Come to the Mountaintop

There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai, and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord called him from the mountain and told him . . . EXODUS 19:1-3

Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah east of Jericho, and there the LORD showed him the whole land. EXODUS 34:1

Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone. As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white. MATTHEW 17: 1&2

God desires to work with His people at a higher level of intimacy than is obtainable on the level ground. He begins His relationship by inviting them to the mountaintop. Before we can really attain any meaningful heights in our relationship with God, we must climb to the top of the mountain. The level ground is too low for God to work with; we must climb up higher. This requirement is demonstrated at various times in the scriptures. Usually, in His relationship with Moses, God always required him to climb to the mountain. When the Ten Commandments were given to Moses, he had been to the mountaintop for 40 days and nights! Hear what God Himself says concerning climbing to the mountaintop: “But when the trumpet is blown, then the people are to go up to the mountain” EXODUS 19:13.

I will find them a place to rest

⁴You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed those that are sick, bandaged those that are hurt, brought back those that wandered off, or looked for those that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly. ⁵Because the sheep had no shepherd, they were scattered and wild animals killed and ate them. ¹¹I the Sovereign LORD, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I will find them a place to rest. ¹⁶I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick. EZEKIEL 34

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ooking at the ministry of Jesus on earth reveals the full dimensions of God. On one hand, God is a God of judgment whose judgment is like a consuming fire. On another, He is love. In the scripture read above, God was angry with the leaders of Israel. He queried the way they handled His people whom He calls sheep. He complains that because His sheep had no one to care for them, they scattered off to distant lands away from the sheepfold where wild animals killed and ate them. He decided then that He Himself would become the shepherd of His people. “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I will find them a place to rest.”