Advent Midweek 1: "Mountains of the Lord"

+ Advent Midweek 1 – December 4, 2019 +

Isaiah 2:1-5

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Here in the Pacific Northwest, mountains are an important part of our lives. We depend on mountains for our weather and geography; they provide water, recreation, and navigation. Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a moment to behold the beauty and wonder of Mt. Rainier or the Olympics on a clear day. “Live like the mountain is out,” says a mural in downtown Sumner. 

Throughout Scripture, mountains are an important part of the lives of God’s people as well. Think of everything God does for his people on mountains, revealing his presence, promise, and peace.

On Mt. Moriah, the Lord by provided a ram for the sacrifice and spared Isaac, Abraham’s son, his only son whom he loved.

On Mt. Horeb, the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush, gave Israel his name – I AM WHO I AM, YHWH, and promised to deliver Moses and Israel from slavery in Egypt.

On Mt. Sinai, the Lord met Moses and Israel once again. In the cloud and smoke and glory of Sinai, the Lord delivered his word that thundered with the Law. And yet God also delivered his holy covenant. His promise. To dwell with Israel and bless them by his holy name.

Years later, in the land YHWH had promised, in Jerusalem, atop the very mountain where Isaac was spared, the Lord provided sacrifices once again to atone for sin in the temple on Mt. Zion. As a prophet called to preach to Israel and Jerusalem, Isaiah lays out God’s promises in his writings like the Cascade Range, one mountain after another, promise after promise after promise.

It shall come to pass in the latter days  that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,   and shall be lifted up above the hills;

In Isaiah’s day, the earthly Mt. Zion (Jerusalem, the temple) was the place of God’s presence, promise, and peace for his people, standing as signpost, pointing them forward to the greater heavenly Mt. Zion and eternal house of the Lord. Yet Israel continually wandered off the path, into the darkness, away from God’s word and promises. So the Lord sent Isaiah to call Israel away from their rebellion, to repentance and restoration.

God sends Isaiah to us for the same reason. Like Israel, God’s word reveals that in our sinful flesh we are constantly fighting and rebelling against our Lord. That we wander away from his Word into the darkness. That his peace is not in always our hearts and minds. That we have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, nor have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. Like Israel, Sinai thunders in our ears and we find ourselves buried under an avalanche of our own trespasses.

And yet, as mountainous as our sin is, our Lord’s mountain of peace is far greater. For he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love for you. As we journey through the Scriptures, we discover that mountains are more than heaps of rock, minerals, and earth. Mountains are where God reveals and delivers his presence, promise, and peace. A peace that comes to us now, and is yet to come. 

God’s peace comes to us now in Jesus who descended from his heavenly Mt. Zion to join us under the weight of our sin and in the rubble of Sinai. Jesus began his ministry teaching on the mountainsides of Judea. Jesus was transfigured on Mt. Tabor foretelling his greater glory of his death and resurrection to come. Jesus was went up Mt. Calvary taking our sin and death heaped upon himself, to be crucified on the mountain for our mountains of iniquity. Jesus is lifted up on that mountain so that we who are brought low in sin are exalted. Jesus is buried under rock and earth in our tomb so that when he raises us from the dead, we’ll dwell with him eternally on holy Mt. Zion. Jesus is judged for in our place to fill us with his promise and peace. Next to Jesus on Mt. Calvary, our sin is nothing more than an anthill crushed under his feet. 

Jesus is the greater Isaac, the sacrifice the Lord provides for you on his holy mountain. Jesus is the great I AM in human flesh born to deliver you from the slavery of sin. Jesus is the very presence, promise, and peace of God incarnate for you. The thunder, terror, and judgment of Mt. Sinai is quieted by Jesus’ sacrifice on Mt. Calvary. He bore the avalanche of God’s wrath over our sin. Jesus suffered the terrors of sin and death for us. Jesus was judged on the mountain in our place. And Jesus’ death for us on Mt. Calvary leads us to the heavenly Mt. Zion promised in Isaiah. 

It shall come to pass in the latter days  that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,   and shall be lifted up above the hills. all the nations shall flow to it, says Isaiah,  and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,  to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah (God’s Word), and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

This is no ordinary mountain. This is the mountain of the Lord. The place where YHWH dwells with his people. The place where all other mountains in Scripture lead. The place where YHWH’s promise and presence is known, not temporarily like at Sinai or the earthly Zion. This is an eternal, unshakeable, everlasting, heavenly mountain. A mountain where we are at peace with God forever. A mountain where God gathers all nations to receive his presence, promise, and peace. 

Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection has made the way to the mountain and house of the Lord safe for you. Jesus has traveled the road for you. Even now, Jesus carries you with him from Sinai, through Calvary, to Mt. Zion. This Advent, in his holy house, on this mountain of the Lord, the Light of Christ shines forth for us in Jesus’ Word, Water, Body and Blood. For now, we see this Mt. Zion by faith, one days by sight. 

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.