Holy Ground

Sept. 22

Read: Psalm 24

Cosmic Geography, Part 2

Holy Ground

“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

And who shall stand in his holy place?” (v.3)

Have you ever heard someone speak of a “mountain top” experience? Why is it that almost all other people groups also have their god/gods living on top of a mountain? (Take for example Mt. Olympus and the Greeks.) When you read through the Old Testament, how many times do you come across talk about “the high places”? (ie. Lev. 26:30, 1 Kings 3:2, 12:31 etc.) Think about in the New Testament when Jesus is was transfigured before the disciples … it was on the top of a mountain! (Matt. 17, Mark 9, Luke 9) God met Moses on the top of a mountain. (Ex. 19) Even Eden was located at the top of a mountain. (cf. Ezek. 28:14 etc.) Not to mention the fact that God and his people will one day finally rest in the new heavens and new earth on top of Mount Zion… the location of “the city of God”. (cf. Heb. 12:22, Is. 2:2, Rev. 14:21 etc.) On earth, these “high places” or “mountain tops” seem to represent places where our connection to the spiritual… to the Lord as Christians… is strong; they represent a place where the “veil is thin” between the spiritual world and the material world.

God can and does make a place “holy”. His presence in a place changes that location. Think of Moses and the burning bush:

“God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Ex. 3:4,5)

"Holy ground” - that is what God calls it. That physical place become unique and special because of God’s presence… it was “sacred geography”. The dirt become something special… something more than simply “dirt”… it was a place where God's unique presence was made manifest… where his unique presence was revealed and found. This is “holy ground”. God is not present in every “space” in the same manner. God is indeed “present everywhere” (we call this omnipresence) but he is not present in the same way everywhere. This Psalm is a Psalm celebrating the presence of God. David - the Psalmist here - poses a very good question: “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?”

Think of the implications of this “sacred geography” … this “cosmic” orientation … the overlapping of God’s spiritual world with our physical world. Here is the wild part: right here and now God is present IN HIS PEOPLE. (cf. John 14:23, 1 Cor. 2:10-14, 6:19 etc.) You are the bush that is burning. When you go someplace - the Lord is with you and that “geography” changes with the presence of the Lord. God in his people and through his people makes a place “holy ground”. It is no longer relegated to one special mountain top or one special room in a Temple in Jerusalem… it is happening in the midst of God’s people all over the world. His presence in you has made you “holy ground” so to speak. He has taken “plain dirt” and made it something special… something HOLY. It doesn’t stop there though, because we know the mountain of the Lord - Mt. Zion - is coming again for us. We will once again dwell in “Eden”. Eden is the place where God’s presence is uniquely manifest in even different ways than it is in us right now. This means there is more in store for God’s people… good things… “mountain top experience’ sorts of things. Life in the new heavens and new earth will be FILLED with mountain top experiences… in fact… they may all be that way. In Christ, WE shall ascend the hill of the Lord. We will feast at the Mt. of Zion. We not only will stand in his “holy place” his “temple of Eden on the new earth” but we in fact have become his Temple on this earth now. Our becoming the temple - the very dwelling place of God - was not something David would have ever anticipated!

“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

And who shall stand in his holy place?”

We will and do!

Love you guys ! - JDP