From Pillows to Pillars

(I was asked once again to give a message to our local congregation. Here’s what I shared)

Prized Pillows

Do you have a favorite pillow? Do you like your pillow soft or firm? Good pillows are not cheap.

The most expensive pillow was developed by a Dutch physical therapist and neck specialist. It was said that it took him 15 years to develop this technology. The company Tailormade Pillow, will use an algorithm to calculate the right size and shape of a pillow, that customers will undergo a 3D scanning procedure to create the perfect pillow shape. The pillow will be made with Dutch memory foam, with fabric choices including Egyptian cotton and Mulberry silk. It can also come with a 24k gold cover and a zipper that holds a 22.5-carat sapphire and four diamonds. This Tailormade Pillow Gold Edition costs $57,000. Sweet dreams, right?

Though there’s a pillow that may be more priceless than that. It is an important historical relic, housed in a museum in Washington, D.C.. This pillow was one of several pillows placed under President Lincoln’s head as he lay dying. The doctors did their best to make the unconscious president comfortable. Visible on this pillow is the stain of the blood of President Lincoln (see photo below). It is a pillow that has become a memorial artifact.

Our Bible Story

Our study today is also about a pillow that became a part of a memorial pillar. Let’s open our Bible to Genesis 28: 10-19.

¹⁰ Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

¹⁸ Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 

Running Away From Home

A long journey, a hard pillow, a guilty conscience, a heavy heart. These are the things that make men dream.

Jacob left home so quickly and was running for his life.

Esau, his brother, was left boiling in anger.

Rebekah, his mother, was weeping.

Isaac, his father, was still figuring out what exactly had happened.

Jacob is on a long journey of about 500 miles from Beersheba to a place called Haran. It was a journey backward in time for Jacob, backward because he was retracing the steps of his grandfather Abraham who came from Haran to the Promised Land many years ago. But Abraham left behind a family there, a clan that grew and prospered over the years. Rebekah was from Haran too, so it was natural that Rebekah would think of Haran as a safe haven to send away her wayward son.

It was far enough that Esau wouldn’t follow him there. Yet there was family there, so Jacob wouldn’t be alone.

Jacob has been on the road for many hours now. Many hours to think, many hours to ponder, many hours to wonder of what might have been. He has been walking, maybe even running – yes, running away from home. A home that he has broken. A home that he has severed his family ties with. For as we know, Jacob will never see his father and mother again.

After traveling for a whole long day, and as the sun sinks over the western horizon, Jacob stops for the night. After all, he already has covered 50 miles in just one day. Beersheba, where Jacob’s home was and to where he stopped for the night is about 50 miles. It is doable, but that means he’s been brisk walking at 3.5 miles/hour x14 hours of daylight, non-stop!

He came to the outskirts of a city called Luz, a place unknown to him, a city filled with strange and possibly dangerous people. So filled with fear was Jacob that when he came to Luz, he dared not enter the city, even though night had fallen. Instead Jacob chose to spend the night outside the town, on a hillside strewn with rocks and boulders. Jacob pick a flat stone to rest his head to sleep for the night.

Who uses a stone for a pillow anyway? Perhaps we can say, Jacob was really really tired. He couldn’t care less.

Today we use pillows to support the body at rest for comfort. The history of the pillow dates back to around 7,000 BC in ancient Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq today. These pillows made of stone (photo above) weren’t comfortable, comfort wasn’t really their purpose. The function of the stone pillow was to prevent insects from crawling into mouths, noses, and ears. So no, Jacob’s pillow wasn’t comfortable. And so was the guilt and the fear and the anxiety. Jacob was lying on a pillow of discomfort, a pillow of doubt, a pillow of fear and uncertainty.

Despite of all the discomforts, Jacob fell asleep. And not only asleep, he fell into a deep sleep that he even had the most wonderful dream ever known.

Science of Sleep

Let me pause here. Why do humans sleep and how do we form dreams anyway? The science and medical aspect of sleep fascinates me so much, that I subspecialized in Sleep Medicine.

When we have a person go for a sleep study in our lab, we attached to them a lot of wires, including wires in their head to record their brain waves. By determining the brain waves, we can know if the person is asleep or awake even if their eyes are close.

There are 4 different stages of sleep. Stage I, II, III and REM sleep. As we fall asleep, even in lightest stage of sleep which is stage I sleep, the brain waves will slow down. And it will go slower and slower as we go deeper in sleep, especially in stage III. However, in REM sleep, something special happens. The brain suddenly becomes active again that the brain waves is almost similar to an awake brain waves, but the person is asleep. But there’s more, in REM sleep, the eyes will have this rapid movements, back and forth, as if the person is seeing things even if their eyes are close. That’s why it is called REM or rapid eye movement sleep.

It is known, that most of our dreams happens during REM sleep. Especially those dreams that we can vividly remember. The REM sleep is also the most restorative type of sleep. Though I may know when you are dreaming if you go for a sleep study, but I cannot know what are your dreams, nor can I interpret your dreams. I am not Joseph, so don’t ask me to interpret your dreams.

Like eating and drinking, sleep is vital for our health. Without sleep, our body cannot function properly. We all know how bad we feel after a night of not getting enough sleep. But many people in our society today are constantly sleep deprived. But instead of getting more sleep, they are getting more dependent on coffee and energy drink to get them going.

Fun facts: Do you know that giraffes in the wild sleeps only 30 minutes to 2 hours in a day? Do you know that dolphins when they sleep, only half of their brain go to sleep while the other half is awake? The problem is some people are trying to be giraffes, or worse trying to be dolphins. We are humans!

Here’s how much sleep is recommended in different age group.

A Stairway to Heaven

Back to Jacob’s story. As Jacob went into deep sleep, or more specifically REM sleep, what did he dream about?

In his dream he saw a stairway. The Hebrew word is sullam; it can mean “ladder” but more typically means “stairway.” The stairway is descending from heaven to earth, and more importantly it was resting right where he happened to be.

What else? On the stairway Jacob saw the angels of God going up and down the stairs. But the most important part of the dream is on top of the stairway is God Himself speaking directly to Jacob.

Before this dream, God has not communicated directly to Jacob. God did to his grandfather Abraham, and to his father Isaac. Jacob might have received blessings from Isaac, but he is lacking the most important blessing – the one from God. But on this night, God made a promise, the same promise He made with Abraham and Isaac. This answers all Jacob’s doubts, anxieties and fears.

His feeling of shame? God said “I am the God of your father Abraham.”

Feeling of betrayal? God said “I am the God of Isaac.”

Loss of his homeland? God said “I will give you this land.”

Feeling of insignificance? God said “All peoples on the earth will be blessed through you.”

Loss of his family? God said “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth.”

Fear of the future? God said “I am with you…where ever you go.”

Fear of failure? God said “I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

My friends we can claim these promises too. Whatever doubts, anxieties, and fears we have, God have them covered.

There is a second layer of this promise of God to Jacob. In fact, some of the promises were not fulfilled in Jacob’s lifetime but some time later.

First of all in Jacob’s dream it was God who made the stairway where God and angels will come down. It is the opposite of the Tower of Babel, where humans tried to build a structure that would reach up to the heaven for man to go up. Of course the tower of Babel was unsuccessful and only led to confusion and dispersal.

In contrast to Babel, God does not call humans to come up, but rather He and His angels travel down. In the tower of Babel, it is man’s effort to try to get to God. In Jacob’s dream, it was all God trying to reach out to man. God himself built the gateway to heaven.

When Jesus came to this earth, he referenced to this Jacob’s dream as recorded in the Gospel of John.

John 1:51 “He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Jesus said here that angels will descend and ascend on Him like they did on Jacob’s ladder. What Jesus is saying is that He is the one that connects earth with heaven. Only through Him that we can go to heaven. When God said to Jacob, “through you and your seed will all the people of the earth will be blessed;” that seed of Jacob is Jesus.

How appropriate is it then, that also in the book of John, Jesus calls himself the gate.

John 10:9 –  ‘I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.‘

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On March 26, 1997, police got an anonymous tip to check in on a property in San Diego California. When they entered the mansion, they found 39 dead bodies all wearing matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers. These men and women took their own lives in a mass suicide, led by their cult leader, Marshall Applewhite. They were made to believe that when they die they will be transported to heaven by an alien spacecraft hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet. The name of the religious cult group was Heaven’s Gate.

Do not be deceived by anyone that we can go to heaven by any other way. Only Jesus is the gate to heaven.

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Back to Jacob’s story. Jacob awakens and he probably wondered was it all a dream or was it real? After pausing and pondering, he begins to put the pieces together in his mind. He realized that he was far away from home, surrounded by rocks and boulders, and yet he felt the presence of God that he blurted out “Surely the Lord is in this place…..this is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

What did Jacob discovered? He discovered that God is omnipresent —that God is everywhere. He called the place where he slept “Bethel”—which in Hebrew means “house of God.”

In years to come Jacob’s descendants would build a vast temple in Jerusalem and that would be called the “house of God.” But no building—no matter how expensive—can contain the presence of the Almighty. When we call our church buildings houses of God, we simply mean they are dedicated to the worship of God. Some people think that God is more present in a church than anywhere else. Not so. What God is teaching Jacob is that any place can be a place where you can meet God.

God can be in your bedroom, when you’re alone and remorseful, because you have done something wrong, and you think no one would accept you.

God can be in your bathroom, where you locked yourself in as you don’t want your children to see you crying because your family is going through a rough time.

God is in the hospital waiting room, as you are pacing back and forth, waiting for your loved one who is undergoing a life-saving surgery.

God is in the funeral home when you are weeping and mourning the loss of your family member.

God is everywhere. Wherever you are, there God is. And wherever God is, there is a stairway from heaven where God is reaching down to where you are.

Pitching Up Pillars

Because of that wonderful dream, Jacob was changed. He slept as a fugitive. He woke up as forgiven. He slept as a replacement. He woke up as the chosen one. He slept as one who steals blessing. He woke up as the one who received the promise.

Then Jacob took the stone he used for a pillow and set it up for a pillar. He poured oil and anointed it. He turned his pillow into a pillar.

When we say pillar it means it is structure that provides support. Pillow does not indicate strength or sturdiness, even if it is a stone pillow. But a pillar? It means being immovable, being sturdy, and firm. Pillar can also means a landmark, or a monument, or a memorial.

Jacob made an important trade. He traded his doubt for conviction. He traded his foolishness for faith. He traded his fear for trusting in God. The pillar became a testimony of his faith and dependence upon the Lord. Are we switching our pillow into pillar like Jacob?

What pillows are you sleeping on? Pillow of doubt, pillow of shame, pillow of guilt, pillow of feeling insignificant, pillow of fear?

It’s time to build a pillar of faith, pillar of honor, pillar of being forgiven, pillar of dedication, and pillar of giving praise and glory to our God.

I would like to end with a story:

In 1829 a man named George Wilson was arrested for robbery and murder in a US mail heist. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. Some friends intervened on his behalf and were able to obtain his pardon, signed by President Andrew Jackson. But when told of this, Wilson refused it saying he wanted to die. Well, the sheriff didn’t know what to do, how do you execute a man officially pardoned?

An appeal was made to the President who perplexed turned the matter over to the US Supreme court. Chief Justice John Marshall gave this ruling: a pardon is a piece of paper, the value of which depends on its acceptance by the person implicated. Anyone under the sentence of death would hardly be expected to refuse a pardon, but if it’s refused, it is no pardon.

Thus, George Wilson was executed while his signed pardon lay on the sheriff’s desk!

Friends, God has offered His gift of forgiveness to every person, including you and me. However, this wonderful grace from God must be personally accepted and claimed by faith.

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(*photos taken from the web)