tendencies, looking from a human point of view or perspective. I believe, and I encourage families who have this tendency to have a favourite, to remember this particular case of Jacob and Rebekah, and Isaac with Esau, and the consequences derived from such relationships. Love them equally, without partiality, because this is the way God loves us—not for some qualities we may possess, but rather for the simple fact of who we are.
Now, maybe you are eager to know what happened in their lives. Why was the prophecy saying that the older will serve the younger? Because, in that time, the oldest son had more privileges than the youngest; according to the Bible, a birthright was an honour given to the firstborn, bestowing “head of household” status and the right to inherit his father’s estate. The son with the birthright would receive a double portion of whatever was passed down. Deuteronomy 21:17.
The birthright is emphasized in the Bible because it honoured the rights or privileges of the family’s firstborn son. After the father died, or in the father’s absence, the firstborn son assumed the father’s authority and responsibilities. This is about the birthright privilege as it is shown in the Bible, and I want you to see the lesson we can take from this experience in the life of Esau and Jacob. There is a great lesson; God knows the end of someone from the beginning. He has this prerogative because He can read our thoughts. He created us. In this story, I want you to understand that God is not arbitrary or that He predestined one for eternal life and another for eternal damnation, or to be forever lost. Oh no, that is not the case at all. God loves us equally, without partiality—remember this. The only difference consists of the choices we make.
Daily we make choices, either good or bad; and, of course, they have a personal impact in our lives—revealing sooner or later if we have made a good choice or a bad one. God allows this so that we may realize the way we have been created, with our free will, and with the power to choose for ourselves. This is our God, a wonderful God, full of wisdom and love. I believe Esau was loved by God the same way Jacob was. Then you may ask, “why did Esau fail and Jacob triumph?” Although we learn that Jacob used another means to obtain the blessing than God wished for him, still God loved him and worked with his faults.
Let us go into some details that will help us to learn from their experiences with God. The Scriptures tell us that once, while Esau came from the field and was very weary, he found Jacob preparing some food, which the Bible called stew; Esau came in, asking Jacob to give him food to eat. Jacob always wanted the birthright but he could not have it because he was the youngest, and as we have seen already, it was only for the older brother. The prophecy said that the older will serve the younger, and Rebekah would remember for the rest of her life the terrible mistake that separated her from Jacob so that they never saw one another again.
Here is a lesson for you, mothers, when you know what God is saying, but you go contrary to His will. Perhaps it is for a good reason, but you may be using deceitful means. Not only for you, mothers, but this lesson is for us as parents generally speaking, also. Esau’s problem was that he did not appreciate this calling, for he was just a simple, carnal man. Esau grew up loving self-gratification and centering all his interests in the present. Esau lusted for a favorite dish, and sacrificed his birthright to gratify appetite. Esau had a special, strong desire for a particular article of food, and he had so long gratified self that he did not feel the necessity of turning from the tempting, coveted dish. He thought upon it, making no special effort to restrain his appetite, until the power of appetite bore down every other consideration and controlled him, and he imagined that he would suffer great inconvenience, and even death, if he could not have that particular dish. “Thus Esau despised his birthright.” In disposing of it he felt a sense of relief. Now his way was unobstructed; he could do as he liked. For this wild pleasure, miscalled freedom, how many are still selling their birthright to an inheritance pure and undefiled, eternal in the heavens! Do we appreciate God’s calling, my brothers, my sisters? Maybe sometimes we fall into one extreme or another as in the case of Esau and Jacob. Do we remain humble and wait for God’s will regarding the place or office we may hold in God’s vineyard or in the church?
The God of Jacob is yours and my God also. Jacob, in his desperation, stole the birthright from his selfish and uncontrolled brother, Esau, thinking, now is the time to act because he desires something and I can give it to him. How many people in the world use blackmail in order to achieve something—how many people even in the church use the weaknesses of a brother or a sister in order to trap that person? Do you think Jacob could give Esau a good reason to appreciate the birthright and not sell it? Yes, I think he could do that, but he did not. So Jacob lied and deceived his father; following the advice of his mother he told the blind Isaac that he was his brother, Esau. Jacob and Rebekah succeeded in their purpose, but they gained only trouble and sorrow by their deception. Rebekah bitterly repented the wrong counsel she had given her son; it was the means of separating him from her, and she never saw his face again.
From the hour when he received the birthright, Jacob was weighed down with self-condemnation. He had sinned against his father, his brother, his own soul, and against God. This is the result and consequences of our wrongdoing, my friend. The way we pay, we will be paid; this is a saying in my birth country, Romania. In other words, my dear followers in Christ and friends, “The way we behave with others or treat them, the same way we will be treated.” Or as Jesus said, “with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:2
Now let us talk little bit about what happened after this terrible sin committed by Jacob. His experience may be your experience also. He sinned as we have seen, against his father, his brother, his own soul and against God. Now, many people, when they fall into discouragement and go astray from God sometimes say that it happened because of someone else. I have good news for you. The Bible says in Genesis 28:10, Jacob went out from Beer-sheba to Haran—he had to flee from his parent’s house to an unknown place, wandering from the presence of those he loved. This is what sin has produced since the beginning, friend. Do you remember when Adam and Eve sinned against their loving Father? They hid themselves, the Bible says. Sin might be attractive in the beginning and this is what Satan uses to seduce people, making sin look nice, clothing it with some attractions, but in the end there is deadly poison in it.
I remember when I started to go with my friends to the discothèques, gambling all night or doing some other sinful practice. In the beginning I enjoyed saying that what I was doing was interesting, it seemed to be nice, but at the end of it, after a while, when reflecting upon the consequences of my wrong doing, I felt lonely and discouraged—this is the way Satan likes you to feel while trapped in his snare. But be of good courage; you still have the chance to get rid of or avoid Satan’s snare. The Bible says that God was with Jacob in the darkest time of his life—a place where only God can fill the heart with hope and encouragement. Jacob in his trouble had a dream, a dream where he saw a ladder that was set up on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and there the angels of God ascended and descended on it.
What a merciful and loving Father we have. Instead of receiving what he deserved now, Jacob received something that he never imagined. In his despair and loneliness he saw that ladder which represents Christ. We read in the gospel of John 1:51 that Christ is bringing something important to view—namely the angels and their involvement in the plan of redemption. Do you see or feel the protection of God in your life? Have you experienced at any time God intervening in a desperate situation, perhaps saving your life? Do you see that ladder with the top that reaches heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending on it? Oh, let me tell you, I do; many times God has intervened in my life and in the life of my family, bringing us hope and showing us a way out from that pit of sin and degradation.
I thank God for the help He gives me every day. I thank God for my family. I thank God for His mercy and goodness in bringing me here to a new continent to preach the Gospel. I thank God for you, my dear brother, my dear sister or friend. Jacob, in his dark episode of life, found an answer to that problem, and the answer was Jesus. Do you want to succeed in your life? I have heard many times that success only comes if you work for it, or some other human standard—that is not true at all. Success depends only on Jesus, not on any human formula or plan.
Jacob could never reach God with his own wisdom or merit. He needed a ladder—something, someone to bridge the gap between God and man. In his dream, Jacob was reaching to God in heaven for help and God was reaching down to earth to help. This dream demonstrates that heaven is not closed to men. There is a way to cross the gulf between heaven and earth and I want you to grasp that way; even as you go through different trials in your life, there is still a hand which is reaching down to you and a voice saying, “My son, My daughter, trust Me; take My hand and walk with Me, because I have a better plan for you. I want you to live eternally. I want you to see My glory and the place I have prepared for you. Maybe right now you do not understand everything that I tell you, but one day, and that day is not so far in the future, when I will make all things new again for you, you will have a better understanding,” says our Saviour. This is Jesus, my friend, who makes all things new because He has promised that. Will you receive Jesus right now, saying with a loud voice, “Yes Lord, I want You in my life?” Will you let Him transform your life? Will you and I prepare for His second coming?
Because I want to share more about this interesting story, I will continue with this topic. Until then meditate upon the questions I posed in this study and may God bless you richly as we approach the loving and long-expected day when Jesus returns to this earth, to gather together His people from all the corners of the globe. May this be our wish, to make known to every one we meet the importance of preparation, in order to meet with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen! To be continued. . .
Nicholas Anca