The Ten Commandments given Israel were guidelines reflecting God’s holiness for them to follow. They were rigid, with consequences upon their disobedience. God’s manifestations of His holiness, were manifestations that showed judgment. With that, Israel were to understand the seriousness of the consequences of their disobedience to the commandment which God gave them. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews confirms that, If anyone disregarded Moses law, he died without mercy, based on the testimony of two witnesses (Hebrews 10:28). Here remains the fact that no forgiveness was available to the one who had broken the Law. For in its significance, the Law constituted the picture of the rigidness of the holiness of God. Therefore, there was no mercy provided for those who transgressed it.
In the allegory given to the Galatians, Paul gives the meaning of the representation of Mount Sinai versus Mount Zion. The first, represents the covenant that bears slavery children, as in the person of Hagar who, a bondmaid gave birth to a child born according to the flesh vs. Sarah considered the free woman, the wife of Abraham, who had given birth to a son in fulfillment of the promise (Galatians 4:22-24). Israel meeting God and His holiness at Mount Sinai represents the sinner outside of God’s grace, in need to repent. Mount Sinai is the representation of the Law and the sinful condition of men before the holiness of God. It shows God in the consuming fire of judgment without mercy against the transgressor of His Law, causing him to hide from His presence. Mount Sinai then condemns and demands continuous sacrifice of innocent animals to atone for the sins of men, without power of cleansing them once and for all.
The contrast between Mount Sinai, which is a physical mount and Mount Zion, which is the spiritual mount, is found in Hebrews 12: 18- 24, But you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom and storm, to the blast of a trumpet, and the sounds of word to the point of not bearing, no, you have come to Mount Zion that is, the heavenly city, to the Mediator YAHSHUA, whose blood has forgiven you and made you whole; to the assembly of those whose names are written in heaven, you have come to YAHWEH, Who is the judge of all, to the myriads of angels in festive gathering. Yes, you who have been redeemed, purchased and sealed with YAHSHUA’S HOLY SPIRIT, you have come to Mount Zion, the city of our God, the New Jerusalem! Where there is no more condemnation, but grace, bestowed on you.
When YAHSHUA ransomed us from sin, He reconciled us to God in the mount where He was sacrificed, called Calvary. He met His redeemed ones on Mount Zion with forgiveness, peace and hope of salvation. He did not come in a thick and dark cloud, with smoke and fire, but He met us with His blood, purifying and saving us. God came to us as a Father, a merciful and loving father, with justification, accepting the substitution work of His Son, Who fulfilled all the Law and its requirements given on Mount Sinai.
Mount of Zion is a covenant of grace; it is the covenant of salvation, not by good deeds, but by the sacrifice of YAHSHUA offered on the Mount of Calvary to all who will accept Him. The covenant of grace gives the born- again person the fulfillment of the promise; we are children of the free woman- Sarah; we are children of the promise, as Isaac was, and in His Son, God’s promises will be fulfilled. We were born again in fulfillment of the promise given Abraham on another mountain on the region of Moriah many years before, when God said to him, In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your SEED will possess the gate of His enemies; and in your SEED shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice (Genesis 22:17-18). So we can come to Mount Zion, the city of our God, with full confidence and trust, because of our great High Priest –YAHSHUA, the mediator of our soul and Savior of our spirit; He Who holds the key to it, has opened and allowed us to enter into His presence with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water (Heb. 12: 19-23). All religions however, are going the way of Mount Sinai, looking for answers how to get to heaven. There, they will find only condemnation and judgment, not mercy and forgiveness, for they will have to deal with the holiness of God in their sinful state, apart from the forgiveness found only through YAHSHUA at Mount Zion.
Mount Zion, the Holy City- the New Jerusalem, will someday descend out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). Mount Zion, the covenant of love and forgiveness, the covenant of peace waits for all who will come to it to receive forgiveness, for there is no forgiveness and salvation at Mount Sinai; for it merely represents salvation through works, which is the Law. Salvation, my friend is only available at Mount Zion, the city of our God, where love from God overflows to the sinner; where forgiveness overflows with peace and hope, filling the heart of everyone who comes to it with hope, hope that will never fade away, but it will grow deeper and deeper with every day that passes, until the final day. Where are you looking for answers, my friend? With one leap of faith you can reach Mount Zion, with the answer you are looking for.
THINK ABOUT IT!
Light from the Word 