At Horeb (=Sinai), God met his people, revealed himself, gave his instruction, made a means of worship, and communed with Moses and the elders.

It might have been tempting to think that this literal “mountain-top experience” was that for which God had saved his people from Egypt. One the one hand, he did save them so that they could worship and serve him in the wilderness (see Exod 3.12). The time at Horeb was what God desired—even though the people had revealed themselves to be rebellious (see Exod 32–33). On the other hand, God did not save them only for the wilderness. There is something provisional and temporary about the whole arrangement. The literal “mountain-top experience” was not yet a realization of the whole promise made to Abram (cf. Gen 15.18–21; Deut 1.7–8). There was more that God wanted—a richer life, a deeper communion, an eternal glory.

In Deut 1.6, Moses recounts God’s decision to move the children of Israel from Horeb in the wilderness toward the promised land with these words:

רב לכם שבת בהר הזה

That’s enough for you—dwelling at this mountain.

It is an important reminder that any earthly place that seems to be the end, the goal, is still just a station on the way toward the heavenly country (cf. Heb 11.6). However good a time or place may be right now, it is always a faint reflection of the goodness found in Christ and to be fully enjoyed at his coming. All the “mountain-top experiences” will give way to the day when those mountains are split (cf. Zech 14.4), when the Lord Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead.