Flee to the mountains
by Dianne Eckermann
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So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’, spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:15,16).
Read Matthew 24:15–31
Whenever we board a flight, we are taken through what to do in the ‘unlikely event of a flight emergency’. In today’s reading, we hear about a devastating emergency, which is not an unlikely event but an absolute certainty. However, there is no equivalent to the ‘fasten your seatbelt and adopt the brace position’ safety guide. The only advice is to ‘flee to the mountains’ – if you can do so.
Reading about the events leading up to the end of the world is not an easy read. It sounds like a compilation of every disaster movie ever made. To make it even more difficult to understand, there is no indication of when this might happen, other than that it is a time of what seems like unprecedented uncertainty. False prophets, whose main intention is to deceive, add to the great distress we can expect. Nor does there seem to be a safety guide to help people survive.
However, the advice to ‘flee to the mountains’ contains more depth than it initially seems. Frequently, mountains are a source of refuge in the Bible and are symbolic of being closer to God. Many important events took place atop mountains: Moses received the Ten Commandments, Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration of Jesus occurred, plus more. In Psalm 121:1,2, we read, ‘I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.’ In Psalm 125:1, we read, ‘Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.’
To flee to the mountains, therefore, is to flee towards God. It is God who is our source of help; it is God who endures forever, and it is God whom we can trust. We don’t need a safety briefing. We need only to live in the light of the risen Christ.
Heavenly Father, we ask you to send us your Holy Spirit to help us hold on to our faith in your protection and to flee to you in times of trouble. Amen.
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