The Mountaintop

We celebrate the life of a great leader today, and we can reflect on what we are leaving behind when
we leave this earth. Psalm 78 says:
3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children...

We can live with a sense of our own mortality, and realize that tomorrow is not guaranteed for us.  Each day of our lives is a gift from God, and He wants to express Himself through us so that we can have an eternal impact.  We can accomplish this through dependence on the Lord, who has placed us here - on this earth, on this day - in order that we might do Kingdom work and bear fruit for Him.  And, as Jesus taught in John 15, that fruit can be lasting, for God's purposes.

+++++

We are on a journey with Christ through eternity - it begins with our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior, it continues throughout our time on earth, and continues with our transition into another
realm, another world. 2nd Corinthians 4 states:
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

There are many character traits to admire about the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  He was insightful, devoted, and passionate for the cause of civil rights.  You might say, in athletic terms, he left it all on the field - that energy can be inspirational for all of us as we seek to fulfill God's purposes.

But, he also had a sense of his own mortality.  And, he sensed that his determination could cost him his life.  Consider his message in Memphis on April 3, 1968 - that was the day before his death at the hand of an assassin.  An Atlanta Journal-Constitution article from two years ago said this:

...King spoke for 45 minutes about everything from human rights to his brush with death a decade earlier, when a deranged woman’s blade came so close to the aorta that, if he had sneezed, he would have died.

This was the famous "mountaintop" speech, given on a stormy night at Mason Temple, that the article said "would prove to be his darkest and most prophetic."  The piece relates:

“I don't know what will happen now,” King said. “We've got some difficult days ahead.”

And, then came the memorable words after a pause in the speech:

On this night King regains his thoughts and tells the crowd that he has been to the mountaintop, does not fear any man and through those pained eyes, “have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

The article links to a special media section which contains more of the speech, including the words surrounding the reference to the "mountaintop:"

...Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

I think about David, who was told by God that he would not build a house for the Lord, but his son, Solomon would complete that work.  We may have work that we are called to do that may not be finished in our lifetime, yet, we can be careful and motivated to do what He has instructed, because ultimately it's his plan.  The work of Rev. Dr. King is by no means complete, but I believe that God used him in a special time, a certain season in order to create a spark of a vision for men and women to live in harmony - it's a Biblical vision that Christians are still wrestling with today.

We can develop a sense of our own mortality, our own human frailty, yet remember that when we are weak, He is strong.  A journalist named Ken Fuson recognized that; upon finding out that he had a liver disease, he wrote his own obituary.  Faithwire reports on it, stating:

Here’s a paragraph on his faith that stood out:

“Ken’s pastor says God can work miracles for you and through you. Skepticism may be cool, and for too many years Ken embraced it, but it was faith in Jesus Christ that transformed his life. That was the one thing he never regretted. It changed everything.”

Fuson died on January 3.  The article notes, "Fortunately, because of Fuson’s wit and foresight, millions of people are getting a window into his charming personality and considerable skills as a writer, because his self-crafted obituary is going viral."

Fuson had a sense of his own mortality, and embraced it by writing his own obit.  In his words, he shared what he felt people needed to know about him.

Ken Fuson had a disease in his body, Martin Luther King, Jr. had a foreboding in his soul.  We all face death, and I would encourage you not to face it without Jesus.  The question becomes: how are we going to live in light of eternity?

Moses didn't go into the promised land, David didn't build the Temple, and King didn't see his dream fully realized by no means.  But, our lives are building blocks in God's Kingdom plan.

Plenty of takeaways as we reflect on this chapter at the end of Dr. King's life.  And, his seemingly prophetic words can lead one to believe that he sensed the end of his earthly journey was at hand.  I am reminded of what Dr. Tony Evans shared at the memorial service for his wife, Lois - a CBN.com article related that she was touching the heavenly realm during the final days on earth, perhaps even seeing loved ones who had gone before.  I want to go into more detail at another time.  Suffice it to say that we should all be enthusiastically embracing eternity, while realizing that God has a purpose for us on earth during a finite, pre-determined time period.

And, during that time period, we can consider what we are leaving behind - it's called a legacy, and we can seek to allow God to work through us so that His glory is seen through us and that we leave tangible evidence of Christ in us.  The work of the preacher and reformer Martin Luther King, Jr. is by no means done, and many are building on his foundation.

King referred to the "mountaintop."  We will hopefully all have times of exhilaration, when we sense the closeness of God's presence with us.  A time of great joy and a heart full of worship to the Lord.  But, we also recognize that we will face tough times, and we can draw from those times of past strength to help sustain us in the present trials.  Life will not just be mountaintops, nor valleys, but we can know that He walks with us through all of life's experiences.