Ten Mountains in The Bible & What Happened There!

By saying this, as I began this message this morning about ten mountains in the

Bible and what happened there. There's many mountains, we're going to see this, but I was also thinking about, as it's already been mentioned, about pride.

And that is probably the worst sin within all of us, pride.

Scripture talks about pride, and did you know it refers to pride as a mountain? It does.

The mountain of pride. God's Word says this in Isaiah 40, and for all of us to receive this message this morning,

John the Baptist fulfilled this verse. And he said in verse 3 of chapter 40, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our

God. Notice what he says here, every valley shall be exalted.

So the valleys will be exalted. That's the valley of humility. Where is the mountain of pride?

And every mountain and hill brought low.

The crooked places shall be made straight, the rough places smooth, and the glory of the

Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. I couldn't help but think about that, because in order for us to really receive this message, we must humble ourselves before God.

Why? Because God resists the proud, but He gives grace, more grace to the humble.

And may we all today, as we come to worship our Lord this morning, this Lord's Day morning, show us how that we should humble ourselves before God, that thinking that we don't think,

Paul says, take heed, lest you think you stand, you will fall. If we think well of ourselves, we're in big trouble.

Because really, we're nothing. Jesus said, without Him, we're nothing. So if you think you're something when you're nothing, you're really nothing.

Well, let's look at ten mountains in the Bible and what happened there. Now we're going to talk about the physical mountains, this

Lord's Day morning, and ten significant mountains, and there's many more in Scripture, and uncover the powerful events that unfolded there at these mountains.

Let's pray. Bow with me in prayer as we open these selected Scriptures in the

Bible, and may the Holy Spirit help us this morning, because He's the true

Teacher, our Father in Heaven. We bow in your presence, and Lord, we thank you.

We thank you, Father, for the songs of Zion, we're singing unto you, and Lord, may our worship and obedience be acceptable to you as it's already been prayed.

And Father, we are humbled by the majesty of your creation that points to yourself and your greatness.

The mountains remind us of your great power and strength and majesty. And Father, as your

Word says in Psalm 121, 1 and 2, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains from where shall my help come?

My help comes from Yahweh, the Lord who made heaven and earth. So Lord, I pray, we thank you this morning that you are our refuge and our strength of very present health in time of trouble.

And you said in your Word, even though, in your Word, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, and though the waters roar and be troubled, and even the mountains shake in its swelling scela, there is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the

Most High. Our prayer this morning, Lord, is speak, speak, Lord, for your servant hears, and we ask this for your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.

On a recent trip about a year ago to California, actually it was for an

RBMNet conference, RBMNet Reformed Baptist, of course, obviously,

Brother Ben and Brother Keith and myself went there to hear many missionary speakers and other speakers and pastors, and it was really a wonderful time of fellowship as we heard the

Word of God, and the fellowship was just wonderful, wonderful. But I was struck as we were there in California, I think it was close to the southern part, am

I correct about that? I was struck with seeing and observing the great majestic mountains that surrounded us, where this church was located.

Mountains are majestic, and it brings you to awe, how

God created these mountains, the hills, it speaks of as hills as well, but mountains, the heights of them, some of them are very high,

Everest is, I think, close to 30 ,000 feet around there somewhere.

You have some mountaineers and climbers that love to climb to the top of them, right?

Very cold at those peaks. Two scriptures came to mind as I was looking at these mountains in California, been to Colorado Springs, Colorado, great pikes peak there, mountains, but the mountains there in California was just so majestic.

And it's like you're in a valley there, and you cannot help but see the surrounding mountains.

And what I prayed this morning is I will lift up my eyes into the hills, the mountains, from whence shall my help come, comes from the

Lord, Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. And the other verse of scripture came to my mind in Psalm 125, 1 and 2, interesting that both of those

Psalms begins with a word about mountains.

And here in Psalm 125, 1 and 2, it says, those who trust in Yahweh are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord, Yahweh, surrounds

His people from this time forth and forever. What a wonderful verse. So many verses about scripture.

Actually, as I was studying this, I said, I want to take my Strong's Concordance and I'm going to look into this. Mountains are mentioned about 570 times in the

Bible. Did you know that? Much of the land where people lived in that part of the world in the

East, terrain, the Bible, there's many valleys and there's many hills and there's majestic mountains, mountains, hills.

In Strong's Concordance and a reference Bible, I found 35 places called mountains and that is not even counting the places that are called hills, 35 significant places.

About one third of the mountains listed in the Bible had at least one or major events that occurred on them.

Now today, we're not going to look at all 35, okay? I promise you that. Maybe another time,

God willing, we have to break it up. But we're going to look at 10 of these major mountains and you may think of others in your mind as we go through this.

That's okay. But I'm going to give you 10 that come to my mind and I give you a brief application as we go and journey and climb these majestic mountains in this message.

Give us this mountain, I believe it says in Joshua. Give us this mountain. So we're not there to worship the mountain itself, the mountains remind us of the majesty of God.

God is the creator of these mountains. He spoke them into existence and he did it for a reason because a bear witness of the attributes of God, that God himself is the maker.

Isn't it wonderful? So let's behold our God with the divine encounters, holy encounters that happen to on these mountains as we look at them from Scripture.

And I have selected Scriptures and I may be out of order to the order you may think. I'm going to try to stay in order from Genesis throughout.

But we're going to look at them briefly. There's so much that could be said to them and, oh by the way, let me give you a footnote here.

Not only the Hebrews and the Jews and the Christians considered mountains very significant as God encountered, as God's presence came upon these mountains.

Did you know the Muslims considered several mountains holy due to the connection to their major prophets?

Yes, the Muslims. Actually the origins of the

Muslim movement is based upon revelations, hajjah, rituals, primarily located in Saudi Arabia.

Several mountains are considered sacred to them because of their prophets and their revelations.

But the major difference, beloved, from them, the Muslims, is that they had revelations and their false prophets and the

Hebrews, the Jews, the Christians, has God Himself speaking.

They don't know the true and living God. They have other rituals.

And it made me think as I was looking at this, I said, isn't it interesting, Satan himself always counterfeits everything significant that God Almighty does.

There's always an angel of light that appears as something real, but it's false.

And that's how the cults begin. Now let's look at these ten major mountains that God associated with divine encounters.

The first one comes to mind is the mountain is Mount Ararat, Ararat, Mount Ararat.

And you know what I'm talking about, the Ark of Noah rested here after the flood.

Now where there's one in Eden, we're not going to go there, but we're just looking at some of the major ones, Ararat.

It is here that God renewed His covenant with Noah, promising never to destroy the earth again by a worldwide flood.

But Genesis 8, 1 says this in the beginning here, but God remembered

Noah. God remembered Noah. God's covenant with Noah brought provision and protection in the midst of severe judgment, a worldwide catastrophic judgment that literally flooded this entire world at one time.

What's important here is to remember here on Mount Ararat is the remnant.

There was a remnant that was spared and preserved, and God was preserving a seed.

This is why the remnant was spared, because that seed, the seed, capital

S -E -E -D, was none other than the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And God initiated steps toward reestablishing the created order on earth, He did that, and the

Noahic covenant was established. We read in Genesis chapter 8, look at verse 20 and 22.

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar, and the

Lord smelled a soothing aroma.

Then the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake.

Although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will

I again destroy every living thing as I have done. And while the earth remains, notice the seasons here, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night shall not cease.

Makes us think about that wonderful hymn, Great is Our Faithfulness. Well, there's a reason why the hymn writer wrote that, because God is faithful here.

He's faithful to His word. He's faithful to His covenant. This was done here as an act of worship.

Noah came to the Almighty Most Holy God in response to God's covenant of faithfulness and sparing him and his family.

That's why he offered up a sacrifice on this mountain. Mercy was given to Noah and his family, because God is faithful.

Application given here is a reminder and a gracious reminder to us that God is merciful and faithful, a place of new beginnings and a covenant renewal.

How does that apply to us? Well, have you ever had a renewal in your life?

Do you need a renewal this morning? Do you need a covenant renewal with the

Lord? God is faithful. His mercies are new every morning. So Noah worshiped

God and we should worship Him as well, for God has spared us from His wrath in Jesus.

Romans 8, 31, 32, what then shall we say to these things? This is the Apostle Paul. What shall we say to these things?

And of course, he's talking about all that was before in Romans chapter 8. But he says, if God is for us, who then can be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall ye not with Him also give us all things?

God did not spare His Son because God is faithful.

How great is the love of God in Jesus Christ. The second mountain we see is the divine encounter, which we looked at that in the

Theophanies that we were looking through in a previous message. And by the way,

I was bringing out the Theophanies and the Christophanies for the fact and for the point that Jesus is the great

I Am. And I know that was a lot for us to chew on, but there's so many

Theophanies and Christophanies throughout the Scriptures that Jesus is the great I Am, and I think that's important.

But here's another important fact, that God met Abraham, Abraham prepared a sacrifice and his sacrifice was his own son,

Genesis 22. This was actually one of the

Theophanies in this chapter, but we're not going to go through all that again. But notice here in verse 4, on the third day

Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Now I'm bringing this out because Abraham here has reached a mature level of faith and he's going to offer up his son

Isaac. Now this is not just any son. In the son Isaac, as you well know, is the seed, the promise of the seed of the

Messiah to come. And here he came and his parents was old, old, ripened age, and it's really a miracle that Isaac was born to elderly people like that.

Elderly parents, can you imagine that? Being like 80, close to 90 years of old and have a baby?

And that's why she laughed. Verse 5, Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey and the land and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back.

That's the faith of Abraham. He knew that God was going to provide, he didn't know exactly how, but he knew that God would provide.

Look at verse 13, then Abraham lifted up his eyes, don't you love this, he lifted up his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Notice again, on these mountaintops, there's a sacrifice, there's a covenant. The Abraham, the

Abrahamic covenant, Noahic covenant, God called, and Abraham called the name of this place, the

Lord will provide as it is said to this day in the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided.

And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, by myself

I've sworn, listen to the Lord, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing

I will bless you and multiply will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and the sand of the seashore.

Your descendants shall possess the gates, the gate of their enemies, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.

And Abraham returned to his young, young man and they rose and went together in Beersheba and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

Notice God met them, there was a sacrifice, God provided the sacrifice and it was worship.

There's faith, there's obedience, but God was there and a covenant was there and it was all in about the seed, the

Messiah. That's why it's important, the place of his son, the idea of substitutionary atonement is introduced here, which would find its fulfillment in the death of the

Lord Jesus Christ when he died on the cross. The Lamb of God, Paul reminds us in 2

Corinthians 5 .21, for he made him who he knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Let us never ever take that verse for granted, he, God the father, made him, God the son, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him so there's no other way to be righteous before God but through Jesus and by faith alone.

This is the heart of the gospel right here in the substitutionary sacrifice and it is said 15 original

Greek words expressing the doctrine of imputation, substitution like no other single verse in the

Bible. This verse explains how wicked sinners can be reconciled to a holy

God through Jesus Christ. Mount Moriah, so it's another mount where God showed up and provided, because God is a covenant keeping

God, about 10, by the way, a thousand years later at this very location King David brought the threshing floor of Anorah, the

Jebusite, and built an altar to the Lord. He worshiped there so that the plague may be stayed, be kept back from the people according to 2

Samuel 24. And after David's death his son King Solomon even built a glorious temple on this same site,

Mount Moriah. So here on Mount Moriah we see the reminded obedience to God's sacrifice and God's great provision that Yahweh has provided.

The third mountain we behold is Mount Sinai. Everybody's so familiar with this, we know what happened at Mount Sinai, right?

Here God gave the Ten Commandments. Go with me to Exodus, Exodus 19,

I just want to read a few verses. This whole chapter deals with this, but I want to begin with verse 16.

Then it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunderings and lightnings and thick cloud on the mountain, on the mountain of Sinai, and the sound of the trumpet was very loud.

It's the same thing that John the Apostle saw on the Isle of Patmos when he turned around.

The sound of a loud trumpet as the sound of many waters was the voice of Jesus. So that all the people who were in the camp, they trembled.

And it goes on to say, and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire.

The smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace of a whole mountain, quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and louder, and it becomes louder and louder,

Moses spoke and God answered him by a voice. And then the Lord came upon Mount Sinai and on the top of the mountain and the

Lord called to Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up and the

Lord said to Moses, go down and warn the people as they break through and gaze at the

Lord. And many of them perish. This is how holy God is. And let the priest who come near the

Lord consecrate themselves as the Lord break out against them. In other words, perish, disintegrate.

That's how holy God is. But Moses said to the Lord, the people cannot come up to the

Mount Sinai for you have warned us saying sit bounds around the mountain and consecrate it. And then the Lord said to him, away, get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you.

But do not let the priest and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest he break out against them.

So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. Just like a mediator, as Brother Keith was talking about today.

Moses was that type, that shadow of Jesus Christ, the mediator. And of course, in Exodus 20, then the law is given,

God's law, holy law. So this is a divine encounter on Mount Sinai, awesome event that we see the mountain is covered with fire and lightning and smoke and the sound of a loud trumpet.

Most holy God. Why? Because God touched the top of that mountain. And who do we think we are?

To strut in his presence. God help us. Verse 16 and 17, we saw it.

Years later, by the way, in First Kings 19, Elijah, the prophet of fire, so to speak, that was called, came and God encounters him and comes to him and we'll see more about this later on in Mount Carmel.

But here on this situation, in a still small voice, we see, and it's also known as Mount Horeb as well.

Again, we see significance here. God's presence is there. A covenant is there.

There's sacrifices made because people could not touch the mountain. God given divine instructions to his people, gives his law.

He tells them they're brought out of Egypt with a strong and right hand, out of the hand of slavery, out of the bondage, the house of bondage.

And by his mercy, he brings them to give his law. Did not

Christ bring us out of the land of Egypt, beloved? Did not he bring us out of the house of slavery and bondage by his strong, mighty hand and his power and his mercy?

Oh, yes, he did. We see this in Colossians. I'm going to just read just a short verse and go to Colossians very quickly.

Colossians 2, buried with him in baptism, which you are also raised with him and through the faith and the working of God, who raised him from the dead, speaking of Christ, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, that was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers.

He made a public spectacle of them, triumphant over them in it.

Praise his name. Christ has won that battle for us because of the death of his cross.

There's another mountain, the fourth, Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel. I briefly mentioned a little bit about Elijah, but once again,

God shows up in a divine encounter when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal.

You know the story. And we beheld God's mighty power revealed in fire.

God is a consuming fire. Have you noticed? That is something very, that's revealed, it's very interesting, it's revealed most of the time on these mountains that God reveals himself by a fire.

Again, again, we see God revealed, consuming fire. Now we see 1

Kings, 1 Kings chapter 18. Let me pick up with verse 36.

You know the story. Before this, all the false prophets of Baal spend all day trying to call on their gods to answer.

It was a challenge. And I love Elijah, how he mocked these false prophets.

Verse 36, and then he says, well in verse 31, Elijah took twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of the

Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name. Verse 32, then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the

Lord and made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seals of seed. Jump to 36.

It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. Now it's in the evening. And can you imagine this?

It's dark, okay? Elijah the prophet comes near. And notice the prayer.

He doesn't say a long prayer, beloved. He says, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are

God and Israel and I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your word.

Hear me, oh Lord, hear me. That this people may know that you are the

Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. Notice verse 38, then the fire of the

Lord fell from heaven actually, consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is

God. Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal.

Do not let one of them escape. So they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kidron and executed them there.

And that's how God thinks about false teachers. And that if that was, if a lot of these false teachers, if our day was in that day, there will be piles of them, mountains of them, speaking of mountains.

But God is merciful and he gives people space to repent. But the hammer will fall one day when

Jesus returns. The application here is significant because we see there's another great mountain top experience in God's sovereign power and majesty of supremacy over the false gods and idols in this world.

And you see this in Psalm 115, 1 through 18. Let me just read just a few.

I don't want to read all of it, but because of time. Chapter 115 and notice what it says.

And this is our heart's desire here at redeeming grace church beloved. It's this whole chapter is about the futility of idols and the trustworthiness of God.

And it begins by saying not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but to your name, give glory because of your mercy and because of your truth.

Why should the Gentiles say where, so where is your, is there a God? But our God is in the heaven.

He does whatsoever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands and they have mouths, but they do not speak.

They have eyes, they, they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear, noses they have, but they do not smell.

They have hands, but they do not handle feet. They have, but they do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throat.

Those who make them are like them as every, so as everyone who trusts in them, those idols.

Then he goes on to say, oh Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Oh, house of Aaron, trust in the

Lord. He is their help and shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and shield.

The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.

He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. You notice the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, the fear of the

Lord. God's against idols and folks, this needs to search our hearts today. What are you putting before God this morning?

I'm asking myself this question too, is anything, and by the way, Luther said it like this. It is anything that you put before God.

What do you spend most of your time doing? What do you spend your days doing?

What is the love of your life? And your actions will speak more than your words.

You can say all day, oh, I'm good and I'm good to go and I go to church. But beloved, you could be playing church.

And friends, we need to search our hearts. Is Jesus our first love this morning?

Away with the idols. Not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory.

Because of your mercy, because of your truth. Well there's other mountains we must climb.

Let's continue. The fifth mountain is the Mount Zion. Mount Zion. This is a wonderful mountain because it's associated with God's dwelling place in the future reign of the

Messiah. Oh, the location is Jerusalem in the temple.

It's such a picture of the heavenly Jerusalem. Psalm chapter 2 verse 6 says this,

Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. That's a powerful verse, folks.

You know why? Because God the Father has installed King Jesus on Mount Zion.

It is as good as done. No one can impeach Him. You see, down here in politics, there could be impeachment and all this going on.

But King Jesus would not be impeached. And He would not be dethroned.

He is enthroned on Jerusalem's most prominent hill, and that is Mount Zion. Verse 7, if you look at it, in Psalm 22, this is a powerful, prophetic, messianic psalm of Psalm 2.

I would declare the decree. And the Lord has said to me, You are my son, today I have forgotten you.

Now let's stop right there. I'm not going to go no further than that because that's enough for us to chew on. Because what is being said here,

You are my son, this recalls 2 Samuel 7, 8 -16, the basis for the

Davidic King. And it's also the only place in the Old Testament reference to the father and son relationship in the

Trinity. A relationship decreed in eternity past, demonstrated in the incarnation when

Jesus was born, a major part in the New Testament. Today I have forgotten you. This is my forgotten son, my beloved son.

Reference to the birth of Christ. Mount Zion is also a symbol of the heavenly city.

Look at Hebrews chapter 12. I love this. Hebrews chapter 12.

We don't know who the writer of Hebrews is. Some say Paul. It seems like it's very Pauline in it's writing, but we don't know for sure.

And by the way, people say, I can't wait until I get to heaven and find out. Look folks, once you get to heaven, it's not going to matter.

We'll be worshiping King Jesus for eternity. That's not going to matter. You'll be there with the writer of Hebrews and the apostles and all the martyrs and the servants of God.

Notice verse 18 in chapter 12, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched with that burned with fire.

He's talking about Sinai there to the blackness and darkness and tempest to the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

For they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as the beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.

Notice what he says in verse 21. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I'm exceedingly afraid and trembling, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living

God, the heavenly Jerusalem and innumerable company of angels to the general assembly, the church of the first born who are registered in heaven.

Isn't that a wonderful phrase? Registered in heaven. Your name's in the Lamb's book of life to God, the judge of all the spirits of just men made perfect to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Oh, then he goes on to say, say that you do not refuse him who speaks

God speaking. So if they did not escape who refused him, who spoke on earth much more, shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth.

But now he has promised saying, yet once more, I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.

Now, this yet once more indicates the removal of those things which that are being shaken and of as things that are made and the things which are cannot be shaken may remain as the kingdom of God.

And that's why he says in verse 38, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve

God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

Oh, how important is the fear of the Lord. Well, let's go to the next, the sixth mountain.

Bring it up again, Mount Hermon, because God's presence, divine encounters and Mount Tabor traditionally identified this site as the transfiguration of Jesus.

Yet, Tabor is questionable for the reason of the actual high mountain. But most scholars do say it's

Mount Hermon where the transfiguration of Jesus took place. Scholars question and the traditional place of this

Mount debate. We could go on about that, but we're not. Scripture tells us in Matthew, Mark and Luke, all the accounts except for John of the

Mount, what happened at the Mount of Transfiguration. I'm choosing Mark real quickly.

So go with me to Mark chapter nine. After six days, Jesus took

Peter, James, John and led them up on a high mountain apart from themselves.

And he was transfigured before them. Notice this. His clothes became shining exceedingly, just like he is in,

John saw him on the Isle of Patmos because he's glorified. They get a preview, a sneak preview, so to speak, of Jesus and his flesh bursting out.

His glory is bursting out of the flesh and it becomes white like snow, such as no laundry on launderer on earth can be white, can whiten them.

And Elijah appeared to them with Moses and they were talking with Jesus. And then Peter said unto, said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.

Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.

And a cloud came, overshadowed them. A voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear him.

It's a rebuke to Peter. He stopped them right when mid -sentence.

And suddenly they had looked around and saw no more, no one anymore, but only

Jesus with themselves. Luke actually says, he put his right hand on him and told him not to be afraid.

Verse 9, and now as they came down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen till the

Son of Man had risen from the dead. Well, so much more could be said there, but that's the high mountain of transfiguration.

Application, once again we behold Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author of the finish of our faith.

Is your eyes fixed on Jesus this morning? Here we behold him, the

Son of God, peak preview of the great power you come in, all the holy angels.

Seventh mountain is the Mount of Olives. I'll make this quick. Associated with Jesus' teaching of Olivet discourse,

Luke says a lot about it in chapter 22, Acts 1, 9 through 12, is where Jesus ascended on the

Mount of Olivet. This is interesting, it tells us Jesus ascended into heaven, the Mount of Olives. Scripture also tells the prophecy when

Jesus comes back on this mountain, Zechariah 14 .4, and in that day his feet will stand on the

Mount of Olives, which is in the front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split on its middle from the east to the west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other toward the south.

So, in other words, when Jesus Christ comes back in power and glory with all his angels at his return, he will set foot on the

Mount of Olives, and it's going to split. We see

Jesus here at this place of the Mount of Olives, and if you read the account, this was the place that he prayed.

This was the place where he was dropped some blood before in Gethsemane, the olive press.

He had a certain place to pray, but we see praying, we see his teaching, we see the future hope of his glorious return, and that is our blessed hope.

Hallelujah. The eighth mountain peak is Mount Nebo. Did you ever think about Mount Nebo?

We go back now, but here we see the prophet Moses viewed the promised land before his death.

Now, this is very interesting. You can read the account in Deuteronomy chapter 34, one through five. God allows

Moses to see the fulfillment of his promise, though Moses could not enter into land flowing with milk and honey, and I want to tell you why.

Moses was being disciplined of the Lord because he struck the rock, he got angry with Israel, and this is the meekest man on earth, folks, at that time.

And he became impatient with them, and he struck that rock twice out of anger, and God says, for that you will not enter in the promised land.

Why? Because Paul tells us that rock was Christ. It's a foreshadowing of Christ, and why was it important to God that Moses struck it twice?

Because Jesus was only struck once. He was only crucified once, once and for all, for our sins, not twice, and Moses' disobedience to God's word on this cost him not being able to go into the mount, leaving from that mount into the promised land.

He did see it, though. He did see it from afar. Significance symbolizes the faithfulness and goodness of God's promises again.

Imagine the thoughts that must have gone through Moses' mind as he looked at the promised land and he couldn't.

Now, I got something personal for us here, and we need to take this with us. Beloved, let us not live that we might have regrets for tomorrow and the future.

Watch, be wise with our choices, be wise with your words, be patient, be loving, be godly, walk in wisdom, walk circumspectly, fear

God. Beloved, let us not live like that for what could have been, because once we slip and once we sin, yes,

God can forgive us, but the consequences still is there. God can forgive us, but the scars are there, and God did not allow the prophet

Moses to enter in because of the significance and importance of that, the severity of it, and by the way,

God always matches his rod to the severity of the sin. Never more than that.

Even in hell, people that go to hell, there will be people beaten and souls beaten with many strikes and many with few strikes.

There are levels of rewards in heaven to those that are more faithful, but let us continue to press towards the goal, the prize of the high calling of Christ Jesus, as Paul reminds us in Philippians chapter 3.

Let's go to the ninth mountain, Mount Hermon. I've spoke a little bit about Mount Hermon in one of these, but why did

I mention Mount Hermon? Because here, this associates with God's blessings and could be possibly a transfiguration where the transfiguration took place.

But if you go to this wonderful chapter in Psalm 133, it's only three verses, but it's beautiful, and it speaks about unity of God's people.

We need to be unified in truth. Behold, this is a song of a sense of David.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard and the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.

It is like the dew of Hermon, notice, descending upon the mountains of Zion, descending from mountains of Zion, and for there the

Lord commanded the blessing, life forevermore. Why is this important? Because you see, this signifies and speaks of unity.

Paul says this in chapter 4, verse 13 through 15, until we all come to the unity of the faith and to this knowledge of the

Son of God. It's not about head knowledge, he's talking about heart knowledge. Even though we renew our mind day by day, it processes through the mind, but we better make sure that knowledge is not puffing us up and then we put love on the back burner because love builds up.

Because he talks about edification, edifying the believers to the work of the ministry.

And then he says this, to a perfect man, he's talking about a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, by the cunning craftiness and deceitfulness, plotting, but what does he say?

But speaking the truth in love. We need to make sure, we better check our hearts if we're rebuking people every time we turn around.

Folks, that could be of a pharisaical spirit. Now I'm not saying there's not a place for rebuke, because open rebuke is better than secret love, but we better make sure we bathe it in prayer and tears, beloved.

Speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things unto him who is the head,

Christ. Even Jesus rebuked patiently and graciously.

Well the best is last, 10th mountain, which one do you think it is?

Mount Calvary. This is where God's pulpit to demonstrate his love to the world was.

The cross was God's pulpit of love for man. Mount Calvary, better known as Golgotha, the place of the skull, the divine encounter

Jesus Christ and him crucified. The significance here is the ultimate supreme demonstration.

If you go to Luke 23, and I won't read these verses here because we have communion today, and this is where we come to, is

Luke. Other accounts give it as well, but Luke gives details of being a doctor, a physician as he was.

I love the details that Luke gives, and it's awesome.

Let me just read just a few. Comes to the place of Golgotha, chapter 23, and this is what the word of the

Lord says in chapter 23.

There were also two other criminals led with them to be put to death. And when they had come, this is chapter 23, verse 33 now, and when they had come to the place called

Calvary, they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right, one on the left,

Jesus said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they do. They divided his garments and cast lots, and the people stood looking on, and even the rulers with them sneered, saying, save others, let him save himself if he is the

Christ, the chosen of God. Even Satan was using those people there to try to tempt Christ to even come off the cross.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine, and saying, if you are the king of the

Jews, save yourself, constantly mockery, sneering. And then an inscription also was written over him, and the letter is

Greek, Latin, Hebrew, this is the king of the Jews, the first track. And by the way,

I say that because one of those thieves, how did he know he was a king? Right here.

The king of the Jews. He had little knowledge. One of them didn't fear

God, the other one did fear God, the one that did fear God said, he says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

He recognized he was a sinner. He recognized Jesus was Lord. He recognized he was a king, a king over a kingdom, and he said a short prayer, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. What such grace of God, but this man really knew the fear of God and he repented.

Yes, he had loss of reward, but he made it in, beloved. Well, I could preach there on out until the next day, but we need to go on.

The great significance is the ultimate supreme demonstration of the love of God, beloved. God's holy hatred towards sin as well.

And the inauguration of the new covenant, the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption. Application, the spiritual themes of these mountains of divine encounters with God.

Mountains speak to us, God has spoken to us, now he speaks to us by his son.

Mountains also symbolize elevation, drawing near to God, like ascending a mountain, draw near to God and he would draw near to you through prayer, worship, meditation of the word of God, personal transformation, sanctification, how it can change your own life.

Keeping your hope fixed on Christ. First Peter 1 .13, Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, rest in the hope, your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let us also remember that faith, living faith, active faith, working faith is not based on mountaintop feelings.

I love the mountains, but we need to remember where we grow is through the valleys. We walk by faith and not by sight.

So use the mountaintop experiences to gain strength from God and walk with Christ.

Be ever alert and ready to the reality that when you come off the mountaintop, you enter the valley.

Because I tell you, beloved, and you know this as well as I do, we live more in the valley than the mountaintops.

Remember Elijah, after he had the victory of Mount Carmel against the false prophets of Baal, he fled, he went into deep despair and depression when faced with the opposition in the valley in 1

Kings 19. And so after the mountaintop experience, it came a very difficult situation for Elijah.

A man of God, depressed, yes. Actually, he was so depressed, he wanted to die.

But God strengthened him. He gained strength. So remember the mountaintop experiences, that we gain strength.

We gain strength with God. So use that spiritual strength, gain the strength faithfully to serve our

God. Let me close with this prayer and we'll go into the Lord's Supper. Valley of vision, Lord high and holy, meek and lowly, thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths, but see thee in the heights.

Hymned by the mountains of sin, I behold thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, to be low is to be high, that to be broken heart is to be healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, and that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord in the daytime, stars can be seen from the deepest wells, and the deeper the wells, the brighter thy stars shine.

Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley.

So it's in the valley. We thank God for the mountaintops. God has spoken, and He speaks, and He has spoken, and through the mountain peak of glory,

Jesus came all the way from the mountaintop of glory and came all the way down to place the death of Golgotha to the death of a cross of shame for our salvation, that we can have eternal life.

Place your trust in Christ today if you have not, and let's pray.

Bow with me, please. Father, we thank you for this time and this hour that we can worship you,

Lord, and we pray, O God, that you would help us, now bless us, as we honor you and as we remember the

Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us, buried for us, and risen for us, and we pray this in thy name, amen and amen.