Imagery That Doesn’t Resonate

For two Sundays now, I have used the “mountain of the Lord’s house” imagery of Micah 4:1-2 and Isaiah 2:2-4 as the basis for coming to know the God of salvation in His Kingdom and Covenant. The similar prophecies from contemporary prophets were pivotal to first century Jews, but to people of our era, they just don’t seem to resonate. In fact, for some of us, these passages have been nothing more than proof texts for when and where the kingdom would be established.

To prove a point, I asked the audience, “If you saw your obedience to the gospel as a kind of “ascension” to the mountain of God’s house, please raise your hand.” Not a single hand was raised. Why?

To be sure, mountain imagery hardly resonates with Texans. In other geographical locals, where mountains are a part of the landscape, such imagery might be more customary, but not so here.

Also, something can be said about the context of the Micah and Isaiah passages. They home in on the transition between Jewish and Christian covenants. For first century Jews, they were statements of meaning into which they could personally relate. God’s house had been the Jerusalem temple, but a new spiritual house would be erected. The temple or “house” imagery would naturally have spoken to them, but not so much so to us.

The great challenge is to find if we can help give this imagery meaning to us. I am convinced, due to its lack of significance, that something is woefully lacking in me. So for my own soul’s benefit, I am in the process of ascending God’s mountain, because I do not want to miss out on something that God might have intended for me to behold as I better come to know him.