The Stairways to Heaven

He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth; The Lord is His name.

Amos 9:6 (NKJV)

It is He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has established His vaulted dome (the firmament of heaven) over the earth, He who calls to the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The Lord is His name.

Amos 9:6 (AMP)

The Hebrew word for "layers," ma'alah, refers to an elevation: the act of journeying to a higher place, of ascending by the steps of a ladder or a stair. It implies mounting up to a hill or an elevated place. Amos gives an architectural overview of how the Lord built the networks connecting earth to heaven. His layers in the sky are exactly what Jacob saw in his vision of the ladder that reached to heaven. These are the secret pathways by which angels traffic the earth, the paths the Lord used in Jacob's encounter, and it may be that He used the same system of stairs to ascend into heaven after His resurrection.

And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

John 1:51 (NKJV)

The earth is vaulted, or hedged, by a dome, a stratum called the firmament or heaven, and right above it are the waters above; that is what makes the sky look blue. The stratum acts as a bridge, a binder of earth to heaven. In fact, the word agudah means a band or a knot: God has established a knot by which heaven and earth are tied together. All across this stratum are layers, staircases, that lead straight into encounters with God.

Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens!

Psalm 148:4 (NKJV)

God has built stairs that lead to the gates of heaven. This may be why Jesus and many saints of old prayed on the mountains. The most dramatic encounters Moses and Jesus had with God were on the mountains. The wilderness seems to serve as a place of testing and trial, and of encounters with Satan, whereas the mountains are places of encounter with God. Both are important to our progress.

The secret of accessing these layers in the sky to meet God, and of discovering the way of ascent, is found in Isaiah.

But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)

God gives the power of ascension, or flight, the anointing for speed, and the grace for communion to those who learn to wait, qavah: the process of being bound together with the Lord, intertwined in communion. It is the product of intimacy with God. The reason for waiting, for looking to the Lord, is that we may ascend to Him. A man who has never ascended to the mountain of the Lord can never truly maintain a straight walk with God. So when a man earnestly waits for, and looks to, the Lord in the confines of solitude, God may grant him access to the layers. This is not the power of prayer; it is the power of quiet times before the Lord. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You.

He has built these layers for our sake, but the blindness of our hearts has kept us from discerning the way up to God by the stairs He has provided. In times of distress or peril we could have escaped harm by ascending to the hill of the Lord. May God grant me the grace always to seek and know His ways.