/Those who trust in the Lord are like
Mount Zion, which cannot be
shaken but endures forever. As the
mountains surround Jerusalem, so
the Lord surrounds His people both
now and forevermore. (Psalm 125:1,2
NIV)/
Mountains? And the Lord like the
mountains? What is that? It is
fortification, it is strength, it is
protection. And what is the point
of fortification if there is nothing
against which to be fortified?
Away back in Old Testament times,
when the people came into the land,
the remarkable thing is that they
occupied the higher places more than
the lower. You will find that their
towns, cities and villages are
almost all of them upon some high
place; the reason being that their
enemies, who had chariots and
horses, had their strength on the level,
in the plain, but they could do nothing
with chariots and horses
against mountains. And therefore the
safety, security and
fortification of the Lord's people was
by being on high places.
That is a parable. If the enemy can get
you on to his level he has
beaten you. So he must pull you
down, he must get you down, he
must
get you to accept something less than
God's full place and mind for
you, and then he will undo you. That
is what he has done with the
church, speaking of the church now in
very general terms. He has
pulled it down to this world level; he
has reduced it to the level of
things here, and he has absolutely
disintegrated it, broken it up and
divided it and robbed it of its power.
The church which is revealed to
us in the New Testament is always on
high ground.... In Ephesians, it
is “in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” It
is a great power to be
on high ground, it is a great defensive,
protective factor; the enemy
can do little with you if you keep up
there and refuse to come down.
Nehemiah found that to be so, when
they said, “Come down and let us
confer”; and he said, “I am doing a
great work so that I cannot
come down” (Neh. 6:3). It is a
principle operating....