ALONE WITH GOD     

  One of the most beautiful and striking figures of the newtestament church is that of a mountain. Under this figure is presented its stability grandeur, and endurance.

  Turning to Isa. 2: 2, 3, we find the following prediction: "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 unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." This is a clear prediction of the new testament church. " The last days " refers to the Christian dispensation. The church here is presented under the figure of a mountain upon which the Lord's house is located. And this mountain "shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills." This refers to an exalted position of Christianity. All other religions are far beneath it. Christianity mounts up above every other religion and the church of God above every other institution.

  Another beauty of this church is seen in the fact that "all nations shall How unto it." Under the legal dispensation the privileges and blessings of God were extended to one nation only, but the new testament church was to open her doors to all the nations of the earth, and the saved of all nations were to flow unto it. Thank God, we have the fulfillment of this today; for the gospel is going forth to all the nations of the earth, and such as are being saved are brought from the dark valleys and realms of sin to the high mount of holiness, truth, and salvation, and are flowing into the one church of the living God.

  In Dan. 2:34, 35, Christianity is presented under the figure of a great mountain, which shall fill the whole earth. This signifies that ultimately Christianity will conquer the nations and be the universal religion. As we shall hereafter show, we are living in the very time and taking part in the very work which in God's providence is destined to fulfill this prediction. Paul, in writing to the Hebrew brethren, says, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion." Heb. 12: 22. As we point the telescope back across the mists and fogs that roll at our feet, back over the dark valley of apostasy covering a period of 1610 years, we behold in the distance a beautiful mountain transplendent with the rays of the morning sun, and upon her height the house of Cod, which is the church of the living God. This mount is the mount of God's own holiness. Thus saith the Lord, "I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain." This is a clear prediction of the new testament church. Jerusalem and the mountain refers to the church of God. Notice it is the mountain of the Lord of hosts; that is, the mount upon which he dwells, and the same is said to be holy.

  "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praise 1 in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. " Psa. 48: 1-3. This text primarily may refer to the literal city of Zion, Jerusalem; but since that was but a type or shadow of the spiritual Zion, the new testament church, there is a beautiful application of this scripture to the people of God in this dispensation. As the saints gather in Zion, inside her impregnable walls of salvation, their shouts of praise and thanksgiving to God a re again heard; and as they come to the mount of his holiness and possess the same glory that adorned the early church, the gates of praise fly open, and God is glorified in the midst of them. This church is said to be the city of the great king. "God is known in all her palaces." This represents the feet that the Lord dwells in this holy mountain, and here is the place where his blessings fall. "The Lord shall bless thee, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness. " Jer. 31: 23. Not only does the Lord bless his people in Zion, but, as predicted in Isa. 26: 6, he spreads a feast of rich things before them. "And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." Those who have been famishing and starving on the barren mountains of sin and down in the cold regions of Babylon—as they come to this mountain of holiness and truth, they find a feast of rich dainties, the best that heaven can afford. Thus " the Lord satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. "

  But God's people did not always remain upon this mountain of holiness. Jesus predicted that many false teachers would arise and deceive many, and Paul said that after his departing grievous wolves would enter in, not sparing the flock, and that disciples would be turned away from the truth. This came to pass, and the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, as recorded in the sixth verse of the fiftieth chapter: "My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from the mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place." Since the church of God is presented under the figure of a great mountain, the mountain of God's holiness, all rival churches, or man made ecclesiastical institutions that have since arisen, are brought to view under the figures of mountains and hills, signifying large sects and small ones. In these the people of God, during the reign of apostasy, have been scattered. " And they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered upon all the mountains and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. " This is fulfilled in God's people having been scattered throughout all the realms of sectism. Good people have been led into all the many religious bodies extant in the world today. But it is a fact that, while God's people have been led into these places the places themselves—institutions o f Babylon—have granted no salvation or deliverance to those who entered their folds. " Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel." Jer. 3: 23.

  But we are glad to say that this condition of affairs was not always to continue. It was prophesied by Isaiah that the time would come when God's people should be gathered from these mountains and hills in which they have been scattered. "I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel." Isa. 41:15, 16. This sharp threshing instrument is nothing else than God's holy ministry with the eternal truth. The mountains of Babylon were to be threshed and beaten small, in order that God's people may be gathered therefrom. We are living in that time, and the ransomed of the Lord are returning to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads (Isa. 35: 10).

  In the morning glory of the church God's people abode in and enjoyed the blessings of Mount Zion; but false teachers led them away, and for centuries they were scattered, as the foregoing scriptures declare. In these last days, however, the people of God are privileged to return and to enjoy the same government, organization, purity, oneness, and power enjoyed by the primitive church. And as the ministers of God assemble in these last days in the heights of Zion, they blow the trumpet of eternal truth to all the nations of the earth, and this trumpet assembles together all who are willing to meet the requisite conditions and requirements of the gospel. This prepares the church for the coming of the Lord. " Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2: 1. God sends forth his messengers and every honest soul is gathered. "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." Jer. 16:16. Thus are God's people in these last days gathered from the holes of sin and deception in which they have been lodging, and with singing and rejoicing they are brought home to Zion, to the mountain of th e Lord. Here upon the mountain of God's own holiness we stand with our souls illuminated by the brilliant, transplendent glory of the setting sun in this blessed evening light. We stand upon the summit of the same Zion, the same mount of God's own holiness—the church of the living God—upon which the early church stood and found a place of refuge.