Mountaintop Moments

I have two happy places, the beach or the mountains. Because I live close enough to the beach to enjoy it regularly, the mountains have become our favorite place to vacation. The beach is my regular recharge, while the mountains are my escape. I love to sit on the balcony of where we stay and watch the mountains as I drink my coffee. Something about it grounds me and brings me peace. 

The Bible frequently mentions mountains. There are 130 verses in the King James Version Bible that mention the word mountain. Many sermons have been preached concerning mountaintop experiences. Personally I feel we see the mountaintop through rose colored glasses. Commonly we see it as times of victory and triumph, whereas the valley represents our low points in life.

---

In scripture the first mountaintop moment that comes to mind is Moses on Mount Sinai. Victory and triumph isn’t the picture I get when I read about it. It was him and God standing on the threshold of a new dispensation. God handed down ten commandments written on tablets of stone. They couldn’t just live in promise anymore, now they had the law. These commandments weren’t light little suggestions. These were rules to reveal to Israel the sin in their lives. This weight was now placed on Moses to deliver. I am sure under the weight of those tablets, Moses didn't feel like running a victory lap.

Another mountaintop moment happens in 1 Kings 19. We find a very depressed prophet Elijah standing on Mount Horeb. Jezabel is after him and he feels like he is the only one left in Israel that is serving God. He was in such a bad place that he requested God take his life. Instead God sent him to stand on the mountain. A great wind whipped the mountain, but he was still alone. The earth shook beneath his feet, but he still stood alone. A fire sprung up around him, but he was still alone. Then he hears the still small voice of God. All of this and Elijah is still focused on being alone. God ignores what Elijah is choosing to focus on and gives him directions that would change the course for Israel. He was to anoint two new kings and anoint the prophet that would replace him. And as a side note when God is finished, He lets Elijah know that he wasn't the only one serving Him but one of 7,000 that still served God. Instead of shouts of victory, I see the ushering in of change.
​
In Luke 9 Jesus goes to a mountain with Peter, James and John to pray. In their weariness the disciples fall asleep. As Jesus prayed His countenance was changed and His clothes shone white and glittering. He was joined by Moses and Elijah. Men both familiar with mountaintop experiences. These men appeared in glory and spoke with Jesus about His coming death. When the disciples woke, they could not comprehend what was happening. Again in this mountaintop moment there was no shouting and dancing. I see revelation. I believe Jesus was preparing them for the change that was coming. 

We think of mountaintop moments as the highest point in our lives. We think those moments are our times of shouting the victory. Isaiah 55:9 says, “For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The highest point in our lives to God are our times of change. They are our moments alone with God when He reveals Himself to us. Mountaintop moments are moments before shifting.

---

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. - Acts 1:9-12 KJV

Forty days of teaching ended on a mountaintop. The disciples had to have felt like they were in a whirlwind. All in a few days they went from trial to death to resurrection to ascension.  It had to have felt like they just got Him back, then He was gone. They didn’t know it was another shifting. Jesus would no longer walk with man but His Spirit would be in man. I am sure there was confusion in that mountaintop moment, but Jesus had to take them to the mountaintop so they could experience the Upper Room in Acts 2. The Upper Room is where they truly had the victory.  Now they had the power of God inside of them.

Before we can have the victory shout, we have to have the change of the mountaintop moment. We have to have those hard, life changing moments so we can get to the victory shout. The children of Israel needed the Ten Commandments to prepare them to inherit the Promise Land. Elijah needed the mountaintop moment to remind him that he wasn’t alone. The disciples needed their mountaintop revelation to push them through to the Upper Room. You may not always like your mountaintop moment. It may be hard. It may be heavy. You may not understand why you had to go there, but your mountaintop prepares you for your victory.