THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD

Israel had many sacred places -- the tabernacle in the wilderness, the temple in Jerusalem, and various altars men erected to God -- but Horeb was unique. Its name meant "desolation." It was on Mt Horeb that God revealed Himself to Moses and it was to Horeb that Elijah fled when all he knew to do had failed. Horeb was "The Mountain Of God."

As a geographic and historic place, Horeb was weighty with spiritual significance. Yet the reality symbolized by Horeb -- that God chose a desolate place and then drew desolate men there to meet with Him -- is a truth that resonates yet today. Horeb's message is this: the Lord does not turn away from our desolation,,, the stony desolation of our heart where bleakness and barrenness prevail; He comes to redeem it.

At Horeb our lives simplify and focus on those few things which are most important. Saints, you will know you are at Horeb when God cuts you back to the root source of your spiritual life. At Horeb we become people of “One Thing”… Jesus!

You will not necessarily become a better person at Horeb. For Horeb is not about the perfection of Self; it's about the abandonment of Self. It is about the discovery that in us -- in our successes and our failures -- there dwells "no good thing." Here, we stop performing and start conforming to the surrendered life of Christ, as the birth-pains of abiding come forth.

At Horeb the morphine of religion wears off, and we can once again feel our pain. Reality manifests. We see ourselves in the Light of God, and as we do, we fall upon Christ the cornerstone (Luke 20:18). Though "broken to pieces," we are finally fit to be used by God.

For those who are even now at Horeb, open your heart and soul fully to your loving Daddy. He knows. He sees. He feels your bewilderment, pain, and regret, and loves you just as you are. Whatever He says, do it. When you leave Horeb your pathway to Calvary will be well worn, and your submission to the Lordship of Christ a way of life.  

Recall the infusion of life that Moses and Elijah, the men of Horeb, each experienced beyond their season of desolation. Both experienced a type of the resurrection that is to come (Jude; 1 King 20). And in a mystery beyond our comprehension, it was these two Horebites who appeared in splendorous glory and spoke with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-3).

Horeb, once the place of desolation, is redeemed and revealed as a gateway to God. It is here, in brokenness and fearless honesty that God, the Master Potter, does His best work.

Horeb is the mountain of God. And once here, we are just steps away from the shelter of the Most High. “Who may ascend into the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” (Psalms 24:3-4)

My Father, I bow before You. I confess my abject need of You. My guard is down, my actor is dead, and with him I fear my dreams are also gone. Yet you give dreams even to old men. You are the Resurrection. I cast myself upon You, O great God of my salvation. Draw me into Your holy shelter, and renew me. In Jesus Most Precious Name, Amen… So Be It!

WHO MAY ASCEND INTO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD?

HE WHO HAS CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE HEART

(Adapted and modified from a chapter in Francis Frangipane’s bestselling book, The Shelter of the Most High)

IS GOD A RESPECTER OF PERSONS?

The Bible explains itself. For example: Is God a respecter of persons? Does God show partiality? If we look at the context of the seven passages where this precept is discussed we find they deal with salvation, judgment or rewards, the context explains the thought. Therefore, God is no respecter of persons when it comes to salvation, judgment, or rewards. These areas withheld, of course God is a respecter of persons. He created us as unique individuals with unique pathways of transformation, respecting our uniqueness.

Some examples: John the Baptist spent 30 years in the woods eating bugs, followed by a three month local ministry than loss of his head. Stephen, the newly appointed deacon, was stoned to death before he could get new business cards printed, while Phillip, another deacon, stepped beyond astral projection and moved physically and instantaneously from place to place, carried by the wind of the Holy Spirit. Eleven of the original apostles were tortured and killed while the twelfth, the Apostle John, lived to a ripe old age dreaming of heaven.  The Apostle Paul suffered far more than any one recorded in scriptures and was beheaded in prison, while Lazarus was raised from the dead to a long and peaceful life.  And then there is Hebrews 11 where the great faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, is juxtaposed with the equally great faith of other saints who were tortured, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawed in two, slain with the sword, and left destitute, afflicted, tormented and homeless.  God does not treat us all the same; He deals with each of His children as uniquely created beings with unique personalities, dispositions, and proclivities, whom He has predestined to be conformed into the nature of His Son. He is focused on our perfection, our transformation into Christlikeness, and uses the unique circumstances of our life to mold and shape us.

“THEREFORE YOU SHALL BE PERFECT,

JUST AS YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT”

(Acts 10;32; Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9; Col. 3:25; James 2:1; 1 Peter 1:17; 2 Chron. 19:7; Rom. 8:29, 12:2; Matt. 5:48)

DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”(1 Jn. 2:15-17)

The word “world”, used six times in this passage, is translated from the Greek word kosmos and has a primary meaning of order, regular disposition, and arrangement. It is used in scripture as the sum total of human life in the ordered world, alienated from and hostile to God, and of the earthly things which seduce people away from God. Kosmos is an ordered system: It has a government, the principalities and powers of darkness. It has a leader, satan. It has emissaries, fallen angles and demons. And it has subjects, the unsaved masses of the human race. Kosmos, as a world-system, can be religious, cultured, refined, and intellectual, but it is anti-God and anti-Christ, espousing purposes, pursuits, pleasures, and practices that God abhors.

Here is a good definition of the world “world” as The Apostle John used it:

All that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations, desires at anytime current in the world, which it may be impossible to seize and accurately define, but which constitutes a most real and effective power, being the immoral atmosphere which at every moment of our lives we inhale, again inevitable to exhale. This is the world system to which John refers. (Trench, modified)

The “world” is what the philosophers call Zeitgeist, a powerful force embedded in the individuals of a society that espouse a dominant set of ideals and beliefs motivating the actions of the members of the society in a particular period in time.   This is the spirit of this age, our age, the end times. Zeitgeist is satan personified…

AND THE WORLD IS PASSING AWAY

AND THE LUST OF IT

BUT HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD

ABIDES FOREVER

BELIEVING INTO GOD

When Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the Branches” He was word painting a picture of epic importance, a metaphor based on a real life reality.   “Abide in Me, and I in you”: This command, when obeyed, establishes reciprocal co-habitation with God, a continuous 24/7 union of Branch and Vine.

When God said “Seek My face” He was not referring to a onetime event, rather establishing an on-going “seeking” lifestyle. “Face” here is translated from the Hebrew panim which means “presence” as it is translated in Ex. 33: 14, 15 where God told Moses that His presence (panim, His face) would go with him. “Seek My face”: This command, when obeyed, establishes a God Seeker lifestyle, continually seeking His life changing presence. 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The intent of John 3:16 is not to believe “in Him”, but rather to believe “into Him”, into Christ: The Greek eis, translated “in” literally means movement into Him, into His presence where our “life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Saints, God has commanded our lifestyle should be cohabitation with God, abiding as a branch to its vine in total union and dependence, “for without Me (Christ) we can do nothing.”  God further commands that we be God Seekers, seeking His life changing presence as a way of life. Our faith will grow as we believe into Christ, drawing the resurrection power from the vine to sustain us as we grow into Him. When God says, “Seek My face”... My presence, our heart must say, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” And did I mention fullness of Joy…

 (Jn. 15:4, 5; Ps. 27:8; Col. 3:3)

“I AM THE VINE, YOU ARE THE BRANCHES”

INFINITESIMAL SMIDGEN OF TIME

Understand we follow the God who chose the way of the Cross.  If our Father and our Savior did not avoid the “place of the skull”, then we should not be surprised where God might lead us. His will is unpredictable, His ways beyond our comprehension, and He does not esteem this infinitesimal smidgen of time we call life. 

The Apostle Paul met the Flogging Post of most towns he visited, enduring whippings, canings and scourgings, planting churches by the flesh of his back. It is clear this was God’s will for Paul, God having showed him how many things he would “suffer for My name’s sake.” Hear how the great Apostle to the gentiles viewed suffering by his own words: “For I (Paul) consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us … I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ … That no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this ... From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus … For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Notice the plural pronouns -- us, we, our – Paul uses to clarify that “we”, the saints throughout time, “are appointed to this”… appointed to affliction.

Hear the Apostle Peter’s words: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” Suffering produces a change in our nature – holiness – whereby we “cease from sin.” Suffering and sacrifice arm us with the mind of Christ producing transformational faith as we learn to trust in, cling to, rely upon, and depend upon God. Adversity and affliction are therefore “not worthy to be compared with the glory (the nature of Christ) which shall be revealed in us.” We learn obedience through the things we suffer, just as Christ “learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Suffering and sacrifice are not the worse things that can happen to us - disobedience to God is! 

(Rom. 8:18; 1Cor. 4:17; Acts 9:16; Gal. 6:17; Col. 1:24; 1 Thess. 3:3; Heb. 5:8; 1 Peter 4:1)

ARM YOURSELVES WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST

SCISSORING THROUGH MUD TO MAKE A POINT

MUD PIES: We repudiate self-flagellation and all other forms of penitence as unscriptural, while imposing an attenuated version on ourselves, equating boring pleasure less lives with godliness. “All I need is stale bread, potable water and God, gosh darn it, and I’m happy.” Mud pies! The basic desires of the human heart are God given for we were made in His likeness. At issue is not that we have desires but how we satisfy them as Kingdom children.

DON’T MISS THE POINT: We don’t have to suffocate our natural desires to please God, and we don’t have to ignore God’s precepts and commands to please ourselves. God made provision for the fulfillment of our natural desires within the boundaries of His sandbox so the pleasure-fruit of our spent desires does not rot with guilt and empty regret. If we let life become a choice between enjoyment and serving God we have really missed the point.

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS: We fulfill desires by “spending” them, purchasing the pleasure-fruit they produce. Said another way, we sow desires and reap their pleasure-fruit. Christians are adept at removing scriptural obstacles to spending desire in the world much like a saintly Edward Scissorhands, snipping out any restraining passages: “Oh, I don’t think you have to “Blank” to be a Christian”, missing the truthfulness of their first four words. We can fulfill our desires in the Kingdom’s sandbox or the world’s litter box. The pleasure-fruit of spent desire will produce in kind, righteous fruit or those stinky little…

ENJOYING LIFE IN GOD'S SANDBOX

WHOSE COMMANDMENTS DO WE KEEP

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” It is contextually correct to interpret Hebrews 1:1-2 as directly referencing the Old Testament and New Testament respectively, since the broad context of the whole book of Hebrews is the comparison of these two covenants and the replacement of the lesser, the Old Testament Mosaic Covenant of the Law, with the greater, the New Testament Covenant of Grace.

The New Testament is God speaking forth the revelation of His Son.  The prophets spoke as mere mouthpieces, but when the Son spoke it was God Himself speaking, and in a sense it is God being revealed By His Son in and through the Son’s life, the Son’s message, the Son’s redemptive work, and the Son’s  return to establish His (i.e., God’s) eternal Kingdom. The New Testament reveals to mankind God’s redemptive plan established before the foundations of the world with the foreordained sacrifice of the Son of His love, that we, the “us” of Hebrews 1:2, might be partakers of salvation and know eternal fellowship with God through His Covenant of Grace –indescribable grace.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments … He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (Jn. 14:15, 21, 15:10)

Notice Jesus specifically said to keep “My” commandments in these three passages; scripture repeats this command thirteen times. “His commandments” are the commandments flowing forth out of the life, words, and redemptive work of Christ recorded in the New Testament. There are 1050 New Testament commandments, which reduces to about 800 when redundancies are removed. These commandments cover every phase of man’s relationship to God and his fellowmen, now and hereafter. If obeyed they will bring rich rewards now and forever. These should not be confused with the Old Testament Ten Commandments which are part of the Law of Moses applicable to the Old Covenant. The New Covenant of Grace abolishes the Law of Moses including the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment is the only commandment of the Ten Commandments that is not specifically reintroduced as a New Testament commandment (some in modified form), so nine of the Ten Commandments are still in force in the New Covenant as New Covenant commandments. Keeping the Sabbath holy, the fourth commandment, is no longer applicable so we are free to set aside Saturday or any other day as a special day devoted to God. To make keeping the Old Testament Sabbath a New Covenant commandment would be paramount to dragging the Law into Grace. We cannot do that…

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments … Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.” (Jn. 2:3, 3:22, 24)

Now these are serious thoughts from a serious God. Since God the Holy Spirit wrote the commandments of God the Son down for us we can be sure God the Father is serious about how we conduct ourselves.  “Be holy, for I am holy … Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” It is in obedience that we “pursue holiness.” For a list of New Testament commandments with scripture references see Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, pages 544-548 or visit Christian Assemblies International at https://www.cai.org/bible-studies/1050-new-testament-commands

(1 peter 1:16; Heb. 12:44)

“KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS”