It would be extraordinary to stand where Moses stood, but visiting a biblical site cannot give anyone the access to God that Moses received. God called him and made the ground holy by His presence. When I follow the mountains through Scripture, I want to understand what God revealed there and how He provided for sinful people to approach Him. The accounts take us from a shepherd tending his flock at Horeb to the holy city where God and the Lamb dwell with a redeemed people.
Holy Ground at Horeb
Moses had fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite. Pharaoh had sought his life, and Moses was now living in Midian, tending his father-in-law’s sheep. He came to Horeb, the mountain region Scripture also associates with Sinai, while doing that ordinary work.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Exodus 3:1, NKJV
There he saw a bush burning without being consumed. Exodus first identifies the One who appeared as the Angel of the LORD, then says that God called Moses from the bush. This Messenger spoke as God and identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I understand this as a Christophany, an appearance of the eternal Son before He took on human flesh. The Son is personally distinct from the Father, yet the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the one God.
When Moses turned aside to look, God called him by name and told him how he was to approach.
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
Exodus 3:5, NKJV
Moses had to remove his sandals because God had set that ground apart as holy. He was required to respond with reverence, even though he had come there without knowing what would happen. The mountain’s rock and soil had no power of their own. God’s presence and command determined how Moses was to conduct himself.
An interest in spiritual things does not give me the right to worship God however I please. If He has forbidden a practice, I cannot make it acceptable by insisting that my intentions are good. Moses had to respond to the God who spoke, and our worship also needs to be governed by what He has said.
The holy God who required that reverence had also seen Israel’s oppression. He told Moses that He had heard His people’s cry and knew their sorrows. He was going to deliver them, and He commissioned Moses to go to Pharaoh. His concern for the afflicted arose from His faithfulness to the covenant He had made with their fathers.
Moses asked, “Who am I?” He questioned whether he could go to Pharaoh and bring Israel out of Egypt. God answered by promising to be with him.
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Exodus 3:12, NKJV
The mission would succeed because of the God who sent Moses. The promised sign also required him to trust God’s word before he saw the outcome: after Israel had been brought out, the people would serve God on that mountain. Moses would have to go to Egypt before he could stand there with a delivered nation.
The Hebrew verb translated “serve,” avad, means to work or serve, and here describes service rendered to God. Israel’s release would give them freedom to worship and obey the LORD. He was delivering people who belonged to Him, with a responsibility to live according to His word.
Moses then asked what he should say when the Israelites wanted to know the name of the God who had sent him. He needed to identify the One whose promise he was bringing them.
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 3:14, NKJV
The Hebrew expression ehyeh asher ehyeh is rendered “I AM WHO I AM.” The LORD is the living God who exists in Himself and depends on nothing He has made. Unlike the false gods people fashion and maintain, He does not depend on worshipers to keep Him in existence. He had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He was able to fulfill them despite Egypt’s power or Moses’ misgivings.
Redemption, Law, and Mediation at Sinai
In the third month after leaving Egypt, Israel arrived in the wilderness of Sinai. God had delivered them through the Passover and brought them safely through the sea before proclaiming the Ten Commandments at the mountain. They had already received instructions from Him, including those concerning Passover, but they had not earned their release by keeping the Sinai covenant. God was now instructing a nation He had rescued.
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Exodus 19:4-6, NKJV
The word translated “special treasure” is segullah, a treasured possession. The LORD declared that the whole earth was His, yet He had set Israel apart for a particular covenant relationship. Being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation carried an obligation to obey Him. Israel could not reasonably take pride in belonging to God while disregarding the voice that had called the nation to Himself.
We need to read these commands as the terms of God’s covenant with Israel. They include instructions for Israel’s national life that are not imposed directly on the church. To understand how they apply to us, we must consider what the rest of Scripture teaches about their fulfillment. The law reveals God’s holiness and exposes sin, but it cannot become a method of purchasing salvation. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ; obedience follows new life rather than paying for it.
Before the LORD descended, the people had to consecrate themselves, setting themselves apart for the meeting as He commanded. A boundary was established around the mountain, so they could not decide for themselves how close they wanted to come. On the third day, thunder and lightning accompanied a thick cloud and a loud trumpet, and the people trembled.
Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
Exodus 19:18, NKJV
The LORD was making His holiness known to people who could not safely disregard His commands. The boundary protected them as well as restricting them. When they heard Him speak, they asked that Moses speak with them instead, because they feared they would die.
So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20:21, NKJV
Moses served as a mediator, someone who stood between God and the people. He could receive and convey God’s word, but he could not remove their sin by his own virtue. The sacrifices and priesthood would make the need for cleansing clear, while providing the approach God appointed for Israel under that covenant.
Exodus 24 describes the covenant’s ratification, its formal establishment. Moses built an altar and twelve pillars representing Israel’s tribes. Sacrifices were offered, and he put part of the blood on the altar. He read the Book of the Covenant, the people promised to obey, and he sprinkled covenant blood on them. Their relationship with God required them to receive His word and approach Him through the provision He gave.
Moses and Aaron then ascended with Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders. They saw an appearance of the God of Israel and ate and drank in His presence. God made Himself visible to them without their seeing or comprehending the fullness of His invisible being. This was real fellowship granted by God, after His covenant had been established with blood.
God also gave Moses the tabernacle’s pattern on the mountain because He intended to dwell among Israel. He appointed its altar and priesthood for their worship, while the veil marked a boundary they could not treat casually. His instructions also specified the ark and mercy seat and how they were to be used. The same LORD who had led Israel by the pillar of fire and cloud was providing for His continuing presence among them. The study on the Shekinah glory examines that revealed presence further.
Repeated sacrifices kept Israel’s need for atonement before them. Atonement concerns God’s provision for dealing with sin so that guilty people may be reconciled to Him. The substitute died in the sinner’s place, but animal blood could not finally take away human sin. Hebrews 9–10 explains why these sacrifices anticipated Christ’s offering once for all. God had provided a way for Israel to worship while showing the need that His Son alone could fully meet.
Provision at Moriah and the King on Zion
Genesis 22 takes us back before Sinai, when God tested Abraham by commanding him to offer Isaac in the land of Moriah. God was proving Abraham’s faith, not enticing him into evil. Isaac was the son through whom descendants had been promised, so Abraham’s obedience required him to trust God with the very son on whom that promise depended.
Isaac could carry the wood and ask about the missing lamb; we should not assume he was the small child often pictured in artwork. His exact age is not given. When Abraham was about to kill him, the Angel of the LORD stopped him. As at the burning bush, I understand this divine Messenger as the Son appearing before He took on human flesh. Abraham then offered a ram God had provided in Isaac’s place.
And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
Genesis 22:14, NKJV
Isaac lived because God supplied a substitute. Abraham had obeyed in faith, but his obedience did not create the provision or earn salvation. The LORD supplied what was needed, and Abraham named the place in recognition of it.
2 Chronicles 3:1 later identifies Mount Moriah in Jerusalem as the place where Solomon began building the temple, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor. Scripture therefore connects Moriah with the temple’s worship and sacrifices. It does not identify the precise location of Abraham’s altar within that area, or say it stood on the exact spot of the later temple altar or Calvary. We can follow the connection God gives us without supplying those details ourselves.
The ram that spared Isaac and the sacrifices later offered at the temple anticipated the provision fulfilled in Christ. He is the Lamb of God who actually takes away sin, accomplishing what those earlier substitutes could only foreshadow.
Zion brings God’s promised King into this theme. The name first referred to the Jebusite stronghold David captured, which became the City of David. As Jerusalem became the center of Israel’s royal rule and worship, Zion could refer more broadly to the holy hill, the city, or the people associated with it. We need to let each passage establish how the name is being used. In Psalm 2, it is the place where God establishes His King despite the nations’ rebellion.
“Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”
Psalm 2:6, NKJV
Psalms 48, 87, and 125 also speak of God’s city, His people, and His protection. Isaiah 2:1–4 looks ahead to the mountain of the LORD’s house being established and the nations coming to learn His ways. The word of the LORD will go out from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations, and they will cease learning war under His righteous rule.
I understand these promises to describe the Messiah’s bodily return and the literal thousand-year reign He will establish on earth. The peace Isaiah describes is more than an inward experience: nations that have fought one another will come under the righteous authority of God’s King. Their peace will depend on His rule and instruction, rather than on their ability to negotiate a lasting settlement apart from Him.
Elijah, the Greater Prophet, and the Beloved Son
Centuries after Moses, another prophet made a difficult journey to Horeb. Elijah had seen the LORD answer by fire on Carmel, and Israel had acknowledged Him as God. Jezebel still intended to kill Elijah. He fled into the wilderness and asked God to let him die, worn down after the confrontation and now alone.
Before correcting Elijah’s conclusion about Israel, God gave him food and water and allowed him to rest. In 1 Kings 19:7, the messenger who fed him is called the Angel of the LORD. I understand this as an appearance of the Son before He took on human flesh. God was caring for His weary servant and strengthening him for the journey to Horeb.
So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
1 Kings 19:8, NKJV
At the mountain, Elijah described the nation’s rebellion and said he was the only one left. A powerful wind tore at the rocks, followed by an earthquake and fire, but the LORD was not in those manifestations. Afterward came a still small voice, and Elijah covered his face. The God who had answered publicly on Carmel could also address His servant in quietness.
God told him about seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed to Baal and sent him back with further instructions. Elijah was exhausted, but he was also wrong about being alone. If I conclude that no one else is standing for the truth, I am claiming to know far more than I do. God knew people Elijah had failed to account for, and He had work for the prophet to continue.
Nor should I use the still small voice to put private impressions above Scripture. Elijah was receiving an actual word from God, who corrected him and told him what to do. Feeling strongly about a thought does not give me the same authority to say that God has spoken. The study on Elijah’s life considers that encounter in its wider setting.
In the Gospels, mountains become settings for the teaching and revelation of Christ Himself. Matthew 5 records Him going up a mountain and sitting down to teach His disciples, with the crowds hearing Him. The mountain is not named, but Jesus’ authority is unmistakable. He spoke with an authority beyond the opinions of other teachers, bringing God’s requirements into the heart.
In the Sermon on the Mount, avoiding the physical act of adultery does not excuse lust, and avoiding murder does not make murderous anger acceptable. Jesus also addressed religious behavior performed for an audience. If I pray, give, or fast because I want people to admire me, the Father knows the motive I would prefer to conceal. He likewise requires truthfulness, forgiveness, and love that extends even to an enemy.
Deuteronomy 18 promised a Prophet like Moses. Jesus fulfills that promise, but He is greater than Moses: the servant received God’s word, while the Son is the eternal Word made flesh. His teaching carries divine authority, and He provides the mediation that Moses could only anticipate.
At the transfiguration, the disciples were shown something of Jesus’ glory before they saw Him suffer. Peter had confessed that He was the Christ, and Jesus had told the disciples that He would be killed and rise again. After calling them to take up the cross, He took Peter, James, and John onto a high mountain. His face shone, His clothing became white as light, and Moses and Elijah appeared with Him.
Moses was associated with the Law and Elijah with the Prophets, and both had encountered God at Horeb. Luke 9:31 says they spoke about Jesus’ coming departure at Jerusalem, using the Greek word exodos. It can describe departure from this life, and here concerns the death Jesus was about to accomplish. Moses had led Israel out of bondage in Egypt; Jesus would provide the redemption no national deliverance or animal sacrifice could accomplish. His death would fulfill what those earlier events anticipated, and He had already told the disciples that He would rise again.
Peter proposed making three tabernacles, or shelters: one for Jesus and one for each of the prophets. The Father then spoke from the cloud.
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
Matthew 17:5, NKJV
The disciples fell on their faces in fear when they heard the voice. Jesus came and touched them, telling them to rise without being afraid. When they looked up, they saw Jesus alone.
Moses and Elijah had borne witness to Him, but they were not to share His place as the beloved Son. The Father commanded the disciples to hear Jesus. Their familiarity with the Law and the Prophets should lead them to receive the One to whom those Scriptures pointed.
Jesus could approach them in kindness without ceasing to be the glorious Son they had just seen. The suffering He had announced would not contradict that identity. As the Son who is fully God and fully man, He would accomplish the reconciliation between God and sinners that no merely human mediator could provide.
From Sinai to the Holy City
Hebrews 12 returns to Sinai while urging believers under pressure to remain faithful to Christ. Paul contrasts that earthly mountain, which Israel had been forbidden to touch, with the heavenly Mount Zion believers have come to under the New Covenant.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
Hebrews 12:22, NKJV
The following verses describe the heavenly assembly and Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. This is the same holy God who spoke at Sinai. He has not become indifferent to sin, but Christ has accomplished the work that gives believers access to Him. Paul therefore warns his readers not to refuse the One who speaks and calls them to serve God with reverence.
Jesus lived without sin and voluntarily gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked people tortured and crucified Him, and He willingly shed His blood and died to redeem us. The Father did not punish or abandon the Son; they remained united in the saving work Jesus accomplished. His sacrifice through His blood and death was complete before His burial and bodily resurrection. The repeated sacrifices could not accomplish what He provided once for all. We approach God through Him, not through our success at keeping commandments or performing religious ceremonies.
I can come to the Father through Christ without the boundary Israel faced at Sinai, but I cannot use that access to excuse refusing His word. Grace gives me reason to trust Him and obey Him. If I claim to honor Christ while deliberately disregarding what He says, I am abusing the very privilege Hebrews tells me to receive with reverence.
Heavenly Zion does not cancel the promises concerning Jerusalem and Israel under the Messiah’s reign. We can receive what Hebrews says about the church’s present access to God without merging Israel and the church or denying the future fulfillment of Isaiah’s promises concerning Jerusalem. The same Son gives us access to the Father and will fulfill the promises concerning His rule over the nations.
Revelation 20 places the final rebellion and the Great White Throne judgment after Christ’s thousand-year reign. Unbelievers are raised bodily and judged. Jesus warned about the destruction of body and soul in Gehenna in Matthew 10:28, while Revelation 20:14 identifies the Lake of Fire as the second death. I understand that judgment as the irreversible destruction of body and soul for those who finally reject Christ. This rules out universalism, the teaching that everyone will finally be saved. Nor do I understand the second death to mean that unredeemed people live on forever in conscious torment. Revelation 20:10 specifically names the devil, the beast, and the false prophet as facing endless torment; I would not extend that statement beyond its named subjects. The second death is the final loss of life under God’s judgment.
Revelation 21 then describes the new heaven and new earth. John sees the holy city descending from God, and an angel carries him in the Spirit to a great and high mountain to show him the bride, the Lamb’s wife, pictured as New Jerusalem.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Revelation 21:10, NKJV
The city comes down from God; humanity has not built its way into heaven. God and the Lamb dwell with a purified people, and nothing that defiles can enter. There is no temple there because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The fellowship anticipated by the tabernacle is no longer restricted by a veil or dependent on a continuing succession of sacrifices.
The gates bear the names of Israel’s twelve tribes, and the foundations bear the names of the Lamb’s twelve apostles. God’s glory illuminates the city, with the Lamb as its lamp, and the nations walk in that light. The kings of the earth bring their glory into it. Revelation 22 describes the river and tree of life, with life continuing to come from God. The LORD who provided a tabernacle for Israel will dwell openly with His people.
God is offering us salvation now, before that final judgment, because Christ died for the whole world. His invitation is genuine for every person. People can resist His grace and finally reject Him, but no one is excluded from the call to repent and believe. Those who trust in Jesus receive eternal life and are born again. The Holy Spirit indwells and seals them, and God keeps His children secure in Christ.
That security does not make sin harmless. Regeneration means genuine new birth, and we should see evidence of that new life in a believer’s conduct. Our obedience does not buy entrance into the city or keep us saved. Someone who has been forgiven and made God’s child has every reason to take His word seriously now. Studying sacred places or visiting them cannot replace that response to the Savior.
My Final Thoughts
I want to approach God with the reverence Moses was commanded to show, while being grateful for the access Christ has provided. I cannot earn that access by religious effort, and I should not treat it casually once it has been given. God has made a way for guilty people to be reconciled to Him through His Son. As we follow these mountains through Scripture, we are being called to hear that Son and trust Him, with the promise of living in God’s presence ahead of us.