“I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; So the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.”
Micah 4: 7
- The Warfare is Ended
- Come to Mount Zion
- Focus on Jesus
Today let us go to Mount Zion and talk about these 3 things. (i) The warfare is ended; (ii) Why should I come to Mount Zion? and (iii) Its important to Focus on Jesus.
But let me start with this incident: I happened to see a young teenager on the street; on the back of his tee was written “I am nobody” and I thought that he must be one dejected teenager, with maybe peer pressure or studies or maybe facing some sort of a rejection in his life. As I crossed him, I turned to see his face, and it happened that I saw what was written on the front of his tee- “Nobody is perfect”. Separately these sentences seem quite harmless and evoke a sense of pity; but put them together “Nobody is perfect” and “I am nobody”; it gives a whole new meaning to the boy’s attitude. “I AM PERFECT” he was saying. Hah! what a fool I have been!
Sometimes our idea of perfection stems from worldly standards that are way out of sync with how God sees. For example look at the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus enters seated on a donkey. Not at all a perfect setting for a King’s entry. But the shout of the King is among those who cried “Hosanna!”. The children make so much of joyful noise that ONLY the religious leaders are offended. But Jesus defends the children: if these would remain silent…. the stones would immediately cry out. And a sharp reprimand to the religious leaders –Have you never even read the Scriptures?” David says, Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise.
I am sure It may not have been the perfect beat of a marching retreat or the perfect pitch of a practiced symphony. But coming from the mouths of children, it is perfect praise that comes from the heart; and that is all what matters to God.
And the truth is, Jesus had to come (God knew this) because no one could be perfect according to God’s glorious standard. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no – not one. And so, Jesus is our perfect Man, our representative here on earth 2000 years ago and our intercessor-High priest forever, Chief Shepherd and the perfect and perfected Man now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. One Man’s obedience brought us all gifts of life, and heavenly riches, and wisdom and power and strength. Christ – our wisdom from God, our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption. As it is written, If any man glories, let him glory in the Lord (1 Cor. 1: 29, 30).
1. Warfare is Ended
“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her. that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins,” (Isaiah 40: 1, 2)
The book of Isaiah is rightly called as the mini-Bible. Just as there are 39 books of the Old Testament, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah deals with God’s Old Covenant with the people – mainly that of Israel, and how they were all held captive in their sins, because of Moses’ laws. None of them righteous, none of them entering the rest. It led them all to the point of Condemnation and Confiscation; Till the Messiah appears.
And Isaiah 40 starts with Consolation and Comfort for the people, for a new Covenant is about to break forth. The people’s iniquity is pardoned, because a double payment has been extracted.
What! Why the double payment? Because under the New Covenant, it is not we who have received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins; it is the sin-bearing Messiah- Jesus Christ. His precious blood was indeed an over-payment. He readily drank the cup of wrath from the LORD’s hand, double for all of our sins.
And the Messenger cries out “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Is. 40: 3). Strong grace that supplies strength even to the weak, and they that receive His Spirit will run and not be weary. And those who wait on Him, they lift up their wings and fly like an eagle. Unimaginable heights for the human mind to even perceive or grasp. Imagine this, they could barely move earlier, because of their prison-cell life. Now- They shall fly; they shall run; they shall walk (Is. 30: 31).
Yes. The warfare is indeed ended; the days of mourning are over; the restoration has started. Renewal of the strength is from above, through God’s own Spirit.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world ( 1 John 4:4).
And just as there are 22 books of the New Testament, the last 22 chapters (40 to 61) builds on the New Covenant through the suffering Servant – Jesus the Messiah. And in Isaiah 60: 20 we read, “Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself. For the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.”
Not only is the warfare ended; but the days of your mourning shall also be ended. Don’t stay in Mount Sinai. Come to Mount Zion.
2. Come to Mount Zion
Just looking back at the pandemic that started in Dec-19 in China and the lockdown imposed in India around the last week of March 2020, we are now near the last week of Nov 2020. 8 months has passed. New orders are released in Maharashtra. A new beginning! The church doors are being re-opened again after 8 months of lockdown.
Yes, 9th month is significant even for the child in the mother’s womb. It is time to birth a new church, because the warfare is ended. The child grows by leaps and bounds in the 9th month, makes a somersault within the womb and then the labor for a mother to bring forth her child in the 10th month. There’s light at last at the end of the tunnel. The new church will be like the new Jerusalem. It is time to replace the “Me, my family, my belongings, my possessions, my well-being, my pains, my joy, my fame…” frame of thinking with “My people are God’s people, our belongings, our well-being, our shared pains, our shared joys and Christ’s glory….”
A new beginning is now possible. After about 10 years, Naomi- after severe losses in Moab, goes back to Bethlehem after the famine had ended (Ruth 1:4). And just like Ruth who said to her mother-in-law, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God”, we now have a new confession to make. Imagine, a Moabite, that cannot enter the assembly of God up to the tenth generation according to Moses’ law (Deut. 23:3); yet this woman Ruth finds favor. And coming in the line of Judah, her name is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And a great grand mother to one of the most loved kings of Israel – King David, to whom God testified that he is a man after God’s own heart. Imagine, after Moses came, Ruth is the only foreigner (i.e. not of Israel) whose name is found in the Old Testament.
And in this new season we are entering, I pray that each one in the body of Christ will see this as a new birth of a grace-filled church, caring for one another, putting on Christ Jesus and nurturing and edifying the body of Christ. Forgetting our differences, but coming together as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that He is NOT ASHAMED to call us as his brothers and sisters; and because we are of the same family (and not another), we share in His glory (Heb. 2:11). And we too can confess with Paul- “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ” The gospel of righteousness by FAITH (Rom. 1: 16, 17).
Zion’s daughter, now your heart is full of Joy. Break forth into singing. Rejoice, Those who trust in the Lord shall be like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever (Ps. 125:1).
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. {For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”]
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 12: 18-24
3. Focus on Jesus
Mount Sinai is closed for saints. Jesus said to the Pharisees “Do not think I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuse – Moses, in whom you trust.” (John 5:45) This is the mountain of self-righteousness, perceived holier than thou, long robes, long prayers in the street corners, tithing of mint and anise and cumin, fasting with long faces and all religious symbolism practiced to perfection. But it profits nothing for the saints. [See this in visual explanation: visit https://visualunit.me/2014/10/07/two-mountains-hebrews-12/]
Jesus also said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5: 20). People who go to church today, imagine that by doings they will get to heaven, and their acts do not even come close to the Pharisees. The Mount Sinai mindset. “All these years I have served You, and yet You have not given a kid of the goat to make a party with my friends.”
Hebrews 12 starts with this: Don’t get distracted looking at others, Look at Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith. Consider Jesus, who suffered for us outside the gate, that we may enter Mount Zion through his perfect sacrifice. One perfect Man, one perfect sacrifice – brought salvation to all mankind. Come to Mount Zion, as children of God. No longer slaves, but children.
Recently we had a discussion in youth group on John Chapter 12. And when we asked them to share their thoughts, many said that were impressed with Mary, who broke the alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil at the feet of Jesus. Not bothering about the crowd, but just focusing on Jesus. And this is how we should be. We just nodded and did not say anything; they all will learn in good time. But the point is, these children too are distracted by looking at Mary, when Jesus is there. Just the thing, the author of Hebrews warns us against. Focus on Jesus, not on the “great cloud of witnesses” surrounding us; they all look to Jesus, and we better look to Jesus, not the cloud.
As children, we used to sing “Fire on the mountain – Run. Run. Run” But run where? Run to Jesus. Run to Mount Zion, where Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant. No longer striving and struggling, but freely flowing in His grace. No longer any penance to find peace, but actually finding rest in the Prince of peace! He is our all sufficient LORD. We are accepted, forgiven, loved, saved by His grace.
O Zion, You who bring good tidings, get up into the high mountain, O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40: 9)
Stay in Zion. Focus on Jesus. Amen.