[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast, Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: All right, welcome everybody. It's good to see y' all here on this week before Christmas, Christmas Eve. So we will not be meeting for this class next week or the week afterwards because there will be the singing and devo and the main auditorium for all Wednesday night Bible classes. So if you come here on Wednesday night next or the following, I will be wholly unprepared because I'm just following the direction of the shepherds and not going to have class. So if you come up here, just let me know. I'll come up to him. We can chat and talk about mountains.
I have some bad news. Y' all know I run usually like two to four minutes over. Anyway, I forgot my watch. It was dead at home. So we're gonna run way over tonight. Cause we're just gonna pretend like clocks aren't a thing.
Forget the bell. I know that's an auditory cue. We've been talking this quarter on the Mountain of God. We have talked about creation. We've talked about the Garden of Eden. We've talked about Babylon. We've talked about Mount Moriah, Moriah, depending on how you pronounce it. We've talked about last week, Mount Sinai. So the new thing that we learned last week about mountains is mountains tend to be coincident with where the law comes from. So this is the. You'll see throughout the text the Mountain of God. Especially with what we're going to talk about tonight. We're going to be in the Book of Psalms, so be prepared for that. So tonight in the Book of Psalms, one of the things that pops up a lot is on the Mountain of God. And depending on the context, that can mean Sinai. Like we're looking back at Sinai, back at that big scary mountain. You all remember the imagery we read from.
I think it was Exodus, chapter 19, Exodus chapter 19 talked about the clouds and the earthquakes and the fire and all of these, the thunder.
So you might see that in terms of mountain of God, but you can also see it in terms of, hey, Solomon has built his temple. It's now at Zion. So we're looking at that mountain of God where the temple of God exists.
So the Bible Project, if you go through their series, they do a week on David and a week on Solomon. I'm skipping those weeks just for the sake of time.
I don't have enough time to cover everything that they hit. But if you want to, you can go back and look at those. But I don't think it'll be super critical, the things that we missed from those lessons.
They also did one on Elijah at Mount Carmel, and then after that at Mount Sinai, Mount Horeb. We're going to return to that right after New Year. We're going to come back to Elijah and do that. And then following after Elijah, we'll talk about just the mountains as they show up in the prophets in general, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest of the books of the Old Testament. And then we'll spend two weeks talking about the mountains that Jesus finds himself on, especially in the book of Matthew. So we'll spend first week with the first three mountains in Matthew and the second week with the second three mountains in Matthew. And then at the very end, we'll end with Hebrews and Revelation. So I guess what I'm trying to say is we're right in the thick of it. We're dead in the middle of mountains in the Bible, and y' all stuck with me this far.
We are going to take a little bit of a break from my normal breakneck speed here in this class.
And if you've read through the Book of Psalms, I think one that's on my bookshelf at home is called Praying through the Psalms. You'll find that there is a lot of literature about psalms being meditation literature. The very first Psalm itself talks about on his Law, the person of God meditates day and night. And so to kind of fall in with that theme of meditating on the Psalms and taking some time to breathe and process them and read through them. We're still going to be doing it through the lens of the mountains. But if you saw my groupme message on Sunday, I think it was. If you didn't, you're not out of the running here. If you saw my groupme message on Sunday that said, hey, be looking for where mountains show up in the Psalms, you're already ahead of the curve. If you didn't take a look at that already, then if you're a written text person, maybe pull out your smartphone and pull out Google or ChatGPT or your favorite Bible app and start doing a search through the Book of Psalms, looking for mountains and where they pop up inside of the book of Psalms. And. And we're going to take some time. You can write them down if you have a text writing tablet or something, or if you just want to make notes on your phone, but write the ones that you find down. And then in about five minutes, after you've taken some time to read through these and think through these, I'm just going to open up the floor. I'll take the first one.
And what I'm going to ask you guys to do is give the reference of where you're reading from in the Book of Psalms, then read the verse in its context. So if it's broken up into stanzas or something along those lines, then maybe read the three or four verses around that verse.
If you can identify a theme that is found within that passage in the Psalms, then say, hey, this is talking about the Lord, how he takes care of his people. And then if you want to offer your own personal reflection, that would be optional. And even the third one is optional as well. If that's not really your thing, that's fine. But the. The two that I'm really trying to get into is over the next five, five minutes, you searching for mountains in the Psalms and then taking five to 10 minutes to slowly read through that and process that. So I'm going to turn the floor over to you guys to look through your Bible apps or look through the text of your Bible yourselves. And I'll get back up in about five minutes and we will. I'll open it up with this right here.
If y' all want to keep looking, you can. Or after I read this one, if you want to offer up your own, that's fine as well. I'll be reading from Psalm 121.
We said a couple weeks ago that Psalm 120 through Psalm 134 are the Psalms of ascent.
So this is the second Psalm of ascent. Psalm 121.
I look up toward the hills. Where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth.
Again, Psalm 121. I look up toward the hills.
We said hills was a synonym or the same word in Hebrew, often as mountains. So I look up toward the hill. Where does my help come My help comes from the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The theme here, we said that hills, mountains, that is the domain of God. And coming down from that domain of God is his strong right hand. I think the later passage says, or a different passage in the Psalm of ascent says that the strength of the Lord to protect us comes from his mountains. So if you have others, I'm not going to call on anybody. Just offer up what you find, if you don't mind giving the reference and the verse and its context.
Psalm 2. Starting in verse 1, why do the nations rebel? Why are countries devising plots that will fail?
The kings of the earth form a united front. The rulers collaborate against the Lord and His anointed king. They say, let us tear off the shackles they've put on us. Let's free ourselves from their ropes.
The one enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust. The Lord taunts them.
Then he angrily speaks to them and terrifies them in his rage, saying, I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: Psalms 19.
The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words. No sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out to all the earth, their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It's like a bridegroom coming out of a chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes a circuit to the other. Nothing is deprived of its warmth. The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. Statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: So as we look at these psalms.
Thank you, by the way, in participating in that.
I enjoy doing class like that.
When we look at these psalms, granted, not all of these images are present in every single reference that y' all gave.
But what.
What is being offered by the psalmist when they talk about mountains, holy hills here in the verses that we just read?
Yeah, again, Mount Sinai. This is the place where we see his presence. We know it's there, and we know where he lives.
They also tend to focus on being elevated and being strongholds.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: A place like a foundation that a.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Kingdom can Be built around.
Yeah. Which is quite literally how a lot of ancient cities were built. Right. Like, you build it on a high place and then you build walls on top of that, and you have a nice easy place to live, like Jerusalem, for example, which had a spring coming out the side of it. So you had a high stronghold with fresh water available to you.
So it's a strong place. But then you have ones like what Norm, Read that even as strong and as wonderful and as beautiful as those mountains are, our God created them and he was before them, and he is more powerful than them.
So it's funny to see those kind of the juxtaposition of those two things, of the strength of mountains, but our God's strength is even better.
Some symbology of how the unchanging nature of how stable they are and how that translates into what God is like. He is who he is. He doesn't change with the seasons.
Dependable. It goes kind of back to the strength of Moses as well.
It reminds me of what we talked about in Sinai last week, when the Lord expounds upon the name he gives at the burning bush, but when he tells Moses his name, the Lord, The Lord great in mercy. And one of the things is, I think it's there maybe in other passages, abounding love from generation to generation, even the fourth or fifth generation. Right. Like that. Unchanging love, day after day.
So I wanted to.
If you have been around the Christian or Jewish faith for any length of time, the psalms are likely not foreign to you. They're a place that we often turn when we are at our highest peaks, as it were, both metaphorically and physically, and also in our lowest valleys, both equally metaphorically and literally, that we.
I am not gifted necessarily in creative language. And so sometimes one place, one way that I turn to psalms, and where I see other people do it, is when the heart has something to say, but the brain can't form the words to say it.
The psalms are a good place to go. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people. That. That loving embrace that we have.
I'm in the valley and I'm looking to the hills. Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, who is there forever.
And so, you know, if you're familiar with psalms, these ideas are not foreign to you, that they express deep meaning about the world, about reality, that we have a difficulty capturing sometimes. And so where I'd really like to dig in a little bit is.
Let's start in Psalm 1 here, and I promise we're going to come back to mountains in a second.
But the book of Psalms is divided up into five different books. Most biblical translations will show at the beginning of each book that this is book one, Book two, Book three, Book four.
And depending on what commentator or what biblical scholar you read, some people put Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 with book 1. And some of them put Psalm 1 and 2 as a prequel to the remaining books of the books of Psalms.
So it's good to have these ideas in mind.
So Psalm 1.
How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway of sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers.
Instead, he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord's command. He meditates on his commands day and night. He is like a tree by flowing streams. It yields its fruit at the proper time and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he attempts not so the wicked instead they are like wind driven chaff. For this reason the wicked cannot withstand judgment, nor sinners join in the assembly of God. Certainly the law guards the way of the godly, but the way of the wicked ends in destruction. So one of the things themes that you pick up on a lot in the Psalms is the law of the Lord. The instruction the Torah of the Lord is good. That's the Psalm 19 that Ed read back a few moments ago. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. It brings life. Which it makes you wonder because Psalm 23 comes not too far after that, which Psalm 23 is infamous for. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
The imagery that we're talking about here with the skies pour out speech about God's magnificence.
The creation itself is calling out and praise to God.
These are kind of rooted all the way back in Genesis 1 and 2. These are creation and garden, like psalms that the whole reason that they gives such wonderful praise. The reason I feel shepherded by the Lord is because right here, as one of the godly, the law of the Lord is wonderful. His instruction is perfect.
We talked about last week, Romans chapter 7 and 8. How would I know what sin was if the law hadn't been there to instruct me not to covet my neighbor's wife? Like these are the things that guide me toward daily living. If I want to approach the throne of God, then I know how to do it and praise him for giving me that pathway. A theme that pops up a lot in The Psalms are paths, like paths of righteousness, if you will.
These show up because these allow me to be a tree that is firmly planted by a stream of water. And my roots run deep and they run broad and wide. And I will not be shaken because I'm on the firm mountain of God.
I cannot be shaken.
The other theme that pops up a lot here is in Psalm 2, I read this one a little bit.
Why do the nations rebel? Why are the countries devising plots that will fail? The kings of the earth form a united front. The rulers collaborate against the Lord and his anointed king. They say, let us tear off the shackles they've put on us. The this still goes back to Psalm 1, right? Like the wicked do not follow the judgment, the instruction of God. In fact, they are trying to rebel. That's what we saw with the early mountains of rebellion like Babylon. We don't want God's instruction. We're trying to not just not listen to him. We're pushing it off, away from ourselves.
And the one enthroned in heaven, that is the Lord above, laughs in disgust. And the Lord taunts them. He angrily speaks to them and terrif them in his rage, saying, I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill, that little mountain in Jerusalem, the mountain that we showed back in week two or three, this mountain that sits way below any of the surrounding mountains, even lesser than Mount Olivet next to it, that is the mountain of God. And being the mountain of God, it is the most beautiful, the most elevated of all mountains. And that's where God's king sits. And this calls all the way back to second Samuel, chapter seven, where continuing the promise that was given to first man and woman about filling the land, and to Noah about go forth and fill the land, multiply. And then to Abraham about fill the land, I will make you into a great nation. And now it's given to David that on top of all of these covenants that I've already placed on all of your ancestors, I have an additional covenant. There is going to come from you a king, a lion of Judah, who is going to be the one to do it, right?
One of the things that we have seen here is we've seen Abraham pass the test with Isaac on the mountain. We see Moses fail the first test on the mountain at Sinai. We see him pass the second test at the mountain of Sinai. But altogether, the people, even if they pass one of the mountain tests, and David himself was the one who was of God's own heart, right?
But Being of God's own heart, he still slept with another woman and had another man killed.
And the list goes on, right? The idea here is that the king, the one king, will come and sit on the hill, the mountain of God, and he's going to be the one to do it, right?
And that's what we anticipate here. And the king says, starting in verse seven, I will announce the Lord's decree. He said to me, you are my son. This very day I have become your father. Ask me and I will give you the nations and your inheritance. Again, we as Christians see this as a Messianic psalm in the sense of being fulfilled in Jesus. So when we get to Jesus on the mountains, one of the places that the.
The accuser Satan takes him onto the high place of the temple, which is on the mountain of God, and says, fall down, and if you do well, God will save you and you will show everyone. Then he takes him up to another high place and says, if you bow down and worship me, all of this will be yours. But we see here in Psalm 2, the king that will be established on the hill in Zion already has the nations as his inheritance.
Verse 9. You will break them with an iron scepter. You will smash them like a potter's jar. So now you kings, the kings here on earth, do what is wise. You rulers of the earth, submit to correction, that is, submit to the law of the Lord. Serve the Lord in fear, repent in terror, give sincere homage. Some of your versions might say, kiss the son, otherwise he will be angry and you will die because of your behavior.
When his anger quickly ignites, how blessed are those who take shelter in him. That's another kind of the idea of the mountain. Oftentimes you think of caves along with it. And with the mountain caves, we take shelter in these places. We're taking shelter in the arm of God. We are taking shelter under his wing, like a mother hen keeps chicks close.
And so all of these things are present as we jump forward to Psalm chapter 15.
Now, Psalm chapter 15 is near and dear to my heart because when I was in high school, I went to Middle Tennessee Christian School up in Murfreesboro. One of the things that we were required to do within the first nine weeks of each year was in our Bible class. We had to recite the Psalm 15 as a commitment of a way we were going to dive into the school year.
Now, I can't quote it anymore, but Psalm 15.
O Lord, who may be a guest in your home, some of yours might say, who may dwell in your tent or live in your tent or live in your tabernacle. If it's a very literal translation, the idea here is that tent, before Solomon made it into a physical structure, who can go in there?
The high priest can do it once a year, only after following all of these very specific rites of passage, who can live there? That is a foreign concept to us.
And coupled with that, as we said, that tabernacle and temple were often coupled with the idea of a mountain. Who may live on your holy hill?
Who's going to dwell on the mountain of God? And this is coupled with the idea that with Psalm 15, living on the Holy hill, if this is the cosmic mountain, this isn't just who's allowed to live in Jerusalem.
This is who's allowed to be before your presence and live like Moses was afraid to see the presence of God on the mountain and live.
So these are the questions that are being asked here.
Well, the psalmist answers that for us, whoever lives a blameless life and does what is right, who speaks honestly, he who does not slander or does harm to others or insult his neighbor, he despises a reprobate, but honors the Lord's loyal followers. He makes firm commitments and does not renege on his promises.
He does not charge interest when he lends his money. He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. The one who lives like this will never be shaken.
I'm on the strong mountain of God, and therefore I get to benefit from that strength, and I will not be shaken.
We won't be shaken. Psalm by building 429.
So in a generic sense, there are depending on, again, who you look at. Most commentators and biblical scholars say, hey, look, there are 10 here.
How they divide up the 10 varies a little bit amongst the middle set, but there are 10 things here. We are given a new decree, a new set of the Ten Commandments, a new decalogue, if you will. If you Want to know 10 perfect things to enter into God's kingdom, this is how you can do it. So in a generic sense, any one of us who does those things, we get to live on the mountain of God.
But what Carissa Quinn, her doctoral dissertation. It's 249 pages, and I have not read all of it. I've mostly read the introduction and summaries to each of the chapters and left the middle of it to assume that she proved the points that she said she proved.
But looking at it, what she says is okay.
This by itself does not seem like a messianic. Sort of psalm.
But she makes the statement that this is a messianic sort of psalm. When you look at it with its coupled Psalm, Psalm 24, which we'll get to in a little bit. And looking back at the prequel chapters of the psalms, saying Psalm 2 echoes some of these same kind of ideas that the King of God, when he is set on the Mount Zion, that he's the one who can do this, he's the one who can do it. Right? So in a generic sense, if we do it, great.
And yeah, I think one of the verses Niv talks about not lending money with usury, like, not charging excessive interest, like, sure, I can do some of these things, but then to live by that code every single day, to not slander or do harm to others, to not insult a neighbor, right, like those start hitting a little bit closer to home in the sense of I can keep some of these on some days, but to keep all 10 of these every day of my life becomes a little bit of a difficult task. And so she makes the case that if you look at this in context, that these are semi rhetorical questions in the sense of like, who can do it? I can't do it.
The King. The King who will be placed on Zion, he can do it. He can keep the ten Commandments. And then you jump in, and one of the mountains that Jesus finds himself on, he regives the law. We call it the Sermon on the Mount. And on the Sermon on the Mount, he begins with nine statements, not 10 this time, but nine statements called the Beatitudes. And with those Beatitudes, he gives that practical guide to living. Christianity 101. Right. This is what it looks like to live in the kingdom of God. These are the people who belong in the kingdom of God. And he himself, being the King, is the one who is allowed to offer that. And so we have all of these things coming into play all right here at the same time.
And some of These lists of 10, they're echoed in Psalm 24. They're also echoed in Isaiah 33. So if you want to look in those. But what Chris Aquin and the team at the Bible Project says is that this psalm is almost to be read in a sense of longing, waiting for that king to come.
And if you read with its coupled Psalm 24, I don't think that's necessarily far off Psalm 24. So jumping ahead several psalms, we're going to be jumping back and forth for the rest of class here.
The Lord owns the earth and all it contains the World and all who live in it. He has set its foundations upon the seas and established it in the ocean currents. So we're back at creation.
And then verse 3.
Who is allowed to ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who can go into his dwelling place? We've got the same question that was asked back in chapter 15.
Who can do it?
The one whose deeds are blameless and whose motives are pure, who do not lie, who makes promises with no intention of or makes promises with no intention of keeping them. Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord and vindicated by God who delivers them. Okay, so we're still talking in a generic sense, but in verse 6, we start seeing such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob's descent, who pray to him. Verse seven is the turn.
Look up, O gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. The majestic king will enter.
So the king that is anticipated in chapter 15 is now arriving in chapter 24.
Who is the majestic king?
The Lord Yahweh himself, who is strong and mighty. The Lord who is mighty in battle. Look up, you gates. Rise up, you eternal doors. The majestic king will enter. Who is the majestic king? The Lord of Heaven's armies. He is the majestic king. So a Hebrew in the times of David and Solomon wouldn't read forward to this that this is the person Jesus specifically, but the Lord himself is going to be and is the person, always has been, the perfect king. But we in a Christian sense read back on this in a Messianic sense that said, yes, the Lord did this. John tells us in John chapter one.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Everything that was made was made by him and through him and for him. Romans, chapter oh, Romans, chapter 11, verse 29.
I don't remember.
But all of these things are coming into play here. That the king does come and sit on the throne. Philippians, chapter two is again echoing that, that he who made himself less than who he actually was did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.
God elevated him, he enthroned him on high.
The King has come.
So rise up, gates. Be ready for the enthronement of your king.
Chapter 16. If you back up to chapter 16, chapter 16 is talking about verse one begins with preserve me, O God. In the ESV, I think it is. Maybe that's the net Bible. It also talks about in verse 11, the paths of life.
And we see again the paths of life showing up in Psalm 23. Psalm 23 being one of the more famous Psalms, Psalm 23, which says, the Lord is my shepherd. I will lack for nothing. He makes me lie down in lush pastures. He leads me to refreshing waters. He restores my strength. He leads me down the right paths for the sake of his reputation. Even when I must walk in the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff reassure me. You prepare a feast before me in the plain sight of my enemies. You refresh my head with oil. My cup is full. Surely goodness and faithfulness will follow me everywhere, and I will live in the Lord's house forever. Who can live in the Lord's house?
You have sent your King so I can come live in your house.
I'm going to live in your dwelling place forever because you have paved the way for me to do so. Psalm 17 and Psalm 22 are Psalms of suffering. They're psalms of lament. Tucked into the middle of this to cry out to say, look at our present situation. Psalm 22 being the famous one that Jesus himself quotes on the cross. Psalm 22, which starts, My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I groan out in prayer, but help seems far away.
I look up to the hills. I know where my help comes from, but it seems out of reach and I can't get there.
Same thing shows up in Psalm 17.
I know that you're there. I know that you're coming. But right now I'm having a hard time feeling it.
Which is daily life in the life of any person on earth, right? If you live as a person of hope, you live sometimes in the darkest valleys with the hope and anticipation, both today and forevermore, that the King has and is and will come and deliver us from our present suffering.
Psalm 18 and Psalm 21 are about the king's deliverance. So Psalm 20, for example, may the Lord answer you when you are in trouble. May the God of Jacob make you secure. May he send you help from his temple, from Zion, again a mountain. May he give you support that even amidst all of this, there is deliverance to be given in your present suffering.
And stuck here in the dead center of it all is Psalm 19, the one that Ed read the heavens declare the glory of God. We're back at creation and present creation. The sky displays his handiwork. Day after day it speaks out night after night it reveals his greatness. Though they don't actually use words and their voices aren't heard, but its voice echoes throughout the earth. Its words carry to the distant horizon in the sky, he has pitched his tent for the sun.
Like a bridegroom, it emerges from its chamber. So every morning it comes from the east. Like a strong man, it enjoys running its course. It emerges from a distant horizon and goes from one end of the sky to the other. Nothing can escape its heat.
But why?
Even we cry out in anticipation for the King. Creation itself cries out in anticipation of the king. Because the law of the Lord is perfect.
The instruction of God is right.
And so with all of this, what I'm trying to get at is what we spent the first 20 minutes on. The psalmists use mountain imagery liberally to show God's holiness and power.
But here in Psalm 15:24, we have mountains. Who can ascend the holy hill? Who can dwell in your tent? Who can. Who can live in your dwelling?
Right alongside those mountains, we have the arrival of the King of God himself, enthroned upon high in the person, as we Christians believe in the person, Jesus.
So enjoy your trips up the mountain and remember when you were in the darkest valleys.
That's part of life, too. But the King has come and is come and will come to bring you up out of that again someday. Y' all have a great week. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. I'll see you in, like, three weeks.
