The term “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel and it appears there 16 times in 15 verses. I consider Ezekiel to be one of the most mysterious and misunderstood books of the Bible, on par with Isaiah, Hebrews, and Revelation. Much of the misunderstanding centers around the prophetic meaning of Israel and the difference between the salvation of the soul and the salvation of the spirit. Almost all Christians believe that the salvation of the soul and the salvation of the spirit speak of the very same thing. They do not; these are two separate and different salvations every person must experience. Anyone who aspires to become an “overcomer’ according to Christ’s letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 must either understand this or actively be “working out their salvation” in their own blindness. I have written extensively about these topics on this blog. So, now moving onto the first mention of the “mountains of Israel” we will look at Ezekiel 6.

The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, ³ and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.⁴ Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. ⁵ And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶ Wherever you dwell, the cities shall be waste and the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,^[a] your idols broken and destroyed, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. ⁷ And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 

⁸ “Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, ⁹ then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes that go whoring after their idols. And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. ¹⁰ And they shall know that I am the Lord. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

¹¹ Thus says the Lord God: “Clap your hands and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. ¹² He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. ¹⁴ And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land desolate and waste, in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to Riblah.^[b] Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 6 ESV)

I showed earlier that the phrase “the mountains of Israel” speaks of the government of God and even more specifically of God’s overcomers. “How can that be,” you may ask, “when it says right here in Ezekiel 6 that God is going to bring a sword upon these very mountains, destroy their high places, make their altars desolate, and lay their dead bodies before their idols? Clearly this speaks of ancient national Israel and the destruction that God decreed and carried out against them over the last 2600 years.”

And I answer, yes it does speak of ancient national Israel and God fulfilled this prophecy to the letter against them. But, like all Scriptures, this is a parable which also carries prophetic spiritual meaning. God deals with the overcomers, called the mountains of Israel here, in the same way as natural Israel, but he does it in the Spirit. God chastises all whom he loves, all of his sons. Of all people on earth God chastises and causes overcomers to understand the depth of their depravity and the stench of their sin as they serve their idols in the futility of their carnality. They understand that when Jesus said, “Blessed are they who mourn…” that he was talking about mourning over our own sinful nature, not about being sad because something bad happened to us. Yes, God really does plan to lay our dead bodies (carnal nature) before our idols. Jesus really was serious when he said that we must lose our carnal souls (our sinful lives) in order to gain pure souls (pure lives) for eternal life. (I urge you to read the writings of prophet Kenneth Visscher linked at the right if you can relate to what I wrote in this paragraph for God has given him many visions concerning his overcomers and their current condition in this world)

Now notice that Ezekiel addresses more people than just the mountains of Israel. He also speaks to “the hills, the ravines, and valleys.” Who do these represent? One of the great heresies of modern Christianity is that all Christians are the same. If one believes in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, they say, then one is saved and will go to heaven… and that’s the end of the matter! Never mind if that one continues to sin or never even repented of his sins. Didn’t Jesus do away with sin? There is thus no sin once one believes in Jesus, they say. He can do whatever he wants! Such is the heresy of a church that ordains practicing homosexuals, adulterers, thieves, and spiritual charlatans and pretenders. Such is the heresy that says all Christians will be “raptured” before the great tribulation. Did not Jesus say that some Christians would reap a reward of 100 fold, some of 60 fold, and some of 30 fold? And did he not warn that some Christians would be choked to death by the cares of this world? And didn’t Jesus chastise his servant to whom he had given but one talent,

‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:26-30)

Those who gain a reward of a 100 fold are the mountains. The hills, the ravines, and the valleys are the rest of mankind who will one day make up “all Israel.” But, as we see from Christ’s parable, some of his servants will have to be cast into the outer darkness before they learn to obey their Lord and take their place within Israel. (For more information about the manchild sons of God (the mountains of Israel) and the other ranks of believers please see the prophecies of Leland Earls linked at the right)