None of This Will Be A Dream

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If you lay John 1:51 on top of Genesis 28:12 (through verse 17, really), some fun things happen.

Jesus becomes a ladder. The ladder connecting heaven and earth. He is the cosmic connection point. Anything coming “down” from heaven to us goes through Jesus. Anyone who wants to reach “up” into heaven goes through Jesus. He is the pathway of each and every descent and ascent.

And as we gaze up the ladder, God begins to speak.

“I am the Lord.” Which means that no one else is. All the other rival gods and powers that may have attracted and duped us are now seen for the shams that they are.

“I will give you this land.” As in the whole earth. Not just one little plot of land. He will be able to give it because he will first take it back from those rival gods and powers. And it will be our as much as it is his because the Father shares his inheritance with his children.

“Your descendants will be like the dust.” Spread out everywhere. God is not interested in a few special people—he’s interested in the whole dusty lot of us.

“All peoples will be blessed through you.” Everyone. No one will be left out. The blessing of God is that big. That strong. That generous. That permeating.

“I am with you wherever you go.” Permanent presence. The ladder, seemingly, won’t even be needed any more. The stairway to heaven will be deprecated because the division will be repaired. There will no longer be “heaven and earth” but only “heaven-earth.” There will be nowhere to go where God is not already tangibly present.

“I will bring you back to this land.” This earth. The end will not mean leaving physicality behind us so we can live some disembodied existence in some intangible post-mortem heaven—no! In the end we will be more truly and bodily alive than we ever thought possible.

None of this will be a dream.

Rodger Otero

I'm a husband-father-musician-pastor trying to make a decent contribution to the world. California is the Motherland, North Carolina has my heart, Georgia is Home. These are mostly my riffs on formation, leadership, and being fully human.

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