mountains in covenant

Have you ever noticed how significant mountains are in the Scripture? So many covenants begin on mountains or are finalized there. I was reading John 14 again this morning and I began to see a comparison with the disciples experience, as Jesus prepared them for the New Covenant that would see the beginning of the Church, and Moses, as God prepared him to receive the written part of the Abrahamic covenant that would see the beginning of a nation. The conditions were so different yet the message to the heart was the same. Our conditions today are so very different from both of these, yet the message to our heart is the same. Prepare yourself to follow God's leading. God moves forward into areas that are uncharted for our human understanding. We have to prepare our selves to follow Him.

As I awakened this morning, the Spirit was speaking to me concerning the disciples and their human query of Jesus as they struggled to understand what He was saying to them at that final Passover as described by John. Thomas and Philip wanted an explanation of the Way that they could grasp in their minds. When Jesus said the "way they knew" was not explicit enough for them. But the Spirit was saying to me, the Way can be summed up in two words, and Jesus had given them the two words at the very beginning of their journey. It is the same for us as it was for them, "Follow Me." They became blindsided by their human expectation and interpretation of Jesus' words and actions. We become blindsided by the same human reactions as we try to fit God's words into our circumstances. We do not see the natural circumstances of our day and of our lives as God sees. We can only follow Him as He leads us through them.

The circumstances of the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai and the disciples facing Mt. Calvary were very different. But both were facing the ending of one "era" and the beginning of a new. We stand in the same position today. The time of the church age is drawing to a close. The day of opportunity is closing. God is preparing His people to move on to become a part of His next phase of bringing His purpose to completion: man in His image. The words of Jesus in these four chapters of John are as significant to the covenant for us as His Church as the Law was to the covenant for the nation of Israel. We may not understand completely but the way is still defined by His words: Follow Me.

We are going to begin a study of the teaching of Jesus to prepare His disciples, not only for the trauma they faced, but to be the foundation of the Church. These teachings are for us as we face a similar but different time. But our day is as formed by God as the day in which they lived. We are living in this time by God's purpose and plan.