GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN

Numbers Thirteen-Joshua Fourteen

Sermon of the week - January 21, 2005

In the thirteenth chapter of Numbers, twelve spies were sent out on a fact-finding tour of the Promised Land. Now listen to what Moses told his spies. Go and spy out the land of promise, the land that flows with milk and honey. Notice the cities; are they walled? Do they live in tents or strongholds? I suppose that means: do they live in three bedroom houses and two-car garages? Is the land fat or lean? How about the wooded areas? Check it out good.

When they returned from the aforesaid fact-finding tour they went in before Moses to give their report. Their report sounded good as far as it went. They said, "It truly was a land that flows with milk and honey.  It was a nice place to visit and we believe it would be a nice place to live. However there is one catch to it. There are giants in the land. We could never take it from them.”

We can understand their fear of giants. As far as I know every giant mentioned in the Bible was an enemy of God and His people. The most famous giant was Goliath who was slain by David. Samuel tells of a giant that had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He defied Israel and the nephew of David slew him. Another one who seems to be a giant was Og of Bashan. We can reasonable suppose he was a giant because he slept in an iron bedstead that was thirteen feet long and nine feet wide. And then there is that mysterious reference to giants in Genesis. There were giants in the land in those days. It appears that God’s people defeated every giant in the word of God.

  All this talk about giants scared the people, but Caleb and Joshua told them the giants would be no problem. Ten of the spies voted not to go because they had a grasshopper mentality.

The ten spies said, "We were grasshoppers in their sight." They were wrong and right in this statement. It is true they were grasshoppers, but not so much before the natives as they were grasshoppers in the faith. Caleb and Joshua were giants in faith; the ten were grasshoppers in faith. When the score was tallied it was found that the ten won the day. The score was ten to two against marching into Canaan and the whole campaign was aborted. Because of their lack of faith the Israelites had to wander forty years in the wilderness. One year for every day the twelve spent in spying out the land. The people listened to the majority report. That is one of the great curses in the church today, the majority-report.

The majority report, sometimes called the main stream, informs us that it is a good idea and needs to be done the only thing is there are too many obstacles and it cannot be accomplished. The majority report many times will differ from the present day report of the Calebs and Joshuas on the doctrines of how to become a Christian and as a result sincere seekers of truth wander in the wilderness of this world scattered into multiple denominations as sheep not having a shepherd.

Then again we might compare the sending of spies to the world itself. It is human nature to hope for something beyond this earthly life. So the world chooses the Christians as their spies to spy out the land of promise. What is the report the Christian brings back to the world? The majority report of the Christian spies gives an evil report. It is a report that the life style of the Christian is basically the same as the world. Every one of us as Christians needs to ask ourselves, what kind of a report am I giving to the world about Christ, the church, the Bible and eternity?  

The reason for Caleb living as long as he did was in the words that he said; The Lord hath kept me alive unto this day. Whatever else Caleb did to keep alive, such as taking vitamins, jogging, lifting weights, seeing his dentist twice a year, getting a yearly physical examination by his doctor: He knew that the real reason for living as long as he did was because of his primary physician; it was the Great Physician that kept him alive.

God had promised Caleb that he would inherit the land of promise.  In Numbers fourteen the Lord said, "Him will I bring into the land where into he went; and his seed shall possess it."  Caleb remembered that promise for forty-five years. He remembered those giants for forty-five years. He never forgot the promise of his inheritance and thought about it every day for forty-five years. And now after forty-five years he reminds Joshua that the Lord has kept him alive for forty-five years, "Now therefore, give me this mountain."

Caleb who was forty years old at the time they were sent to spy out the land seems to take the lead in advising the battle to begin. Caleb’s disdain of giants is not to be taken lightly. He said, "Give me this mountain." He could have asked for a more pleasant inheritance since he was one of the two who brought a good report forty-five years earlier. He could asked for an easier job considering his advanced years, but instead he requested a mountain that he said was the home of giants. He made no idle boast. He drove out three of them. Their names are posted in Joshua fifteen when we are told that Caleb drove out Sheshai, Ahiman, and Taimai who were sons of the giant Anak. The Church needs to have the Caleb mentality. Why be satisfied to remain in mediocrity. Let the cry of Caleb be heard, "Give me this mountain."

That statement of Caleb is interesting. He said the Lord has kept me alive. That tells us something about the part the Lord plays in the time we are allowed to spend on earth. He is in control. The Lord Jesus told Peter regarding the Apostle John, "If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee, follow thou Me."  Evidently Jesus has something to say as to when he calls his servants home. Sometimes from our viewpoint we may think that certain servants should be spared for at least a hundred years, and then in the providence of God a valuable servant is told to lay down the tools of his labor or the weapons of his warfare and come home. We don’t understand. However as far as we are concerned we need to continue our labor in the vineyard until it pleases the Lord to call us home. He calls some early and some He calls late. It is enough for us to say whether young or old, whether at the beginning of service, or what we may think is half way through: The will of the Lord be done. After all at any age it is the Lord who keeps us alive. But it is good for us at any age to have the Caleb mentality while we serve the Lord on this earth. Let the cry of Caleb resound throughout the brother hood of the saints: GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN!

THE MOUNTAIN OF THE GREAT COMMISSION

            Give me the Mountain of the Great Commission. According to the Apostle Matthew the disciples went unto a mountain in Galilee where Jesus had appointed them.  He came to them and gave them The Great Commission, the marching orders of the King. All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to do all things whatsoever I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

There is no greater request that the church can make unto God today than this: "Lord, give me this mountain of the Great Commission." The statute of limitations has not run out on the Great Commission. It will be a viable document according to the One who gave it until that day when the trumpet sounds to awaken the dead, because He said even unto the end of the world.  It is a far greater document than the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation, because obedience to this document can free mankind from a greater slavery, and deliverance from a far greater tyrant than any other in the history of the world.  Lord, Give me this Mountain.       

THE MOUNTAIN OF FAITH

The modern day Caleb could also pray, “Lord, Give me the Mountain of Faith.”  That mountain that the Lord talked about in Matthew 17 when nine of the Apostles who had been given power to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons, and had failed in an effort to cast out one demon from one little boy. They said to Jesus why could not we cast it out? Jesus told them it was because of their little faith. Then He said to them, “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say unto this mountain remove hence to yonder place it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

The mustard seed is a very small seed. Look at it carefully and you can see its potential of doing great things. Look at a tiny newborn infant and see the potential of doing great things. In the history of the United States there has been up to this time forty-three newborn infants who had the potential to be, and became President of the United States. I saw the statement one time that somebody said, "George Washington was born full grown, in uniform, riding a white stallion, waving the American flag in one hand and a sword in the other."  I’ve got news for you that is only a rumor. Washington was born as an infant just like every one else and only in retrospect do we see the tremendous potential in that baby.

Then think about this. Look at the potential for a newborn infant doing great things and unite that small power with the greater power of God and the results will be tallied in the words of Paul to the Ephesians, Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations, for ever and ever. Lord, Give me this Mountain.   

THE MOUNTAIN AT DOTHAN

            Again the modern day Caleb can pray, “Lord, Give me the Mountain at Dothan that I may see the invisible as the young prophet saw in Second Kings 6.” The king of Syria had sent an army to arrest Elisha the prophet. The army arrived at night and the next morning a young prophet seeing the army encamped all around said to Elisha, “Alas Master, what shall we do?” Elisha said something to the young prophet and something to God. To the young prophet he said, "They that are for us are more than they who are against us." Then Elisha said to God, "O Lord, Open his eyes that he may see." The Lord answered the prayer of Elisha and the young prophet opened his eyes and saw the mountain full of horses of fire and chariots of fire.

The young man was not unlike many today. They can see the physical, but they cannot see the spiritual. In this case he was granted a moment to see the invisible. The fact that we do not see the invisible is not because the invisible is not there, but because in this dispensation we walk by faith and not by sight. Even the strongest Christian at times needs to pray, “O Lord Give me that Mountain at Dothan.”

The book of Hebrews says Moses saw the invisible when he fled from the wrath of Pharaoh  seeing Him who was invisible. Just how does one see the invisible God whom no man has seen, nor can see? Paul tells us how it can be done when he tells us in Romans: “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived by the things that are made.”  A person may never have heard a sermon or a Bible lesson and yet they can easily see the invisible God by just looking up as the Psalmist says,  "The heavens declare His glory and the firmament His handiwork." 

However even though we are aware of unseen angels sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit eternal salvation we must also be aware of the unseen demons that infest the air all around us. Paul tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against a spiritual host of wickedness, in the heavenly places. If you could open your spiritual eyes at this moment you could see the form of a demonic serpent plotting your downfall. He may already have his coils wrapped around you squeezing the spiritual life out of you and you know it not. This prayer needs to be prayed, “Lord, Give me this Mountain.”

THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD’S HOUSE

            Here is another mountain that we need to pray about, “Lord, Give me the Mountain of the Lord’s House as found in Isaiah the prophet in the second chapter.” And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it. This is a prophecy of the establishment of the Church and Isaiah says for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. In the Great Commission according to Luke the Lord said, “Thus it is written and thus it behooved the Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead and that repentance and remission of sins must be preached in His name beginning from Jerusalem.” It was at Jerusalem that the gospel was first proclaimed and remission of sins preached. Peter on that day preached that Jesus had died on the cross and was raised from the dead and then told them the terms of pardon when he said, “Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The Mountain of the Lord’s House is established on the top of the mountain and shall be exalted above the hills. Mount Zion is only 2540 feet high yet it is spiritually exalted above the tallest mountain in the world—taller than the Alps, taller than the Andes, and even taller than the mountains of the Himalayas. The Mountain of the Lord’s House should have top priority in every item in the life of the Christian. The prayer of every modern day Caleb who would preach the gospel should be: “O Lord, Give me the Mountain of the Lord’s House that is established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills.”

THE MOUNTAIN OF PISGAH

And now one more mountain the modern day Caleb needs to pray about is Mount Pisgah, “O Lord Give me this Mountain.” From the top of Mount Pisgah Moses was able to see the Promised Land from one end to the other. From Mount Pisga’s lofty heights Moses could see Mount Moriah where the Temple would be built. Perhaps he saw that tiny speck call Mount Calvary where the cross would stand. Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness for forty years, but was not allowed to lead them over into the land of Canaan.

Moses and the law could lead the people up to the Jordan, but only Joshua could lead them across Jordan. The Law can lead us through life only until death. Then our Joshua the Lord Jesus Christ leads us across the River.

“O Lord, Give me this Mountain.” Our Mount Pisgah as Christians today is the Bible. Paul said in Colossians, “Set your affections on things that are above and not on the things of the earth.” The only way a modern day Caleb can ascend Mount Pisgah and view the Heavenly Canaan is to spend about a half-hour a day reading the word of God. Only with a familiarity with the road map to heaven can the Christian sing, "And from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height I view my home and take my flight." Most people can go to a church service once a week for a hundred years and not know much more about the Bible than when they started. Not until the modern day Caleb spends more time on the Mount Pisgah of the word of God will they be able to sing that gospel song that says, “On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, and cast a wistful eye to Canaan’s fair and happy plain where my possessions lie. I am bound for the Promised Land. I am bound for the Promised Land, O who will come and go with me? I am bound for the Promised Land. O Lord, Give me this Mountain.”