The symbol for this day is a ladder. Ours was made with little pieces of wood glued together and then painted brown. See my blog for more ideas.
God used an imperfect man, Jacob, to continue the family line of Abraham that would eventually lead to Christ.
Jacob had a dream (Genesis 28:10-16) that God was going to give him and his descendants the land promised to Abraham, that his descendants would be like the dust of the earth (spreading out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, referencing the Gentile believers spoken of in Matt 8:11). Also, that in Jacob’s seed, all of the families of the earth would be blessed. This was, again, about Jesus Christ. Jesus was the final seed in the family tree of Abraham, and through Him, all of the families of the earth are blessed through coming to Him in faith.
In Jacob’s dream, there was a ladder going upward from the earth, and the angels of God were going up and down the ladder, and the LORD was at the top.
God was showing Jacob that He was going to send a “ladder” of sorts–to Him, and that this would be a way to have communion with Him. This was another symbol of Jesus Christ, our Mediator.
A mediator is someone who brings peace between two people or groups of people who can’t be reconciled in any other way. They will either avoid each other, fight against each other, or a mediator will come in and resolve the issues. Humans will either avoid God, fight against God, or submit to Jesus Christ as the mediator between God and man.
The main topic of God’s Word, from Genesis to Revelation, is Jesus Christ. It’s not about any particular people, family lines, or property. Everything God brought people through was for an end goal: the coming Messiah, who would save those who come to faith in Him. The whole Bible is about God’s redemptive plan for mankind. God used symbols, like the ladder, throughout the Old Testament to point humans to their need for true refuge and peace they would only find in Jesus.
We need to remember not to get caught up on any physical details of humans or places, and to keep our minds focused on what God was focused on throughout the book: redeeming mankind from his sin through a Messiah, His Son.
Ornament Ideas
