When God delivers an important message, it is often from the mountain top. It is a habit of His. Mt. Horeb (also known as Mt. Sinai) was called “the mountain of God” and is where God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, and later gave the Ten Commandments (Ex 3:1,2; 19:20). It is where God spoke to Elijah when he fled from Jezebel and was told to go back and proclaim His word (1 Kgs. 19:8, 9,15).
It was Jesus’ habit as well, often retreating to the mountains to pray (Lu. 6:12). God’s word again went out from the mountains as Jesus delivered his great “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt.5:1). It was upon a “high mountain” that Jesus was transfigured and God spoke the famous words to the apostles, “Hear ye him! (Mt. 17:5).
The church that Jesus established had its beginning on Mount Zion, where the temple was built in Jerusalem (Ac. 2:14). As it was prophesized; “In the last days The Mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains…For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem (Isa 2:2-3). In Revelation John is taken by an angel, “and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Re. 21:10). I am ready to breath that mountain air, aren’t you?
-Dennis Doughty