Mount Hood in Oregon, United States, is a cone-shaped volcanic mountain made up of many layers of lava. Its snow-capped summit is more than 11,000 feet above sea level.
My friend Bob Prouty is a mountaineer. Bob says that climbers know that there are many ways to approach a mountain. Depending on their abilities, preferences or circumstances, they choose different ways up the mountain. Some climbers prefer rugged terrain, while others prefer gentler slopes.
He talked about his two attempts to climb Mount Hood. The first time, the weather was great and he was successful. The second time, he followed the same route but had to turn back due to bad weather.
Climbing Mount Everest was even more difficult for many people. It was not until 1953 that Tenzing and Edmund Hillary managed to reach the summit. Why did they succeed when everyone else had failed? They had an external oxygen supply. The air gets thinner the higher you go, and it becomes very difficult to survive without an additional source of oxygen. The lack of oxygen has prevented many people from reaching the summit of Mount Everest for thousands of years.
In the same way, there is something that prevents us from reaching the summit of the mountain of God. And what will we find at the top of this mountain? Some say we will find moksha, others speak of God, others of enlightenment, some of paradise and others of heaven. People say that there are many paths to the top of the mountain and that it does not matter which path you take because they all lead to the top.
We may all take different paths to climb the mountain of God, but we will all encounter an obstacle that prevents us from progressing further. The lack of oxygen kept people from reaching the summit of Mount Everest for several years. In the same way, there is something that prevents us from reaching the summit of God's mountain. Some people call it our karma. Others call it "our imperfections" or "our sins".
God is holy and only those who are perfectly holy can reach the top of the mountain of God. This means that we can all climb the mountain of God in different ways, but we will all come up against a barrier that prevents us from progressing further. No amount of self-effort, prayer or sacrifice will allow us to climb the mountain beyond this barrier.
So Jesus Christ came down from the top of the mountain. He is perfectly holy, so that He can live on the top of the mountain of God. But because of His great love for us, He descended to our level. No one can live up to God’s standard of righteousness in their actions, thoughts, words or attitude. Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not to leave us as sinners, but to free us from being sinners. He made a great sacrifice for your sins on the cross of Calvary. And Christ offers to take you to the top of the mountain of God.
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