The Mountains and the Valleys
The Mountains and the Valleys The Comfort of Elijah
In the previous article we learned of the voice of our Heavenly Father speaking through his prophets reaching out to His lost children who have wandered into the desert away from His protection and love. The desert experience is full of scorpions, serpents and desolation.
In His great love the Father issues the command to prepare the way of the Lord and make a straight path or highway for our God. The preparation involves the removing of mountains, filling in of valleys and smoothing the path for the Lord to come.
The word ‘way’ in Hebrew is “derek” which means a road or a course of life, mode of action. The voice of our Father calls for the preparation of “THE WAY” of His Life. The word highway means thoroughfare, path and even staircase. The Bible clearly tells us of someone that is God’s course of life, that is a staircase or ladder, and that is His Son.
John 14:6,7 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
John 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Jesus stands at the door of our hearts (Rev 3:20) and is seeking to come in and abide with us and connect us to the Father. He is God’s way, He is God’s mode of action, His divine example of how we all should live. This is why the Father has placed the government upon His shoulders for He is the cornerstone upon which all other living stones must be patterned. We do not pattern the mountain, but the Rock that was brought forth from the mountain – the chip of the old or ancient block or mountain.
The Mountains
The ability for Jesus to come into our hearts has been blocked by mountains, valleys and rough places. Let’s consider the significance of these obstacles.
Lucifer refused to be patterned after the chief cornerstone but rather wanted to be like the ancient mountain.
Isa 14:12-14 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Lucifer wanted to be another mountain, to sit upon the mount of the congregation and rule over others and set his throne above the stars or sons of God. Ignoring the pattern of the chief cornerstone who always submitted in loving obedience to His Father, Lucifer sought to exalt himself. The philosophy behind this exaltation came to the human race via these words.
Gen 3:4,5 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
At the heart of the exaltation was the belief that life does not come from God but from ourselves or at least that once God had given it, He could not take it away. This is where the rival mountain arose and blocked the path of the cornerstone.
It is the spirit of Christ that is intended to flow into every heart. The ability to trust, submit and obey the Father was to be given to all creatures through Him.
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
The Spirit of the Son cries out in submission to the Father in the hearts of those who have no obstacles in the way. But Satan erected a mountain to stand in the way; a mountain of pride and self-sufficiency that tried to crush the seed of the woman.
Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
The making of one’s own name involves the building of a tower or mountain to demonstrate the ability of self. The city that was built alongside the tower was called Babel – “another path to God or salvation.” This mountain is the enemy of God and His Son and is challenged by the voice of Elijah when he cries “every mountain and hill shall be made low.” Our Father in heaven makes the issue clear when He states:
Jer 51:25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
A heart that seeks to be known by achievement and obtain a name through sheer merit will knowingly or unknowingly build a mountain that blocks the way of the Lord. Such a man will seek to pattern himself on the mountain, the original life source rather than the Rock, who inherited all He has and whose gratitude, affection and allegiance are always directed to another than Himself. Such a frame of mind is a Rock of offence to the man wishing to build his own tower. He refuses to build on the Rock Christ Jesus and therefore is left to build on the sand.
Satan is a cunning deceiver and knows that a direct opposition to Christ would meet with alarm and concern, so the spirit of Babylon turns the word ‘anti’ into “in place of.” Sitting in the temple of God claiming to be God. Satan develops a Christ that has Life original and unborrowed not in quality and inheritance only, but as source as well. He turns Christ from being the Rock brought forth from the mountain to being the very mountain of God Himself – exactly the thing he desired for himself. Thus Satan turns men towards worshipping a Christ patterned after himself and men flock to worship at the feet of this false Christ, for Christ is a rock of offense to all who would glory in their own wisdom, riches and strength.
The Valleys
Since all of God’s children are meant to be brethren and none of us were intended to think himself better than another, the process of exalting oneself must come at the expense of others. A man must take from another to build his own mountain and so valleys are created.
Instead of drinking from the fountain of the Throne of God via the Tree, they become replenished from the east or Babylon.
Isa 2:6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Men in their pursuit of wealth, riches and a name, turn their hearts from their wives and children and focus on their own development. They cease to function as priest and protectors of their home, and children are forced to live in the desert without the protection, love and seed of their father. The life that was meant to be in the tongue turns to the curse of death and the sting of the scorpion.
Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Children are forced to grow up in the valleys of depression and worthlessness and are sacrificed in the valley of Hinnom.
Jer 7:31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
The children of such parents drink from a stream that has disconnected itself from the parental authority of the Father and they learn to despise the authority of their parents and go deeper into the valley where the birds of prey circle.
Pro 30:17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.
This is the eye that Jesus said that if it offends thee, pluck it out; it is the eye of one that mocks and despises authority and all authority ultimately comes from the Father. Those who reject the Son of God are rejecting His authority and are indeed blind men.
The children of men who seek to climb the mountain Satan has created having lived in the wilderness with the curse of the serpents, often become desperate to escape the valley of depression and become much more determined to ascend into the holy hill and make themselves a name. Such men will stop at nothing to enter a more powerful circle of friends that they might be men of renown.
Such men become rough, crooked and perverse. They adopt the maxim that ‘the ends justify the means’ as their pursuit to reach the top of the mountain, and cry with the king of Babylon – “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” Dan 4:30. It is the most desperate men that seek to gain to highest pinnacles of this burnt mountain and this is why God allows the basest of men to rule in this world. This is the mountain that Satan carried Jesus to when he asked Him to bow down and worship him. Matt 4:8,9
Praise the Lord Jesus that He said:
Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Matt 4:10
Jesus rejected the mountain of Satan and his lie of the source of life coming from self. He worshipped the Father and acknowledged Him as His God, and wants the Father to be our God. Jesus tells us:
Matt 17:20 …for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
It is the Faith OF Jesus, the seed, the Word, the Rock that comes into our hearts and removes our mountains.
