Peter's Ladder
Christians are followers of Jesus Christ—the Sinless One who forgives sins and cleanses us from them.
What happens when you first come to Christ for this wonderful cleansing? You are drawn to Christ by His love. His goodness leads you to repentance, you confess your sins, and He cleanses you from all unrighteousness.
Then you’re baptized. Remember that wonderful day? You felt so clean as you came out of the water. Your fellow believers were so happy for you. You were a newborn babe in the Lord!
Then, life went on. . . .. Trials, temptations, problems, frustrations—just like those things that everyone faces whether or not they’re Christians. But perhaps, in the midst of all those clouds, your first love may have dwindled.
Did you forget the miracle that had taken place?
Did you lose your perspective on what really matters most in life?
Did you forget that you had been purged from your old sins? This is the condition of the one who fails to climb Peter’s ladder. We need to remember that Christ, “according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:3–9, emphasis added).
If we are failing to succeed in the ascent of this ladder, we have lost our vision and forgotten the gospel! The success of Peter’s ladder depends on Jacob’s ladder.
“When the converting power of God takes hold of the soul, it will work a radical change. Those who have formerly abused their families and friends will begin to labor earnestly for their salvation. Jesus came to save the lost, to take them out of their fallen condition, to make them more than conquerors, and to give them a seat upon His throne. Oh, that the soul temple might be cleansed of every defilement! Oh, that we might not offer to God a diseased, defiled offering! An infinite price has been paid to bring us into connection with Christ. Self-indulgence must cease. We must come into right relations with God, and we must be cleansed from all iniquity and walk worthy of the vocation whereunto we are called.
“When Jacob journeyed to the house of Laban, he lay down to rest in the wilderness, with a stone for a pillow. He was a discouraged, disappointed man. It seemed to him that he was forsaken of friends and forgotten of God. His own brother was seeking him, that he might take his life. While he slept, he had a vision. There appeared before him a ladder, whose base rested on the earth, and whose top reached into the highest heavens. God was above the ladder, and His glory shone through the open heaven, lighting up every round of the ladder; and angels were ascending and descending upon it. When Jacob awoke, he said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’ See Genesis 28:10–17.
“The plan of salvation was opened to Jacob’s mind in this dream. Christ was the ladder that he saw. Christ is the link that binds earth to heaven, and connects finite man with the infinite God. This ladder reaches from the lowest degradation of earth and humanity to the highest heavens. We are to ascend the ladder that Jacob saw but not by our own strength alone. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance and reformation. We are not left to struggle on alone.”1
1 Pamphlet 105, There Is Help in God, pp. 5, 6. [Emphasis supplied.]