Mountains

When our family took our first vacation to the Rocky Mountains all of us kids (that is what we called ourselves, "us kids") peered anxiously into the distance hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse of the fabled mountains. We scanned the horizon until one of us exclaimed, "I see them!"

Eventually all four joined the chorus and we watched with wonder as those little mounds in the distance grew steadily higher and higher. One us finally asked Dad if those were "the mountains."

"No," he replied, "those are the foothills. Those are the mountains." And he pointed about three quarters of the way up the windshield and we gasped in amazement as there, in the clouds, we could make out mountain peaks. We were stunned that they were so tall. It almost seemed unbelievable, except we were witnessing it with our own eyes.

There are a couple of take-aways from this little story. First, we often focus on the "foothills" and miss the real beauty. And second, the mountains, which appear to be in a single plane, are actually three dimensional with some closer and others farther away.. Just as the foothills stood in front of the mountains, some of the peaks were far behind the first ones we saw. This differentiation becomes noticeable as we get closer to the panorama.

These two lessons apply to prophesy, and especially to the passages in Isaiah that we have been considering. First, we notice the "foothills," the lower range of hills that is obvious and often contains immediate information that we desire to have. Isaiah was foretelling the fall of Jerusalem and the deportation to Babylon. Then he predicted the fall of Babylon and the ascendancy of the Persians and Cyrus. Next came the account of their subsequent release from Persia and the return to their own land. Accompanying this were details of life in this "land" and ultimately a "new heaven and new earth."

Just as "us kids" saw the foothills first, the residents of Jerusalem and Judah focused on the fall of their city to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian hordes. They had witnessed the fall of Samaria and Israel, so the possibility of God's people being defeated was not incredible to them. It could happen, and it did.

We have already speculated about Daniel's hypothetical trace of coming history during his sojourn in Babylon and under Darius and Cyrus. The contemporaries of Isaiah were probably uninterested in such details, and instead concentrated their efforts on thwarting Babylon. But for Daniel, that was history and he was looking ahead. I have no doubt that Ezra, Nehemiah, and the ones who returned with them were looking at the "return to the land" prophesies with wonder and delight.

We are now far past those and can look back and see how they unfolded precisely as Isaiah recorded his visions. But with one reservation. Not all of the things that were prophesied about "the land" have been fulfilled. Just a couple of things that can be cited as "incomplete" is the one about the lion lying down with a lamb and children playing with scorpions and serpents. Another was the Lord forecasting that "his children" would come home "on eagles' wings." There will be peace all over the world and the entire population will worship at Jerusalem.

This hasn't happened yet. Should we then "spiritualize" them and shoehorn the pictures into history as fulfilled prophesy? Consider the "eagles' wings" episode. I am willing to bet that none of the returning exiles would romanticize their trek from Persia to the promised land as being on eagles' wings. A few may have had Camels are Us carriages. More may have scored a donkey. But most, undoubtedly, used the shoe leather express to get back. Do you suppose that the promise of indestructible sandals from the trip out of Egypt applied to this exodus?

Do we merely rack it up as metaphorical language, or look for a more literal fulfillment? After the nation of Israel was re-established in 1948 people of Jewish heritage returned in masses from all over the globe. Some literally flew on airplanes from their current place of existence to their dream land. (It was not too "dreamy" in the early years, but recently, it is "blossoming like a rose." Another prophesy.)

Likewise, further mountain peaks appear now that we are a couple of thousand years closer to the "range." The "peace on earth" and King Jesus along with world wide worship of Him is closer, but not yet here. The prophesies which looked two dimensional in Isaiah now are shown to be spread down through the corridors of time and some are still in the future.

So to question a coming literal 1000 years, in light of past prophesy and fulfillment does not only seem farfetched, but doubting it seems to be the weaker position of logic and evidence. The Lord has literally fulfilled the promises He made 2500 and 3000 years ago. Why and how can any reasonable observer doubt that the "rest" will not likewise be fulfilled to the minutest detail? It is a greater stretch of credulity to discount these "facts" than to accept them at face value.

We have ascended some pretty high mountains. But, like part way through our family trip, there are more, and higher peaks to scale. I'm going on. Come with me.