Before we begin, I am not a Biblical scholar. I am a girl, who loves the Lord and feels led to keep a journal of what I learned on my second read-through of the Bible as a believer with a deeper faith than my initial read-through in 2020-2021. The Lord brought this to my attention through my study of the book of Micah. Thank you reader for coming along on this journey with me. May we grow deeper in our faith together!
Cosmic Mountain
In my ESV Bible, this chapter is titled the Mountain of the Lord which struck a chord in my memory of a certain series of conversations between Tim Mackie and Jon Collins on the Bible Project Podcast. A conversation on the cosmic mountain! The cosmic mountain aka the garden of Eden is a metaphor that we see throughout the Bible with the exile from the garden aka the cosmic mountain, the tower of Babel, the temple, Mount Sinai where Moses goes to receive the law on a mountain, Mount Zion, and even Jesus’ transfiguration took place on a mountain. I’m getting ahead of myself so what are these moments and what cosmic mountain am I referencing from the Bible Project series? It’s complicated, and I was pretty thrown off when I first heard this metaphor too but here is a summary of what I understand from their research.
- In Genesis 1&2 Eden is depicted as a cosmic mountain which is a historical reference to how other ancient religions viewed their gods
- The Tower of Babel was man’s attempt to build a mountain without God, therefore challenging the created order and trying to make themselves gods which became the city of Babylon.
- The Tabernacle and Temple are symbols of the cosmic mountain where God comes to dwell with us, the Holy of Holies.
- Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to talk to God and receive the law covenant, the Ten Commandments. He spent many days with God like Adam and Eve did in the garden.
- Mount Zion referred to the city of the Great King (Psalm 48:2)
- When Jesus’ transfiguration took place, the pivotal moment when God’s glory shone upon his face, this happened upon a mountain
As I read through this passage in Micah, images came to mind of the Asbury Revival, the Lee University revival, and revivals going on around the world globally. This image of how there has been an outpouring to be in God’s presence, in a multitude, and worship our King. It made me think of the story behind the Jesus Revolution movie, how we as humans crave that connection with our creator and desire to worship Him, serve Him and come together as the body of Christ to work for His glory. Chapter Four describes a time when the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established (Micah 4:1) and people shall flow to it.
It shall come to pass in the latter days
Micah 4:1-5
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore;
but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
and no one shall make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
For all the peoples walk
each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever.
Thinking about the division in the world and how draining modern life has become, the thought of this future of peaceful existence is just so calming and encouraging. There is a passage in verse three that describes weapons being reshaped into farming tools and I thought about ongoing wars in our present world. The war in Ukraine is a foil to this picture, evil making farmland into a battlefield. How wonderful it will be when the battle ceases to exist because evil will lose!
I even thought about Jin and the other BTS members enlisting for their mandatory service, and if ARMY is so sad because when it comes down to the thought of war, it is unnatural. But music, dancing, and creativity are natural, God-given talents that we were given because we are created in God’s image, and when I think of the mountain of the Lord and the city of Zion, I hear music. I imagine the voices of many nations singing together like those revivals. I think we crave the idyllic, cottage core, beauty, the spectacle of those K-pop music videos because we are not created for the chaos of this world, we crave the order and the peace of the redeemed world in communion with God in the garden. Even if we don’t realize it, I believe we are most content when we are using the talents God has given us to glorify Him, thinking about this I crave the cosmic mountain and look forward to sitting under the trees with the peace spoken of in Micah 4.
One Rabbit Riot 