By: Madison
Blog, Transitioning into the Unknown: The Series, Winter

go make your mountain

The mountains have always had a certain effect on me. They make me feel so small because of their incredible vastness. They instill a sense of peace in me. I believe Jesus has a special connection with the mountains. The Bible tells us that He often went to the mountains to pray.

Scripture demonstrates how significant the mountains were to Jesus during his time on earth. Mountains and hills are mentioned more than 500 times in the Word. They have a religious connotation around them because they are “closer to the Lord” by being “closer to heaven”.

I took this on my film camera when in Colorado last fall and I remember being in complete awe of the scenic beauty I laid my eyes upon. Earth has so many precious, unfathomable places and I tend to forget where they came from.

In the Old Testament, Mounts Sinai and Zion are of utmost significance. Mount Sinai is the place where Moses received the gift of the law, the Ten Commandments. Making it a symbol of God’s covenant with Israel. Zion, south of Sinai, is the location of the Jerusalem Temple. 

“Upon this hilly range of sacred land, Scripture shows a rich heritage of God’s redemptive work even before the name Zion surfaced. There, Abraham agreed to do the unthinkable; he bound his only son and prepared to sacrifice him, having faith that God would instead, “provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:1-24). On this mountain, Jacob had his dream that allowed him to climb to Heaven (Genesis 28:1-11). David purchased the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite and sacrificed oxen to atone for his sin on this mountain (1 Chronicles 21:14-18). And it’s there that Solomon built the magnificent temple of the Lord (2 Chronicles 3:1).

In the New Testament (Mark and Luke to be precise), Jesus appoints the 12 disciples on a mountain. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus delivers the Beatitudes in his Sermon on the Mount, conjuring an image of Moses who received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Matthew, in particular, has six significant mountain scenes in his gospel: Jesus’ temptation (Matthew 4:8), the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12), a number of healings (Matthew 15:29-31), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), Jesus’ final discourse (Matthew 24:3), and the commissioning of the Apostles (Matthew 28:16-20).”

Here’s an illustration courtesy of bustedhalo.com, where I found these facts from

Let’s go further into perhaps the most significant mountain scene in the Gospels: the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-13). “Jesus appears with Moses and Elijah, who themselves encountered God on the mountaintop in the Old Testament. The Transfiguration is the moment when the disciples encounter God through Jesus, and Jesus, in turn, is seen as the fulfillment of the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah).”

Mountains are places of prayer, they are places of healing, they are places of revelation and they are places of commissioning.

As incredible as it would be to access these mountains to experience revelations, the coolest part is that we don’t need a mountain. Jeremiah 29:12 says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” We can make our own mountain because God is always listening.

Go make your own mountains!