Thursday 17 December 2015

Two Mountains and an Unshakeable Kingdom

In the last month or so I felt a mountain rising.  At first I felt it rising in myself, then I saw it rising in my family, then in my friends and then it was displayed on a lamp pole as a local paper’s headline.  The headline said  “SA in the grip of fear”  (“Land in die greep van vrees,” Die Burger, 2 December 2015) .  When I saw that headline I thought:  “What a declaration over our country” little did I know then that things would get even worse for South Africa in the next couple of weeks.  As I was standing at the foot of this mountain, it was so big so wide so solid there was no way I could see a way around it… nor over it… nor under it… In the picture though there was a lake in front of the mountain with a perfect reflection in the water.  As I was standing at the foot of the mountain I could look to my right and to my left… and the reflection made it difficult to discern what the real mountain was and what was only the reflection, yet I knew in my spirit that one had to be a counterfeit.  Over time as I was praying I believe the Holy Spirit showed me that the name of the mountain is “fear”.  I started discovering subtle things that causes fear that I was not even aware of… and then there were the not-so-subtle-fearful-things in my life.  Likewise I could see and hear the same kind of things featuring in some of my friend’s lives.  Sometimes we fear without even realising it and some of it is so real.  The Word says what we fear will happen to us, fear steals our joy. I know it is sin and that God has not given us a spirit of fear but one of love, power and a sound mind. 
Then one morning totally unexpectedly the Lord led me to Heb. 12:18-28. To my surprise this scripture spoke of two mountains.  One was a mountain of fear - the watery reflection or counterfeit of the real mountain the other the mountain of redemption, mercy and encouragement.  In Heb. 12:18-20 the Lord clearly stated that we have not come to the mountain of fear…       
18 For you have not come [as did the Israelites in the wilderness] to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to gloom and darkness and a raging windstorm, 19 and to the blast of a trumpet and a sound of words [such that] those who heard it begged that nothing more be said to them. 20 For they could not bear the command, “If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it will be stoned [to death].” 21 In fact, so terrifying was the sight, that Moses said, “I am filled with fear and trembling.”
 
But that we have come to Mount Zion that is the mountain of mercy, this is the real mountain, the mountain where He is the righteous Judge, where we are surrounded by an heavenly host of angels and righteous men.  A cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1) that encourages us to finish the race, to face the fear, to draw near to our faithful, merciful, graceful God in boldness and in faith. We came to a mountain with a mediator, a new covenant, and the blood of Jesus that cries out for our redemption…
 
 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels [in festive gathering], 23 and to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and to God, who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed in heaven) who have been made perfect [bringing them to their final glory], 24 and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant [uniting God and man], and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].
What an amazing discovery to make that in one chapter in the Bible so clearly two mountains are mentioned – even mentioned in the context of fear.  I kept reading and discovered more…
Heb 12:25-28
25 See to it that you do not refuse [to listen to] Him who is speaking [to you now]. For if those [sons of Israel] did not escape when they refused [to listen to] him who warned them on earth [revealing God’s will], how much less will we escape if we turn our backs on Him who warns from heaven? 26 His voice shook the earth [at Mount Sinai] then, but now He has given a promise, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the [starry] heaven.” 27 Now this [expression], “Yet once more,” indicates the removal and final transformation of all those things which can be shaken—that is, of that which has been created—so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, and offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is [indeed] a consuming fire.
I discovered that the Lord is speaking to me and that I should not refuse to listen to him.  He is speaking through my circumstances, finances, through the signs of the times, through my thoughts and emotions.  All the things I experience as things that causes fear, through all of it the voice of  God was resounding in my spirit.  He will shake heaven and earth to remove all those things in my (our?) lives that can be shaken, all those things I put in place or create for myself that are still of this world and that needs a final transformation, all of it will be shaken – so that only those things that is of God’s Unshakeable Kingdom will remain.  Suddenly in the spirit I saw my picture of the real mountain and the counterfeit reflection again and I realised that if that world is shaken the reflection would move.  The counterfeit would become full of ripples and waves as the water moves and one would easily discern the real mountain from the reflection.  What will remain will be an unmistakable steady, solid knowing, the assurance of the presence of His Unshakeable Kingdom never to be mistaken for the reflection again.
Therefore, since I am an heir of this Unshakeable Kingdom, let me listen, heed to God as He speaks to me about the things that still can be shaken, and let me show gratitude to him offering pleasing service and acceptable worship to him.  For my God is indeed a consuming fire, to be worshiped in reverence and awe… and with those words one final revelation, the final puzzle piece fell into place.  The name of the real Mountain of Fear is the Unshakable Mountain of the Fear of the Lord… where worship is brought to Him – the righteous Judge - in reverence and in awe…


© Author:  HG Venter 2015