All of you know the story of Jacob,—how he had to flee from his home because his brother Esau threatened to kill him. This was because of his sin in deceiving his blind old father Isaac, so that he might steal away his blessing from his older brother.

The first night after he left his home, he lay down to rest in a lonely place, with his mind full of sad thoughts. How lonely he felt, cut off from his mother and father, his brother anxious to take his life, and, worst of all, his sin separating him from the God of his fathers.

“And he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord stood above it.”

Do you think that this was something new and strange, some special favour that God showed to Jacob? Oh, no; but in his dream God opened the eyes of Jacob so that he saw what is really going on all the time, although he had not known it; for when he awoke, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.”

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, we learn what is this wonderful ladder that rests on the earth, and reaches right up to the throne of God. Jesus said to Nathanael, “Ye shall see and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

Jesus Himself is “the Way,” the only way by which any good thing can come to us from God. When man by his sin had cut himself off from God his Father, Jesus came to be the Way by which God could come down to him, and he could come back to God.

Jesus is called “the Arm of the Lord,” because by Him God reaches down to His fallen children upon this earth, to comfort them, to help them, and to bring them back to Himself. Nothing good can come to us except through Jesus, but by this Way “every good and perfect gift cometh down.”

This is what God was teaching Jacob in his sad and sinful condition, showing him that through Jesus, the Friend of sinners, He could still send His angels with messages of love to him, to help him and keep him on his journey.

The earth is full of God’s messengers not those only that we cannot see, the angels who are “all ministering spirits sent forth to minister” for us; but all things that we see around us are God’s messengers to us. They all come to us by the one Way, Jesus, and bring as sweet messages from God as the angels carried to Jacob.

For Jesus is “the Life,” as well as “the way,” and wherever we can see that there is life, we know that there is Jesus, the Way from heaven to earth, and from earth to heaven, God reaching down to help and bless and keep us.

He is everywhere, for He fills heaven and earth, but He gives us all these sweet little messengers filled with His life, the birds, the flowers, the trees, and all living things, so that we may see that He is near, and not be like Jacob, who knew it not. “For that Thy name is near, Thy wondrous works declare.”

The sweet, happy song of the bird, the fresh face of each wayside blossom, every butterfly and bee and tiny insect, is God’s little messenger, sent to you, telling you to “rejoice evermore,” because He is with you always.

The well-known traveller Mungo Park was once left alone in a dry desert place, without friends, no food, no water, no clothing, and his strength all gone. He sank upon the ground in despair unable to go any farther, and thought he was quite forsaken and that he must die there.

But just then one of God’s messengers came to him. He saw a tiny plant springing from the dry sand, a little speck of green moss. And as he looks upon it, and listened to the message that it brought it filled his heart with the same joy and peace and hope that the angel messenger brought to Jacob. Like him, he said, “The Lord is in this place,” and he began to rejoice, for “this little gleam of life assured him that God must be near.” So with fresh strength and courage pressed on his way, and very soon found the help that he was sure would come.

Little children, do you not want to hear all the messages that your Father in as many sweet ways is sending to you all time? Listen, and all the things that He has made will tell you that Jesus is the Way by which God can reach you, talk with you, and lead you, and bring you to Himself to dwell in His house ever.

“O give me Samuel’s ear.
The open ear, O Lord,
Alive and quick to hear
Each whisper of Thy Word;
Like him to answer at Thy call,
And to obey Thee first of all.”

 

The Present Truth – April 27, 1899
E. J. Waggoner

Story in pdf  God’s Messengers