We close out this series by looking at the prophet Isaiah's visions of the Mountain of the Lord, a final picture of restoration at the end of time. We explore how this picture of restoration gives us hope and endurance for our present journey.

In a pinnacle moment of his ministry, Jesus takes three of his disciples onto a mountain where he's transfigured and shines before them. There he's met by Elijah and Moses, each who had their own mountain-top experiences, and they embody Jesus's fulfillment of the Law and Prophets. What does this mean for us and our understanding of Jesus? We explore in this message.

Mountains have long been associated with encountering God, so many of the Canaanite religions would build altars and places of worship on "high places." God strictly commanded that His people destroy the high places so they wouldn't worship like their idolatrous neighbors. However, we see throughout Israel's history that they would turn to the Lord but were slow to get rid of the high places. In our own lives, it is easy to turn to the Lord but hang onto idols and other objects of worship. What does it look like to destroy these high places and fully worship the Lord?

At Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with his people that would be demonstrated through obedience to his commands and rules. On Mount Zion, Christ instituted a new covenant that was built on his righteousness and received in faith. This transition moved us from slaves to sons/daughters, from performance to promise, and from fear to a festival.

God gave instructions heading into the promised land to place a blessing and a curse on two adjacent mountains. These mountains represented the blessing that comes from obedience to God and the curse that comes from disobedience to him. The problem is that the people, like us, chose disobedience. But Christ came and obeyed perfectly earning life and blessing, which he gave us on the cross.