Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No.16 - January 1975

 

And I Will Make All My Mountains A Way

 

Sermon by Rev. P. G. Van Dam. M.Sc., B.D. on Isaiah 49:11a

Scripture Reading: Psalm 121, Isaiah 49: 8-13

Psalter Hymnal: 263, 193, 493 (Creed), 259, 52:1,4,5

 

In Scripture – in our text also – the mountains are

1.  Symbols of the hardships of life (Jer.13:16, Matt.21:21),
            but also, and MORE SO, they are
2.  Symbols of God's glory and dominion (Psalm 121)
            and of His victory; of His victory over sin
            and over the results of our sins.

And these two symbolic meanings of the mountains belong together.  Both, Psalm 121 (considering its heading: A Song of Ascents) and Isaiah 49 speak of a going up to Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is the city of God Himself.  That is where His house is, where He lives.

Isaiah 49 speaks of the return of God's people from their exile (in Babylon).  And in that way it speaks symbolically of the way the Christian is travelling.  He, too, is returning from his exile (that is, from his slavery to Satan and sin) to his 'home town', the New Jerusalem, his final destination.

But in both cases, the Israelite returning from Babylon and the believer on the way to his final destination, they have to climb the mountains which are around Jerusalem.

And in Isaiah God tells His people (whether they lived then or are living now) that He is NOT going to lead them ROUND the mountains.  No doubt they and we would have preferred that.  But, no, says God, I will make all my mountains a way.  God will not lead us round them but OVER THEM.  Even if we would like the level and even plains.

Let us have a closer look at these two symbolic meanings of the mountains.

As we saw above they picture for us the hardships in our lives.  Its frustrations.  They jot up right from our green valleys where we would like to live without any disturbances.  And sometimes these mountains are sheer rock, they may look very bare and hostile.

At the same time, however, God says they are MY mountains.  All of them.  God is using our hardships as the way we shall have to go.  For He says I will make ALL MY MOUNTAINS a way.  No, I am NOT taking you ROUND them but OVER them.  THEY will be your way!

But why would God want to do that.  Why not the easy and comfortable way?  And the answer is: to strengthen us, to strengthen us in our faith.

God uses the reality of our hardships to teach us, to remind us of, the reality of the victory of our faith in a victorious God.  To teach us every time again that IN GOD, and in God ALONE that we DO HAVE the victory.  The victory over Satan, over the results of our sin.  For "this is the victory which overcomes the world: our faith," (1John 5:4).  The faith in our victorious God and Saviour.

The hardships in our lives, according to God's Word is what we need to remember:
            that in God, and in our faith we have a power
                        which is so much greater than that of our hardships;
            that we must and can approach all our hardships with the right 'Spirit',
                        the Spirit of power (2Tim.1:7), of comfort (John 15:26).
            For we are weak but IN HIM we have the strength we need;
            that one day we shall have overcome sin and all its results for good.

Yes, for God says that all His ‘mountains are a WAY'.  In other words the way, the road IS there!  God would never let these mountains of our hardships block the way to victory.  NEVER!  We also read this in the words of encouragement and of ASSURANCE: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb.4:16).

No, God will not place these mountains on our way to stop us from being able to go on.  No!  But WE OURSELVES do this sometimes (block our way)?  How?

For instance if we want to carry a heavy load on our shoulders when we are climbing.  A load of doubt, or a load of sin which we do not want to give up, or a load of problems which we do not want to surrender (and that is a sin too, not wanting to show our TRUST in the ALMIGHTY God Who, for the sake of Jesus Christ, is our Father. (Read Heid.Cat. L.D.9 carefully!)

And there is another way in which we could easily bring ourselves to a stand-still, or to sliding back.  When we climb a mountain, especially if it is a steep and hard mountain to climb, the worst thing we could do would be TO LOOK BACK!  Either to remember how good things were before 'this thing' happened to us; or to relive the hardships we had to go through already; or to remember our sins and guilt although we have asked God for forgiveness (if then we continue to remember our guilt we sin, and weaken ourselves very much).

No, when we climb a mountain we must LOOK UP.  Ps 121 also teaches us this: "I will lift my eyes to the hills."

And in the light of our text we must believe that God Himself is leading us and giving us the strength we need as we are climbing upwards.  Upwards to the top.  For all mountains have a top; the mountains of our hardships also!  And we WILL reach that top.  Yes, we will, IF ONLY we use the strength, the comfort and the assurance of the Holy Spirit Who tells us that we already have overcome the world!

Yes, WITH HIS STRENGTH we WILL get there.  Because the way IS there!

However, it is a different question whether our reaching the top will also be a blessing for us!  A victory we have gained.

If, upon reaching the top, I will only praise MYSELF and say that I have not done so badly; no, then my reaching the top is not likely to be a blessing for me (for I may not remain on the top – on top of things for very long!).  No, that blessing is there only if, when I have reached the top, I pause and am silent for a moment and look around.  Have a view over all the surroundings (my circumstances) and over all of my life; and then remember the words of this psalm, and join the psalmist when he draws the conclusion (vs 2): "My help comes from the Lord Who made heaven and earth."

Yes, I will lift up my eyes to the hills; to the tops of the mountains of God's way for me.  And when I get to these tops remember that it was God Who brought me there.  To remind me that He is the Lord of heaven and earth.  He the Creator and Ruler of all things, He it was Who brought me there.  For me to remember that this God is MY GOD!  My Keeper.  Yes, MY KEEPER; for this is mentioned five times in this psalm (in vss.3,4,5,7 and 8).

Yes, the way of our hardships is to be the way of our blessings, IF ONLY we remain humble, see HIS hand, HIS majesty, HIS love and HIS care.  He is my Maker, my Saviour, my Keeper.  THEN I will have gained new strength, immensely.  BUT ONLY THEN!  If I stop to remember and to thank Him.  Remember that He will never forsake me.

Only if WE become SMALL in the presence of HIS greatness.  For when we are weak then we are strong, with the power of His Spirit in my heart and mind (2Cor.12:10).

Oh, no, this does not mean that from then on all things are going to be much easier.  No, for after every mountain top there is the descent, the going down.  And it is in this going down that our new victory is going to be tested!

Climbing a mountain – the going up – may be hard, but the hardest part is the going down!  Yet, after every peak we will have to go down to the valley.  It is in the going down that we are most likely to stumble, to lose control, in which case we may hit the bottom very hard, if not worse.  So, it does matter HOW we go down.

We could go down in a FATALISTIC mood saying: all this was very well but what did it mean in my every day's life anyway.  Or in a REBELLIOUS mood; why should God have given me all this when He will 'let me down' again?  Or in a HOPELESS mood in which I say that it is not the top which is the reality of my life but the 'valley of the shadow of death' (Ps.23).

If we go down in those moods we will fall, fall very hard, without any strength or means to hold ourselves back.

But if we – as God wants us to – abide by the victory which He has just given me to remind me that He IS my God and Keeper; the Victor over my life and my sin and circumstances then I will go down to my life of everyday with all its problems and other hardships to come, carefully, with new strength, new confidence, and with myself under full control.  For while I was on the top I saw it again and remembered that He, my God will be my Keeper always!  Yes, the mountains; symbols of my hardships.  BUT AT THE SAME TIME symbols of HIS VICTORY OVER THEM!

For is not in fact every mountain a pointing to that ONE mountain on top of which there stood that cross.  That cross on which Jesus overcame the one mountain which indeed had been insurmountable for anyone of us.  The mountain of OUR GUILT!  And of our despair.  That mountain which stood between us and Mount Zion, God's holy hill.

But Jesus conquered that mountain for us, and in that way completed the way of which our text speaks.

And each one of our mountains are to remind us of – are to make us see – that one mountain.  Our hardships point to the hardships which Jesus Christ suffered to prepare the way across that mountain.  The victory which God gives us over each one of our hardships is a reminder of the final victory which already we have in Jesus Christ.

So, on every mountain top we see that mountain with its cross, and hear our Saviour speak these words: "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (= the world of sin and of the results of sin)" John 16:33.

Every mountain in our lives is there for that purpose that when we reach the top we be reminded of that vision of the crucified and the risen Lord.  For in Him we ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS (Rom.8:37).

But we NEED the tops of the mountains of our hardships to have that vision.  Experience shows that if we would just be living an even life in the level valley we lose that vision.

But because it is that vision of the mountain tops that we must now also join with Paul in these words: "Death, where is thy victory?" (1Cor.15:55).  "Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (vs.57).  But this means that we must not let death have the victory either, which it does (says vs.56) if we sin.  Sin, that is: living without God.

Then, FINALLY, as we move on from one mountain peak to the next we are also coming CLOSER.  Closer to Jerusalem, our destination.  And as we come closer we get a CLEARER picture of it all the time!  Of Mount Zion, there where God lives, there where I am going to live with Him forever.  The holy city, the place of my final victory!

And WE WILL GET THERE – Jesus has completed the way, and is now preparing a place for us there!  Yes, we will, no matter HOW rugged our mountains are.  We have the power of the Spirit of Christ, and He is the guarantee of our inheritance (Eph.1:13,14).

To the place where, according to Isaiah (ch.40) every valley shall be lifted up, and every hill shall be made low.  Where there will be no valleys of the shadow of death and no mountains of hardship anymore.  For we shall be living on the mount of the Lord forever.

And then we must remember that we not just only MAY live with that vision but MUST live with it.  With its REALITY.  We sometimes forget that; that we MUST live with it.  WE HAVE NO FREE CHOICE HERE!  Or else we would take the work of our Saviour lightly, of Him Who came to save us from our guilt, despair and death.

For that is the way of the Lord for us; on which HE is taking us!

For the glory of HIS Name; HE is the victor.  Not MY sin and MY death.

And it is because He, my Lord, is taking me on HIS way that we will get there.  "For He grants us to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man" (Eph.3:16).  Yes, for that purpose!

I will make all My mountains a way, says God.  Says MY God!  The mountains of my hardships, but also – and more so – the mountains of His victory and dominion and glory.  And THEREFORE of my victory, my dominion and my glory IN HIM.

And so we must move forward from mountain top to mountain top, for that is GOD'S WAY.  But because it is God's way and because we understand why it is God's way, we should realise and confess that our going from mountain top to mountain top is in fact a going FROM GLORY TO GLORY.

Amen.