Introduction
FORTY MOUNTAIN PEAKS
Bakht Singh
BOOK-ROOM, HEBRON
INTRODUCTION
IF YOU WANT TO SEE the glory of the mountains, you will have to go from range to range, and from peak to peak. By merely looking at one peak from one side, no one can see its real beauty. Even on a small mountain much climbing and circling is necessary to see its full beauty.
The salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ can be compared to a high mountain range, with peaks higher than the highest mountain peaks in India or anywhere else in the world.
As we study the Word of God we see how the Lord has used mountains throughout the Scriptures to reveal Himself to men. God brought Abraham to the top of Mount Moriah to test his faith. Moses was taken to the mountain top to give him the pattern of the tabernacle. Elijah was taken to the mountain top to help him to hear the still small voice of God. Our Lord Himself was transfigured on the mountain before His disciples, so that they might see His full glory.
In Deut. 32:7-14; and Isa. 58:14 we have promises of God in His Word to take us high above the earth; to a place where we can enjoy all His goodness, which He has for us. All the best things are found on the mountain tops. The best trees and fruits, and even the best coffee and tea, are grown on high mountain tops. Such will not grow on the plain. Every time you drink coffee or tea think of the high mountains and thank the Lord for them. Because of the mountains, rivers flow constantly, for because of the melting of the snow there is water in the rivers. If there are no mountains, there will be no rivers, and the earth will be barren. Mountains speak of the abundance of God which He offers freely to mankind.
If there are mountains the clouds are sent back. They travel long distances from the peak of the mountain and do not stop on the way. The mountains send them back again, and we get rain and the fields are watered by that rain from the mountains.
The best honey like Kashmir honey, is obtained from high rocks. Oil from the flinty rocks is the best. The oil spoken of here is not petrol, but the oil needed for cooking and the passage is a tribute to the fertility of even the mountains of the promised land. In the same way the best sheep are found on high mountains (v. 14). The best calves are found on the high mountains of Switzerland. and the best milk and butter are from Switzerland, because there is good pasture on the high mountain ranges, and the best bulls and cows are kept there. AH these things speak of how the Lord is offering in abundance all the best things for His children.
Though we are so unworthy of His love, yet it is only that love which makes us worthy. Because we are His purchased possession. He is showering upon us His good things. God does not regard the sun, moon and the stars as His purchased possession (cf. Exod. 15:16; Eph. 1:14) though they belong to Him. Whatever we see on this earth will pass away. The stars which we see arc only for a short while and will disappear. The whole earth is His, but He does not speak of it as His portion, but you and I are His portion, for the Lord says: 'You are my portion, my purchased possession.' Not even the angels does He call by that name. This is a mystery indeed! We are unworthy people and before Him we are like filthy rags, but have become righteous because of His righteousness.
Now Jacob (v. 9) means deceiver. We are all like Jacob, deceivers, yet the Lord has made us His portion as He made Jacob His portion (Eph. 1:14).
"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness" (v. 10). That was our condition, absolutely worthless and useless. If you go to a desert you will see only dry bushes fit to be burnt. Those who fly over Australia, will see that the central parts of it are nothing but sand. For miles and miles there is no sign of vegetation or buildings—just a "howling wilderness." This was our condition!—nobody to love us or care for us. There are people who are like that. Recently I heard of a young girl who committed suicide by dropping herself into a well. She wrote a note before doing so. She came from a wealthy family, bat she wrote that nobody loved her or cared for her, and that her family did not want her. We were like that, but God loved us! He leads us, instructs us, helps us and protects us as the apple of His eye. He wants us to become His inheritance, and when we put ourselves in His hands He leads us step by step. For a believer every trial is a training for higher education. Sickness and poverty are not punishments. They are training for higher education. "He kept him as an apple of His eye". The eye-lids are made to protect the eye. The head is not protected; nor the ears, and even though there is hair in the nose it is not protected; the mosquitoes can get in sometimes. But not into the eye, because it blinks when danger approaches. That is God's provision to protect the eyes from even the least particle of dust. God's Word says, that just as eye-lids protect the eyeball! from danger our Lord has promised to protect us. He is a living God. He says that whosoever touches us touches the apple of His eye, and once we are His purchased possession, purchased by His precious blood. He will protect us as the apple of His eye.
As the eagle cares for her young ones, so the Lord alone did lead His people (vs. 11-12). The eagle finds the highest place to lay her young ones. Among the birds the eagle is the only bird that builds its nest on a rocky peak. Sparrows and other birds lay their eggs in nests in trees or houses. But the eagle goes on wandering till it finds the highest place. Why is this? Because it wants its young ones to learn to fly high. While the birds are still young the mother-bird gives the nest a good shake and the birds fall out. They start crying as if to say to their mother: "Mother, don't be so cruel to us! have mercy upon us!" But the mother-eagle will not hear. Alter a few shakes, when she finds the young ones lying on the ground, she spreads her wings and takes them up higher and again drops them. She does this again and again, and that is how the young birds learn to fly very high and their wings become very strong. They can also fly long distances, but to learn to do this the birds have to go through hard tests.
The Lord is saying to us: "I want you to come with me to high places, and therefore I must shake your nest. You have to go through earthly trials to be able to fly very high". If you have become a child of God then be prepared for the shaking of God. If you want to fly high, you must have strong wings. Then you will enjoy the beauty of the high mountain peaks of salvation. Isaiah 58:14 "I will cause thee to ride upon high places of the earth."
From the mountain peaks we can see things afar off. That is how we discover many truths. In God's Word we see a great many of God's servants in high places. Or! Mount Moriah. Abraham passed his last test of faith. God" appeared to him ten times, and in the last test he came out victoriously as a man of faith, which made him righteous before God. It was there he understood the full meaning of resurrection, and believed it even though it meant slaying Isaac, tor he knew God was able to raise him up (Heb. 11:19). There he saw a lamb caught in a thicket, and God thus assured him: "Just as the ram is caught in the thicket so am 1 bound to you". We have to be carried to (he high places of the mountains to know fully the purpose which God has for us.
In the same way. the Lord took Moses to a high mountain and gave him the law, the pattern and plan of the Tabernacle. Exod. 24: 1, 12, 18. If you want God's purpose or heavenly plan to be fully revealed for your own life and for full salvation, you, too, must be carried to a high mountain spiritually.
It was the same in 1 Kings 19:11, 12. Elijah was God's prophet. He prayed and fire came down and burned up the offering on the altar. But the same prophet was discouraged and down-hearted in chapter 19 because he failed to understand the ways of God. God's ways are not our ways. The scripture says so in Isaiah 55:8, and when we cannot understand God's ways we are downcast. Without God we remain limited human beings, and cannot understand all things. That is why many of us feel discouraged, dejected, and lonely sometimes. Like Elijah, we feel downcast because all around us things are happening contrary to, and beyond our understanding and apprehension. We find our burden too heavy, our sorrows unbearable, and our problems very complicated. It is at that time we need to go to the mountain top. God purposely took Elijah to a high mountain, far away from other surroundings, and there he heard the still small voice of God. He could see clearly what was going to happen in the immediate future. That mountain-top experience took away all depression and burden from his heart. When you too, are discouraged, depressed and dejected, the best thing to do is to go to some spiritual mountain, climbing very high, and there you will be able to see God's plan for you, and the work given to you to do.
In the same way in Matt. 17:1 Peter, James and John were brought up into a high mountain. Now in Matt. 16: 21-23 the Lord Jesus told His disciples in a very plain way that the time had come when He must suffer and be mocked, scourged, spat upon and killed and they could not understand it at all. They said to themselves, "Why should our Lord, with so much authority and power, suffer like (his'". With human zeal Peter rebuked the Lord Jesus in Matt. 16:22. "Be it far from Thee, Lord", he said, "this shall not be unto Thee". Peter was saying these words with great respect and love, but he did not know that he was being used as the enemy's tool. Peter was carried away with human zeal. He thought he was showing his love by seeking to prevent the Lord Jesus from being crucified. But he did not realize that he was being used by the devil.
The Lord had to say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." It is possible for us to be like that sometimes in our human zeal, when we interfere in the work of God. For example, in Acts 21. when Paul was on the way to Jerusalem, Agabus prophesied (verses 10-14) that Paul would be bound. When his companions heard these words they began to weep and say that they would not allow him to go to Jerusalem, but Paul knew God's will and said, "What mean you by these words? Do you want to break my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die for the Lord Jesus" Then they said. '"The Lord's will be done". They thought that being the friends of Paul, and to show their love and respect for him. they could keep him back from going to Jerusalem. Without knowing, they were interfering with God's plan, because they did not know whether the Lord had told Paul the Apostle to go to Jerusalem. Many parents, friends and others prevent their loved ones from doing God's will in this way. They are carried away by their own zeal and human affection and do not allow their children or loved ones to obey God.
We are told that six days after Jesus had spoken to His disciples, He took Peter, James and John to a high mountain. The Lord knew they could not understand these things down below, so they had to be carried to the high mountain, and there (he Lord was transfigured before them They saw Moses and Elijah and these said thc same thing again, that Jesus must suffer (Luke 9:31),
It is on the high mountain that we see our great salvation revealed fully and for that reason the prophet Isaiah says, in chanter 58:14, "I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth". You will have to go to the mountain peak to discover what that means!
If people want to see the glory of the Himalaya mountains, they cannot see that glory from one small point on the plain. They must be able to go from peak to peak to see something of the grandeur of the mountains. and this would take many centuries! Then how can we climb the spiritual mountain peaks by ourselves? For this reason God has given us His Word, and by the help of the Holy Spirit we are lifted up from earthly plains, to spiritual high places. Wc need to spend more time in worship, in quiet time and in prayer to be lifted above the earth and earthly surroundings, where our mind is filled with earthly things. What we hear around distracts us, and wc arc not able to understand or concentrate, because our thoughts are wandering. Singing and worship help to lift us up to the high mountains spiritually.
Isaiah, the prophet gives us details of the birth, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Isaiah is a description of salvation at different angles. We need to go from peak to peak as we read the Word of God. As we read chapters 24 to 66 of Isaiah. i.e. 40 chapters, we have a description of the great mountain peaks of salvation and if we arc made to jump from mountain peak to mountain peak or from one chapter to another in these 40 chapters, then we are made to rise upon high places and see what a great and glorious salvation we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.