Spiritually Significant Mounts

 

 

Spiritually Significant Mounts

Is what I’ve named this poem,

Starting with the testing of Abraham

To the New Jerusalem.

 

Each mount is of significance:

Of a significance that is spiritual

And mostly speaks to some triumph

Re the children of Israel.

 

From mount Moriah to Sion

From Abraham to Christ,

The penultimate mount of Calvary

Where Jesus was crucified.

 

Called from a land of pagans,

I speak of Abraham,

His was to follow the lead of God

To the promised land.

 

 

But a crucial test lay ahead

To show him who held full sway,

On the way that led to the promised land

Mount Moriah was in the way.

 

The offering up of Isaac

The son that Abraham loved

And Abraham was definitely convinced

The command was from above.

 

There upon mount Moriah

God held back his hand

And provided a substitute sacrifice,

A foreshadowing of His lamb.

 

The lamb already slain

Before the foundation of the world;

The lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ

The written and living Word.

 

From mount Moriah to Horeb

From Abraham to Moses,

One of the greatest leaders ever to live

But Israel’s heads were like sieves.

 

A rebellious and stiff-necked people

Prone to quickly lose hope

Who, after witnessing God’s miracles,

Still found it difficult to cope.

 

 

Introducing mount Sinai

Where Moses received God’s law,

The mount that burnt with great fire

Forcing Israel to withdraw.

 

Now with the tablets of stone

Given to Moses on the Sinai’s mount,

The children of Israel had God’s law

That held them to account.

 

 

Required to depart mount Horeb

To enter the promised land,

The fear-struck children of Israel

Would ignore God’s command.

 

Just an eleven days journey

Would be turned into forty years

As they wandered in the wilderness

And died along the way.

 

Just two: Joshua and Caleb

Would enter of the original set,

The rest wandered in the wilderness

Until their deaths they met.

 

To mount Sinai, they came again

With Moses at the head,

Remember, of those he left Egypt with,

All but two were dead.

 

On the threshold of Canaan land

Now for the second time

However, Moses would not be able to enter,

He would be left behind.

 

 

God allowed him to view it

From mount Nebo's lofty height,

Up to the summit of the mount he climbed

And took in the lovely sight.

 

Fast forward to mount Carmel

Where a great victory was wrought,

Baal’s prophets versus the prophet Elijah;

The former were left distraught.

 

Baal was a definite no show

And his prophets miserably failed,

They shouted and even cut themselves

But all this to no avail.

 

Compared to the fuss they made

And with nothing to show,

Elijah simply called on the Lord

And the sacrifice was aglow.

 

It even licked up the water

That was in the trench around,

That unusual day on mount Carmel

The fire of the Lord came down.

 

 

And now to the mount of Olives

Where Jesus often sat

And from where he would minister

To the multitudes of their lack.

 

It was there He prophesied

About the temple’s pending destruction

And of many other tribulations

To come on that generation.

 

In Matthew, Mark and Luke

The details can be found

And all these events would be witnessed

By some standing around. 

 

 

Mount Calvary is next up

Where Jesus was crucified,

There his mission was accomplished

When for sinners he died.

 

From Abraham to Christ

From Mount Moriah to Calvary,

The plan of redemption culminating

In glorious victory.

 

“It is finished!” Jesus said,

The cry of the vanquisher,

The head of the serpent was crushed

By the Lamb of God our Saviour.

 

Next the glorious resurrection

Followed by Pentecost,

None indwelt by the Holy Spirit

Need not fear being lost.

 

 

This innumerable band

Known as the elect or born again

Is come to mount Sion, the city of God

Where the King of kings reigns.

 

Spiritually Significant Mounts

Dotting the road to redemption,

Starting with the testing of Abraham

To the heavenly Jerusalem.

 

Stewart Russell © May 31, 2024