When You Are on the Mountaintop

"And Jesus was saying to them, 'Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power'" (Mark 9:1)

I will never forget the one and only occasion in which Bev and I while visiting our youngest daughter then living in Colorado Springs were able to drive all the way to the summit of Pike's Peak. Talk about thin air! Everyone was moving so slowly and breathing more heavily than normal.

As wonderful as that trip up Pike's Peak was, however, it could not compare at all to Peter and James and John's trip to the top of Mt. Hermon. There they had witnessed the glory of the risen Lord Jesus Christ and the sight they beheld had scared them beyond belief. It is in their wonderful experience, beloved, that we learn a valuable lesson about what our focus needs to be each time that God gives to us our own "mountaintop" experience. Note first that in Jesus' actual transfiguration before them, that lifting of the veil of eternity so that they could peek within, we see the need to always reaffirm the Master as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that, of course, involves ever acknowledging that He is Lord of our personal lives.

As Peter and James and John looked on, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus and began to discuss with Him His coming death, resurrection and ascension. On the mountaintop, then, beloved, we need always to reaffirm the message. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the story of His death, burial and resurrection that must be our priority here. And as those who acknowledge honestly His Lordship we ought always to be about His business.

As they came down from the mountain, they encountered a heartbroken father begging the disciples to cast a demon from his son. Right in front of them, then, right there "in the valley" they saw the need to reaffirm the mission. Mountaintop experiences are wonderful, beloved, encouraging and strengthening, but it will always be in the valley that we meet those for whom Christ died. And it will be in the valley where we serve Him best.

So mountaintop experiences are important, aren't they, beloved? At such moments we are invited by the Father Himself to reaffirm the Master, the message, and the mission. And armed again with a resolve that Satan can't crack, we descend to the valley to take on all that he can throw at us, wearing the armor of God and armed with the sword of the Spirit. We do so because, as the song says, "people need the Lord."

Ron