The Twofold Signifcance of Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God, (part 2)
The Token
In Exodus 3:12, we read of what God says is a token, or a sign. This token or sign was to identify those who were sent by God, as Moses was sent to deliver God’s people. The token or sign was that the people in bondage would be brought to His Mountain, Mount Horeb, Exodus 3:1.
In part one, it is stated that the mountain of God is called by two names, Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai. Mount Horeb corresponds to light or positive and Mount Sinai would corresponds to night or negative.
Exodus 19:5, “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is mine.”
And in Exodus 20:19 we read: And they said unto Moses, “speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us lest we die.”
The people didn’t want God to speak to them and It was here at Mount Horeb, God’s Mountain, in the wilderness of Sinai, Exodus 19:1, that the atmosphere on the mountain changed from morning light to a thunder cloud of darkness, Exodus 19:16, and the people trembled.
We have the same principle as in a day of 24 hours, called partly day as well as partly night, yet one day. The people are as a magnet with two poles. One a positive pole for drawing and the other, a negative pole for repelling.
In the eyes of God we are like a magnet, either drawn to Him or we are those who willing stay away. Our frame of mind can be either positive or it can be negative.
1st Thessalonians 5:5, We are all children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night or of darkness.
We are always in the light and of the day because if we are in Christ, He is our light, 24/7, John 8:12.
John 8:12, Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
What makes the difference between one day being of the night or of the day, and one mountain having two names, Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai? The difference lies in the heart or attitude of any individual. The pages of the Bible tell us of both.
Those Who Sought God And His Love
All of the Psalms were written by those who were drawn to God by the hearing of the ear down through their generations and loved the word of God. These psalmist were positive in their thinking and loved the word that they heard and couldn’t contain it within themselves. They were of the day as Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 5:5, as we who have a willingness and love for God’s word are of the day.
Psalm 42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God.”
God was very real to David and he put his trust in Him
Psalm 35:1, “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive against me.”
Believing and following God wasn’t always an easy road as David says in Psalm 35. There can be opposition to those that trusted in Him.
Psalm 119:29 expresses verses for individuals who sought God’s help to overcome the sin of lying :
Psalm 119:29, “Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.” This psalmist knew he couldn’t cure himself of lying and he needed God’s help. Many Christians think of themselves as commandment keepers and try to keep the law by themselves and fail. God never intended this to be. The law exposed his sin of lying and with God’s help, will be eliminated from him, not he, trying to subdue the sin through his own effort.
Psalm 1:1,2, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. 2, But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he mediate day and night.”
During Jesus’s ministry, the religious leaders sat in the seat of Moses, Matthew 23:2. They had contempt for Jesus and eventually killed Him. This psalmist as well as the religious leaders said they meditated on the law. One had delight in the law, and the other said that they honored the law of Moses, John 5:45, yet, the religious leaders were scornful, or had contempt for Jesus and crucified Him. By one’s thoughts and actions, will determine who is honoring God’s token. Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God.
The law was given as a testimony of God, Exodus 25:16, describing what kind of God rescued the people of Egypt. On our side, the law exposes what kind of people we are, who, unlike those who sat in the seat of the scornful, who were the religious leaders during the ministry of Jesus. They didn’t love the law as the Psalmist did, so the law exposed them, how, the law says, “Thou shalt not commit murder,” they physically murdered an innocent man. When we understand the light as a positive virtue, and night as a negative virtue, then we can understand what the apostle Paul says in Galatians 4:21-31, concerning the two covenants, Galatians 4:24. The son given to Abraham and Hagar was Ishmael and refers to Mount Sinai and is in bondage. The son given to Abraham and Sarah was Isaac the heavenly Jerusalem, born of a free woman and represents God’s token, Mount Horeb, the Mountain of God. God says that Mount Horeb is a token, or sign. It is a sign of one’s willingness and inner self in being dependent on God rather than being independent of God in our life. It is not a matter of a person looking out our window to determine the time of day, either being light or dark outside, but rather an attitude of light or darkness of our attitude toward God within ourselves. So we read:
Exodus 3:12, And He said, “Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”
Exodus 3:1 gives us the name of the Mountain. God is a God of love. He will never force Himself upon anyone. We all need to have a loving, willing heart to have God as our Father, one who we will put our faith in and when we have gone astray, He will correct us. He is raising up children, not robots. Each child of His has a purpose while we have our stay upon this earth. When we were young infants, we automatically were dependent to our physical father. We didn’t have a choice. Our physical father provided everything necessary for our well being, at least, that was the idea. Now, as we are older, and able to make a choice, not as when we were infants, we will have a choice to be dependent on God, willingly, not Grudgingly, 2nd Corinthians 9:7, with cheerfulness, not out of necessity.
We should be different than those in Exodus 20:19, who were afraid to have God speak to them. We need to have a willing heart and attitude to hear what God has to say. God is love and He wants to build up, within us, a higher degree of love, not only for our immediate family, but a love to extend outward to His other children in the world who have no knowledge of Him. This is how He used Moses to deliver His people from their bondage in Egypt. Moses spent forty days on the Mountain and when he came down from the mountain, his face shone, He was imbued with the very nature of God, Exodus 34:29. Moses had a different attitude than the people did. And so it is with us, we need to have the same attitude that Moses had. It’s true, Moses had the two tablets of stone which had the commandments written upon them. But did Moses have the opportunity to break any of God’s commands. Of course not! Exodus 34:29 says, because he spent so much time with God. Yet his face shone because he was imbued with the nature of God.
We too, as the Psalmist and Moses, need to have a heart for God. This is the only way to reap the blessings and benefits that come to us, who are of a positive attitude to the instructions we are given throughout the word. We loved our father in our first physical birth because of necessity. That was the best we could muster up as far as our physical life was concerned. Today, Hebrews 4:7, we draw nearer to God, not out of necessity but with a pure heart, 2nd Thessalonians 2:22, and a sincere attitude, 1st Peter 2:2.