On Jacob’s trip to Haran to find a wife, he had a vision from the Lord. As he slept on the ground with a rock for a pillow, he dreamt of a stairway between heaven and earth. At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, who told him that “all the families of the earth” would be blessed through his family. This was a confirmation of God’s covenant with Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, to whom God had promised the same (See Gen. 12:3).
Has God kept His covenant promise to bless all the families of the earth through Jacob’s descendants? Yes! First of all, God has blessed the world with the gift of the Bible, which was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit almost entirely by Jacob’s descendants. And most importantly, God has blessed the world with the gift of Jesus, who is a descendant of Jacob and the Son of God.
Jacob saw a stairway, a ladder, between heaven and earth. In chapter 11 of Genesis, mankind tried to reach God through their own effort by building the tower of Babel, but failed. Yet, Jacob saw a ladder from heaven that reached all the way to earth. Isn’t that ladder Jesus? What man couldn’t do, God did by sending Jesus. “For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Jesus is the Promised descendant, God’s greatest blessing to all the families of the earth!