The Spurgeon Series 1859 & 1860. Charles H. Spurgeon
the future with eagle eye; he soared aloft in imagination, and began to sing of the last days — the end of dispensations and of time. He saw the Messiah once again on earth. He saw that little hill of Zion rising to the clouds — reaching to heaven itself. He beheld the New Jerusalem descending from above, God dwelling among men, and all the nations flowing into the tabernacle of the Most High God, where they paid him holy worship.
2. We shall not, today, look through all the dim vista of Zion’s tribulations. We will leave the avenue of troubles and of trials through which the church has passed and is to pass, and we will come, by faith, to the last days; and may God help us while we indulge in a glorious vision of what is to be before long, when “the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it.” The prophet saw two things in the vision. He saw the mountain exalted, and he beheld the nations flowing into it. Now will you use your imagination for a moment; for there is a picture here which I can scarcely compare to anything, except one of Martin’s magnificent paintings, in which he throws together such masses of light and shade that the imagination is left at liberty to stretch her wings and fly to the utmost height. In the present instance, you will not be able to outstrip the reality, however high you may endeavour to soar; for what is in our text will certainly be greater than what the preacher can utter, or that which you may be able to conceive.
3. Transport yourselves for a moment to the foot of Mount Zion. As you stand there, you observe that it is only a very little hill. Bashan is far loftier, and Carmel and Sharon surpass it. As for Lebanon, Zion is only a small hill compared with it. If you think for a moment of the Alps, or of the loftier Andes, or of the yet mightier Himalayas, this mount Zion seems to be a very little hill, a mere insignificant, despicable, and obscure molehill. Stand there for a moment, until the Spirit of God touches your eye, and you shall see this hill begin to grow. Up it mounts, with the temple on its summit, until it surpasses Tabor. Onward it grows, until Carmel, with its perpetual green, is left behind, and Salmon, with its everlasting snow sinks before it. Onward still it grows, until the snowy peaks of Lebanon are eclipsed. Still onward mounts the hill, drawing with its mighty roots other mountains and hills into its fabric; and onward it rises, until piercing the clouds it reaches above the Alps; and onwards still, until the Himalayas seem to be sucked into its base, and the greatest mountains of the earth appear to be only as the roots that strike out from the side of the eternal hill; and there it rises until you can scarcely see the top, as infinitely above all the higher mountains of the world as they are above the valleys. Have you caught the idea, and do you see there afar off upon the lofty top, not everlasting snows, but a pure crystal tableland, crowned with a gorgeous city, the metropolis of God, the royal palace of Jesus the King. The sun is eclipsed by the light which shines from the top of this mountain; the moon ceases from her brightness, for there is now no night: but this one hill, lifted up on high, illuminates the atmosphere, and the nations of those who are saved are walking in its light. The hill of Zion has now surpassed all others, and all the mountains and hills of the earth are become as nothing before her. This is the magnificent picture of the text. I do not know that in all the copious volumes of poetry there is an idea so massive and stupendous as this — a mountain heaving, expanding, swelling, growing, until all the high hills become absorbed, and what was only a little rising ground before, becomes a hill whose top reaches to the seventh heaven. Now we have here a picture of what the church is to be.
4. Of old, the church was like Mount Zion, a very little hill. What did the nations of the earth see when they looked at it? — a humble man with twelve disciples. But that little hill grew, and some thousands were baptized in the name of Christ; it grew again and became mighty. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands began to break kingdoms in pieces, and now to this day the hill of Zion stands as a lofty hill. But still, compared with the colossal systems of idolatry, she is very small. The Hindu and the Chinese turn to our religion, and say, “It is an infant of yesterday; ours is the religion of the ages.” The Easterners compare Christianity to some miasma that creeps along the fenny lowlands, but they imagine their systems to be like the Alps, surpassing the heavens in height. Ah, but we reply to this, “Your mountain crumbles and your hill dissolves, but our hill of Zion has been growing, and strange to say, it has life within its heart, and shall grow on it, must grow on it, until all the systems of idolatry shall become less than nothing before it, until false gods being cast down, mighty systems of idolatry being overthrown, this mountain shall rise above them all, and on, and on, and on, shall this Christian religion grow, until converting into its mass all the deluded followers of the heresies and idolatries of man, the hill shall reach to heaven, and God in Christ shall be all in all.” Such is the destiny of our church, she is to be an all conquering church, rising above every competitor.
5. We may more fully explain this in two or three ways. The church will be like a high mountain, for she will be pre-eminently conspicuous. I believe that at this time the thoughts of men are more engaged with the religion of Christ than with any other. It is true, and there are a few that will deny it, that every other system is growing old: grey hairs are scattered here and there, although the followers of these religions know it. As for Mohammed, has he not become now effete with grey old age? And the sabre once so sharp to kill the unbeliever has it not been blunted with time and rusted into its scabbard? As for the old idolatries, the religion of Confucius, or of Buddha, where are their missionaries, where is the old activity that made minor idolatries bow before them? They are now content to be confined within their own limit, they feel that their hour is come that they can grow no further, for their strong man is declining into old age. But the Christian religion has become more conspicuous now than it ever was. In every part of the world all people are thinking about it; the very gates of Japan — once firmly closed — are now open to it, and soon shall the trumpet voice of the gospel be heard there, and the name of Jesus the Son of the Highest shall be proclaimed there by the lips of his chosen servants. The hill is already growing, and note, it is to grow higher yet; it is to be so conspicuous, that in every hamlet of the world the name of Christ shall be known and feared. There shall not be a Bedouin in his tent, there shall not be a Hottentot in his village, there shall not be a Laplander in the midst of his eternal snow, or an African in that great continent of thirst, that shall not have heard of Christ. Rising higher, and higher, and higher, from north to south, from east to west, this mountain shall be seen; not like the star of the north which cannot be seen in the south, nor like the “cross” of the south which must give way before the “bear” of the north — this mountain, strange to say it, contrary to nature shall be visible from every land. Far off islands of the sea shall see it, and those who are near shall worship at it base. It shall be pre-eminently conspicuous in clear, cloudless radiance gladdening the people of the earth. This I think is one meaning of the text, when the prophet declares “that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.”
6. However this is only a small part of the meaning. He means that the church of Christ shall become fearful and venerable in her grandeur. It has never been my privilege to be able to leave this country for any time, to stand at the foot of the loftier mountains of Europe, but even the little hills of Scotland, where halfway up the mist is slumbering, struck me with some degree of awe. These are some of God’s old works, high and lofty, talking to the stars, lifting up their heads above the clouds as though they were ambassadors from earth ordained to speak to God in silence far aloft. But poets tell us — and travellers who have very little poetry say the same — that standing at the foot of some of the stupendous mountains of Europe, and of Asia, the soul is subdued with the grandeur of the scene. There, upon the father of mountains, lie the eternal snows glittering in the sunlight, and the spirit wonders to see such mighty things as these? such massive ramparts garrisoned with storms. We seem to be only as insects crawling at their base, while they appear to stand like cherubims before the throne of God, sometimes covering their face with clouds of mist, or at other times lifting up their white heads, and singing their silent and eternal hymn before the throne of the Most High. There is something extremely grand in a mountain, but how much more so in such a mountain as is described in our text, which is to be exalted above all hills, and above all the highest mountains of the earth.
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