“On this Mountain” - Intro

Isaiah‬ ‭25‬:‭1‬, ‭7‬-‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬
”Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago... On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”“
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I have never subscribed to the idea that the spiritual membrane separating our existence from God's is any thinner on one part of this Earth than another. But this idea does come to a head when one reads about the divine meeting his people on Mt. Horeb, Ararat, Sinai, Olive etc... I've always taken these moments of God's instruction and declaration of a Holy Land because it is where he is! Either way, it's amazing that we have historically accurate and still visitable landmarks of the ancient biblical world! Thousands if not millions visit these areas, mostly worshippers of the Abrahamic tradition (Jews, Christians, and Muslims), but many non-religious invididuals as well! So many come with a hope to witness even a fraction of the divine. Hoping that even the smallest residual of God's glory has been left for the rest of us to be captured by, despite all of those who have come before us.

I read this passage just as we are on the bus ride to our flight to the Holy Land. In the month of our Lord and Saviors death and resurrection, I think reading this verse before this trip to be a wonderful reminder that his plan does not require us to witness the mountain, but his son. Please understand, the last thing I'd wish for anyone reading this is to think that I don't look forward to going! I'm very excited to see some of the cities, roads, geography, even the very stars, all that Jesus himself looked at! What I'd hate for anyone who hasn't gone, is to believe that they are missing out on something that will make them more spiritual. That to not go would mean they are less of a Christian! That would just be so untrue! However that is how many of us including myself are tempted to feel. That is how our Abrahamic cousins are made to feel, if the Muslim doesn't travel to Mecca, or a Jewish man to Jerusalem. Amen that our God has given us all we need to find and worship him.

I don't think I'll find God anymore than I have found him in my back yard, at the park, or in my neighbors home... but I do think, "Wow! What a joy and privilege I have to visit where the divine became human!" Even though God's glory is all around, I'm so excited to witness and relfect on our where our savior gave his life for ours. Soon I will be able to stand and think, "It's incredible to think God's plan for love to defeat death all culminated here, 'On this mountain.'"