Mountain top experiences

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 8am on 19 February 2023 (based on a similar sermon from 2017)

Exodus 24v12-18,Matthew 17v1-9, Genesis 22v1-19

Introduction

We are looking at mountain top experiences this morning as we look forward to the start of Lent on Wednesday. The phrase is really a metaphor for the type of experience, but in both our readings it is also the geographical location.

Mountain top experience – what you get

When we talk about a mountain top experience, we usually mean something that is an amazing revelation, something that gives you an understanding that you have not had before. It gives you the sense of the presence of God in a new and exiting way. It may change your whole approach to life and set you off in a different direction, or it may bolster your faith years later. It may have been a scary experience, or a joyful, exhilarating one. It will certainly have been a memorable one. It may even have been your conversion.

Scary experience – Abraham

As we will see later, Peter, James and John had a scary experience, but there is an even more scary mountain top experience recorded in Genesis. In Chapter 22 Abraham is tested.

In verse 2 God says to Abraham:

God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

Isaac was the son that God had promised Abraham he would build a nation through, so what is God up to in asking Abraham to sacrifice him? It is a test of his faith, of course, does the boy belong to Abraham, or does he belong to God. Who does Abraham really think is in charge?

Outcome for Abraham

If you don’t know the story, let me tell you that God provides a ram at the very last minute, and Isaac’s life is spared. God, of course, keeps his promise to Abraham and Isaac’s descendants become the great nation of the Israelites.

That was a mountain top experience that neither Abraham nor Isaac ever forgot.

Have you had one?

Maybe you have had a mountain top experience, if so think about it - remember it, spend some time today reflecting on what you learnt, and what it means to you now.

Mountain top experience – what you need

Sometimes these experiences can be triggered by nature, so I am not surprised that we also like to have the literal experience. Going up a mountain to see what you can see. Being up a mountain usually means that you are on your own with God (or with just a few others). It’s also helpful if there is nothing that might interrupt you – so that you can concentrate on God, and listen to him in a very special way.

Exodus 24:12-18

In our Old Testament reading, it is not Moses we’re really following. He’s off up the mountain to get the 10 commandments from God, and he will be gone a long time. First he has to wait a week before he is called further up the mountain, then he is up there for forty days.

Forty

The number forty represents testing in the bible – so the forty days in the wilderness for Jesus that we remember during Lent is a time when He tested his faith and prepared Himself for the ministry to come. Forty days up the mountain for Moses, is not so much a test for Moses, but a test for the Israelites – can they remain faithful to the Lord when their leader is gone? It’s a test that the Israelites spectacularly failed – even before they were properly established as a people. If we skip on a bit to chapter 32 we can read the story of the golden calf.

Mysterious God, their guide

God appears mysterious, remote and rather frightening in this passage as only Moses and Joshua are allowed on the mountain, and then only Moses is called to be closer to God. God had been guiding them through the wilderness in the form of a pillar cloud of during the day and a pillar of fire during the night. (13:21) He had been feeding them on Manna and Quail (16) and providing water from rocks. Now the pillar of fire is on top of the mountain and is described as the Glory of the Lord. It was the way that God showed his presence with the Israelites.

Volcano?

Mount Sinai, in case you were wondering, is not a volcano, so this is not a mythical tale of primitive people worshipping what they do not know, and have no way to understand. This is the Living God making the Israelites into a people, and demonstrating any number of times how much He loves and cares for them.

The laws He gave them are remarkable for their fairness, their concern for the poor and the foreigner, they proved an incredible challenge to the Israelites then, and they still do – even in our supposedly more enlightened times.

Transfiguration

In the transfiguration story, we see a number of similarities and a number of differences, which we will look at now.

Where

Both are on mountains, but are they the same mountain?

Mount Tabor

There are three candidates for the location of the ‘high mountain’. The most likely appears to be mount Tabor, which was suggested as the location by Origen in the third century.

Mount Tabor is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.

Mount Hermon

Another good alternative is Mount Hermon.

It is much higher and also closer to where Jesus and His disciples were said to be, so it might qualify as the ‘high’ mountain.

Of course, some people would love it to be Mount Sinai and go out of their way to make the case. So I checked how long it would take and Google tells me it is 124 hours to walk to Sinai. If they had walked 21 hours a day, they might have just made it in six days. Even if we allow the 8 days mentioned in Luke’s Gospel, they would still have to walk 15.5 hours a day – and ignore the Sabbath! Everyone has to eat and sleep, and that takes more than three hours a day, so I think we can safely say that it was not mount Sinai.

Transfiguration Background

Which ever mountain they were climbing six days had passed, and we do not know what happened during that time, but we do know that before the six days Jesus had been teaching his disciples about his death and resurrection. It is difficult to know how much of this the disciples understood, so perhaps they needed to see things from a different perspective.

Glory

God’s Glory, of course, is present in both episodes, but in a very different way. Moses does not see the Glory of God directly, instead it is the Israelites who are treated to that vision – the “consuming fire” on top of the mountain. Remember, it is the Israelites being tested. Moses did not need to see it, he was doing business with God to get the nation set up.

Jesus Shines

For Peter, James and John, the Glory of God shines out through Jesus. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.” What the disciples are seeing is a demonstration that Jesus is God. God’s glory is no longer a separate entity, no longer something detached and scary, it is here inside the friend and teacher they have been following for a while. Moses and Elijah are there too, because this is about continuity – Moses represents the law and Elijah the prophets.

Peter

When Mark is telling this story he says that Peter was afraid, so perhaps his rather strange reaction - offering to put up shelters for each of them, is explained by that. The word used is Tabernacles, and refers back to the ways of worshipping before the temple was built by Solomon. Before he can finish making his plans, a bright fog came down, and God spoke.

The Voice

The voice from the cloud says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him!” The disciples have heard this message before, at Jesus’ baptism the voice from heaven said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.”, just the command “Listen to Him” was missing.

Maybe it's the place – the surroundings, - the situation, maybe it's the command, maybe they’re just a lot closer to God now than they had been last time they heard those words, whatever it is they are terrified and throw themselves to the ground face down – that was not how they responded at his baptism (3:17) – indeed no response is recorded. Now, the posture is one of worship.

Jesus supersedes Moses

Jesus comes to them and tells them to get up and not be afraid. When they do, everything has returned to normal – Moses and Elijah are gone, only Jesus is there. They start back down the mountain – the experience is over. You cannot stay on the mountain top forever, as good as it is to be there. Jesus is already focussed on how they will use the experience and says, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” The experience was meant for them – Peter, James and John. It was meant to be remembered, it was meant to strengthen their faith – so that when, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, they were questioning what happened, when they were questioning who Jesus was, they will have that memory to look back on. What they had seen will remind them that God’s love for all of us is so strong that he sent His only son Jesus came to die for their sins and bring them to eternal life, but also that Jesus is the fulfilment of all that has gone before – of all that Moses did, of all that Elijah and the prophets did and said. All of it points to Jesus and Jesus, their Messiah and ours, supersedes all of it. Salvation is found in Him alone.