El Elyon—God Most High

Extreme highs!  Mount Kilimanjaro 19,334 feet, Tanzania.  Vinson Massif 16,050 feet, Antarctica.  Mount Elbrus 18,510 feet, Russia.  Mount McKinley 20,335 feet, Alaska USA.  Mount Everest 29,029 feet, China.  Aconcagua, Mendozo, 22,841 feet, Argentina, South America. 

We all know that Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet above sea level, is the highest spot on our planet and is likely to remain so for a long, long time…unless we think about the word “highest” in a different yet profound way.

Suppose I ask you to find the spot on Earth where you are closest to the moon, you know, the stars and outer space.  In other words, the point on Earth that is closest to “out there”.  Most would point to Mount Everest. 

But there’s something you may not know; the Earth is not a perfect round sphere.  Ah Ha!  The Earth is similar to a beach ball that someone has sat on; it has a slightly distended middle.  Mathematics and scientists call this “oblate spheroid” which means there is a bulge that circles the Earth just below the equator, so anyone standing in that part of the world is already standing “higher” or closer to “out there”, closer to heaven and The Almighty, than people who aren’t on the bulge.

Therefore, people in Ecuador, Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia are all a bit closer to the heavenly realm or if you wish, the moon (or about 13 miles closer).  So what is the spot closest to the moon if not Mount Everest?  Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.  Yes, Ecuador.  Mount Chimborazo, in the Andes Mountains, is a 20,000-plus-foot peek sitting on top of a huge bulge on the Earth.  Mount Everest is a 29,000-plus-foot peek sitting lower down on that
same bulge.  Because Mount Chimborazo is a bump on a bigger part of the Earth’s bulge, it is higher.  You didn’t know that?  Let’s kick this conversation of “high”, “higher”, and “highest” up a notch to “Most High”.

El Elyon—God Most High.  This divine title occurs four times in Genesis chapter 14:18-22.  This special name is found about twenty times in the Psalms and about twelve times in the book of Daniel.  The name emphasizes God’s strength and sovereignty.

Highest:

“The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded” Psalm 18:13

“The Most High himself will establish her” Psalm 87:5

Most High:

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance” Deuteronomy 32:8

“”The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded” 2 Samuel 22:14

Most High God:

“And blessed be God Most High”.  Genesis 18:20 Also Genesis chapters 18, 19, 20.

“And rebelled against the Most High God”.  Psalm 78:56

God Elohim Most High:

“I cry out to God Elohim Most High”.  Psalm 57:2

High and lofty One that inhabits eternity:

“For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high holy place”” Isaiah 57:15

This grand name is used principally in the Psalms in connection with Jehovah’s reign over the earth at the time of Israel’s restoration.  May we be giving the “Most High” the highest place in every realm of our life?  Should we do any less?

The High and Holy God came down to our level to save us because it is impossible for us to go to his level to save ourselves.  Now you know there is none higher than “The Most High”.  You’re Welcome!