THE above is the call of God to the one who aspired to tell good tidings to Zion. “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain.” Isa. 40:9. No narrow view would God give His servants. No narrow message would He have them bear to others.
It must be a large mind to apprehend the thought of God; for His “commandments are exceeding broad.” It needs larger view than the plains afford. It needs clearer air than the fog-filled valleys know. The mountain brings breadth of vision and clear, unclouded outline.
THE mountains have always been associated with the work of God. In the very beginning Eden was planted on the highest elevation of the new-made earth; for from thence to all its parts flowed the fourfold stream, bearing everywhere the floods of life-giving water. When God, to test His servant’s faith, told Abraham to offer up Isaac, He sent him weary miles to Mount Moriah. There Abraham obtained clearer, grander, broader views of God’s love, sacrifice, and care.
WHEN God would speak His holy law to all the world through Israel, He came down upon rugged Sinai, amid the wilds of earth claimed by no nation, that all nations might have a portion in Israel’s God. Once and twice He called Moses up into that Mount, where each time he was shut in with God for forty days and nights. Up Mount Nebo to the very top of Pisgah climbed “the man of God” to take clear, heaven-aided vision of the Promised Land he was permitted to see, but could not enter, because of his sin.
Fujiyama, or Fuji-no-Yama, or Fuji -San, the Sacred Mountain of Japan.
THE mountains speak of strength. “Which by His strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power.” From the sinking pit of Sodom Lot fled for safety to the mountains. The mountains of Palestine opened their secret places to David, who fled from the hatred and wrath of Saul. From the rugged mountain region of the Jordan, God called His strong prophet Elijah, nurtured among the must-be-overcome difficulties of the rugged rocks and turbulent torrents.
NATURALLY in all lands the mountain becomes a symbol of strength and power; and if men know not the God who “by His strength setteth fast the mountains,” they deify and worship the mountain itself. Therefore the “high places” among the heathen. Therefore the high places among Israel before the temple was built on Mount Moriah. The mountain was the strongest, greatest, holiest, most prolific in its abundant springs of life-giving waters, offering more secluded places for the hunted exile. The very term came to be a symbol of God’s great salvation. The psalmist calls to his soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain.” “Jehovah, by Thy favor Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.” “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so Jehovah is round about His people.” “His foundation is in the holy mountains.” Thus by illustration and metaphor of the strongest, grandest, things of earth, God would reveal to us His righteousness, His holiness, His purity, His strength in our behalf. His “righteousness is like the great mountains.” His word, His truth, is like the pure snow-waters which flow from Mount Lebanon, while the perversions of men are like the brackish waters of the broken cisterns of men.4
GET thee up, soul, on the high mountain of God's goodness and truth. Take long views, broad views of God's wondrous love. Men are prone to look at the immediate surroundings, and measure God by what the physical eyes see. Israel could only see themselves worthy of salvation. Even Elijah could see himself alone as the loyal of God, when he was but one of seven thousand and one. The disciples saw so slowly God's plan and work. The harvest field seemed to them four months away as they looked at the green, growing grain; Jesus tells them to lift up their eyes on the spiritual fields white already for harvest. They would confine their work to Judea and Jerusalem forever. God shows them the great world to be warned and invited. Beyond Jerusalem was Judea, and beyond Judea was Samaria, and then all the world. View the world from the throne of God's love and mercy, keep the vision ever in mind, and then go down to the spiritual lowlands and tell the needy ones the wonderful vision of the mountain of God.
