Come up Into the Mount of the Lord

Where do you go when you are in need of strength? What do you do when your heart is broken over what seems to be an impossible promise from the LORD? Or when the LORD appears to ask you to do something which negates this promise? Where would you find the strength to obey? If you’ve ever been in a situation like this you know the pressure that a test like this can exert on your faith. Abraham found himself in this place of testing when the Lord asked him to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22:1-14.

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. 2 Then He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.
(Genesis 22:1-2)

Remember the Lord’s promise to Abraham? He was promised descendants as numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:3-6). Imagine how Abraham felt, how could he sacrifice his only son? How would God then fulfill His promise? Abraham became a father in his old age and now God wants to take his son. This doesn’t make sense. Yet Abraham was obedient and did what contradicted logic (Genesis 21:2; Hebrews 11:17-19). But where did Abraham find the strength to obey? Put yourself in his shoes, where would you find the strength?

The following really encouraged me! Look what Abraham does before he goes to sacrifice Isaac his only son.

On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place {Mt. Moriah} from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.
(Genesis 22:4-5)

Lifting up your eyes to the Lord is a prerequisite to ‘seeing.’Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw Mount Moriah, the place where he was going to sacrifice Isaac, the place where they went to meet with the Lord. After Abraham lifts his eyes and sees, he worships the Lord in this place.

The word for worship here is the same idea expressed in the following phrase ‘Kiss the Son.’

Worship the LORD with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way; For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!
(Psalm 2:11-12)

It’s after Abraham worships the Lord in this way that He finds the strength to obey the Lord and sacrifice Isaac. He knew that the Lord would provide! Abraham had faith and ‘saw’ with his spiritual eyes the Lord’s provision before it actually happened.

Abraham said, God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. So the two of them walked on together.
(Genesis 22:8)

Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.
(Genesis 22:14)

Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord sees and will provide; God will provide for himself a lamb. The idea is that the Lord ‘sees’ the need before it arises and then provides for it. Not only did the Lord foresee Abraham’s need for a lamb but even more significantly He foresaw mankind’s need for the Lamb of God, Jesus (John 1:29).

Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place Mount Moriah! A place of sacrifice; a place of obedience and worship; a place of rejoicing; a place of provision; a place of knowing and ‘seeing’ the Lord move.

I WILL lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]-From whence shall my help come?
(Psalm 121:1 AMP)

From my article “Lift Up Your Eyes:”
The Psalmist by saying I lift up my eyes to the hills {Mount Zion and Mount Moriah} is actually saying to focus on the Lord’s dwelling place, majesty and presence and to remember Jesus the Lamb of God, His blood sacrifice. It’s only by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus that we can come into the presence of a Holy God and know where our help comes from – the Maker of heaven and earth, the Sovereign Lord.

We found a similar thing in the ideas of Psalms 121,123 and Psalm 46:10. Lifting up your eyes to the King and knowing where your help/strength comes from is intimately connected to worship – reverent fear, obedience, and rejoicing. From Hebrews 4 and Psalm 95: sing and shout for joy to the LORD our Maker! Come before His presence with thanksgiving. Enter His rest as a sheep of His hand with the people of His pasture. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before His presence with singing! Know (perceive, recognize, and understand with approval) that the Lord is God!
(Psalm 100:2-3 AMP)

Abraham’s journey of lifting up his eyes, worshipping and in obedience sacrificing Isaac is a journey that can be seen in those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; those with clean hands and a pure heart.

Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up to falsehood or to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully.
(Psalm 24:3-4 AMP)

From my article “Ascending Mount Zion:”
Zion is the place that the Lamb stands midst ‘the ones who follow wherever He leads’. Zion is the place where the Lord dwells, the city of God, the holy mountain. When the Lord is enthroned on the praises of His people, He dwells in their midst. God’s throne, His dwelling place, Zion, encircled by those singing a new song, it’s here in this atmosphere of praise that the Lamb stands in the center of the throne high and lifted up. The Lamb at the center of the throne ties all these things together, worship, salvation, the river of life, Zion, the holy place where the Most High dwells. How appropriate that it would be the Lamb that leads, for Jesus the Lamb of God paid the price for us all. Jesus the Lamb of God is the reason that there is a free gift of the water of life.

It’s the Lamb that holds the key to entering this place of worship encircling the throne.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Revelation 7:17)

The Lamb leads to the center of the throne, to the city of God where the Most High dwells and to the River of Life. So today if you need strength, lift up your eyes to the King. Come up into the mount of the Lord thru worship. Come before His throne with singing! Follow the Lamb to springs of living water and drink in His mercy and grace. He will wipe away every tear for In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided {seen} (Genesis 24:14).

…The joy of the LORD is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)