TAKING THE HIGH GROUND

TAKING THE HIGH GROUND

                “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.” PS. 48:1-2.

                If we could look behind the scenes at the great invisible battle that is going on for the high ground of the earth, we would gain an entirely different picture of the many Bible stories that make up our spiritual history.

                In Genesis 3:15 God threw down the gauntlet declaring that there would be war between the seed of Satan and the seed of the Woman. (God’s chosen people as represented by the one Seed Jesus Christ.

                With the contest in play we see in Genesis 6 that 200 fallen angels landed upon Mt. Hermon with the intent of corrupting human seed so that the Seed of the Woman could not be born into the human race. They corrupted human DNA and animal DNA, bringing forth offspring that could not produce the Son of Man. These became the Nephilim tribes that inhabited the land both before and after the flood.

                So God picked Noah, a man of faith who was still perfect in his generations (in other words, no corrupted DNA) and had him build a ship to rescue his family along with all of the animals that God directed to the Ark. The entire corrupted population was wiped out and the spirits of the Nephilim became the demons, the gods of myth that have plagued humanity throughout history.

                With every one of the ten plagues that God brought upon Egypt, he was defying the gods that ruled over Egypt. He drew His people out and separated them from their gods. He marched them through the Red Sea as a sort of mass baptism… a death to Egypt and its gods. And when Pharaoh pursued them, He drowned them in the sea, thus demonstrating His mighty power over the gods of Egypt.

                Then God led them to the foot of Mt. Sinai. He came down and established Sinai as His territory and the first thing He did was to say: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”

                Here again God throws down the gauntlet. His people will serve and obey Him. They will choose Him as their only God. They will no longer worship the idols representing the lesser gods. From now on they will worship the God of creation, the God of the creation Sabbath and they would begin to treat each other as respectable children of God… made in His image.

                In their conquering of Canaan we see God using His people and empowering them to clear His chosen land. Again as at the flood, God had to destroy an infestation of Satan’s demonic hordes. Satan had purposely placed these hordes in Canaan because of God’s promises to Abraham. So Satan had 450 years to establish a stronghold in Canaan, once again to prevent the people of promise and the Child of promise from being fulfilled.

                Later on through David we begin to see the significance of Mt. Zion. God had made it the place of His eternal dwelling. He had placed His name there and His tabernacle there and from that day on, Mt. Zion would become the most highly contested mountain in the entire world. David says it like this:

                “The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; He is exalted over all the peoples… Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy.” Ps. 99:2, 9.

                In direct opposition to Mt. Zion is Mt. Hermon where the fallen angels descended to corrupt the earth. It sits on the north east corner of the land of Israel at the head waters of the Jordon next to Caesarea Philippi. The translators mistranslated Psalm 68:15, 16 saying “Oh mountain of God, when in this case it should have been translated, “Oh Mountain of the gods.” Correctly it reads:

                O mountain of the gods, mountain of Bashan; (Mt. Hermon) O many peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan! Why do you look with hatred, O many- peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes where the Lord will dwell forever? Ps. 68:15, 16.

                Here we have a picture of the gods of the fallen angels staring with hatred and jealousy at Mt. Zion and the city of the Great King in Jerusalem. After all, Satan’s great aspiration is to be like the Most High. We find this information in Isaiah 14 where we read:

                How have you fallen from heaven O Lucifer, star of the morning, son of the dawn? You have been cut down to the earth. You who have weakened the nations. But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north.” Isa. 14:12-13 

                Satan had established Mt. Hermon as His headquarters for his pantheon of gods, but HE is raging in his heart for Mt. Zion. He wants to reign as God. He wants to usurp the throne of God, to be worshipped as God. He wants a global government over which he can rule with impunity. He wants to be like the Most High.

                So when Jesus comes to earth, we see Him demonstrating a zeal for the house of God. WE see Him driving out the money changers. We see Him casting out the demons that had been allowed back into the land by the worship of idols.

                What is Jesus doing? He is clearing out His territory. He is driving the gods out of His land. IN a blind rage they come at Him with all that they have. They do the worst thing they can think of to do to Him. They crucify Him as a hideous criminal. They get ready to shout the victory… but they have been led into a trap.

                In 1 Cor. Chapter 2 Paul talks about a mystery, hidden wisdom “which God predestined before the ages to our glory: the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; FOR IF THEY HAD UNDERSTOOD  IT THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CRUCIFIED THE LORD OF GLORY…” 1 Cor. 2:8.

                When Jesus rose from the dead, they saw their mistake. They realized that they were forever doomed. Through death Jesus had conquered sin and death. He had won the contest and now He would play it out in real time through His followers, His church.

                It is interesting to note that in this invisible war over mountains, Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi and there He took them to the place where people worshipped the gods, especially the goat god Pan. There Jesus asked His disciples who people say that He is… then HE as ked them who they thought He was and Peter answered; “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” and Jesus replied: “Blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.” Mt. 16:18

                What was that all about anyway? Well, here they were in Caesarea Philippi at the grotto of the gods at the foot of Satan’s headquarters, Mt. Hermon. And Jesus is telling them that the gates of hell would not in any way conquer those who would embrace Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God.

                Right in the heart of Satan’s territory Jesus declares victory and then here is the clincher. “Six days later Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves and there He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun and His garments became as white as light and behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

                Some scholars like to say that Jesus was transfigured on Mt. Tabor. After all, surely Jesus would not choose to be transfigured on Satan’s mountain, Mt. Hermon. But Mt. Tabor is to the south in lower Galilee while Mt. Hermon is on the northern border of Lebanon, rising above Caesarea Philippi right where they had been.

                Why would Jesus do that? And while we are at it, would that not have been a good time for Jesus to be transfigured in front of all 12 disciples and even in front of the crowds that followed Him? Why was He transfigured in secret when He could have revealed His glory to thousands of people?

                The answer is that Jesus was not putting on this show for the people. He was once again throwing down the gauntlet right at Satan’s doorstep. He was serving notice that He was about to take the high ground. He was going to destroy principalities and powers and take authority over all the power of the enemy. He was claiming Mt. Hermon and putting it under the rule of Mt. Zion, His holy mountain.

                When Jesus returns at the end of the final battle of Armageddon, He will walk through the eastern gate into Jerusalem and take up residence there where He will rule the nations with a rod of iron for 1000 years. During which time He will restore all things including the glories of Eden and He will reign with His people from Jerusalem forever. Zech. 14:1-5, Rev. 19:14, Rev. 20:4

                I believe that the 1000 year reign of Christ will be a training time for His people. We need to learn how to administer God’s eternal government using eternal principles. We are, after all, the ones who will make sure that sin never rises again. We are His witnesses, not only to our neighbors in the here and now, but in His ever-increasing government for all eternity. It is our testimony that will render the universe eternally secure.

                So, we ask, “If Jesus conquered Satan and his forces at the cross, then why are we still fighting him? Why are the nations still in an uproar? Why is Mt. Zion still the most contested piece of real estate in the world?

                I believe that what Jesus did FOR us at Calvary, He now wants to do IN us and THROUGH us. He is training us to reign. We have been adopted into His royal family, but we have much to learn about reigning as a royal heir. We scarcely know the authority that has been conferred upon us. We tend to live in the flesh and limit our vision to the things of the flesh, when we could be living in the Spirit and putting Satan and his minions to flight.

                We need to realize as Jesus said, that we do not lord it over people like the pagans do. In Christ’s kingdom, if we want to be great then we must become servants. God gives. He doesn’t take. He serves. He lays down His life for His sheep. The ways of royalty are not like the world’s ways. We tend to fight with people when our real enemy is Satan. WE allow division to come between us because we don’t recognize who is pulling the strings.

                We often live far below our potential because we don’t really understand the battle or the players… and Satan is setting much of the church up for failure because he is removing our prophetic view. He is tricking us into abandoning key doctrines that bring victory… minimizing the sources of His power for us such as repentance from dead works… overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony… death to self and to Egypt as we come out of it and put the Red Sea between us and the world.

                When we accept the blood of Christ over our sins, we put Satan on notice as to who is our Savior

                When we keep His commandments, we put Satan on notice as to who we obey.

                When we give our tithes, we put Satan on notice that God is our accountant and the authority over our lives, even our money.

                When we claim Yeshua as our Savior and Lord, we put Satan on notice that we belong to the                      seed line of faith. We are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

                When we accept the Bible as our only rule of faith and practice, we put Satan on notice that we                only recognize one source of authority. We will live by God’s Word.

                When we come to the foot of the cross, we put Satan on notice that in this great conflict of the                ages we would rather die with Christ than to live one moment for Satan. In it we acknowledge    that Jesus won that battle, Satan was defeated and forever lost his right to rule us.

                When we take communion we sup with Him in recognition that His death was sufficient. We      gladly enter into death with Him in order that we might be raised up in the likeness of His              resurrection. We stand on a covenant signed in His blood. He will never break it!           

                In waiting for our soon coming King, we proclaim that He has conquered death and the grave     and that He will return as promised, as King of kings and Lord of lords.

                It’s time for us to take our stand on the high ground. It is time to declare our allegiance to Jesus                Christ. It is time to stand with Jesus Christ as He prepares to return to Mt. Zion, the city of the          Great King.

                Can you now see why Jerusalem is so highly contested today? If you think that the visible battle over God’s territory is great, you ought to see the invisible battle. Everyone is fighting over Jerusalem and most of the players belong to Satan. Jerusalem has become a cup of reeling, or trembling for all peoples. Satan is still trying to prevent the return of the Messiah. He is still fighting for the high ground… and that is why we are instructed to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and that is why God says that He will bless them that bless Israel and curse them that curse Israel.

                Surely we must understand that Satan is doing all he can to dumb down the church and to weaken it through compromise. He is also doing everything he can to blind us to the power and authority we have in Christ. He loves seeing us out in the battlefield without our armor on. We are in the middle of Earth’s greatest battle. It is a gargantuan battle between opposing spiritual forces. It is a battle between the mountains of Satan and the mountain of God and Satan is now forming His global defense against the coming of our Lord.

                We are entering into this final fray and we can recognize the times, largely because it is a fight over Jerusalem and that, of course, is where all of the final battles will be fought. .. and we can see the invading armies forming on Israel’s borders even now.  Selah.