Two Mountains | Sunday, May 19, 2024

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore... But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn... and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18–24)

On the day of Pentecost, a tale of two mountains—Sinai's law and Zion's grace—reveals why the gospel speaks better things.

A Word About the Summer and the Day of Pentecost

Beginning next week we're starting a new series for the summer. We've been studying through the Book of Judges and are a little more than halfway through, but we'll set it aside and come back to finish it in the fall. This summer we'll study the Old Testament book of Hosea, one of the minor prophets. (There are Minor Prophets and Major Prophets—it's not like the minor and major leagues, and I'll explain that next week.) If you're coming with us, read at least the first chapter of Hosea this week, or even the whole short book.

Today is an important day—the day of Pentecost—so I want to take time to talk about what that means. As I thought about what to share, my mind went back nearly 30 years to when I was a sophomore or junior in high school attending this church next door in the youth ministry.

Ron Wyatt and the Search for Sinai

One Sunday morning, one of the men teaching us wheeled in one of those big box TVs with a VHS tape. It was a short documentary about an amateur archaeologist named Ron Wyatt, an interesting character who loved to go to the places mentioned in Scripture to find evidence that the things we read about in the Bible actually happened. Wyatt, who is now with the Lord, went with his son to retrace the steps of the children of Israel as they left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and came into Midian.

There is a traditional site on the Sinai Peninsula that people have called Mount Sinai for nearly two thousand years, but there's little archaeological evidence to support it. Wyatt believed the true crossing went from Egypt across the Red Sea into the land of Midian, which is in Saudi Arabia. The documentary showed the trek through the wilderness to an enormous split rock that Wyatt believed was the rock Moses struck in Exodus, and then to a great mountain in Midian with a blackened peak. That peak is not photoshopped—that's actually what it looks like. As a high schooler, I remember thinking, I would love to go there someday.

Standing at the Split Rock and the Blackened Mountain

A little more than a year ago, I had that opportunity. I went with my friends Pastor David Guzik, Lance Ralston, and Chuck Musselwhite. We all serve together on the board of Enduring Word (enduringword.com), where you'll find David's commentary on the whole Bible, Genesis to Revelation—a great help when a text confuses you.

We flew into Jordan, visited our missionaries Bubba and Kathy Holler, then crossed into Saudi Arabia—a very interesting experience. Until just a few years ago you could not visit Saudi Arabia as a tourist, especially as a Christian seeking Jewish historical sites, but the doors have begun to open and expeditions now go along the Red Sea coast.

We saw the likely place of the crossing, then went a few miles inland to the ruins of the ancient city of Midian. Remember that Moses fled Egypt around age 40, went into Midian, worked for Jethro the priest of Midian, married Zipporah, and lived there 40 years before bringing Israel out of Egypt. We know where Midian is—it's there in Saudi Arabia. Then we took a four-wheel excursion to the huge split rock in the wilderness, the very one I'd seen on a small screen as a high schooler.

To grasp the scale, picture five people standing at its base—it's enormous. My friend Lance Ralston, who pastors Calvary Chapel Oxnard and trained as a geologist before ministry, showed us evidence at the base of large amounts of water having flowed there at some point—fascinating for an arid desert. We hiked from the base, around 5,300 feet, up to the peak at about 7,800 feet, with no trails. I'm not much of a hiker, but we had a great time.

Two Reasons This Matters

I bring this up for two reasons. First, there is evidence that the stories of the Bible are not just myth. You can go to these places. Someday we hope to take a group; I've talked with Andrew, who runs these tours and has climbed Mount Sinai many times. We've done trips to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and throughout Israel, and the archaeological evidence points back to real history.

Second, I want to talk about two very important mountains from the Bible and what they symbolize. So open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12.

The Setting of Hebrews

Hebrews was written by an anonymous author around the mid-60s AD. There's much speculation about who that author was; my own conviction is that it was Timothy, and you can find more in my Hebrews messages on our website. It was written to Jewish converts to Christianity who were struggling to navigate a transition from one worldview to another—from the old Covenant to the New. They were split between two covenants, two ways of seeing the world, and they found it very difficult.

To a certain extent, every Christian experiences this. We Americans often don't realize we have a culture, just as you don't realize you have an accent until you meet someone from Austria and you both think the other sounds funny. You don't know you have a culture until your culture is stepped on by another—when you travel and think, they do things funny here. That culture is all but invisible to you, like water to a fish. You were encultured from birth until you became a follower of Jesus, born again into a new reality, a citizen of heaven, being transformed by the renewing of your mind—and now you feel split between two worlds, tugged back toward the old. That is exactly what these early Jewish Christians felt about thirty years after the cross, and so the author writes to encourage them to stay on the path.

The Terrifying Mountain

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore... And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling." (Hebrews 12:18–21)

These Jewish Christians understood exactly what he meant. He is referencing Exodus 18 and 19, where Israel came to the base of the mountain called Sinai. Moses said he would go up to meet with God and told the people to sanctify themselves, because in three days God would descend in a burning cloud. They were not to come close, for the mountain would be holy and they were not; to touch it meant judgment. When God descended, He gave Moses the law for the people.

When did this take place? Jewish tradition tells us 50 days after Israel came out of Egypt. The last thing before they left was the first Passover: God was about to judge Egypt for the wickedness done to His people, and a destroying angel would pass through the land. Moses told them to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts; where the angel saw the blood, he would pass over. The next day they began their journey, crossed the Red Sea, came into Midian, reached the split rock where God gave them water (Exodus 17), and finally arrived at Mount Sinai, where God gave the law—50 days after Passover, on the day we call Pentecost. That happened about 3,400 years ago.

The Better Mountain

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn... and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24)

Here we have a tale of two mountains. Mount Sinai—which Paul tells us in Galatians is in Arabia—was the place where Israel received the law and became God's people. According to Jewish tradition, that happened on this very day, the Feast of Pentecost, which in part celebrates the giving of the law. At the base of Sinai, Israel said, "Everything the LORD has commanded we will do and be obedient." Yet within about two months they broke that covenant, dancing around a golden calf.

Fascinatingly, a couple of miles into the valley below the mountain there is a large tabletop rock outcropping, marked by the Saudi government as an archaeological area. Climb close and you'll see pictographs of cows all over it; the local people, who have lived there for centuries, call it the golden calf altar. From its top you can see the blackened summit of the mountain in the distance. I have a piece of that rock here. It's so stark you'd think it was a cloud's shadow, but it isn't—the rock changes suddenly from white to black. Lance said the discoloration is superficial, only on the surface; what caused it, I have no idea—perhaps the presence of the Lord. Wikipedia may tell you Exodus is a myth, but you can go and see these places.

Sinai: Where the Law Brought Death

Mount Sinai is more than a location; it represents the place of the law, where Israel entered covenant with God and said, "All that You have said we will do." But on the day they broke His law and harloted themselves to the golden calf, judgment came. Exodus 32:26–28 tells us 3,000 people died that day because they broke God's commandment. Keep that number in mind—3,000.

Now fast forward about 1,400 years to Mount Zion, which lies in the midst of Jerusalem. The city is built on a mountain range, and the mountain in the middle is Mount Zion; the Temple Mount sits on top of it, extending up toward Mount Moriah, with the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olives to the east.

The Promise on the Mount of Olives

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up... being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father... "for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." (Acts 1:1–5)

Acts was written by Luke as a sequel to his Gospel. About 1,400 years after Sinai, Jesus was crucified at Passover on Calvary just outside Jerusalem—significant, because 1,400 years before, the Passover lamb's blood delivered Israel from Egypt, a picture of the world and bondage. Now the Lamb of God is slain at Passover. Forty days after His resurrection, He is with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, looking across the Kidron Valley at the temple that would not be destroyed until 70 AD.

He tells them to wait in Jerusalem until they receive the promised Holy Spirit. Their minds leap to the end times—"Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"—but He answers, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons... But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Jesus constantly refocuses us on the mission—the Great Commission—then ascends into heaven.

Zion: Where the Spirit Brought Life

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind... Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4)

The first Pentecost, 1,400 years earlier, was Israel gathered at Sinai when the law came down. But this greater Pentecost found Jesus's disciples gathered on Mount Zion when the Holy Spirit came down and filled God's people. Today we remember both mountains and both events—the law under the old Covenant and the Spirit under the New.

There were devout Jews in Jerusalem from every nation, and when they heard the sound, each one heard his own native language. Amazed, they asked, "Are not all these who speak Galileans?" Then Peter—the same Peter who 50 days before had denied Jesus three times and fled in fear—stood up and preached Christ crucified.

Three Thousand Saved

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:36–38)

The promise is "to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off"—even those in San Diego County 2,000 years later. Note verse 41: "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them."

Did you catch it? At Sinai the law came down, and because the law exposes our imperfection, 3,000 died and were judged. The law is good—Paul says in Romans 7 the commandment is holy, just, and good—but it reveals our sin. Yet 1,400 years later at Zion, under the New Covenant through the gospel, the Holy Spirit came down and 3,000 were saved. This is the birthday of the church. By the traditional accounting that Jesus was crucified, raised, and ascended around 33 AD, this is the church's 1,991st birthday. Happy birthday, Church.

Two Covenants, Two Mountains

The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Paul writes in Romans 7, "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died... the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death." The law perfectly does what it was intended to do—it reveals quickly and clearly that we are far from God and deserve His just wrath.

But Jesus speaks better things. He brings the gospel, the good news of the New Covenant, calling us to His forgiving grace. We are carnal and sold under sin; we cannot justify ourselves by keeping the law. But Jesus came and took the punishment of the law so we could be saved and receive His grace and truth.

So Pentecost is a day of rejoicing. We celebrate the blessing of the Holy Spirit through the gospel, the birth of the church, and the baptism of those who first trusted Christ. The commandment is essential, for only through it do we realize the distance between us and a holy God—but only Jesus can deal with that distance through His grace.

Why We Baptize

We'll celebrate today with a barbecue. Yes, barbecued pork—what God has called clean, let us not call common and unclean—plus birthday cake and a baptism, just like the early church. That raises the question: why baptism?

Here at Cross Connection I give three reasons. First, in obedience to Christ's command. In Matthew 28 Jesus says, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." If you are a believer, you have been commanded to be baptized.

Second, in identification with Jesus, who Himself was baptized, telling John, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." If you call yourself a follower of Christ, you ought to be baptized in identification with Him.

Third, in association with His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul in Romans 6 says baptism pictures dying with Christ—going under the water—and rising to walk in newness of life. We declare, "I've died to my old way of living, and I rise to walk in newness of life."

What, When, and How

What is baptism? The Greek word means to immerse or dip under, so we baptize by full immersion. We have a portable baptismal ready to immerse you in obedience to the Lord.

When should a person be baptized? Consider Acts 8, where the evangelist Philip preached the gospel to a wealthy Ethiopian official traveling the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. The man was reading Isaiah 53—the suffering servant, written 700 years before Jesus, describing what He did for us—and asked whether the prophet spoke of himself or another. Philip preached Jesus to him. Seeing some water, the Ethiopian asked, "What hinders me from being baptized?" Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." He answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." They went down into the water, Philip baptized him, and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing.

So if you have trusted in Christ—that He is the Christ, God in the flesh, risen from the dead—then obey the Lord in baptism. Whether you've never been baptized or were baptized as a baby and don't remember it, today is a perfect day: Pentecost, when the first converts were baptized, when the church was born, when the Holy Spirit came down and through Christ we receive new life. Come back about 12:15 for food, cake, and baptism. You can sign up at ccchurch.com/baptism, or just show up ready—if God stirs your heart while you're there, we can baptize you in your clothes, and we'll even give you a shirt. We'd love to baptize you today as you say to your friends and the world, "I've decided to follow Jesus."

Closing Prayer

God, I thank You that there are actual places we can go to see the evidence that the things we read in the Scriptures are not fiction—that we can see and touch the reality that You walked on this earth and came to bring the gospel, the good news. You said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I'm certain that in a group this size there are many who've been laboring by their own strength to deal with a guilty conscience and the shame of their past. Ultimately, Jesus, You are the only One who can deal with those things, because You died in our place and You speak better things than the law. The law is good, but the gospel is greater. We rejoice in the good news of the gospel.

Lord, move in hearts today, that many would say, "Yes, I want to obey in baptism, identifying myself with You." We rejoice in the good work You have done, are doing, and have promised to do in and through our lives. Fill us afresh and anew with Your Holy Spirit; help us to yield to the working and power of Your Spirit so that we bear fruit unto You and are witnesses unto You here in North County, in San Diego, in California, in the United States, and even to the ends of the earth. Do a work in and through Your church, we pray.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Spirit be with you.