The Scope of God's Restoration Project

Boy, I am convicted! My blog says it all. I have reduced the size of God's restoration to my own little world. Paul David Tripp says,

... we are call to live with the total restoration of creation in view. . . . This means to live with restoration in view in every situation, location, and relationship in which God places me. . . . then what should you and I care about? EVERYTHING! . . . . His restoring grace gives you reason to extend the boundaries of your concern way beyond the borders of your own life.

from A Quest for More

Just a quote today. This so fits my blog about God's restoration project. Tripp is discussing some friends who had a contractor complete the outside of their house, but they still have to remember that there is work to be done on the inside . . .

In the same way, each of us should be deeply grateful for our inclusion in God's family of grace. We should be very excited about the way that grace has radically changed our lives. But we must also be aware that God has not yet completed his work in us. Yes, every day in some way you and I demonstrate that there is more work to be done. . . . the evidence is there that the work of God's grace in each of our lives is not done yet.

Jacob's Ladder - Something I had never seen before!

I am astonished! I have failed to see the significance of Jacob's Ladder before. I have been having conversations with my youngest son, Matthew (age 9), about reading the Bible - how we often read the same parts of the Bible over and over again without seeing something significant because of at least two things:

* We don't ask God to show us new truths.

* We don't really study the Bible, we simply look over the familiar passages reviewing what we learned in the past.

Additionally, this same son has been playing with a toy, Jacob's Ladder, for several days now. Just now I was reading The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul when I came across the story of Jacob's dream and the ladder on which angels were ascending and descending, the ladder itself stretching from heaven to earth:

Genesis 28:12-15 (English Standard Version)
12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Sproul makes a reference to this ladder and then explains how the ladder is referred to again in John 1:45-51:

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 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." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 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." 51 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."

The ladder on which the angels were ascending and descending, on which the message of the covenant was repeated, was Jesus. Jesus is our only ladder, our only hope for salvation. It is through Him that we gain entrance to the throne of God. The little toy works like this, the blocks move back and forth, ascending and descending. Christ came to us and then ascended to heaven, yet He is still there as our ladder, our covenant by His grace. Jacob had been conniving and trying to gain his own glory all of his life, but now God showed him that the plans of men are nothing compared to the plans of God.