The Holy Mountain of God

Mountain in photo not actual Mountain of God. 

Before I begin, I need to give credit where credit is due. The guys over at the Sword and Staff Podcast have been working this concept out in greater length. Their 2nd episode, “Re-Mythologizing The Liturgy & The Cosmos” opened my eyes to the Biblical idea of what Heavenly Mount Zion is. Go subscribe to their channel. 

That being said, I was meditating on Psalm 121 yesterday. 

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Psalms 121:1-2 ESV

Psalm 121 is a Psalm of Ascension. It was customarily sang on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, which is situated on Mount Moriah. It was also sang in the temple service after Solomon built the temple. Why would the Psalmist say that he lifts his eyes to the hills for help if he knows his help comes from the Lord unless the hills are associated with where God is? When examining the passage, the Hebrew word for hills can also mean mountain or mountain range. It is used elsewhere in the Psalms. In Psalm 87 we read:

On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. - Psalms 87:1-2 

So we see that there is a holy mountain and on top of it is the City of God - Zion, or Jerusalem.

 Psalm 133 (also a song of ascent) says:

It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. - Psalms 133:3 ESV

So the Holy Mountain is a range of mountains - or hills. There are tons of references to God’s Holy Mount throughout the Bible. We could quickly and cleanly attribute this talk to Jerusalem, and move on. That would be correct, but there is a grander theme to this idea of God’s Holy Mountain that culminates in something far more glorious than national Israel’s Jerusalem. The first place we see mention of a mountain is in Eden.  In the book of Genesis, Eden isn’t described as a mountain, but rather a garden. However, in Ezekiel God gives us a more robust description of Eden when addressing Satan:

You were in Eden, the garden of God… You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.  In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. - Ezekiel 28:13,14-16 (ESV) 

Did you catch that? Lucifer was in Eden, the Garden of God, on the holy mountain of God. The place where God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, the place where He planted the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the place where God’s throne resided, was in Eden, and Eden was the Holy Mountain of God. When man sinned, and God cursed them and banned them from the garden, they no longer had access to the garden - the mountain - the dwelling place of The Lord Most High. Jerusalem didn’t exist then. In all likelihood, Mount Moriah probably didn’t exist in the form that we know it today, since the Flood drastically altered the landscape of the earth.

Speaking of the Flood…

From the Garden of Eden on, we see imagery and prophecy throughout Scripture pointing to God’s intention of restoring man to fellowship with him on His mountain. Just a few chapters later in Genesis, the account of Noah’s ark foreshadows this very thing. Due to the greatness of man’s sin, God’s wrath is poured out on all flesh through the great flood. Noah’s family is preserved through the judgment by being hidden in the ark along with all clean and unclean animals. These animals dwelt together in peace and safety, and are a picture of Jews and Gentiles who will be unified and pass through God’s wrath only in Christ Jesus. 

Once the flood waters receded, the ark came to rest on the top of the mountains of Ararat. What does Ararat mean in Hebrew? It means, “The curse reversed.” It was on this mountain that Noah offered sacrifices to God, and it is where God gives them his rainbow as a sign that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood. So, is this just a cute little fable we tell children when they see a rainbow after a storm? No. It has incredible significance. In Revelation 4:3, John describes the heavenly throne room of God, and there he sees God’s throne encircled by a rainbow. It was on the mountains of Ararat where, once God’s wrath had been satisfied, the people of God, saved by God, worshiped God and saw a glimpse of his throne as a sign and a promise of greater restoration to come.

This imagery can be seen in the encounters of Israel with Yahweh on Sinai; in the dreams of Daniel; in the Psalms and prophets; in the design of the tabernacle and the construction of the temple. But what does it mean for us who call ourselves Christians? Jesus tells us in the gospel of John that he is the only way for a human to have access to God without perishing. 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 (ESV) 

The writer of Hebrews tells us that through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have access to God’s most holy throne room.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:19-23 (ESV) 

And later in Hebrews, we are told that this isn’t just access to God and his Holy throne room. It is access to the Holy Mount of God - Mount Zion.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 12:18-24 (ESV) 

George H. Guthrie summarizes this passage in his commentary on Hebrews.*

The author of Hebrews uses the images of Sinai, drawn from the OT passages, to communicate the relational inadequacies, indeed the terrible inapproachability of God, under the old-covenant system. The whole scene is dark and frightening, communicating the need to stay away from the mountain and God. This striking picture of the old covenant sets up the beautiful contrast seen in the description of the new-covenant mountain, Zion, in 12:22-24, a mountain of joyful celebration, community, and relational closeness to God himself.

Christian, by Christ’s blood, death, and resurrection, your sins have been forgiven. God’s wrath has been satisfied. The curse has been broken. The way to God has been opened. The Holy Mountain is free to those who would enter through Jesus Christ, and he is the only way by which we may enter. When you gather for worship on Sundays, you ascend the Holy Hill. It is not the earthly Jerusalem we know today. It is the heavenly Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ. There you boldly enter the presence of the Almighty, and you are not put to shame. When you lift your eyes to the hills, to the City of God, to Mount Zion, you can see where your help comes from. Your help comes from the Lord, maker of Heaven and earth.

When you gather on Sundays, or partake of the Lord’s Supper, or fellowship with brothers and sisters in your homes, when you lift your voice in praise or raise your hands in prayer, you are there again, the place where Glory dwells. You are with Jesus. This is why on Sunday morning we can sing,

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” Psalms 122:1 (ESV)

So, Christian, let us go to the house of the Lord!

*Guthrie, George H. Hebrews. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by G.K. Beale & D.A. Carson, 988. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007