The Divine Perspective, C. R. Oliver [icecream ebook reader txt] 📗

The Divine Perspective

Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 'Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."' 
Jeremiah 33:1-3

Introduction:
          The prophet viewed everything through the eyes of the Lord God, not determining his reality by his surroundings or his circumstances or his times. Jeremiah was not blinded by the opinions of others, the ruling courts of his day or his rejection by the established clergy. He had been to God's Holy Mountain and knew things are "not as they seem." Not trusting his own reason or guiding his own pathway, he sought wisdom from only one source. Deep within him burned the fire of God and part of his being was the Word ingested. Self-evident was the truth of his declaration, "Call to Me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." 

          My God, that is what we must have in these days! 

Let us cease swapping the external for the eternal, thus making our determinations based on cultural, economic or social considerations. The Kingdom is larger than our play area. Buried deep in history are landmarks set there for our understanding, tracing how our limitless God is equipping a limitless people. If the mountain before us is not a holy one, He commands to move it. 

Religious malfeasance is an odious substance in the effluence of modern thought. The world seeks to ignore, reject or slough expressions of Divine Perspective, as does the modern church. "Thus saith the Lord" has been replaced with homilies from passive pundits. Lost are the missiles of fire taken from coals off the altar in the Temple of the Most High. God's perspective is what is important, and it demands a "coming up here," rather than "staying down there" in order to have it.

Ephesians 2:5-7
(He)... made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

It is in this "seating together," we learn to see as He sees, hear as He hears. Sitting with Him hones our compassion into the white heat of One who will ride the white horse. While handling "heavenly matters," we comprehend the true issues of life. No, we do not abandon cultural, educational and social influences. No, we remain aware of status and economic stratification, but we see such through the eyes of Divine perspective. 

Take Moses as an example of the change in perspective that comes from being with God.

Exodus 3:1-6
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.' 

4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' 

And he said, 'Here I am.' 

5 Then He said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.' 6 Moreover He said, 'I am the God of your father - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

Moses did not stumble onto the mountain; it was appointed by God for that time. Perhaps this is why the Almighty continually draws His people to the mountain of God and speaks with them from that advantage. Perhaps when Moses climbed the rocky slope of Mt. Horeb as a fugitive and lowly herdsman, he had no idea that he would descend a savior and a "sent one." He embraced the Divine Perspective. So must we! 

Oh saint of the Most High, come to the mountain of God and get a fresh view! (However, one must be brought out of Egypt first.)

Exodus 3:12
'When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.'

Moses camped on that mountain. 

Separated from the influence of Egypt, alone with the Most High, he established a citadel of power within himself. God could there do things in Him and for Him that forever would stamp his name in history. (His meekness came from assurances found on the mountain.)

Exodus 18:5-6
Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. 6 Now he had said to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her."

We must camp on the mountain of God in order to re-establish our families. Oh church, there is no running between the world and the mountain of God.

Exodus 19:3-4
3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:' 

Exodus 19:16-20
16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 

Exodus 24:18-25:1
So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Oh preachers, get up to the mountain of God now. Learn his "point of view." Seek His Divine perspective and only then come down to your people. Then you will lift your people to a higher level of consideration. There is little challenge in valley thinking. Your congregation may tremble at your words, but that is better than fruitless tears and cowardly timidity. Thundering and Lightening are not the trappings of modern clergy, neither is a clear Word from the Lord. 

God is calling us to the mountain of Holiness to garner a fresh perspective for the last days. Don't fear the mountain! 

Moses was eventually drawn to two different mountains to see two great revelations. He received his discharge papers on one mountain and was summoned to witness the power of Jesus on another one, called the mount of Transfiguration. 

The mount of Transfiguration afforded the contrast between the world's perspective and the high perspective of God. While the three chosen disciples were being introduced to a life transforming view, the balance of the disciples were struggling with the vicissitudes of the valley. (This was due to a child they could not cure. It took the God perspective to do the job.) 

The transforming mountain forever changes the valley view.

Deuteronomy 32:48-52
Then the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49 "Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people; 51 because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.

Don't fear when God calls you to His mountain; beware when satan tries to direct you to his. 

Satan sought to tempt the Son of God by bringing Him to a high mountain in order to acquaint Jesus with his perspective. Jesus rejected satan's mountain and his premises. (Review the following passage and realize that every person on earth faces these same two mountains and their variant perspectives.)

Matthew 4:8-11
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 
10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" 
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

George Beverly Shea's song, "I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I'd rather have Jesus than riches untold, I'd rather have Jesus than anything, this world affords today," cannot be sung in modern religious circles truthfully. It has been replaced by the siren songs of demons and the drum beat of devils. 

God always has a mountain with His different perspective. 

Often Jesus retired to that mountain to pray, to renew the God-Perspective within Himself and to "call unto Him (Jer. 33:3)." Mountains, however, are not required for such activity. Nevertheless, congregations today are bereft of the "God-perspective." Surrounded by nagging continuums, the bombardment of media and the pressure of modern living, they often depend on Sunday messages and pulpit pulchritude to define FOR them that which can only can be obtained by personally showing up on the Mountain of Holiness.

Matt 14:23
23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.

C.G. Bevington said it often took many days to silence the voices, so he could get God's "point of view." (Bevington, C.G., "Remarkable Miracles.") 

Flowing out of those "alone times with God," Jesus delivered what has been deemed the greatest sermon ever preached, "The Sermon on the Mount."

Matthew 5:1-3
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 
3 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

O' to hear a message flowing out of pulpits and broadcasts that was birthed in heaven and brought like fresh manna to the masses. He, who is the bread of life, longs to be the sustenance of souls. His provisions come from the heavenly store! (True prophecy from