MOUNT SINAI VS. MOUNT ZION

With Mount Sinai towering before them, the Hebrews camped on holy ground.

“Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently” (Exodus 19:17-18).

As the emancipated slaves stood before the Almighty, “there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a trumpet, so that all the people in the camp shuddered” (Exodus 19:16).

The people “shuddered.” They “trembled” (Exodus 19:16, ESV). As the mountain quaked, as rocks burned, as thunder rumbled and blasted, the Hebrews “trembled” in the presence! “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

The New Testament writer draws a striking and most comforting comparison.

“You have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, to the blast of a trumpet … The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear. Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering” (Hebrews 12:18–22).

God doesn’t require our presence at Mount Sinai, but He lovingly invites us to “Mount Zion, to the city of the living God” where we will eternally enjoy a “festive gathering” in His holy and gracious presence.

Today, we should be no less awed at His majestic holiness, but because we are His blood-bought children, we are beckoned to “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).