Background

The immediate impetus for this teaching was a prayer meeting with visiting Korean missionaries who spoke passionately about the “7 Mountains”; an expression describing the dimensions of human society – religion, family, education, media, arts/entertainment, government, business. The “seven mountains” strategy seeks to empower Christian change agents to scale the mountains of culture and reintroduce godly values in order to transform each sphere[1]. My sole purpose in this article is to share what I believe the Lord has shown me about a reality far more fundamental than the “seven mountains”.

The Highest of the Mountains

Peter’s famous Pentecostal proclamation; “‘And in the last days it shall be I will pour out my Spirit…”, is a prophetic application of Isaiah 2:2; “It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it”.  This text has begun to be fulfilled with the gift of the Spirit, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17)[2]. Clearly this cannot mean that earthly Mount Zion (772 metres) has been physically elevated above all other peaks; rather the outpouring of the Spirit indicates the mount of God is now in heaven from where Jesus reigns as King (Ps 110; Acts 2:33-36). Yet the earthly often obscures our vision of the heavenly.

The Conflict of the Mountains

As one of the Koreans explained they desired to pray for the natural resources companies based in Perth; he spoke of the business sector as the highest of the “7 Mountains” because all of the other spheres have become chronically dependent upon the enormous finances generated by our raw materials.[3]  However as he spoke about these things I could see a picture in which behind the “7 Mountains” stood two far greater peaks. These are two rival “mountains of God” which have clashed repeatedly for 2,000 years.

In the Old Testament “the mountain of God” refers to Mt Sinai where Moses was given the Law (Ex 3:1; 4:27; 18:5; 24:3; Num 10:33; 1 Ki 19:8). In the New Testament the life message of Jesus stands in strong contrast to the impotence of the Law to save; “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) The conflict between the Mountain of Law and the Mountain of Grace has dominated the whole history of the Church. Every spiritual drought is a sign that the Mountain of Law is dominating and obscuring the Mountain of Grace. This is our problem in Australia today, a problem that is as deep as motherhood!

Who is your Mother?

“Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labour! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.” (Galatians 4:24-27)

There are but two spiritual mothers, one earthly the other heavenly. The earthly mother, Jerusalem below, stands for legalism and cultivates fearfulness and bondage to evil powers (Gal 4:3; 8ff). Wherever the Church is characterised by “do this” > blessings, “don’t do that” > cursings, we know that it is under the influence of evil powers (Col 2:20-23). The general failure of the Australian Church to grow and multiply in numbers and character reveals that most of the Australian Church it has not moved on from the Mountain of Law (Deut 1:6-8). God mercifully is calling us to acknowledge another mountain.

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12:22-24) In Jesus we have come to a mountain of pure joy released through the power of his atoning blood. We may now abide in a realm of perfected access to God set from every accusing voice (Heb 10:14). Free from the fear of divine punishment we may do the works of God with great boldness (Rom 8:1; 1 John 4:17-18; Heb 4:16). To abide at the Mountain of Grace means “revival”; yet such abiding is greatly opposed.

The Desert of Baal

The spiritual aridity gripping our land is a judgement of God upon a nation of Baal worshippers. Baal promised endless prosperity; a message heard in Australia today not only in the “mountains” of commerce and politics but in many Christian ministries. Until the land is cleansed of the prophets of Baal the Spirit’s rain will not descend and remain (1 Ki 17:1; Mal 4:1; Matt 17:10-12; John 1:33). The voice of Elijah must be heard once again, but in a different tone.

Elijah’s powerful expose of the false prophets of his day failed to dislodge Baalism from the northern kingdom of Israel, for the prophet was still an old covenant man (1 Ki 18). Even for Elijah, Sinai remained “the mountain of God” (1 Ki 19:8). No Elijah-like ministry of fire can displace the modern prophets of permanent prosperity (1 Ki 18; 2 Ki 1), only the new covenant revelation of Jesus in the Zion above can save us from perpetual idolatry.

The Highway to Zion

The way to this Mountain always proceeds through the wilderness to the heavenly presence of God. The psalmist exalts, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” (Psalm 84:5 ESV). Jesus proclaimed himself as the fulfiller of this blessing; “I am the Way….no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). The Mountain of Grace is not a peak we can scale by our own spiritual exertion; it is what Jesus has attained for us once for all by his painful death, glorious resurrection and exultant ascension to heaven. “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16).

Conclusion

In speaking with the Koreans the Lord led me to his words to the Samaritan woman; ““the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father….But … the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:21, 23). Jesus states that both the mixed worship of the Samaritans and the venerable rites of the earthly Jerusalem are no longer “spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1). Pure worship revealed itself by unbridled access to the Father through the “grace and truth” available only in him (John 1:17 cf. 14:6; Eph 4:21).

As a Christian people we must confess a preference for the manageable claims of the religious traditions of the Mountain of Law to the unconditional claims of the “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 8:9). The vision of the transformation of the 7 Mountains is a majestic one indeed; but it will prove only to be a vision until we allow the holy “spirit of fire and burning” i.e. the “Spirit of grace”, to cleanse us from all our religiosities (Isa 4:1-6; Heb 10:29). May the Lord give us faith to uproot any mountain of legalism in our hearts and to throw it into the sea (Mark 11:23).