​The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 2-17) contain tremendous wisdom for how to structure society to bring about God's kingdom. 

This wisdom is contained within the underlying structure of the order of the commandments and is not always easy to see when doing a surface reading. 

In today's lesson, we take a deep dive into the biblical structure to see how this ancient wisdom transcends time and still applies to our world today.

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​In today's lesson, we explore Wisdom and the importance of striving toward wisdom in our spiritual journey up the mountain of the LORD (Psalm 24:3). 

Wisdom is a gift from God that gives us insight into the nature of God's cosmos or His will for how we are to live. 

When we implement wisdom in our lives, we manifest goodness over a long period of time. 

Since we exist across time, our behavior from moment to moment will eventually become our past and can result in the nagging feeling of regret, embarrassment, or shame. 

To live wisely is to live with a long-term perspective - God's perspective - that helps us see our actions through a higher spiritual lens.

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​Psalm 24:3 asks, "Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?"

Throughout the ancient Near East (ANE), the "Cosmic Mountain" idea was of vital importance within their view of the cosmos. 

So when the Israelites are taken out of Egypt to meet God on a mountain, they already have a preconceived notion of how God interacts with the world at the peak of a mountain. 

The theme of ascending the mountain of the LORD exists throughout the biblical text and includes Jesus' transfiguration on the top of a "sacred" mountain (2 Peter 1:18).

Ascending the mountain of God is also a metaphor that we can apply to our own lives as we ascend toward God, grow spiritually, and transform to be more and more Christ-like each day.  

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​Today's lesson is part two of our previous video, "The LORD My Banner."
 
In our previous lesson, we examined the story of Moses raising his hands on a hill while the Israelites were battling against the Amalekites.  Moses builds an altar upon victory and calls it, "The LORD is My Banner." 
 
In this week's lesson, we expand the concept of the banner from Exodus through the Bible and up to Jesus.  There is a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 11 that tells us that the Messiah will be a "banner" for the nations of the world.
 
Jesus is our banner!

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In today's video, we look at the story from Exodus 17, where the Amalekites attack the Israelites. 

Moses goes up onto a hill with the "staff of God in his hand." When Moses' hands were up in the air, the Israelites were winning. When his hands lowered, the Israelites lost.

After winning the battle, Moses builds an altar and calls it "The LORD is my banner." 

The context for this story and Moses' comment about the "banner" comes right out of Egypt and the religious use of standards or flags.

From this point in the scripture, the concept of a "banner" moves forward up to and including Jesus.
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Join us for part one this week and part two in two weeks as we explore the LORD as our banner!

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