Tempted on the Mountaintop

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Matthew 4:8-11

I heard it over and over again as a little girl growing up on an Apostolic pew—sermon after sermon about the great mountaintop experience we can have with the Lord:

• If only we could leap from mountaintop to mountaintop while skipping the valley!
• The climb is worth all the effort in the end!
• It’s the highest possible place you can go spiritually in the Lord while still being bound to an earthly body!
• The great goal in our daily walk is to make it to the next mountaintop!

There always seemed to be some alluring mystery hidden beneath the cloudy haze covering the peak piercing the horizon of my young mind’s eye.  If only I could make it to the mountaintop!  I so wanted to know what it meant to be at the pinnacle of my spiritual walk.

It wasn’t until much later that I learned exactly what it means to be on the mountain.  It means isolation.  It can be a hard and barren place with nowhere to rest.  The conquest of the crest awards the cragsman an exposed vulnerability like never before.  Yes, you may see for miles from the summit; but you often see only a heavy fog covering the land below with a vision no clearer than what you beheld at the base.  The mountaintop experience isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.  It takes a while to get up, and it takes a while to get back down.  You may get weary on the way.  You may even get hurt.  It’s a climb and descent that can prove very trying, indeed.

I have read the above passage multiple times throughout my life, but never have the verses stood out to me as they did with this year’s daily reading.  The words leaped from the page to flip the switch of revelation and illuminate the Scriptures before me.  Don’t you love it when that happens?

The devil led Jesus to the mountaintop.

We often think of the mountaintop experience as being the highest spiritual experience in the Lord.  But this verse lets us know that being on the mountain doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be there.  The devil led Jesus there.  Let that sink in.  How many times have we credited the Lord with our mountaintop experience?  It may very well be divine; but it may not be, as well.

When thinking of some of the great men of God I have known throughout my lifetime that have appeared to be giants in ministry, highly successful, in demand, and at the top of their game, I recall watching them fall into the cleft of compromise; and it makes me wonder if their mountaintops were where they really needed to be at those particular times in their ministries.  They had reached a peak only to stumble and fall, and some fell to never rise again.

What a powerful lesson from the mountaintop!  Make your footing sure.  Whether you’re led there by God or by Satan himself, you need the proper equipment to ensure a secure foothold.  And that leads to the next revelation God gave me.

Jesus was tempted on the mountain.

One might envision the valley as a place of temptation, a place of depression or lowness.  (And I personally know it to be that way.)  But how often do we think of the mountaintop as being a place of temptation?  The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me.  You are exposed, without shelter, and in a very vulnerable place at the summit.  Your heightened vision may give way to pride.  And pride comes before destruction and arrogance before a fall (Pro. 16:18).

I believe it is safe to say that temptation can come literally anywhere in your walk with the Lord.  Nowhere is a safe zone as long as we are in these mortal bodies that are under the curse of sin.  In truth, no one is saved until they make it to Heaven.  The next time you find yourself high in the clouds with Jesus, make sure you’re holding on tighter than ever to His hand.  And above all else, don’t stop praying.  It’s easy to find yourself in your prayer closet when everything is falling apart and nothing is sure in life.  But what about during the good times when all is well?  Those may be the most crucial times to pray.

He needed to receive ministering on the mountain.

We all know how Jesus fought and won the temptation over the devil with the Word of God, and we know the importance of Scripture as a weapon in our arsenal against the enemy.  But something I think that gets overlooked is the very last part of verse 11 where it says the devil left Him and the angels came and ministered to Him.  He was on the mountaintop and still needed to receive ministering.  Just because you’ve reached a spiritual high doesn’t mean you’ve arrived at a place where you no longer need something from the Lord or from others.  You may need to receive ministering, instead of being the one who does the ministering.

We can learn a lot from the valley, but we may learn even more from the mountain.  Your highest spiritual experience may very well be the most dangerous of your everyday walk.  Be aware, hold tight, and pray unceasingly.