The Ascent

The ancient Hebrew Prophet Moses wrote an account of a traveler, Abraham, who moved from a land called Haran; he established a new home in a land called Canaan. Later, Abraham had a grandson named Jacob. At a certain point in Jacob's life, he was traveling. One night he stopped to sleep, using a stone as his pillow. I guess he didn't have a backpack with him.  Jacob had a dream that night. He had a vision of heavenly beings, angels, climbing a ladder into the heavens. 

 In the dream, according to our Bible that has been handed down from age to age, the Lord spoke to him with a message that the land wherein he was dreaming would be given to his descendants. Later, the Jewish people, Jacob's descendants, would ultimately be spread out, in all directions, throughout the earth. Thus Jacob's prophetic dream was later fulfilled in history as the Jewish people established their kingdom there, and then were later spread throughout the earth as human history redistributed them.  Later . . . much later, Jesus Christ, one in divinity with Father, YWHW, was born into those descendants. He was born in that region, in a town called Bethlehem. Jesus was raised in northern Israel, in Nazareth, where he grew up. Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to fulfill his Messianic ministry. Along with his Messianic (you gotta believe) role of prophetic teaching and preaching, Jesus was destined to be unjustly crucified, so that he could be resurrected three days later. His role as conqueror of death was thus demonstrated for all the world to know and believe in eternal life through Him. Since that time, his good news gospel of eternal life has been spread by his believers throughout all lands of this planet. Today, February 23, 2025, I snapped this pic of a few of his Christian believers, including me and my wife and many friends, gathering together to worship Him, to sing praises to Him:

 and to hear the words of His gospel spoken by our pastor, Scott Andrews, at the Bible Alliance Church. The gospel we heard from Scott, a half-hour after this photo was taken, was his exegesis about Jesus, and the miracle that occurred when Jesus' disciples fed five thousand people with five bread loves and a few fishes.  A good time was had by all, as we sang praises to the One who conquered death and sin for us. United together in worship and Gospel, we believe the news of His victory over death and sin, and we celebrate it with songs of praise to Him and our appreciation of His gospel good news of eternal life. And if you believe that, I've got some Heavenly real estate I'll tell you about.  King of Soul