Missiology Through Scripture: The Mountains Melt Like Wax
“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.”
– Psalm 97:5-6
The use of the visual of mountains melting like wax seems odd but is not inconsistent in the Old Testament. Both moving mountains (Is. 40:3-5; Zech. 14:4,10) and melting like wax (Ps. 68:2; Micah 1:4) can be seen throughout the Old Testament. The purpose of the imagery is to show the power of the strongest things we know (mountains) is nothing compared to the power of the Lord. In our wildest imagination we cannot comprehend the power of the God. Even the most outlandish imagery imaginable does not do justice to scope of our beautiful Creator.
The glory of Jesus is seen, but not acknowledged, by every person in creation. God’s actions and design and observed and admired throughout the globe. Some falsely attribute his work to nature, man, or random chance. Jonathan Edwards said, “So in the prophecies the Messiah is represented as God, whom the Old Testament often speaks of as ruling sun, moon, and stars. And the heavens are represented as declaring the Messiah’s righteousness. And the heavens, and earth, and sea, and the whole universe, is represented as rejoicing and worshipping and praising the Messiah on occasion of his coming and kingdom.” Those who know and worship the name of Christ understand His righteousness and seek His glory.
God’s hand is seen in everything, and deep within each of us, God has placed a knowledge of Himself. Through the wonder of our surroundings every human understands there is a Creator and is given the burden to discover and worship Him. Many times, we suppress this knowledge. The purpose of the missionary is to help the lost uncover the truth which God has already placed within them. The missionary shares Christ with the nations and connects the dots from Creation to salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus. God’s glory is multiplied among the nations when His righteousness is revealed to the lost by Christ’s messengers.
Mike Pettengill is a veteran MTW missionary and the director of MTW’s West Coast office.
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SEE MOREPray for missionaries as they face a wide variety of stressors related to living and serving cross-culturally on the mission field.
Pray for current missionaries, future missionaries, sending churches, and donors to be willing to ask the question, "How could God use me?"
Pray that churches would care well for missionaries on home ministry assignment, and that missionaries would tangibly feel God's love.
Pray for a new parish-style church in Bangkok, Thailand, where the missionaries and church members are able to live in close proximity to one another and more easily minister to the community around them.
Pray for God's provision for missionaries raising support, and that they would remember that developing ministry partners is a ministry.
Pray for God to raise up missionaries to plant churches and teach theology in places where the gospel has been distorted.
Pray for the Wolof people in Senegal, identified as an unreached people group, as the gospel spreads through a new church plant.
Give thanks to God for the hundreds of thousands of Iranians who have come to faith over the last two decades. Pray for God to protect believers and draw more to Himself.
Pray that the global church, including the PCA in the U.S., would make evangelism a priority, and share the truth with those around them.
Pray that God would draw many PCA church members, pastors, students, and those passionate about global missions to the GMC conference in November.
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