Christ as the Ziggurat of God

This is Ascension Eve, and we are celebrating the ascension of Jesus Christ above all the heavens. But what does it mean “to ascend”? The symbolic value of high and low is obvious to us—heaven is up and hell is down. Exaltation is up, and humiliation is down. Kings ascend to the throne, and the worshipers of God in Scripture sang songs of ascent as they approached God to worship Him in the Temple.

But more is involved than simple altitude. The apostle Paul tells us that in God’s economy, ascension presupposes a prior descent (Eph. 4:9-10). Resurrection and ascension presuppose death and burial. The exaltation that God has given Him is a glorification of the Lord’s prior obedience unto the point of death. Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:8-9).

And we also discover that Scripture weaves a pattern of descent and ascent together from the very beginning.

“And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; 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, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” (Gen. 28:10-15).

Jesus refers to this striking episode in the gospel of John, telling us what it means. Jacob had apparently been given a vision of Jesus Christ Himself.

“The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:43-51).

The parallels between these passages are striking, but let’s begin with the parallel that ties the two together authoritatively. Jesus tells Nathanael (called Bartholomew elsewhere) that he, like Jacob, will see heaven open. He, like Jacob, was going to see angels ascending and descending. But instead of the ladder that Jacob saw, Nathanael was going to see them doing this on the Son of man—meaning that Jesus is identifying Himself as the ladder which Jacob saw, the connection or bridge between heaven and earth.

Jesus greets Nathanael by telling him that he is a true Israelite, in whom there was no guile. Now Israel was Jacob’s new name, the one given to him at Peniel, and Nathanael is called an Israelite. Jacob came to Bethel because he was running from Esau. Nathanael came because he was brought by Philip. We are not told the significance of what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree, but Nathanael was really rattled by the fact that Jesus knew about it—it may have been a dream, or a vision, or even a prayer that Nathanael had offered up. The fact that Jesus spoke about it knowingly meant, for Nathanael, that Jesus was the Son of God and the King of Israel.

And it also apparently had something to do with Jacob and his dream, because Jesus brings it up as something Nathanael has not yet seen, and promises that he will see it. Indeed, Philip had already brought Nathanael to Jesus, and Nathanael had already seen and confessed Him.

Now if Jesus is that ladder, what can we say about it? In Genesis, the ladder was “set up on the earth.” It was grounded; it was secure. It was anchored on this end. At the same time, the top of the ladder reached to heaven (Gen. 28:12), in the way the tower of Babel vainly attempted to do (Gen. 11:4). The Lord stood above the ladder, and gave glorious covenantal promises to Jacob. He reiterated the promises that He had previously bestowed on Abraham and Isaac, and which promised them the salvation of the entire world. All the families of the earth will be blessed. All men would be gathered in Christ.

It is a commonplace to say that Jacob was converted at Peniel, the way Saul was on the Damascus road, but this is actually too simplistic. The Bible says that Jacob was righteous long before this (Gen. 25:27), and long before Peniel the Lord gave him this vision of Christ as he slept, and reaffirmed the promises that had already been given to Abraham and Isaac. He also expressly tells Jacob here that He was with him (Gen. 28:15), and He promised He wouldn’t leave Him.

At the same time, the name Jacob does mean Grabby or Supplanter, and although he and his mother were justified in deceiving Isaac, it was guile nonetheless. They were protecting him from rebelling against the prophecy he had received in Gen. 25:23, which Isaac was actually going to attempt, but it was still guile. Esau points out the significance of Jacob’s name (Gen. 27:36), but we don’t have to trust Esau alone—remembering that he is perhaps not a reliable guide. But the prophet Hosea also points to the significance of Jacob’s supplanting tendencies (Hos. 12:2-3).

So Jacob is not evil or wicked, but outwitting a profane brother and manipulating a father who is being foolish is not where the promises of God are ultimately headed. When Jacob is told that all the families of the earth would be blessed, the context of this, remember, is the family of Abraham divided into Isaac and Ishmael, and the family of Isaac divided into Jacob and Esau. Jacob receives this promise concerning families while on the run from family. So Jesus calls Nathanael a true Israelite, and does not call him a “true son of Jacob.” And the Lord says that Nathanael will see Jacob’s vision, only in the time of its fulfillment.

Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father. Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law. The ladder is anchored on earth, established forever in the Incarnation. The ladder reaches successfully to heaven, and can never be knocked away. And so the ladder of Jacob gathers the families of earth, while the failed tower of Babel scatters them. Christ is the ziggurat of God. We testify to our faith in this ascension by gathering, as we do, in fulfillment of the promise given to Jacob.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.