January 16, 2022 | Mike Avato
Passage: Genesis 28:10-22
The more I read the Bible I think of myself as foolish years ago. I used to think that "if it's going to be, it's up to me!" But the more I read the Bible, the more I am convinced that my salvation is all a work of grace. Even my sanctification is a work of God's grace!
This may not be news to you. Sounds simply orthodox doesn't it? But for many people there is a small credit taken regarding salvation. They will say, "Of course God does the saving. But I was smart enough to see it." Or they will say, "When I accepted Jesus..." This implies that Jesus was waiting to be accepted before he could save them. But when I read the Bible I see a powerful saving sovereign God who does as he pleases when he pleases to do anything!
In Genesis 28 we find another place where God shows how he does his business. The setting is Jacob in the wilderness. He has a dream of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it.
Many religious people have interpreted this as man's way to heaven by self-effort. Going to heaven, they say, is an upward climb where we ascend through our good works.
But in the passage, God does not invite Jacob climb the stairway...he is asleep at the bottom! Rather it is God who descends to Jacob! God makes his promises to Jacob! And Jacob does absolutely nothing for this gracious gift of God.
What a foreshadowing of Christ who came down from heaven to make and fulfill promises that only he could keep! We lay at the bottom asleep (dead in our trespasses and sins) until he comes to us. Even our progress since that day is only his working. Ephesians 2:10,
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
This is the good news of the gospel. It's not up to you or me. It's all of his grace working for his glory.