The Ladder and Highway to Heaven for the Lamb of God
ABSTRACT: The gospel of John alluded to a sign in the sky to inaugurate Jesus’ ministry. Jesus told His disciples, “Amen, Amen, I tell you all shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” The next evening, they saw the clouds part to reveal a ladder formed by all bright wandering stars, reaching from the earth to the center of the sky, with Venus marking the constellation of the Lamb.
Copyright Ó 2025 Bruce Alan Killian—September 14, 2006 A.D. email bakillian at earthlink.net
Update January 18, 2025 A.D.
To index file: www.scripturescholar.com/LambofGod.htm or .pdf
This is article three in a series; here are links to the first two.
www.scripturescholar.com/VenusStarofBethlehem.htm or .pdf
www.scripturescholar.com/EstherScepter.htm or .pdf
The heavens declare God’s glory, and it’s time to introduce God the Son in the sky. Pretend you’re God; what will you do? It must be timely, pithy, and understandable. Note, You have already announced Him as the Divine King of the Jews to the magi, and You’re saving the writing of His Name in the sky for a later date. What, when, and how do You depict Your Son in the sky? Who’ll see it, and when? Can we tell what you did today? If so, how do we find it? Hint: John proclaimed, make straight the way of the Lord. Stop and decide what you would do.
John had moved north; it was only a two-day hike. Zealous teenagers[1] went to John to be discipled and baptized. Their incredible adventure would last a lifetime. Jesus finished a forty-day fast and returned to John the Baptist.
Here’s an abbreviated account.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. … And I have seen, and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And Jesus said, “Amen, Amen, all of you will soon[2] see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:29–31, 34–39, 43–51)
God inaugurated Jesus’ ministry with a heavenly sign. The first heaven is the atmosphere occupied by birds, clouds, rain, etc. The second heaven is the universe, including the sun, moon, and stars. The third is God’s abode. What did they see?
The next day Jesus and six disciples hiked from the Jordan River[3] into the hill country, heading to a wedding in Cana in Galilee. Jesus fulfilled His oath early that evening, Sunday, March 4, A.D. 31.[4] They were at the wedding the following evening.
A ladder to heaven
The clouds parted and revealed all the bright planets, forming a ladder with evenly spaced rungs, reaching straight from the earth to the sky’s center. Make straight the way of the Lord, Jesus is the straight way to heaven. The vertical ladder rested on the earth and leaned against a cloud, making it look like a cross.[5] John quoted Isaiah 40:3; the Hebrew word highway can be translated as a ladder, stairs, raised way, or star course.[6] Jesus’ star, Venus, marked the lamb’s picture, and John called Jesus the Lamb of God. The constellations of Aries [ram lamb] and Taurus [bull] hung on the cross. His forty-day fast had ended; thirty years old, Jesus was at the age a man took priestly or kingly office.
The landscape wasn’t a floodplain, but the highway was smooth. The mountains were cut down, the valleys filled in, and the way straight. The Highway to Heaven did those things without transforming the terrain. They climbed toward Cana from the Jordan Valley to see the sign. We’ll find a similar sign at Jesus’ ascension, bookending His ministry.
The ladder works well with only the four lower planets and no cloud, but it reached heaven, and the nations saw it. God orchestrated a precisely timed sign in the heavens to dramatize the unveiling of Jesus’ mission. It was brief and dynamic—as promised, the disciples saw greater things. This sign announced Jesus was the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world and the stairway to heaven. A heavenly sign announced Jesus’ purpose and ministry before His first miracle and public teaching. Jesus and his first disciples saw it the evening they left the Jordan Valley. They didn’t see it forming because the mountains and possibly clouds blocked the western view.
Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael[7] links to the Patriarch Jacob’s dream. Jacob dreamed of a ladder (or stairway) to heaven. Jesus contrasted Nathanael, a man without deceit, with Jacob, a liar. Although Esau sold Jacob his birthright, Jacob lied to take his blessing (Genesis 27:35–36). Afterward, to prevent his murder, his father Isaac sent him far away to his kin to find a wife (Genesis 27:41–47).[8] On the way near where the disciples stopped, Jacob dreamed of angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven. All these disciples saw angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Here is an excerpt from Jacob’s ladder dream passage:
When he [Jacob] reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. (Genesis 28:11–12)
The clouds parted, and focused their attention on the starry sky. Representing God’s glory (Exodus 40:35), clouds framed the scene. All the wandering stars formed a ladder marked by Venus. A rung near the top was missing. The ladder to heaven rested on a cloud in the gap. When the sky was fully dark, the Milky Way occupied the gap.
These men[9] fished at night;[10] they knew the stars. Both John and Peter link Jesus and the bright morning star. Peter said you would do well to pay attention to the prophets until the day star rises in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19 KJV). John recorded Jesus saying I am the bright morning star (Revelation 22:16) and the sign we’re studying.
Jacob saw a ladder or stairway resting on earth and its top in the heavens. After sunset, Jesus’ disciples saw Jacob’s ladder. Mercury was the first rung near the horizon, one step up from the sun. Saturn at the top rested at the center of the sky; the top rung to heaven. Venus and Jupiter were at the same elevation in the center of Aries (the Lamb) constellation. Mars (in Taurus) rounded out the ladder above Venus.
The ecliptic (the line or belt the planets follow) isn’t vertical most of the year. God evenly spaced the sun and planets as steps of a ladder when the wandering stars went straight up from the horizon to heaven. The sign doesn’t work a day earlier or later because Venus raced along; only that day, a ladder was visible. The dating would be less precise if the five planets were evenly spaced in the sky because the picture would only slowly change daily. God’s sign was date-specific. John’s day-by-day account allows us to date it precisely.
Maybe Jesus was west of the group, and the ladder originated at Him? Maybe the silhouetted ridgeline appeared to be Jacob reclined with a stone pillow dreaming.
Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.” (Isaiah 62:10–11 (emphasis added))
Isaiah spoke of a highway with a signal (sign), to earth’s end another witness to this sign.
The Lamb of God
John bore witness to the light (John 1:7). It was why he came to testify (John 1:31). He made known Jesus’ connection to this sign. John the Baptist twice identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36). God’s sign and John’s statements declared Jesus was the way to heaven and the Lamb of God. He would open the way to heaven. Jesus promised His disciples they would see a sign, and it confirmed Jesus. John used light for the star, the same word in Genesis (Genesis 1:14 LXX).
Only Sunday evening, March 4, A.D. 31, Venus completed rather than broke the ladder to heaven. Jesus’ star strikes again. The ladder of planets appeared at twilight until Mercury set a half-hour later. No moonlight faded the image. The sky grew dark, and the multitude of stars somewhat obscured the scene. Venus marked Aries, the slain Lamb. I dated the start of Jesus’ ministry a decade before discovering this sign. God joined His signs in the heavens with seasons, days, and years (Genesis 1:14). Signs have specific dates; get the correct date and find the sign.
John the Baptist sent John and Andrew to Jesus, then immediately left to minister in the Temple.[11] It was 10 AM[12] Thursday, March 1, A.D. 31. John left for his priestly duty at the last hour, probably to know the one he announced. The full moon allowed night travel. Priests twice daily offered lambs as whole burnt offerings in the Temple. He needed to be in Jerusalem by sunset the next day when the Sabbath started and had a sixty-mile (96 km) hike. His priestly service began at noon on Saturday.
Angels Ascending and Descending
Jesus promised angels ascending and descending on Him (John 1:51). The word angel means messenger. The Bible doesn’t mention angels ascending and descending on Jesus. John saw the sign and recorded Jesus’ oath. Technology doesn’t help us to view the angels, but I believe meteorites pictured angels streaking up and down, bringing God’s message through Jesus to the disciples. Meteorites often originate from a point called a radiant. God controls sand-grain-sized shooting stars. The radiant was on the ladder; some went up, and others went down.
It’s a dynamic picture and linked to Jacob’s ladder dream. In Jacob’s dream, the angels ascend and descend a ladder. Jesus said the angels would ascend and descend on Him. So Jesus is the ladder (or highway or stairway) to heaven. Jacob said, “This is the gate to heaven.” Jesus is the door [gate].
The planets formed a picture on God’s canvas. The planets passed through key constellations. These men spent most nights under the stars; they recognized the unusual. There was probably a cloud between Mars and Saturn, but maybe a comet. Mercury set thirty minutes later. At full dark, the Milky Way (the clouds of heaven) filled the gap. This alignment of the planets occurred thirty-one years after the alignment of the planets that brought the magi to Jerusalem. A similar sign at Jesus’ ascension bookended this sign. Pharisees requested a heavenly sign but didn’t get one (Mark 8:11). They were evil and adulterous (Matthew 12:39), refusing John’s baptism. Jesus’ baptized disciples saw a memorable heavenly sign. Maybe it’s time for you to get baptized and join God’s family.
A highway in the wilderness
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. (John 1:5–9 (emphasis added)) John testified, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (John 1:23). Luke adds,
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” (Luke 3:4–6)
Here’s Isaiah’s fuller quote.
Comfort, comfort[13] my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,[14]
that she has received from the LORD’S hand
double for all her sins.[15]
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;[16]
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1–5 (emphasis added))
The gospel, according to John, is the third witness to Jesus’ star. John the Baptist called Jesus’ star a light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5) (so He’s not the sun); this links us back to Genesis 1:14: the lights are to be for signs, and this was a notable sign. John the Baptist came to announce this sign and to testify to Jesus.[17]
Jesus’ first disciples’ first question was—“Where do you dwell?” Jesus said, “Come and see” (John 1:38–39).[18] Why did He say ‘see’ rather than I sleep under that tree, or I’m from Nazareth? He dwelled in heaven, this sign showed the way, and they watched Him return at His ascension. “The word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) (His temporary dwelling).
In Bethlehem, His star revealed Jesus’ dwelling and the wise men found Him in His mother’s arms. Here, God revealed Jesus’ residence before He came and when He returned. It pointed out how to open the way—the lamb crucified. Jacob’s father sent him far away to find a bride from his kin. He was on his way when he dreamed of the ladder. Jesus’ Father sent Him to earth to find a wife from His kin. He was on His way to a wedding. He came from far away to His kin to find His bride. God timed Jesus’ first sign to show He sent Jesus to His kin for a bride.
Three verses later, He’s the herald of good news [the gospel]. Further, the good news is your God comes, and He will tend His flock like a shepherd. Jesus is YHWH.
Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
Behold, the Lord GOD [YHWH] comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those with young.[19] (Isaiah 40:9–11 (emphasis added))
Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding in Cana, His first sign/miracle. Six disciples witnessed the highway to heaven, but only John recorded it. John was martyred because of his witness to Jesus. They plunged him into a cauldron of boiling oil and made him drink venom. When he survived, they exiled him to Patmos.[20] With no opportunity to minister, he wrote. All the apostles were martyred; John survived to tell this story. Jesus promised he would drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism (Matthew 20:23). John got a bath and a drink.
Who could see this sign? “All flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6). Luke quoted Isaiah 40:5. This sign was seen worldwide. God wanted all (including us) to see and understand His message. God put a sign in the sky for the world to see. A lamb slain on the highway to heaven opened the door to the Lord’s dwelling.
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Israel March 4, A.D. 31 16:30
The center of the sky represents the entrance to heaven.
A glory cloud with sunglow behind it in the darker sky, the Milky Way. |
God formed a picture on the canvas of the sky. Venus was on the ladder centered in the constellation of Aries. Aries is the constellation of the Lamb slain. John the Baptist had repeatedly called the disciples’ attention to Jesus being the Lamb of God. God drew a picture in the sky to proclaim that same message. Venus, in this picture, appears as the evening star. The two brightest objects in the sky, Venus and Jupiter, marked Aries. Elements of the story 1. Clouds parted-sky opened 2. A vertical ladder of wandering stars 3. Clouds of heaven=Milky Way 4. Venus as a marker 5. Angels go up and down 6. Lamb on cross 7. Bull included on cross 8. A glory cloud to rest on 9. Jesus crucified 10. Jesus matches Jacob’s ladder dream. 11. Straight wilderness highway The sun is the same distance below Mercury as it is below Venus. |
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Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest stars, are almost on top of one another. Venus has a brightness of -3.8, and Jupiter has a brightness of -2.1. |
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Some important pictures in the canvas of the sky are the constellations through which the planets pass. We call the constellations the planets pass through the zodiac/Mazoreth. The ancients called the planets wandering stars (Jude 1:13). They knew of the five brightest ones. Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs and to mark seasons and days and years. God put the sun, moon, and stars in the sky as signs. We would do well to pay attention to the signs we recognize. |
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Lamb on a cross structure In Jesus’ day, the Jews mounted their Passover lambs on a cross-like structure to skin and roast them.[21] So, a lamb on a cross pictured a Passover sacrifice. On Passover, God freed Israel from slavery and started their return to the promised homeland. Israel was wed to the LORD at this time (Jeremiah 2:2). The bull on the cross links to essential sacrifices. Israel offered a bull as a sin offering, and when a priest was ordained. |
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The Lamb of God
We can view the stars as forming pictures in the sky. It’s also interesting to see what picture was on the canvas of the sky marked by this sight. Venus was on the ladder centered in the constellation of Aries. Aries is the constellation of the RAM or Lamb. John the Baptist has repeatedly called the disciples’ attention to Jesus being the Lamb of God. God drew a picture in the sky to proclaim that same message. Venus, in this picture, appears as the Evening Star. The two brightest stars in the sky, Venus and Jupiter, mark Aries. What does the Lamb of God mean to the disciples? Male lambs were a frequent sacrificial offering, e.g., a Passover lamb.
The Ladder to Heaven. Jesus and his disciples saw this picture the evening after climbing out of the Jordan Valley about thirty minutes after sunset. They probably saw a cloud going through the area between Mars and Saturn. Later in the evening, the Milky Way the clouds of heaven, occupy the gap. Mercury will set in about 24 minutes.
Let’s look more deeply at the sign
God orchestrated signs in the sky to match unfolding events. When the sign is precisely timed, of brief duration, dynamic, and is a dual sign—one can only agree with Jesus greater things you will soon see. This sign announced Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Ladder, Highway, or Way to Heaven. Before Jesus did any miracles or taught in public, a precise sign in the sky announced Him. Jesus and his disciples saw it the evening of Sunday, March 4, A.D. 31, as they hiked out of the Jordan Valley. The discovery resulted from a more accurate day-by-day chronology of Jesus’ ministry after discovering the Star of Bethlehem.
To interpret this story, it helps to understand Jacob’s ladder to heaven dream and have a correct chronology of the start of the ministry of Jesus. John the Baptist twice identified Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36). God put a sign in the sky that, combined with John the Baptist’s statements, declared Jesus was the way to heaven and the Lamb of God (the sacrifice would reconcile man to God and open the way to heaven). Because Jesus indicated to His disciples they would see a sign, and John identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, the sign was God’s confirmation of Jesus. The sign confirms the date of the start of Jesus’ ministry. The sign confirms Venus as the Star of Bethlehem interpretation. The sign links Jesus to a dream Jacob had. Jacob may have viewed a way to heaven, maybe before dawn, April 13, 1987 B.C.
Nathanael and Jacob (Israel) are Linked
Jesus linked His discussion with the patriarch Jacob and his dream in two ways. First, Jesus contrasts Nathanael, a man without deceit, with deceitful Jacob.
Genesis 27:35–36 But he [Isaac] said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”
Second, Jesus links Nathanael to Jacob by the sign he will see. Jacob dreamed of angels ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven; Nathanael and the other disciples are to see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Here is an excerpt from the passage where Jacob dreams of the ladder:
Genesis 28:10–12, 16–18 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
Background
According to the chronology of the public ministry of Jesus,[22] He met Nathaniel on Saturday, March 3, A.D. 31.[23] Jesus clearly states, “I Jesus am … the Bright Morning Star” (Venus is the bright morning star, Revelation 22:16). Jesus used Venus to represent himself.[24]
This incident is the first time Jesus uses the phrase “Amen, Amen, I tell you.” Jesus used that phrase when he was about to say something significant. He goes on to say they will soon see a greater thing. A dual sign in heaven is indeed more significant.
A Greater Thing—A Ladder to Heaven
On Saturday, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. On that Sabbath, Jesus met two more disciples, Philip and Nathanael, bringing the number to six. Jesus didn’t leave yet because it was the Sabbath, prohibiting distance travel. The following morning, Sunday, they left for Cana in Galilee. Depending on where Bethany[25] was beyond the Jordan by evening, the disciples may have been approaching Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown. Wherever they were, they had climbed out of the Jordan Valley and had a clear view of the horizon to the west. Jesus and his disciples had spent Sunday climbing out of the Jordan Valley. The mountains west of the Jordan River prevented them from seeing the whole picture if they remained in the valley.
Heaven Opened
The sky darkened, the clouds parted, and the lights in the sky appeared in order. The picture indicated that God is in charge of the stars in heaven and the clouds [i.e., weather].[26] Because the planets are brighter than stars, the ladder they form appeared before most stars in the sky.
A highway to heaven
Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, God painted another highway to heaven for His ascension. It was similar to the one inaugurating His ministry. Jesus returned home Thursday evening, May 14, A.D. 33.
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Jesus’ ascension highway Luke described Jesus’ ascension. As they looked on, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9b–11)
Regulus, a bright fixed star on the ecliptic, is in the head region of the constellation of Leo, so Jesus ascended through the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The highway John the Baptist announced was straighter and more vertical. Still, this one was remarkably straight, well-spaced, and vertical. |
Paired signs bookend Jesus
God paired several heavenly signs. The sun darkened, and the moon turned to blood at Jesus’ birth and death. Here, God provided a highway from earth to heaven at the start and end of His ministry. Jesus, not Venus, marked this highway. Jesus ascended into the glory cloud as the day star. Twilight came, and they saw the stars. This time, Jesus used the highway to return to heaven. Two angels, having descended, stood there and gave the disciples heaven’s message on the Mount of Olives. We recall Isaiah’s words: prepare a highway for the LORD. YHWH returned home.
The matched signs testify to Jesus’ authenticity and God’s handiwork. Are these alignments common?
Roughly every half century or so the brightest planets take up positions in the night sky creating the impression of being in more or less a straight line. The last decent display was in April 2002, when Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury were strung above the western horizon like a celestial necklace, with a crescent moon as its central jewel. A similar alignment will take place …, on 8 September 2040.[27]
“In the past 2,200 years, just four other observable massive planetary gatherings (the five naked-eye planets within 10 degrees of each other).”[28]
Daniel tells of the second half of Jesus’ ascension. Clouds of heaven occurs only once in the Old Testament and three times in the New Testament.
I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him. (Daniel 7:14)
Jesus returned to heaven with the clouds of heaven. Jesus’ ascension included clouds and the clouds of heaven on the horizon when the sky sufficiently darkened. Jesus ascended above the clouds of heaven. When Jesus returns in the future, it will be with the clouds of heaven. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man,[29] and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30). Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64)
Why did only John record this sign? Of the six disciples who witnessed this sign, only James and John could write about it. James was the first apostle martyred, and John wrote about it near the end of his life.
Section 3: A third sign, the Spirit descended and remained on Jesus
Five days before the highway to heaven sign, Jesus returned[30] from the wilderness of Judah to John the Baptist at Bethany beyond the Jordan. John the Baptist added to the story of the Holy Spirit’s descent at Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16–17). He said, “The Spirit remained on Jesus, so He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and is the Son of God.” John called Jesus the Lamb of God, and Jesus was silhouetted against the sky where Aries would soon appear.
Nathaniel, under a fig tree, watched this scene. Jesus saw Nathaniel under a fig tree see something that later caused him to believe. Jesus said you will see greater things than this. His ‘this’ means Nathaniel saw something (maybe great), and Jesus saw him see it. He saw Venus’ glow on Jesus. It had been forty days since the Spirit, like a dove, descended on Jesus, so the Spirit remained. This sign helped the apostles on Pentecost recognize that the flames descending on the disciples pictured the Holy Spirit.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29–34 (emphasis added))
John saw something remain on Jesus more than forty days later. After sunset, Jesus approached John from the west, across the Jordan River from Bethany beyond the Jordan. He came down to the river, maybe fifty yards away. John could recognize Jesus, but the river and darkness made it difficult to go to Him. Venus twinkled on Jesus’ head. At Pentecost, 2.3 years later, the Spirit descended as tongues of fire. A lamp flame is a tongue of fire. Like Venus, a flame looks like a point of light from further away. It was February 27, A.D. 31, the feast of Purim. Haman’s die roll chose this day for the slaying of the Jews (Esther 3:7–13); Jesus was revealed to be slain.
Jesus, seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree, links to Jesus seeking fruit on a fig tree during His last week (Mark 11:12–14). Sycamore fig trees were common in the lower elevations of Israel—Zacchaeus in Jericho climbed one (Luke 19:4). Nathaniel was ripe (ready for harvest), but Philip picked him before Jesus. This tree links to the Tree of Knowledge.[31] Nathaniel asked Jesus, “How do you know me?” Nathaniel realized as he watched Jesus approach with the glow of Venus on His head that Jesus had seen him. Jesus and the glow disappeared in the trees as Jesus approached the Jordan River. John the Baptist never saw Jesus in the dark again. The light on Jesus prompted Nathaniel to say, “You are the Son of God” (John said this sign revealed the King of Israel, which was the Christ, because the other disciples said they had found the Christ).
Venus appears as the Spirit who had remained on Jesus.
Jesus said, In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him,” “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him,” “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:2–6).
Nathanael then shared this sign of the highway to His heavenly dwelling with Thomas. “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40:3). Isaiah said the highway was for the LORD [YHWH] and God, a convincing argument that Jesus is the LORD. That’s why Thomas called Jesus My Lord and my God (John 20:28) when he believed in the resurrection.
How long was Jesus’ ministry? From February 27, A.D. 31 to May 14, A.D. 33 was two years, two months, two weeks, and two days. From Jesus’ return to John, from fasting until His ascension into heaven—a witness to the length of His public ministry.