There is just something about mountains that calls my name. I love being around mountains and hiking on them. One of my dreams is to one day summit a snow-capped mountain out in the western states. I’ve had the opportunity to be near several major mountains, including Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Blue Sky (formerly Mt. Evans). Each mountain is different and beautiful in its own way. There’s just something special about being around mountains like these or climbing up their slopes and looking up at the peak above you and down at the valleys below.

In the Bible, there are many “mountain-top” experiences. Noah’s ark rested on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4), Abraham sacrificed on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 20:2), Moses received the law on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:3), and Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:20). But certainly one of the most unique “mountain-top” experiences has to be the transfiguration of Jesus. Mark records it for us in Mark 9:2-13. For Jesus’ inner circle of disciples—Peter, James and John—it was a crucial point in their understanding of Jesus’ role in God’s plan. 

Jesus was on a mountain with these three men when his appearance was dramatically changed. His glory shone through in a moment of splendor, dazzling his disciples and terrifying them. Suddenly, the disciples saw that Jesus was accompanied by Elijah and Moses, two of the greatest figures from the history of the Jewish people. Peter, always one to speak up, suggested that they build three tabernacles, one for each of the men before them. Peter no doubt meant this as a high compliment to Jesus, to suggest that he ought to be honored alongside the greatest prophet and law-giver from history. But this is a teaching moment for the disciples. A cloud overshadowed them and a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7). After these words, Moses and Elijah were nowhere to be seen. Clearly, God used this mountain-top experience to single out Jesus and show the disciples that Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah. But right on the heels of this glorious scene, Jesus had a further message for his disciples: they were to tell no one of the vision until after Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus’ disciples were confused by this. They understood that he was the glorious Son of God, but they did not know what he meant by rising from the dead.

The lesson is that Jesus is not only the highly exalted Son of God in glory on the mountain top, he is also the suffering Son of Man, who descends the mountain to return to Jerusalem where he will die for the sins of his people; but not only will he die, he will rise from the dead, conquering sin and death, and be exalted to the right hand of God for all eternity to make intercession for us. 

The prophet Daniel in the Old Testament is famous for his godliness. Even when he knew that it was illegal to pray to anyone but the king of Babylon, he nevertheless continued to pray to the LORD, the One True God. We’re familiar with that example of Daniel’s godliness and courage, but there’s another way that he is exemplary: Daniel read his “Bible.” I put “Bible” in quotes because, of course, Daniel didn’t have the entire Bible that we have today. But we know that while Daniel was in exile, he read the Scriptures that were available to him. We know this because Daniel himself tells us about an example of this very thing.

Daniel tells us that when he was old, “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus… in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years” (Dan. 9:1-2). By opening the Scriptures, Daniel gained an understanding of the timeline of what God was doing with the kingdom of Judah. Daniel looked back to these words given to Jeremiah years before and understood that the captivity of Judah was coming to an end.

The passage that Daniel references is found in Jeremiah 25. God rebuked the people of Jerusalem for their continued rebellion and for continually breaking the covenant, even though God had persistently warned them with prophet after prophet. As punishment for their stubborn rebelliousness, God promised to destroy their land and send Judah and her neighboring countries into exile. “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jer. 25:11). Not long after, Jerusalem was indeed conquered and its people—including a young man named Daniel—were taken captive to Babylon.

Isn’t it amazing that Daniel read the same words of Jeremiah that we have in our Bibles today? When we read the Bible, we’re reading the same Scriptures that God’s people have read and loved and obeyed for hundreds and even thousands of years. It should give us a strong sense of solidarity with all of God’s people throughout the centuries. As those who live after the first coming of Christ, we have the blessing of having the complete Bible. Like Daniel, we can read the writings of Jeremiah, but we can also read the rest of the Old Testament and the whole New Testament, too. God has blessed us by giving us his word. Are you reading it? Are you growing in your understanding of it? It will not do us any good if it’s just sitting on the bookshelf, but if we open it up and read it and pray for God’s guidance, then like Daniel, we will gain understanding of what God is doing in the world. 

For years now there is something I’ve really wanted to do but never attempted. Since I learned about it, I’ve always wanted to graft a tree branch onto another tree. Horticulturalists can do this to improve the quality of their produce or to grow more fruit on a hardy, disease-resistant tree. With some care and skill, the gardener can cut a branch from its own tree and splice it into a branch on another tree, where it will grow and produce its fruit. Of course, there are some limits to grafting—you cannot graft a branch onto just any tree—but when working within the same family of plants, an arborist can use grafting to achieve a healthier, stronger crop on his fruit trees.

Paul used an analogy from grafting to encourage the Christians in Rome to keep the faith and continue believing in Christ Jesus. Paul’s analogy uses an olive tree to represent God’s chosen people. His analogy describes the change that came with the dawn of the New Covenant. Under the New Covenant, being a descendant of Abraham has nothing to do with belonging to God’s covenant; but having the same kind of faith that Abraham exhibited has everything to do with being a member of God’s covenant. Thus, when Jesus was rejected by the majority of the Jews, God rejected them for their unbelief. They were like branches broken off from the tree, symbolizing that they no longer belonged among God’s people. And Gentile Christians who put their faith in Jesus were welcomed into God’s people, even though they were not descended from Abraham.

“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches… They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast though faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off” (Romans 11:17-22).

The point Paul is making is that none of us deserve a spot on the olive tree. The Jews who refused to believe in Jesus were cut off, and Gentile Christians who did believe in Jesus were graciously grafted into the tree. We belong to God’s people not because of how good we are, but because of how good God is. Only when we put our trust in Christ can we receive God’s gracious gift and belong to his people. Christian, resolve to never let your identity as a child of God lead you to be prideful or arrogant. You’re not in God’s family because you deserve it, but because God is gracious. Praise God, who was gracious enough to graft us into his family.

In the eighth grade, my class at school participated in a mock trial. This was the biggest event of the entire eighth grade program and something that we looked forward to for years. Our trial was based on a real criminal trial from South Carolina and included witness statements, maps, and expert testimony. Each student was to be assigned a role to play in the mock trial, either as an attorney or a witness. But our class of six students was so small that we all had to double up. For example, I was both a defense attorney and a prosecution witness. What this meant was that we all had to know both sides of the case really well. What could go wrong, right?

The week finally came for us to face off two nights in a row against teams from nearby schools. The trial was held in the Charlotte Federal Courthouse and overseen by a real federal judge. We were all as nervous as could be. The first night was a success. Heading into night two, we were confident. While we were on the prosecution side that night, I took the witness stand. During the cross-examination, the other team’s attorney threw some tough questions at me. I got a little frazzled. At one point, I made some long-winded statements, then paused, and to my horror realized that I had slipped back into my defense attorney arguments. I was on the witness stand as a prosecution witness but I had said the exact opposite of what I should have said, playing right to the other team’s advantage. The questions ended shortly and I got down from the stand feeling crushed. I had failed my team. I feared that my mistake would cost the whole team any chance we had of winning.

While the jury recessed, I whispered to my teammates how bad I felt for messing things up. They were kind and didn’t seem bothered. And you know what? We still won that night. Despite my mistake, we still won because it was a fantastic team that had worked really hard to be prepared. One mistake didn’t undercut all the work of preparation.

Sometimes in life we feel like a failure. And when we’ve messed up, it’s good to acknowledge where we went wrong and own up to our mistakes. But it’s not okay to get stuck in the past. The moments when you feel like you’re a failure are the times when it’s most important to be surrounded by a winning team that has got your back. And that’s exactly what the church is. Because of God’s transformative power at work in us, we are a winning team. Don’t try to go through life on your own. It’s much better to be part of a family—because you will fail; you will mess up; we all do. But when you do, someone’s there to catch you.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thess. 5:11.