Weird Stuff in the Bible

Portals Into the Spirit Realm, Higher Dimensional Beings, and the Gate of Heaven
Genesis 28

Introduction
This might be an episode you have to listen to twice.
Something really caught my eye as I was reading through my Bible a few months ago, and digging into it has revealed a few things to me about the spiritual realm and how spiritual beings such as angels and demons can have access to our lives here on earth.
So I was reading about Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28, and how this location where he had his dream had the name changed from Luz to Bethel. If you have read Genesis or studied Jacob’s life, you’re probably familiar with this dream. It’s when he saw a ladder or stairway to heaven with the angels going up and down on it.
And when Jacob wakes up, he makes this statement in
Verse 17
“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Something I’ve read over dozens of times before, but this time that phrase “the gate of heaven” really stood out to me. Because I wondered precisely what that means that this somewhat random location on earth was declared to be the gate of heaven.
Even more curiously to me, this is the only time in the entire Bible that the phrase “Gate of Heaven” is used.
I found that weird, and so I set out to explore why it’s in the Bible. And today I’ll give you my theories on that.
Turn to Genesis 28, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

Genesis 28
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28.
I’d like to start by reading the story so that we’re all caught up on the full context here. This is shortly after Jacob tricks his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing of the firstborn over his twin brother, Esau.
This has understandably caused some hard feelings in his family. In fact, in Genesis 27:41, Esau even says he might just kill Jacob someday after Isaac passes away.
Neither Jacob nor Esau are such great guys. Esau is kind of a brute, and Jacob is a major trickster. In fact, they quite remind me of Thor and Loki if you’ve ever seen the Thor film from 2011. And just like Thor and Loki, Esau and Jacob receive some major character development in their stories. But back here in Genesis 27, things are pretty tense at home.
And so to avoid any family strife, in the next chapter, Isaac and Rebekkah send Jacob to go find his uncle Laban in a land called Haran. Along the way, he camps out near or at a city called Luz.
Genesis 28:10-22
10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
Verse 12 there said “ladder” - I’m reading in the ESV. If you look at other translations, they occasionally use the word “stairway” or a footnote that says “flight of steps.”
If you thought Led Zeppelin came up with the stairway to heaven, I got some bad news for you.
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth 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 promised 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 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
So that is the full story right there, although this city of Bethel will come up in various other places in scripture. Jacob returns in chapter 35 to set up an altar to God there. This becomes a Holy site to interact with God in Judges and I/II Samuel. And at the time of I/II Kings, it becomes a center of pagan worship. We might explore the story of Bethel in next week’s lesson, because I think there are some practical implications by tracing that out as well.
But for today, we’ll go back to verse 17. Jacob names this location “Bethel” because that word means House of God. Bethel is Beth-el. El means “God,” and Beth means “house of.” So Bethel is the House of God, and that’s what Jacob said after he woke up:
“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Jacob was so excited because in his dream, he entered the spiritual realm. Now, he was not picked up and taken somewhere else, like Ezekiel and other prophets were when they were sometimes allowed to visit the spiritual realm. Jacob was kept right here in this exact spot, and he bore witness to a ladder or stairway to heaven. He saw angels ascending and descending on it.
What does this mean? This location was a point of connection between heaven and earth. Between the spiritual realm and the physical realm. This was an entryway between earth and heaven where angels were allowed to enter our realm. And it was at this physical location right here on the earth.

My previous theory of Higher-dimensional beings
Now, once I realized that a few months ago, this was a little bit paradigm-shifting for me, and I’ll explain why. This implies that angels can only access our reality from particular locations, when there is an entryway opened up. In other words, that angels- and, we will learn later- demons cannot just pop into and out of existence wherever they desire. There are particular access points scattered throughout the earth where they enter and exit our realm.
Now, if that sounds a little sketchy or far-fetched, let me just say, hang in there and we’ll get to some more scripture on it in a few minutes. But let me finish explaining my thought process on this and how it has changed.
Previously, I had the idea that angels can just manifest from anywhere they want by virtue of being a higher-dimensional being. I had the idea that they can treat the earth as if it’s a lower dimension. Let me use an example using the difference in 2D and 3D. Let’s say I’m holding up a piece of paper with a stick figure on it. He is a two-dimensional person.
Let’s pretend for a few minute that he were alive, a fully conscious being on this page; and let’s say I want to interact with him as a three-dimensional person. I can put my finger over on one side of the page, and a moment later I can put my finger over on the other side of the page. He’s only seeing things in two dimensions. He can’t see me outside of the page; he can only see things along the plane of his existence. But he can catch a limited glimpse of me if I poke my finger into the page. If I did that, a tiny sliver of me would break into his world. He cannot behold me in my entirety, because he only sees in 2D. I am 3D. He sees squares, I can see cubes. He only sees circles, I can see spheres.
From my perspective, I can see all of Mr. 2D Man. I can see in front of him, behind him; I can poke my finger into the page in front of him, into the page behind him, or both in front of him and behind him at the same time. I can do that because from my perspective, I’m a 3D Man. I have a higher plane of existence. He is a 2D Man. He has a more limited plane of existence.
So in his eyes, I’m teleporting. I’m multiplying. I’m appearing and disappearing. Because he has a very limited perspective and understanding of what I’m doing.
It probably looks very much like how humans would perceive of the appearance of angels in the Bible. Or perhaps if you’d heard testimonies of people who saw angelic visitations. Angels seem to come out of nowhere; they just pop into and out of existence. They appear and reappear. Sometimes, their appearance is so dazzling that humans struggle to comprehend and explain them. This makes sense to me if angels are beings of a higher dimension. Fourth-dimensional beings. I am 3D, spiritual beings are 4D.
So even if I cannot comprehend fourth-dimensional beings and they seem very mysterious to me, I can at least understand why I can’t comprehend them. They are from a higher dimension than I am. Just like I am of a higher dimension than Mr. 2D and my interactions with him would be very confusing and mysterious to him, I can understand why (to me) a higher-dimensional being such as an angel or a demon would take actions that seem confusing and mysterious.
Furthermore, this probably also explains some of the unexplainable UFO phenomena that have been witnessed over the years. I’m not gonna go too deep into that. I’m not necessarily trying to go down a rabbit trail about aliens. I don’t technically believe in aliens; but I do believe that perhaps some of these UFO visitations people have reported could be supernatural visitations of angels or demons.
When you observe the behavior of some of these UFOs, they seem to be able to accelerate and decelerate at rates far outside the abilities of modern aircraft. They pop into and out of existence. They make sharp 90-degree turns at speeds which seem impossible with even our most sophisticated technology. It doesn’t make sense from a three-dimensional perspective.
But if you allow for the possibility that they are fourth-dimensional beings, then it does make sense why it doesn’t make sense. I hope you’re following me today.
Like I said, this might be an episode you have to listen to twice.

Now let’s throw some bible into it
So that was my old theory about how all this stuff worked. In many ways, I still hold to it, but with a new understanding of their limitations. I do not believe angels and demons and everything in between can just pop in and pop out of our world whenever they want to. I think there’s a limitation placed on where they can enter, and that this limitation is either placed by God, or that it’s a limitation in place just because of the difference in the physical and spiritual realm.
There’s a veil of separation between the physical and the spiritual. And we are separated from the spiritual. But I believe the spiritual is also separated from us- UNLESS a tear is made in the veil. An opening. In modern terms, this would be known as a portal. There has to be a portal opened up between the physical and the spiritual for beings to pass between.
Now you say, “OK Luke, that’s an interesting theory, it’s very science-fictiony and could make a good movie, but is there any biblical evidence in support of this?” Well I’m glad you asked.
You’re not going to see the word “portal” in the Bible, but I believe the biblical term for these openings is “gates.”
As in, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” And I found it very interesting that this is the only place in the Bible that uses the phrase “the gate of heaven.”
After all, there’s another series of gates famously mentioned by Jesus in
Matthew 16:18-19
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
If you go back to last week’s lesson, episode 60, I explain that verse.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
If you go back to an episode I released last November- episode 52 about Prayers of Binding a Loosing- I explained that this is spiritual warfare language. These are the exact words and phrases the Bible uses when talking about binding spiritual beings. Battling demons. Fighting in the spiritual realm.
So what did Jesus mean by this term “the gates of hell”? Well, you’ve probably heard the application before that gates are defensive structures, and that this verse is calling on the church to take the fight to hell. That we go on the offense. And I agree with that application.
But I also believe that Jesus is not just speaking of metaphorical gates. He could very well be referring to particular locations on planet earth that are portals or openings that demons use to enter our realm. Let me say that again: He could be referring to particular locations on planet earth that are portals or openings that demons use to enter our realm.
So my theory today, my thesis statement, if you will, is that visitors from the spiritual dimension don’t or can’t just pop into or out of existence from anywhere they want to. They have specific locations where they travel between their realm and ours. And the Bible refers to these portals to the spiritual dimension as gates.

Next time
And I think I better stop there for today because I have dumped a LOT on you all this time. So let’s table it here for this week.
You might be saying, “But Luke, I thought you said you have a lot of verses, you only went through like three verses today.” Yeah, I do have a lot more verses to talk about, but I’m sensing that I should save them for next week. Probably the next couple of weeks. We’ll go through several scriptures and talk about them and build upon what I’ve been talking about today.
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And this also gives you a chance to chime in, if you’d like! weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
You are welcome to challenge anything I’ve said today, or perhaps if you’re tracking with me, maybe you have some resources or podcasts that you could send me that might help me as I study this out. This is a little bit different type of episode for me because it’s not stuff I’ve taught on before, it’s not stuff I feel like I’ve totally settled how I feel about it, I’m just kind of working these things out in real time with you. So if you have something helpful you’d like to send me, please stick it in an email. Or you’re welcome to try to poke holes in my theories here, just as I am poking holes in the fabric of reality.
Now I will say this, ever since I started studying this topic a couple of months ago, I have been finding where other Bible teachers have taught on this exact subject and said pretty much the same things in regards to portals and gates.
And I’m glad to see that but I’m also not going too deep with it because I’m not trying to copy someone else’s research; I’m trying to just share what I believe God is revealing to me. Not saying I have it all right. But I’m trying to be led of God in this.
So, this was probably your first Bible study with portals. I know it was for me. But, if you come back next time, it doesn’t have to be your last.
So if you think studying portals in the Bible sounds weird, I hope you’ll get weird with me next week, too.
Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.