In the last month or so I felt a
mountain rising. At first I felt it
rising in myself, then I saw it rising in my family, then in my friends and
then it was displayed on a lamp pole as a local paper’s headline. The headline said “SA in the grip of fear” (“Land in die greep van vrees,” Die Burger, 2
December 2015) . When I saw that headline
I thought: “What a declaration over our
country” little did I know then that things would get even worse for South
Africa in the next couple of weeks. As I
was standing at the foot of this mountain, it was so big so wide so solid there
was no way I could see a way around it… nor over it… nor under it… In the
picture though there was a lake in front of the mountain with a perfect reflection
in the water. As I was standing at the
foot of the mountain I could look to my right and to my left… and the reflection
made it difficult to discern what the real mountain was and what was only the
reflection, yet I knew in my spirit that one had to be a counterfeit. Over time as I was praying I believe the Holy
Spirit showed me that the name of the mountain is “fear”. I started discovering subtle things that causes
fear that I was not even aware of… and then there were the
not-so-subtle-fearful-things in my life.
Likewise I could see and hear the same kind of things featuring in some
of my friend’s lives. Sometimes we fear
without even realising it and some of it is so real. The Word says what we fear will happen to us,
fear steals our joy. I know it is sin and that God has not given us a spirit of
fear but one of love, power and a sound mind.
Then one morning totally
unexpectedly the Lord led me to Heb. 12:18-28. To my surprise this scripture
spoke of two mountains. One was a
mountain of fear - the watery reflection or counterfeit of the real mountain
the other the mountain of redemption, mercy and encouragement. In Heb. 12:18-20 the Lord clearly stated that
we have not come to the mountain of fear…
18 For
you have not come [as did the
Israelites in the wilderness] to a
mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to gloom and
darkness and a raging windstorm,
19 and to the blast of a
trumpet and a sound of words [such that] those who heard it begged that nothing
more be said to them. 20 For they could not bear the command, “If even a wild animal
touches the mountain, it will be stoned [to
death].” 21 In
fact, so terrifying was the sight, that Moses said, “I am filled with fear and trembling.”
But that we have come to Mount Zion
that is the mountain of mercy, this is the real mountain, the mountain where He
is the righteous Judge, where we are surrounded by an heavenly host of angels
and righteous men. A cloud of witnesses (Heb
12:1) that encourages us to finish the race, to face the fear, to draw near to our
faithful, merciful, graceful God in boldness and in faith. We came to a
mountain with a mediator, a new covenant, and the blood of Jesus that cries out
for our redemption…
22 But you
have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels [in festive gathering], 23 and to the general assembly
and assembly of the firstborn who are registered [as citizens] in heaven, and
to God, who is Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous (the redeemed
in heaven) who have been made perfect [bringing them to their final glory],
24 and to Jesus, the
Mediator of a new covenant [uniting God and man], and to the sprinkled blood,
which speaks [of mercy], a better and
nobler and more gracious
message than the blood of Abel
[which cried out for vengeance].
What an amazing discovery to make
that in one chapter in the Bible so clearly two mountains are mentioned – even mentioned
in the context of fear. I kept reading
and discovered more…
Heb 12:25-28
25 See to it that you do not
refuse [to listen to] Him who is speaking [to you now]. For if those [sons of
Israel] did not escape when they refused [to listen to] him who warned them on
earth [revealing God’s will], how much less will we escape if we turn our backs on Him who warns from heaven? 26 His voice shook the earth [at Mount Sinai] then,
but now He has given a promise, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth,
but also the [starry] heaven.” 27 Now
this [expression], “Yet once more,” indicates the removal and final transformation of all those
things which can be shaken—that is, of that which has been created—so that
those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which
cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, and offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship with reverence
and awe; 29 for
our God is [indeed] a consuming fire.
I discovered that the Lord is
speaking to me and that I should not refuse to listen to him. He is speaking through my circumstances,
finances, through the signs of the times, through my thoughts and emotions. All the things I experience as things that
causes fear, through all of it the voice of God was resounding in my spirit. He will shake heaven and earth to remove all
those things in my (our?) lives that can be shaken, all those things I put in
place or create for myself that are still of this world and that needs a final transformation,
all of it will be shaken – so that only those things that is of God’s
Unshakeable Kingdom will remain. Suddenly
in the spirit I saw my picture of the real mountain and the counterfeit
reflection again and I realised that if that world is shaken the reflection
would move. The counterfeit would become
full of ripples and waves as the water moves and one would easily discern the
real mountain from the reflection. What
will remain will be an unmistakable steady, solid knowing, the assurance of the
presence of His Unshakeable Kingdom never to be mistaken for the reflection
again.
Therefore, since I am an heir of this
Unshakeable Kingdom, let me listen, heed to God as He speaks to me about the
things that still can be shaken, and let me show gratitude to him offering
pleasing service and acceptable worship to him.
For my God is indeed a consuming fire, to be worshiped in reverence and
awe… and with those words one final revelation, the final puzzle piece fell
into place. The name of the real
Mountain of Fear is the Unshakable Mountain of the Fear of the Lord… where
worship is brought to Him – the righteous Judge - in reverence and in awe…
© Author: HG Venter 2015
