Joel H. Johnson sought the truth regarding God and whether Jesus was the Christ. Eventually finding his way into the Church later in his life, he received the inspiration to write "High on the Mountain Top" from the book of Isaiah. The Church of God would be built high on a mountain, exalted above the hills, and those who belonged to it would preach unto all nations of the reality of the Savior. Johnson wrote this hymn in 1853. Ref. Source 1