The Gift of WaitingSample

A Different Perspective

The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains. (Isaiah 2:2)

The summer before our first child was born, my wife and I decided to take a vacation to the Pacific Northwest. We spent a day hiking in Mount Rainier National Park. Mount Rainier rises 14,000 feet above sea level. We had been to Colorado and Montana earlier and had hiked some large mountains, but Rainier seemed so much bigger. I learned later that this was due to perspective. A 14,000-foot mountain viewed from sea level is much different than a 14,000-foot mountain viewed from a starting altitude of 5,000 feet.

In today’s passage, Isaiah looked to the day when the house of the Lord would be established as the highest mountain. Isaiah’s prophesy was fulfilled, but in a way that didn’t match people’s perspectives. Jesus is that high mountain, but the people of Israel were expecting a Messiah who would establish a new political order, not one who would die on a cross. In His humiliation, Jesus lowered Himself, and at His resurrection rose as the highest mountain for our sake. In Advent, we wait for the final day when “every knee will bow . . . and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10-11).

In this season, we relive Jesus’ first coming and anticipate His final coming. He is the one who stands above all others, yet lowered Himself that we might be saved. —Andy Bast

As you pray, thank God that Jesus Christ came to redeem us in a totally unexpected way.