MOUNT HOREB – Preparing the Overcomers

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Hebrew 12:22-24

Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3: 5-6

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 1Kings 19:11-12

*all scriptures taken from the NKJV, unless otherwise stated.

INTRODUCTION
There is a lot of pressure right now in the world and even in the church system for men to come into some form of allegiance and partnership of some sort in order to give strength and voice to some wishful thinking and agendas of some elites, both in the physical and spiritual spheres. The quest to bring things under the control of men or some faction of men has been in existence from the very days of the fall of man, even though it has a different name and concept in our day. This is seen in every aspect of life currently in this day that we live in. You see and read of the Governments of nations trying to put their citizens under some forms of control and then call them national security; business organizations in turn create policies that simply put their employees under some form of control and then call it business strategy for growth; churches create this freaky mindset in their congregation about how you will be cursed if you don’t pay tithe or if you speak about the irresponsible acts of the “man of God” and then call it honoring God in the man or touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm; families try to put the lives of their kids under some form of control and then call it parenting; and children are taught by the things that they are exposed to in the media how to put their parents under some type of emotional manipulation and then call it smartness or growing up. The list goes on and on and most hide their heads in the sand concerning these things, pretending as if they don’t exist or aren’t happening.
Every social media platform you try to log in to, asks you to agree with some terms and conditions. Some of these terms and conditions you may see and read if you search, but some you may never know the actual thing that you are agreeing to or being conditioned towards. We have become so comfortable with these things that most times we don’t even quest to know the hidden agendas behind these things as long as they give us quick access, convenience and speed. It is a real threat to the liberty and freedom many crave for, but which they don’t pay attention to in real time, simple because within the mental programming that social media was created to achieve, they are made to think and believe that social media is a form of freedom and liberty from life’s issues. But the opposite is true. It is actually a bondage to something, “friendship”, community, global village that is only as real as pictures, numbers, hyper-reality and cheap lies, hinged on triggering what they now call FOMO or Fear of Missing out. So even though it has been used to create this ability to reach millions of people with just the push of a button, but at what cost and to what end? However, this article is not about social media or what it stands for, but it’s about something else in the mind of God for His Overcomers.

REJECTION THAT BRINGS SEPARATION
One of the most dangerous things that has the power to plague a non-suspecting but true Overcomer, is the spirit of rejection from the society as well as neglect from those that they love. When not understood in time or if God doesn’t help put perspective to this rejection for a man, it can ruin such a man’s walk with God and place limitations on their mandate and calling. I have seen these patterns over and over again both in my own life and in the lives of those with like walk of faith, so much so that I sincerely now believe that the patterns of rejection for the Overcomers are almost inevitable in the journey of faith with God and those of like walk. It is so strong that, this pattern of reflection has become one of the most important signs that one is an Overcomer, separated unto God alone. Even as I am not saying that being rejected by the society means you are an overcomer with God, but it is a strong indicator that you are. For every one of the men that God had a direct walk with in scriptures, began their journeys with some form of rejection from men and the society, which then propelled a move of separation and then a coming into the acceptance into God. Meaning that every one that men reject, God accepts unto Himself.

MOSES AND ELIJAH
Taking time to read or study the life of Moses and Elijah is such a rewarding thing that brings you close to understanding the season we are in, the mind of God for the season, what is expected of each Overcomer and how to respond in the face of that which is placed before us as sons of God who have been mandated to bring healing, restoration and re-birth to creation. It’s such an amazing mandate, which is tied to eternal rewards in God and for which God will reveal Himself in ways never seen before on earth.
Scripture talks about the two witnesses (who are a picture of Moses and Elijah) and their role in these end time events that will hit the earth shortly, and how their lives and walk with God point the Overcomers (The true expression of the two witnesses) in this day to deeper reality with God and how to prepare for it. (See my article on the two witnesses here). It is this preparation by the Overcomers for that which is to come, that this article is about.
The lives of Moses and Elijah really do have some strong identical characteristics that each Overcomer must bear in mind, for it is true that they, the Overcomers, will partake of the same patterns of lifestyle of these two men that scripture calls the two olive trees that stand before the God of the whole earth. What a place to be with God. To get a study context about the life of Moses and Elijah, you can read these scriptural passages: Exodus 3 to Joshua 1 and 1Kings 17 to 2Kings 2, for both Moses’ and Elijah’s stories respectively.

PATTERNS OF MOSES AND ELIJAH
This is not in any way an elaborate definition of these two men or neither is it an analysis of their lives, strengths, weaknesses or any such things, but simply an attempt to point this article toward a particular direction for clarity’s sake. For the sake of length of this article, I will not necessarily talk in much detail about them from the beginning of their lives, but rather I will pick up from the place of their encounters with God on Horeb, the Mountain of God. And by God’s grace, we will see what we can glean out of the stories of their lives.
Moses was born in Egypt into a Jewish family, raised by Pharaoh’s daughter by some acts of God, became an adopted prince of Egypt, made a choice between his allegiance to the royal house of Egypt and his faith in the God of the Hebrew people, fell out of grace with the Pharaoh and ran away from Egypt to Median to save himself from death. Elijah on the other hand seems not to have a detailed background story, except that he was from Tishbi of the inhabitants of Gilead. He was known by all for fierce, accurate prophecies, confrontations with kings and royals, performing amazing divine acts before the people, falling out of grace with Jezebel the wife of Ahab the king of Israel and then like Moses, he too fled for his life.

I find it very interesting that both men had similar experiences from similar persons in governmental positions and situations and then gave similar responses, which led to a similar destination… in the very presence of God. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that their experiences, within the context of daily living within a society, led them to one and the same place – Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God. Scripture calls Mount Horeb the Mountain of God, which is also Mount Sinai and also called Holy Ground. It’s holy ground, not because the rock that makes up the mountain is holy, but because God, who is Holy, decided to meet these men here. And from their encounters with God on this holy ground called Mount Horeb, new spiritual realities and moves hidden in God were birthed right there on the mountain and then taken to the nations. Of Moses’ encounter with God on Horeb, the words that God gave to Abraham the Petrarch, four hundred and thirty years before this time, kicked in on a journey for fulfillment. For by that singular encounter Moses had with God on Horeb, a new pattern of worship, covenant, walk with God, building of a family of a people for God, began. And of Elijah’s encounter with God on Horeb, a new divine reality of vengeance against iniquity and the repairing of foundational matters amongst men were activated on earth. This encounter birthed the reality of sons of men: Hazael, Jehu and Elisha becoming swords of justice in the hand of God. So we find these amazing things we read in scriptures about the two witnesses of God birthed upon Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.

MOUNT HOREB
Without any shadow of a doubt, I am sure that there are various literal meanings and divine interpretations to Horeb as both the name of a place and also a concept in the mind of God. But to provide a simple literal Jewish meaning to Horeb, see what Abarim Publications’ Biblical Name Vault has to say:
Horeb (a.k.a. Sinai, and the Mountain of God) is the mountain where Moses fasts for two times forty days back to back, as he receives the Law (Exodus 3:1). Later Elijah the Tishbite also spends forty days fasting on Horeb (1 Kings 19:8), after which he has his famous conversation with God in the cave (1 Kings 19:9-18)

Etymology of The name Horeb
The name Horeb comes from the root group חרב (hareb I & II): חרב
Some scholars recognize three root-verbs חרב (hrb) while others see only two. But however many there are in theory, in practice the two or three groups of meanings are not all that far apart (see the note below): חרב I
The root-verb חרב (hareb I) means to dry up, be in ruins, lay waste. This verb sounds very negative and it is so, most of the time, but it all depends from which angle we look at it. Looking from the memory of a beautiful city, waste land is worthy of fierce lament (Jeremiah 25:11). Looking from the face of the deep however, the first signs of dry land is reason to be exceedingly glad. (Genesis 8:13).
Where BDB Theological Dictionary divides this root in two, HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament observes, “The verb hareb originally meant ‘to be dry.’ Secondarily it and its derivatives denoted, on the one hand, the heat which caused dryness, and on the other, the desolation of waste areas, the devastation caused by wars”.
Its derivations are:
The adjective חרב (hareb), meaning dry (Leviticus 7:10, Proverbs 17:1) or desolate (Jeremiah 33:10, Nehemiah 2:3). The masculine noun חרב (horeb), meaning dryness (Genesis 31:40, Judges 6:37), or desolation (Isaiah 61:4, Jeremiah 49:13). This word also serves as the name Horeb. The feminine noun חרבה (horba), meaning waste or ruins (Leviticus 26:31, Isaiah 5:17). The feminine noun חרבה (haraba), meaning dry land (Genesis 7:22, Exodus 14:21).The masculine noun חרבון (herabon), meaning drought (Psalm 32:4 only).
חרב II Where the previous root-verb may denote the ruins after a siege or a wasted land after a war, the root-verb חרב (hareb II) denotes the actual fighting. It means to fight (2 Kings 3:23) or slay (Jeremiah 50:21 and 50:27). The verb occurs a mere three times in the Bible, but its sole derivative is much more prevalent: the masculine noun חרב (hereb), meaning sword.
The sword is the most mentioned weapon in the Bible; it occurs 407 times. It occurs frequently in combination with the word פה (peh), meaning mouth. The ‘mouth’ of a sword is usually interpreted to be its edge (Genesis 34:26, 2 Samuel 2:26).
(Copied from the Abarim Publication Website)

From the above description of Horeb as a word, these words stand out: wasteland, dryness, sword and mouth. All of these words seem to carry in themselves some form of negativity. But who really determines what is negative or positive, man or God? God does and He alone. For from the various meanings and pictorial interpretations, we see Horeb as a place of aloneness with God, separation from the outer society, lack of anything physical that enhances flesh, no food, water or any such thing in the physical, and only the availability of that which is completely cut off from man and the status quo. We see only God and the one He has chosen to come to Himself. This brings me to the very next paragraph which is the most important in this article; well, in relation to the subject at hand.

THE CALL TO COME TO HOREB
Having seen that Mount Horeb in its physical state looks like a place to which no sane man wants to go hang out for a vacation or even a retreat, because of its dryness and separation from humans; and having also now seen the beauty of being on this mountain alone with the God of all creation, let us now look at the call for the Overcomers to come to this mountain and be prepared for the very next and last move of God on earth.
The greatest manifestation of God on earth was Christ hanging on His tree of death, His resurrection, ascension to heaven and the access He gave by His Blood for man to come in to the Father and for the Father to come out to man. However, the greatest and the last manifestation God is bringing on the earth this time will be the revealing of His sons. These ones are the ones who have allowed the fiery fire of God to burn, refine and define their lives upon the cross of their death and in the holding places of their graves before God. These are the ones creation has been groaning for, in waiting for their release from futility. These are the ones who will bring to a beautiful manifestation what it means for God to be Jehovah Jireh i.e. Him who has provided for Himself lambs of sacrifice. These are the ones that this call to come to Mount Horeb is meant for. I also find this season so in line with a prophetic word given about forty years ago about the last move of God on earth. The notable prophet of God, Bob Jones, who has gone to be with the Lord, gave a word of prophecy forty years ago that Ichabod (The glory has departed) had happened to the church then, and that it would take another forty years for the Chabod (Glory) of God to be returned to the earth. It is not a coincidence that the words of God are coming together in this season to birth on the earth that which man has not seen before. And because every such move of God begins from a Mount Horeb experience with God, it is therefore of great importance to heed this call to come to Horeb – the Mountain of God.

THE OVERCOMERS ON HOREB
Because Mount Horeb is no longer a physical reality of a physical mountain that burns with fire and terrible noise of thunders and earthquakes, but a spiritual Mount Zion, the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, a place of the innumerable company of angels, the place of the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, the place of the presence of God the Judge of all, the place of the spirits of just men made perfect, the place of Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and the place of the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel, you can rest assured that this call is not about going to the physical Mount Sinai in Arabia or any such thing, but it is a spiritual reality that each Overcomer must come into in faith in response to that nagging nudging in your heart to come away to somewhere with God. The Overcomers have been given a very serious mandate by God on which most of the things that will happen in this age of the end time are anchored. And an absolute accurate response from such so greatly beloved of the Father is key to the success of this mandate.

PURPOSE OF THE CALL
The day of the arch angel Michael has come. Daniel 12:1 speaks of the rise of Angel Michael, the great prince who watches over the sons of God or the Overcomers or the army of the Lord. Many will be made to fall, to purify and refine them in readiness for manifestation. This is the reason for the call to come to Horeb before the face of God.
The eating of the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve, the coming of God in the cool of the day in the Garden was a divine plan for Adam to come before God, behold Him face to face, die before Him like He, God, promised that he would if he ate of the fruit and then be raised to become the same image of God that he beheld. For scripture says, as we behold Him face to face, we are changed to the same image. This is what it means to make man fall. In other words, to fall means to take a position of self-surrender before God, to die in His presence and then be raised up with a new conformity to the image of God. For no man can see God and continue to live in the flesh. All sons of God or the Overcomers will be made to fall to purify and conform them to Christ. This is the call to come to Mount Horeb and to be before the face of the Father, die before Him and then be raised up in Him. The question most readers may ask is this: How do I come to this Mount Horeb?
I want to believe that this is not a complex question requiring a complex answer. From the lives of Moses and Elijah, as well as the events that led them to Horeb, you will see that right in the midst of the situations they were running from, there was a spiritual pull directing their path towards a particular direction. That force of pulling is the Word of God in their hearts, which they may not have been aware of. See this, to come to Horeb, let each man go back to the water of the Word of God that birthed them. Not the word of their pastor, bishop or the doctrine and principles of the spiritual family they belong to (all these are not wrong in themselves) but to the water of the Word of God that birthed them. When God tested Gideon’s men, he didn’t use the words or commands of Gideon, He took them to the waters to be tested by Himself. This approach is what every Overcomer must go back to. Therefore, review your walk with God, look back to where you started with God, track all the way up to where you are right now and you will see how He has led you and where He is leading you.

TO THE OVERCOMERS
Therefore, you Overcomers reading these lines, it is to you I now say these words. Like Moses, you were brought out of the water of a particular physical nation or tribe; like Elijah, you have no fancy precedence to your name or family; like Moses you saw the luxury of being a prince of this world but chose to run away into the desert of the plan of God even though it was painful; like Elijah you have no family, friends or affiliations who check on you from time to time and raise you up when you’re weighed down with life’s circumstances; like both Moses and Elijah, you came to loggerheads with those who were supposed to know the Truth of God and uphold the same, but who did not, and like Moses and Elijah, you had to run away from the threats of the ruling elites-The Pharaohs and the Jezebels of this world. Like these two sons of God, you feel in your heart that something is wrong with the church and world system, that something is not aligned inside you, you feel your association with men is draining you, and you feel this unrelenting pull to come away to a place you do not know and which only God will show you. It is to you dear Overcomer that I write these words. For that which you feel within you that looks like utter rejection from men is actually that which points you to the direction of Horeb where your Father, the God of all creation is waiting to input into you the mystery of His goodness and the mystery of His severity, by which your mandate to reveal Him and also to set creation free from futility will be perfected in you.

Your recent years and days have been filed with lots of physical lack, spiritual dryness and mental pressure that seem to want to take you off the mark of the high calling in Christ. But this lack is not an evil from the enemy, but the string of God pulling you to Mount Horeb where provisions for eternal things are made available in abundance. This pull, this lack in yourself, the limitation you feel in your soul is tied to the mystery of Mount Horeb the Mountain of God. On this Mountain of God, the only thing that exists is the Word of God and nothing else. No food, no water, no friends, no family, and nothing that man’s hand created, nor is there the human ecosystem by which Babylon has ruled the entire world since time immemorial. It’s the place of daily manna from God and also the place of Genesis 1 that is Dark, Void, Formless and Deep, which to me are the four artistic pillars of creativity. (I will write about this at a later time as God permits)
On Mount Horeb, only the voice of the Creator exists and nothing else. In this reality of Horeb, the place of dryness is fulfilled “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” It is this Mountain that God is calling the Overcomers to come to, upon which He will input in them the reality of the two witnesses and from where he will launch the very next move of His Spirit. The mystery of Jehovah Jireh is also manifested here on this mountain. The two realities of the two witnesses of God, which are His goodness and His severity will be fully revealed in the Overcomers who come away from the society into the Mountain of Horeb and from there they will be launched into the next move of the Spirit of God which is directly tied to the Day of the Lord that is coming.
This reality, dear Overcomer, is what you have been called to in God. Yes the moves of God on earth are never outside of the man He created, but they are also never locked up in just one person, particular group, association or spiritual family. For in the very presence of Hazael, Jehu and Elisha, that God chose as His swords of vengeance, who in their days would have looked like the most important persons in God’s agenda, seven thousand others were in reserve waiting for the appointed time of the Father to be revealed. So it will be very dangerous for any one group or person to lay claim to owning the very next move of God on the earth. My candid opinion.

In conclusion, dear Overcomers unto God, do not pay attention to those who reject you, those who make a mockery of your pattern of walk of faith before God, those who think you are wasting your skills and talents because you don’t use those skills and talents to bring to the table, the delicacies of Jezebel’s fornication. Do not be bothered by those who doubt your walk with God because there is “nothing”, anointing for signs and wonders to show for it. For I know the feelings that come with knowing what God told you about yourself, about the amount of power and authority He hid in you, the position He gave you in eternity and then having Him strip you of those same things so that your boast will be in Him alone. I know how it feels to feel helpless, as though all you were ever told by the Spirit of God were lies, and how you can’t even arrive at a very simple answer to very simple questions or situations in life simply because God has not spoken. I know how it feels to walk away from common sense and then embrace the leading of the Spirit which sometimes doesn’t make sense. So my brother/brothers do not let go your hope in God which has the power to save you in the Day of the Lord. For everything the world dangles in your face, is to distract and take you away from the true life God wants you to live for Him. For while you go about your daily activities to take care of your physical needs, do not be carried away by them, and do not forget that God is surely able to create a different ecosystem around you to take care of those same needs like He did for both Moses and Elijah.
You are blessed of your Father and are loved of His beloved. Physically, I may know you or I may not know you, but a time is surely at hand where all sons of God, all Overcomers who have followed the Voice of the Spirit to come away into the presence of God will know themselves just as they are known of the Father. For this army of the Lord will not be hidden forever, but must manifest on this earth in glorified bodies as Christ is glorified. But until then, keep hope and strength in God, the One Whom you have loved enough to walk away from the world for.
God bless you, from your brother.