UNTERSBERG

I made it.

After nine minutes of terror, three of which were spent in paralyzing panic, I am here. In a rocky crag at the foot of a rusted steel cross. An old rugged cross that has seen the fiercest storms and the brightest sunshine.

At once I am filled with fear as the white cloudy wind whips around my cubby; with awe at the intensity of the earthy elements; with joy and wonder at the splendor of my King and his creation.
What a world.

As I was walking the steep paths around the top of Untersberg, I couldn’t stop thinking of Moses and Elijah and all those prophets who met God on top of mountains. No wonder God revealed his glory to Moses in a place like this. Mountains are holy places.

Imagine Moses (an old man in our terms) winding up through stark craggy mountain paths to meet the Living God—his feet throbbing, his calves and quads cramping from the wearying climb; he looks in anticipation toward the highest peak, thick cloudy air swirling majestically purple around it. The earth trembles under his feet as Moses crests the top of the mountain; he takes deep gulps of the fresh, light air, his chest heaving from the climb. And the Lord was there on the mountaintop.

Moses stayed on top of the mountain for forty days and forty nights in the presence of the Lord. And the Lord Almighty, the great I AM, laid down his law. A perfect and gracious rule, a renewed covenant, a shard of glass from an intricate mosaic that would be accomplished, tinted red, in the suffering glory and salvation of his Only Son.

When Moses came down, his face was radiant—gilded glory dust rubbed in his cheeks, the promise of salvation on his lips, and his task on his mind…and in his hands.


I am here to testify that the Living God is still present on mountaintops.

Not just Sinai, but Untersberg, Salzburg, Austria. To my right, all I see are clouds—white mist, and the adjacent mountain peaks barely poking through it. Behind me—deep green mountains and steadfast stone. Below—a wide open valley, long roadways that look like toy racetracks, red tiled roofs of a billion little cottages.

Smoky cloud now rolls over it all, obscuring it from view. One lone bumblebee hovers near me at the summit (where did you come from?)…and now a rumble of thunder.

How lovely is thy dwelling place.

I have never experienced the Father and Creator, the God of the Old Testament in such a rockingly powerful way before. I had forgotten that he was alive, as much as the Son and Spirit are alive.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

I will never forget this day or this moment. And I pray that his will not be the only time I so starkly see the glorious face of the Living God. If this is it--it is already more than I deserve, and I will be ever grateful. My heart delights in this sole goodness. But I have good reason and good hope for thinking I will go and meet with God again.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him!
Let the amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.

God is with us. Go and meet with him.