Come Up On the Mountain
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Pastor James May
Why do people love to go up on the mountains? For most of us it is the experience of feeling on top of the world. It is as though you can look down on the world far below and for just a moment, catch a glimpse of how God must view mankind as he goes about his life on the earth.
I’ve been on the mountaintop and looked down upon the city, and I’ve gazed downward, I am struck with the thought – “How small man appears, and how great is God’s creation! From the vantage point of being above it all; it seems that the problems we face from day to day are nothing in comparison to the big picture and panorama of life that is before us. Yet God, in his mercy and love, looks down upon man and is personally involved in every life. It is at that point that I am awestruck with the majesty of God and the love of God when I realize that he not only lives in the heavenly realms, but he also lives in the very heart of each of us.
Going to the mountain somehow just seems to bring us a little closer to God so that we can begin to see things from his vantage point. How much greater can faith be when we are looking though the eyes of God rather than the earthbound eyes of man? How much greater can God be in us if we begin to realize how big our God is, instead of thinking of him only as a figure upon a cross or as a single man, among the sea of humanity? Our God is a great big, wonderful God and His glory, majesty and power are beyond compare! We just have to get a greater vision of who he is and how much he cares about his most beloved creation called man.
Hebrews chapter 12 describes our God as a Consuming Fire and then invites us to come up on the mountain to know him in a greater fashion. Oh if we could just see Jesus in all of his glory! If we could only look into those eyes of mercy! If we could just reach out and touch his nail-scarred hand as he reaches out to us! If only we could just catch a glimpse into the wonders of Heaven and the power and majesty of God’s great throne.
Proverbs 29:18 says that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” I believe the vision that God is trying to give us is a greater vision of who God truly is. Mankind denies God, walks away from him, loses faith in him, refuses to serve him, only because they’ve never truly seen him. Their vision of God is one of either a weak, frail man dying on a cross for crimes he never committed; or as a God who is unapproachable, beyond understanding, uncaring and uninvolved in the daily lives of people. It either that; or they simply have no vision of God at all for they have never seen him in any way.
Satan’s greatest tool is his power to deceive. If he can only get mankind to doubt, to question and to deny that God cares, then the battle is won. A man who has no vision of a loving, caring and compassionate God, will have no desire at all to seek to know him, and that’s the vision that most of the world has. They’ve never been on the mountaintop with God and never experienced the moving of the Holy Ghost in their hearts as he taught them about Jesus.
Spiritual blindness is the most terrible “disease” that mankind suffers from today. It is a blindness to the very existence of a loving God who cares. It is a way of life that drives men to believe that they are alone in the universe with no one to turn to but themselves to solve their problems.
God has ever tried to reach out to mankind. From the dawn of Creation he has tried to help us have a clear vision of his holiness, his majesty and his power. He walked and talked with Adam in the cool of the garden, he reached out to a world that was destined to die in the days of Noah; he reached out through all of the prophets of the Old Testament; he even tried to establish a dwelling place among men in the Tabernacle of Moses, so that man could get a vision of who God really is.
But all men could see in those days, for the most part, was a God that seemed bent on destroying and judging them for sin; and not as a God who would make a way for them to be saved from eternal destruction. Only a few saw the true vision and embraced the Love of God, while the rest of mankind trembled in fear and rejected him.
In the Book of Hebrews Chapter 12, we are given an invitation to come up to the mountain of God and to get a true vision of who God is and what he desires to do for us. Let’s check out this chapter for a few minutes and see if we can improve on that vision.
First of all, we are not told to go up upon any mountain upon this earth. Even though God would often appear on the mountaintop, especially Mt. Sinai, and commune with Moses there; the majority of the Children of Israel never had a personal vision of God like Moses did.
The reason was that they were never invited to come up on the mountain with Moses to catch the vision of God for themselves. God had chosen only one man to whom he would share the vision. Moses was chosen to receive the vision of God and then to pass that vision along to a people who were nothing but doubters and complainers. Though God performed miracle after miracle for the Children of Israel, they never had a true vision because they couldn’t climb the mountain.
Hebrews 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Hebrews 12:19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Hebrews 12:20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Hebrews 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake)
That’s the vision that Israel had of God; a God that seemed unapproachable; above allowing men to come near to them; because sin was in the way. Their vision of God was limited by what the obedience to the Law could allow and since the Law could not save; what they saw pertained mostly to the judgment and power of God to destroy those who lived in obedience
There was the Consuming Fire of God that would not only consume the very rocks of the mountain, or any beast of people that would wander into God’s buffer zone; but any man that came close was also destined to die either from the fire of God directly, or from the punishment meted out to those who disobeyed God’s Law. Only one man was chosen to be the Mediator and that was Moses. No other man on earth had the vision that Moses had, for God would not allow sin to approach him.
The world’s vision of God in that day was based upon the booming voice of God that sounded like the wailing of many trumpets; a sound that would strike fear and dread into the hearts of sinful men. It was based on the smoke, fire and darkness of the cloud that sat upon the mountain symbolizing God’s power and that fact that he hid his face from men lest they should all be instantly destroyed. Their vision of God was such that even when God tried to speak to them; they would beg Moses to tell God to stop. They simply could not endure his power; and they couldn’t understand God’s mercy and grace; and had no assurance in their hearts of being treated as a son or daughter of God. They felt more like subjects of God than children of God.
The bottom line is that under the Law the vision of God that the world had; and the only one they could have; was a vision of God’s terrible power and awesome ability to destroy those who rebelled against him. Their vision of God caused them to tremble in fear and cower in shame. God just seemed so far away that they could never touch him; and that was the truth because sin remained as the separating barrier between God and man. The Law could not remove that barrier.
But that was the vision of the Old Testament, and like Proverbs said, “Without a vision the people perished.” The sense that I get of what this verse is truly saying is that “Without a proper vision; or a right vision of who and what God is, it is easy for people to just give up, feeling its impossible to serve such a God, and thus they perish through doubt and unbelief.”
But we do not live under that Law any longer. Now we live under a new covenant of Grace, the way having been made to approach God, in a fashion far greater than even Moses could have imagined, through the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross that has paid for the sin of man.
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Though faith in Christ we can get a vision of God that no one could have dreamed of in the Old Testament. Through faith the way is open to the very presence of God, right into the very Throne Room of God, which is far greater than going into the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle of Moses. We don’t approach God through the Mercy Seat upon the Ark of the Covenant with the blood of a lamb; but we approach the God of Mercy through the blood of Jesus.
We are invited in the realm of the spirit to go up to Mt. Sion, not Mt. Sinai, but unto the mountain where Heaven exists as the very City of the Living God, right into that spiritual Jerusalem, and into the very presence of the Host of God’s holy angels.
Where once there was lightning, thunder, fire and trumpets; now there is praise, worship and glorifying God because one of God’s children has come home. Where once there was a warning to not touch God’s mountain for fear of death; now there is an open invitation to come right up on the mountain and commune with God one on one. What a glorious difference!
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Another part of the vision that God wants us to have is the fact that we no longer must approach God as sinful men, begging for mercy. He has already extended his mercy and now we can approach God as his own dear children; having been made perfect in his sight by the blood of Jesus Christ; and now, even though God is the Judge of all; He has judged us as holy and righteous in his sight. Our spirit is that of a just man, made perfect, entering into the presence of God and being accepted as joint heirs; equal in holiness and righteousness to that of Jesus Christ our Savior.
Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
The greater vision that we can have comes through Christ; for no longer is Moses our Mediator; but now Jesus is the Mediator and he has obtained a new covenant in his own blood; and his blood was perfect blood. Though many men died, and many animals were slain, from Abel to Christ; none could make the way but Jesus. We can have a vision of a loving, perfect, merciful God because of Christ and Christ alone.
Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Hebrews 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
The Church today is warned to not accept the call of God to come up to Mt. Sion and receive the vision of God that we need to be victorious in these last days
.
So many in the church don’t take advantage of getting alone with God; of going up to Mt. Sion in prayer; and because of this their vision is not much better than that of the Old Testament tribes of Israel.
If we don’t see God for who he is and what he has done for us under the New Covenant in Christ’s blood; then we are relegating ourselves to the same vision of the Old Testament where God will not only shake Mt. Sion by his awesome power, but will shake the whole of Creation.
There’s a shaking coming soon; and in fact, it may have already begun. This Church Age is coming to a close and it won’t be long until the final days of God’s dealing with sinful men comes to a terrible showdown and the grip of sin on God’s creation is forever broken. We had better have a proper vision of God as that day approaches; for without a vision of God that gives you the hope of salvation, then we will surely perish.
Hebrews 12:27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
God wants his people to have a vision of what the future holds, not only for those who are his children, but for those who reject him as well.
God is going to shake this world again, and that shaking is going to destroy everything can be shaken. All of creation, every mountain, valley and sea will be destroyed. The stars in the heavens will cease to exist. The sun and the moon will be no more. The earth will be consumed in the fire of God’s judgment. Only that which cannot be shaken; those things that are eternal, will not be shaken.
If the fire and trumpets of Mt. Sion struck fear and trembling into the hearts of the Children of Israel; how much more than the consuming fire of God and the wrath of God; in the Trumpet Judgments of the last days strike fear into the hearts of unbelievers around the world!
Now, here is the vision that God wants his people to have.
It is a vision of something far greater than anything this world has to offer. It is a vision of a God that loves his people; and who will come down and fight for them; of a God of Mercy whose hands are extended by his Grace to any man who will take hold of that hand of God and walk with him in faith.
It is a vision of eternal joy and peace in a beautiful home called Heaven.
It is a vision of a promise that cannot be broken for it is sealed by the blood of Jesus.
It is a vision of a God that is not only approachable and caring; but a God that so loves his people that has thrown open the doors of Heaven and given us a personal invitation to walk in any time we want and go boldly to his Throne of Grace to find what we need.
It is a vision of a God that will not fail to fulfill his promises of salvation and deliverance to all who will belief, have faith and trust in him.
Hebrews 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
There’s the description of a vision that we must all have; one that will give eternal life; and not allow us to perish.
Our vision is of a kingdom in heaven that is waiting for us and that kingdom will never be shaken.
Our vision is of a God who extends grace that enables us to serve God acceptably even though we may not be perfect in the body, because we know we are made perfect in the spirit.
It is a vision that allows us to be identified as an equal heir with Christ, God’s only begotten Son, because we have been adopted into God’s own family.
For that we have great reverence and respect God’s awesome Love and Grace.
At the same time, we also must never forget that our God is still a consuming fire lest we should allow ourselves to slip back into sin for we know that all sin must be judged, either through the blood of Jesus; or through the wrath of God’s judgments.
The proper vision that we need to be victorious can only be attained as we go up to that spiritual Mt. Sion and get the proper vision of God.
The vision that we must have is that God is both a loving, compassionate, forgiving, graceful and merciful God that cares very deeply for his people; and yet he is also a God of holiness, righteousness and judgment that must judge sin and disobedience.
When we have that proper vision; that view of God that is in perfect balance between love and grace; between Law and mercy; where obedience and faith replace doubt and fear, then we can know that we have the right vision.
Without a vision; the people perish….make sure you have the right vision.
Come on up on the Mountain with God and learn of him. Get as close to God as you can. The only limiting factor in the greatness of your vision is your own determination to go ever higher on the mountain with God.
