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Jack And The Beanstalk

By

Mary Jane Sears

The story of Jack and the beanstalk tells about a young boy who is living with his mother in poverty. It seems that Jack's father had died several years before and that his wealth had been stolen by a giant. Jack and his mother became so poor that they had to sell their last possession, a white cow, in order to get money to live. Jack met a man who gave him five beans for the white cow. The beans were in the man's hat. His mother threw the beans out the window believing that Jack had been "deceived." The next morning the entire house was shaded in the shadow of a huge beanstalk.

Jack couldn't see the top of the beanstalk. It went high above the clouds and beyond. Jack climbed and climbed, up and up the winding beanstalk. He saw rocks , trees, hills and all kinds of birds in his journey. Some were very frightening. He eventually came to land and saw a castle stretched far away out on a cliff. Jack was very weary. He knocked on the door of the castle and a large woman opened the door. Jack asked for something to eat and drink. The woman said, you can't come in here because my husband is a giant and he eats people. He will be coming home soon. Jack was so hungry that he convinced the woman to let him come into the castle to eat something.

Then they heard the giant outside the door. He was thundering and roaring and saying, I smell the blood of an Englishman; Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. The woman quickly hid Jack in the oven before the giant came into the castle. She told the giant he was smelling the food she had prepared for him. She fixed his food and brought him two sacks containing gold coins. After counting the coins, the giant fell asleep. Jack popped out from the oven and quickly gathered the sacks of gold onto his shoulder and began the climb down the beanstalk. He and his mother were now able to live very well on the gold that Jack had taken back from the giant. They began a plan to grow a beautiful garden. Soon all their hard work could be seen by all.

In the course of time, Jack decided to climb the beanstalk again. Arriving at the castle, the woman didn't recognize Jack because his appearance had changed. At his request, she gave him some food. Jack quickly hid in the oven when he heard the roar of the giant. The great hairy giant came in and once again he said, I smell the blood of an Englishman; Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. You smell nothing of the sort, said the woman. It's only the smell of your supper in the dungeon. After supper, the giant called for his hen that laid golden eggs. The giant commanded the hen to lay golden eggs and she laid three little eggs, one after the other. Soon he was snoring loud enough to shake the castle. Jack popped out of the oven and grabbed the hen and the golden eggs and quickly climbed down the beanstalk. The hen became quite content in the garden.

Soon Jack decided to go up the beanstalk again. This time he secretly sneaked into the castle and hid in a copper pot. His prior experience taught him how to overcome in these situations. The giant came home and bellowed from his throat energy center, I smell the blood of an Englishman; Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. His wife said, if it's that youth that took your gold and hen, he'll be hiding in the oven. But Jack was not in the oven when she looked. The giant finished his supper and said to the woman, fetch me my harp. The harp was gold and gleaming with strings of silver and it sang. Soon the harp sang a lullaby and the giant was fast asleep. Jack grabbed the harp and started for the door, but the harp wasn't having any of that and began to shout loudly; Master, Master. The giant woke up and saw Jack by the door.

Jack was out the door in a flash racing down the road and began climbing down the beanstalk with the harp in his hand, as fast as he could go. The giant was roaring, the harp was shouting and Jack was breathing heavy. Soon the beanstalk began to shake and Jack looked up to see the giant hot on his trail. The harp was still shouting, Master, Master. At long last Jack landed safely in the garden. He took hold of his father's axe and laid it to the root of the treelike beanstalk. The giant looked and roared as he saw Jack chopping through the beanstalk. The more the giant grabbed at the beanstalk, the more it came away in his hand. He became entangled in the beanstalk and crashed down into the garden and lay dead as a doornail. Jack and his mother were safe and they had the wealth of Jack's father restored to them. It took a long time for restoration, but it was worth it in the end.

Spiritual Principles

Jesus told many parables or picture stories to the disciples so that they could better understand what He wanted them to know and learn by experience. He taught them through these stories a way to remember His warnings and explanations. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk gives us a vivid analogy of how the serpent stole the substance of our "Heavenly Father's wealth." Jack had to be told he was in poverty because the giant stole his father's wealth. We have to be told that we're in spiritual poverty because the serpent stole our Heavenly Father's spiritual substance that was to conform us to His image; our inheritance. We are dying on the vine down here in the land that Jesus calls the valley of the shadow of death. There is not enough spiritual food to sustain us here. I see the man that Jack met up with as the Lord. The five seeds were in "His hat" which speaks of the anointing upon "His" head. During his lifetime, Jack's father may have prayed for his family causing a family line blessing to result that fell upon Jack and his mother. The five beans that grew up into a beanstalk overnight was a quick work that the Lord did out of His mercy. God does intervene in the most unusual ways. His ways, of course, not being our ways or thoughts, are sometimes hard to recognize. We don't see the problems nor the solutions to those problems the way the Lord does. You see, Jesus has made a way of restoration for us that we don't quite understand yet. It requires that we're willing to make the commitment and endure the strenuous climb it takes to get back what was stolen from us.

The cow reminded me that scripture calls Cain the spiritual dumb ox, within us, that has to be sacrificed. Psalms call us the Lord's cattle that He owns and desires to provide for. Jack and the five beans could be compared to David in the scripture and the five stones used by him to bring down Goliath, his "giant." When Jesus told the disciples that He was taking them to the other side, He was also telling them He was taking them into a land where they would encounter a "giant." This was not something they would be able to handle all at once. It would require training and discipline to be strong enough to undertake this new journey to a place where they had never gone before. It would be done in stages taking several trips, just as Jack had to take several trips up the beanstalk. As David was equipped with stones, and Jack was equipped with seed to grow a beanstalk, our God equips us with the necessary skill, ability and knowledge to kill our "giant" if we trust in Him to perform that which He has worked into us. It is truly "His ability" and our "availability."

The bible speaks about Jacob's ladder and the ascending and descending of angels. Angel is another word for spirit. We are spirit beings trapped in a physical form.

Jesus always spoke about coming up higher. He is inviting us to ascend to where He is. However there are two vines in the world today. Jesus said He was the true vine. That means there's a false vine, too. Many in the world are trying to ascend in that false spiritual vine. Jesus said, you are a thief if you don't enter in via Him, who is the "true vine." Spiritual ascension is sought by many in the world today. They desire to be free from physical and spiritual poverty, as well as all the other plagues that we have to endure in this land, which is our physical body. The natural land is just an extension of our physical earth. We are dust and we need to shake off the dust and ascend in Christ. Which vine we ascend in is very important to our Heavenly Father. There is a counterfeit vine and ascension in the god of this world. People in the occult world know all about this and try to lure us into it.

The garden that was cultivated after Jack's first successful climb speaks to me about us. We are God's garden, the planting of the Lord. Grass, flowers and trees are symbolic of spiritual growth. Grass is new spiritual life and flowers speak of the Holy Spirit that buds before the fruit is produced from the mature tree of life. The mature tree of life speaks of the mind of Christ matured in us that our Heavenly Father desires to come forth. We're to sprout leaves that will be spiritual food and healing for the nations as the book of Revelation tells us. You have to be an overcoming son to get your inheritance as Jack showed us in this story. Climbing 30 feet or 60 feet is not good enough. We have to go all the way.

The gold coins, the golden hen that laid golden eggs and the gold harp that sang are all symbolic of God. Gold symbolizes the nature of God. We are suppose to be in our Heavenly Father's image or nature. In Genesis, God said, let us make man in our image. Before that was completed, the substance of the Living God, the gold, if you will, was stolen. We have to get it back. To do so requires the climbing process of spiritual ascension. It's not easy. There are obstacles and the fear of heights and the fear of the unknown is overwhelming. But is it better to just sit here and die as the men in scripture pondered. The Lord says that fear is sin. Again and again, He says fear not, for I am with you to make a way for you.

Facing the giants in our lives takes a lot of guts. In our own strength, we're not equipped to do that. But Jesus says that He will strengthen us, fortify us and tell us the secret way of ascending the mountain or the "beanstalk." He knows we have never been this way before and He desires to lead us. We have to be willing to follow Him wheresoever He takes us. Don't you think Jack was afraid as he climbed that beanstalk? Jack trained to reign over his fear of the giant and he was determined to run the race and endure to the end. He was in a race that would determine if he would live or die. He chose to live. Jesus tells us to choose life, which is only found in Him. Jack grew and became stronger before he decided to face the giant again. This time he was aware of how fearsome and powerful the giant really was. But more gold was needed, so up he went. We need more and more "spiritual gold" if we desire to grow and mature in Christ.

We can't see the tops of the mountains as we ascend. Along the way there are many obstacles, threats, vultures and other enemies. We must try again and again. We have to do it afraid. Eventually we will overcome as we continue on in this spiritual journey, step by step. We can't give up. Jesus told us to keep on knocking until you receive what you need. He is the door that we knock on to receive power every step of the way. He'll take us up where angels fear to tread. Indeed, if He's not with us, we shouldn't go.

On Jack's second trip, he succeeded in getting the hen that laid the golden eggs. This was an ongoing supply of gold that could reproduce itself for a season. When we are first reconciled to God, many of our needs begin to be met. Then when we come into the second blessing of God and receive the Holy Spirit, there is an even better supply of spiritual strength and blessing. But there's more to be obtained in God. He wants us to have it all. To do this, we have to kill the giant. For us, the giant is our own carnal mind. It steals all the thoughts that God has towards us continuously. It is our enemy and the enemy of God. This giant is the offspring of the god of this world and it desires to kill us. It wants to devour us and drink our spiritual blood, which is the life of God hidden within us. This giant is ravenous and its appetite is insatiable. It needs to consume us in order to obtain the energy needed for the giant's survival. Scripture says we are consumed all the day long.

Don't let anyone in the serpent's household discourage you. Hunger and thirst for righteousness just as you hunger for natural food and drink in your physical body. Jack was so hungry that the giant's wife couldn't discourage him. Once aware of what his inheritance was, Jack was going to get what belonged to him or die trying. Don't listen to ungodly counsel or the fears of men. If God be for you, who can come against you? Fear not! It will keep you from entering the kingdom of God.

The smelling power of the giant is symbolic of discerning the presence or the anointing of someone in God. The "giant' fears someone who has the power of God working in them. He will roar like a lion seeking to devour and consume him. The giant is a task master and drives all those who submit to him and causes them to do his bidding. He uses and abuses them as slaves just as the big woman in the giant's household was used and abused by him in our story. You must stand up against this "giant" in your land. Yes, the "giant" does live right inside our land, hidden in the dark recesses of our very own minds. If we don't control him, he most certainly will control us. The truth is hidden and hard to bear, Jesus told us.

The harp is a very interesting part of this story, as well. Never knowing anything but the captivity of the giant, the harp didn't want to be set free. This type of ownership kept her blind to what freedom truly means and she felt secure in her chains of bondage. The harp had silver strings. Silver is symbolic of salvation. But she didn't want anyone touching her strings to bring her salvation. She had an ungodly soul tie with the giant. When Jack was escaping with her, she shouted after the giant, calling him, Master. This makes me think of how our own personality, which has an aspect of God hidden away in it, is totally unaware that this life is not freedom according to God's definition of freedom. We are very content to remain in our prison dungeons, these physical bodies and minds, so long as we have our basic physical needs met. Jesus wants to set us free, but we cling to the "giant" within our household. But then, that's another whole story.

The voice of the harp also makes me think of the throat center. That's a place of ascension in Christ where we are used to speak the words right out of the mind of Christ. Before we can do that, we have to be set free. Jesus gloriously paid that priceless debt to set us free, but we have to apprehend it for ourselves. Few are willing to let the strings of their heart be played by the Lord. He would teach us a new song if we were willing to let go of our ties to our "giant." God is doing a new thing. We have to be ready to sing a new song or be left behind with the "giant." God makes everything beautiful in His time. We just have to co-operate.

It's interesting to see the sowing and reaping judgment that came down on the giant. He wanted to kill Jack, but the beanstalk became a net that ensnared him and he was killed instead of Jack. It would be a fitting end to the story of any one of us if the "giant" in our land were killed and we were set free by the Lord Jesus Christ. For now we must be content to chop away at the root until the stump is removed along with the giant. We are suppose to be consumed by Christ, not the "giant." Jesus said, we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and we are to be ground into bread for the nations. We must wait upon the Lord for this finished salvation where we will be the ones overlaid in gold, meaning that we are in the nature of God. You have to believe to achieve. Jack believed that he could achieve his goal and he went after it. According to your belief, be it done unto you. It is very acceptable to be a giant in Christ, which is defined as a person with extraordinary powers and strength, having the mind of Christ. I pray that you all may go in the strength of the Lord and slay that evil "giant" in your land to become a loving and gentle giant in Christ. Mary Jane Sears

Word Picture: "GI - ANT" G.I. wars against the enemy ANT