Every mountain and hill made low.
Isaiah 40:4 NIVUK
I am a huge fan of mountains. One mountain view that I will never forget is from Germany's highest mountain, Zugspitze. It's simply breath-taking. It's so high that you can see into five different countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Liechtenstein. On a clear day, the view across the Alps is almost alien it's so beautiful.
But there is one other breath-taking characteristic that really stands out.
Let me explain. When we arrived at the bottom of the cable car, the temperature was a rather comfortable fifteen degrees Celsius. We were wearing light clothes and thin jackets. It was spring after all. And a delightfully sunny day.
At the top of the mountain it was zero degrees. Seriously. Fifteen degrees of difference within just a few minutes of cable car ride. There was even snow on the ground. People were skiing. We had a snowball fight. But you can imagine: the temperature difference really took us by surprise.
You see, it's cold at the top of the mountain. And the higher you go, the colder it gets. This is true for many of the world's highest mountains. It's also true for those who live on the mountain road.
But what could this phrase mean? This verse below gives us a clue:
Mount Bashan, majestic mountain, Mount Bashan, rugged mountain, why gaze in envy, you rugged mountain, at the mountain where God chooses to reign, where the Lord himself will dwell for ever?
Psalms 68:15-16 NIVUK
Mount Bashan, known nowadays as the Golan Heights on Israel's northern border, is 800m in height. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is only 740m. This prophecy is stating that the rugged mountain on the northern border is jealous of Mount Zion, not because it is taller, but because the Temple is there.
You see, there is another angle to this verse. The Hebrew word for 'mountain' also means 'promotion'. The word for 'hill' was often used to refer to a place where illicit, and often idolatrous, worship took place - a 'high place'.
In other words, the mountain road is where people go who promote other things, or even themselves, above the worship of God.
And this is where things really take a twist. You see, these verses were written at a crucial time in Jewish history. The northern kingdom of Israel had been taken captice by the Assyrians. After King Hezekiah of Judah had recovered from an illness, envoys from Babylon had arrived. Hezekiah sought to impress them and showed them everything in his palace and treasuries. When Isaiah found out about it, this is what he told Hezekiah:
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: the time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’
Isaiah 39:5-7 NIVUK
So one deeply painful exile had happened. Now another was being prophesied. Both were carried out by violent, godless men who had no fondness at all for Jewish religion, as the Assyrian king Sennacherib had earlier shown:
‘Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, “The Lord will deliver us.” Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’
Isaiah 36:18-20 NIVUK
The Bible teaches us that Sennacherib's army was massacred and he himself was put to death during an act of idol worship (Isaiah 37:36-38). The Israelites would have known this. So when they heard Isaiah say that mountains would be brought low, how would they have interpreted this? I'm sure they would have thought, "God brought those arrogant Assyrians to their knees. He'll do the same with the arrogant Babylonians."
But He didn't.
The prophecy was fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist. At the time, Israel was occupied and annexed by the idolatrous, and equally as arrogant, pagan Roman army. They had even sacrificed pigs on the altar in the Temple. So how do you think the Jews would have interpreted this prophecy? Perhaps they would have thought, "God will bring the Romans low and give us back our land."
But He didn't.
In fact, here's the even more curious thing: John didn't even discuss the evils of Roman occupation, except to state that Roman soldiers should not extort money (Luke 3:14), that their tax collectors shouldn't demand more than they should (Luke 3:12-13) and to call into question the obscene immorality being carried out by King Herod (Luke 3:19). John is absolutely silent about the huge injustice taking place right around him and the dreadfully humiliating deprivations his people were enduring.
So who did he target? Who was the subject of his fierce, uncompromising sermons?
Matthew tells us:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe has been laid to the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. ‘I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’
Matthew 3:7-12 NIVUK
This ought to unnerve us and make us thoroughly uncomfortable. There was so much wrong with their situation in the secular realm, yet John aims his most accusatory words for the Jewish religions leaders: the theologically orthodox, the scholars, those who had an incredibly detailed knowledge of the Word of God. Not for the occupying army. Not for the tax collectors. Not for the prostitutes. Not for the con-merchants. Not for the slave traders. Not for the pimps. But for religious men.
Why?
Because they ought to know better.
As Jesus explained rather pointedly:
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
John 5:39-40 NIVUK
This was the problem. The Pharisees, Sadducees and teachers of the law were absolute experts in the Law and its application. John never questioned that. Neither did Jesus.
But they didn't follow it themselves.
‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they preach.
Matthew 23:2-3 NIVUK
And worse, they made life impossibly hard for those who wanted to obey so that they would never be surpassed:
They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matthew 23:4 NIVUK
These rampant hypocrites were only concerned about themselves and not a jot about other people. This is what makes it bitterly cold at the top of the mountain road: self-focused religion. The worship of God perverted in idolatry.
John hated it. So did Jesus, His cousin.
Do we not see so-called Christians who behave like this nowadays? Excessive focus on status, on gifts, on 'knowledge', on dress codes, on styles of music, on ritual... Forget which denomination it comes from or what doctrine it's affiliated to, it's wrong. It's always wrong. It has always been wrong.
This type of worship, the smug attitude that says, "I'm right and everyone else is wrong", and the side-lining, backbiting and even excommunicating of those who dare to disagree on tiny, irrelevant details is not Christian. Not at all. It is quite the opposite.
But how can I say that?
Jesus summed up the whole law in these words:
'“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’
Matthew 22:37-40 NIVUK
Love God first of all, then love your neighbour and yourself in equal measure. Sketch these out on a piece of paper and it forms a triangle - a strong, resilient shape. Why is it strong? Why is it resilient? Because it means that your life is built on the solid rock of putting God first and obeying Him above all, and then rooting this in a strong, loving, supportive community, and a positive, caring view of yourself.
Flip this around, take God out of the picture, live in a context of fake, outward religious ritual, a mockery of a community where everyone is engaged in one-upmanship and has to be better than their brother or sister, and what do you have?
A lonely, cold, paranoid mess, where everyone is a competitor, everyone is an opponent, everyone is 'out to get you'. And you measure your self-worth by comparing youeself with others - something which is utterly foolish and an act of psychological self-harm. Gatherings of such people are a cruel and heartless parody of what the church is meant to be.
Jesus told a story that illustrates this perfectly:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” ‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Luke 18:9-14 NIVUK
Do you see how the Pharisee prayed? The English translation doesn't cover the scandalous force of the Greek. The phrase that says 'The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed' can also be translated 'The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself'. Imagine that! He dares to come into the presence of Almighty God, uses his outward religion as a cynical performance, looks down on a sincere, repentant sinner and prays, not to God, but himself! His worship of God has been warped into a worship of self. He is stuck on the mountain road.
And that road is deadly. That road is dangerous. That road is cold. In Scotland there are many stunning mountains with spectacular views. But Scottish weather is an untameable beast. The day might start off sunny, but as you climb you can experience rain, hail, even snow, and decreasing temperatures as you reach the summit. Lives are lost every year when the weather turns really bad during winter.
In John's day, for centuries, the mountains were also known for the present of rapacious wild beasts like lions or leopards (Song of Songs 4:8). They were simply not a place anyone in their right mind would want to be.
So how do you get off the mountain road?
You stop pretending. You start repenting. You do what the tax collector did. You beg for mercy from God because you are a sinner. That is the only way off the mountain road. There is no other way.
Brother, sister, if you see yourself in these words, you have to repent now, before the weather turns and you find yourself stuck in a deadly place. Or before you are attacked by wild, rapacious beasts who are stronger and more powerful than you. Bring your mountain road down low. Because that is how the desert is made ready for the coming of the Lord.
This verse doesn't just speak of deadly mountain and valley roads. It also speaks of the deadly CROOKED ROAD.
Comments