Two Mountains

Sinai and the Mount of Transfiguration: the Shadow, the Substance, and the Bringing In of the Kingdom

Two Mountains, Two Administrations

Scripture frames the covenant story of Israel between two mountains. On the first, Yahuah came down in fire, spoke the Law, and gave Moses the pattern of a tabernacle. On the second, Yahuah spoke out of a cloud, named His beloved Son, and gave one command: hear him. The first mountain gave the Law and a priesthood that imitated heavenly things. The second presented the One those things were imitating.

The writer of Hebrews names both mountains outright and sets them side by side as the contrast between the old administration and the new.

For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more… But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living Elohim, the heavenly Jerusalem… and to Yahushua the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

— Hebrews 12:18-19, 22, 24

The contrast is not between a bad Law and a good Messiah. The contrast is between two ways of being governed. At Sinai, Yahuah governed His people through the letter, written on stone and administered by a priesthood of men. Through the Son, Yahuah governs His people through a Person, by His own Spirit, with the same Law written on the heart. The rest of this study traces that contrast through each feature the two mountains share.

The First Mountain: Sinai

Yahuah Descended in Fire

And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because Yahuah descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

— Exodus 19:18

Smoke, fire, quaking, and a trumpet. Yahuah came down to the mountain, and His presence was so heavy that the people were fenced off from it (Exodus 19:12). The Law was given to be heard by the whole nation, and the nation heard it — and begged not to hear it again.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die.

— Exodus 20:19

From that moment Israel received Yahuah’s words second-hand, through a mediator. Yahuah granted the request, and in granting it He made a promise that points straight at the second mountain.

Yahuah thy Elohim will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken… I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

— Deuteronomy 18:15, 18

Two details govern everything that follows. First, the Prophet is raised up from among their brethren — a man, like Moses. Second, the words he speaks are Yahuah’s words, put in his mouth. The Prophet is not the source of the message; Yahuah is. The command attached to him is unto him ye shall hearken — the Hebrew shama (H8085), to hear in the sense of obeying.

The Pattern Shown on the Mount

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

— Exodus 25:40

On Sinai Moses received more than the Ten Words. He received the pattern of the tabernacle, its furniture, its priesthood, and its offerings. Everything built at the foot of the mountain was a copy of something Moses had been shown. The tabernacle was not the reality; it was an imitation of the reality.

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of Elohim when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

— Hebrews 8:5

The Levitical priest served a shadow. Every action he performed — the blood at the altar, the incense, the veil, the yearly entry — was imitating something not yet revealed. Hebrews 10:1 says the same of the offerings: the Law carried a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things. A shadow proves that a body stands somewhere near it. Sinai cast the shadow; the second mountain revealed the body.

This point must be held precisely. What Hebrews calls shadow is the tabernacle system — the priesthood, the sanctuary, and the offerings that pictured the coming Lamb. The commandments themselves are not called shadow. Yahushua said not one tittle of the Law would fail (Luke 16:17), and the new covenant promise is that the same Law is written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33). The shadow gave way to the substance; the Law moved from stone to flesh.

A Glory That Faded

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

— 2 Corinthians 3:7-8

Moses came down from Sinai with a shining face (Exodus 34:29), and Paul observes that the glory faded. Moses covered it with a veil so Israel would not watch it fade (2 Corinthians 3:13). The first mountain produced a borrowed, reflected glory on the face of a mediator — real, but temporary.

Three Thousand Fell

And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.

— Exodus 32:28

While Moses was on the mountain receiving the tables, the people below were dancing before a golden calf. When the Law came down the mountain, the first thing it did was judge. About three thousand men died at the foot of Sinai. The Law did exactly what Paul says a Law written on stone does to people whose hearts are unchanged: it ministered death.

The Second Mountain: The Transfiguration

The Kingdom Come With Power

The Transfiguration does not stand alone. All three accounts introduce it with a promise about the Kingdom.

Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of Elohim come with power.

— Mark 9:1

Six days later, three of those standing there saw it. The Transfiguration is the Kingdom shown in advance — the bringing in of a new administration, displayed on a mountain before it was opened at the tree and poured out at Shavuot.

And after six days Yahushua taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

— Matthew 17:1-3

The Greek for transfigured is metamorphoo (G3339). Paul uses the same word for believers in 2 Corinthians 3:18 — changed into the same image from glory to glory — and in Romans 12:2, be ye transformed. What happened to the Son on the mountain is what the Spirit begins in every believer. Moses’ face reflected a glory that faded; the Son’s face shone, and those who behold Him are changed by the same word.

Moses and Elijah: The Law and the Prophets

The two men who appear are not random. Moses gave the Law. Elijah stands for the Prophets. Both men had met Yahuah on the first mountain — Moses at Sinai, and Elijah at Horeb, the same mountain, where Yahuah taught him something about fire.

…and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Yahuah; but Yahuah was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Yahuah was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but Yahuah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

— 1 Kings 19:11-12

Elijah stood on Sinai and learned that Yahuah’s governing presence was not finally in the fire and the quaking that marked the giving of the Law, but in a voice that speaks to a man directly. On the second mountain, Elijah and Moses stand with the One through whom that voice now speaks.

And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

— Luke 9:30-31

The word decease is exodos (G1841) — the exodus. The Law and the Prophets talked with the Son about the exodus He was about to accomplish. The first exodus led Israel out of Egypt to Sinai. The second exodus, accomplished at Jerusalem, leads a people out of the dominion of sin and death to Mount Sion. Luke 16:16 states the same transition plainly: The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of Elohim is preached. The very next verse forbids reading this as abolition: not one tittle of the Law fails. The Law and the Prophets are not cancelled; they are handed forward to the One they spoke about.

No Tabernacle on This Mountain

Then answered Peter, and said unto Yahushua, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

— Matthew 17:4-5

Peter reached for the Sinai pattern. Moses came down the first mountain and built a tabernacle; Peter wanted to build three. The Father interrupted him while he was still speaking. No tabernacle is built on the second mountain, because the tabernacle is standing in front of Peter. Yahushua had already said it of His own body: destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19-21). The old temple was a building that imitated heaven. The new temple is a Person, and after Shavuot it is a people (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Hear Ye Him

At Sinai the Law was given and was to be heard by the people. On the second mountain the Son was given, and the Father told the disciples to hear Him. Hear ye him is Deuteronomy 18:15 fulfilled word for word: unto him ye shall hearken. The Prophet like Moses has been raised up, and the voice out of the cloud identifies Him.

Moses and Elijah vanish, and the disciples see no man save Yahushua only (Matthew 17:8). The Law and the Prophets do not disappear from Scripture; they step back so that the One who speaks Yahuah’s words can be heard. Israel at Sinai begged for a mediator because the voice was too terrible. On the second mountain the Father answers that request completely: here is the Mediator, hear Him.

The Voice Speaks About the Son, Not As the Son

The Transfiguration is often offered as a display of the Trinity. The text shows the opposite. The voice from the cloud speaks about the Son in the third person: This is my beloved Son. The Father is the speaker; the Son is the one spoken of. Peter, who was there, says what happened on the mountain:

For he received from Elohim the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

— 2 Peter 1:17

The Son received honour and glory from Elohim the Father. Glory that is received is glory that was given by another. The source is the Father, the excellent glory; the Son is the one who bears it. The second mountain does not show two co-equal persons sharing one essence. It shows a Father giving glory to His Son, and commanding men to hear the Son because the Father’s words are in His mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18; John 12:49).

The Son Glorified, the Spirit Given

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Yahushua was not yet glorified.)

— John 7:38-39

Living water is promised to those who believe on the Son, but there is a condition of timing: the Son had to be glorified first. The Spirit had moved on prophets, judges, and kings throughout the old administration, so not yet given cannot mean the Spirit did not yet exist. It means the abundance had not yet come — the Spirit poured out on all flesh, as Joel promised, rather than resting on a chosen few.

That abundance is Yahuah’s own. Joel 2:28 records Yahuah saying I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. The Spirit belongs to Yahuah the way a man’s spirit belongs to the man (1 Corinthians 2:11). It is not a third person waiting its turn; it is the Father’s own presence, held back until the Son was glorified and then given through Him.

This Yahushua hath Elohim raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of Elohim exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

— Acts 2:32-33

Peter lays out the order. Elohim raised Yahushua. Elohim exalted Him. The Son received of the Father the promise of the Spirit. Then the Son poured out what He had received, and that is what the crowd saw and heard at Shavuot. Every verb of giving starts with the Father. The glorified Son is the channel through whom Yahuah’s Spirit reaches His people — the Mediator of Hebrews 12:24 in action.

Shavuot: The First Mountain Answered

What was shadowed at Sinai is answered at Shavuot. Shavuot is counted seven Sabbaths plus a fifty-day count from the wave sheaf, and it falls in the summer wheat harvest, not in late spring. On that day in Jerusalem the features of Sinai return, one by one, and each is turned from death to life.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

— Acts 2:2-3

• Fire. At Sinai, Yahuah descended on the mountain in fire, and the people were fenced away from it. At Shavuot, the fire came down and rested on each believer. The fire that once had to be kept at a distance now sat on the heads of the people.
• Sound. At Sinai, a trumpet and a voice so terrible the people begged it to stop. At Shavuot, a sound from heaven that drew the crowd in to hear.
• The Law. At Sinai, the Law was written on tables of stone. At Shavuot, the Spirit began writing the same Law on tables of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:3; Jeremiah 31:33).
• Three thousand. At Sinai, about three thousand men fell when the Law met an unchanged heart (Exodus 32:28). At Shavuot, about three thousand souls were added to the assembly (Acts 2:41). Same number, opposite outcome: death under the letter, life under the Spirit.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

— Acts 2:41

The second mountain announced the change; Shavuot delivered it. The Son was glorified, received the promise from the Father, and poured it out, and the result looked like Sinai turned inside out.

John 1:17: Both Mountains in One Verse

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Yahushua Messiah.

— John 1:17

This single verse sums up the two mountains. The Law was given by Moses, handed down from Sinai through a mediator. Favor and truth came — egeneto, came into being — by Yahushua Messiah. Moses carried a Law he received; Yahushua carried favor and truth from the Father, full of both (John 1:14). The verse does not set Law against truth; Psalm 119:142 calls the Law itself truth. It sets the mediator of the letter beside the mediator of the Spirit.

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto Elohim.

— Hebrews 7:19

Hebrews 7 is speaking of the priesthood. The Levitical priests served the shadow, and that arrangement made nothing perfect. What perfected was the bringing in of a better hope — a new High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, by whom men draw near to Elohim. The priesthood changed (Hebrews 7:12); the One the priests were imitating arrived. That is the bringing in of the Kingdom.

Two Kingdoms, Two Covenants

The two mountains represent two different administrations — the old covenant and the new. The difference between them is not that one has Law and the other does not. The difference is what the Law can do to the person standing under it.

• Under the old: condemnation of death. The Law was holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), but it met a carnal man sold under sin (Romans 7:14). The Law could name sin and sentence it; it could not change the heart that committed it. Its ministration, Paul says, was a ministration of death and condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:7, 9).
• Under the new: favor by the blood, and with it the ability to follow and love the Law with the help of Yahushua. The blood of sprinkling opens the way (Hebrews 12:24). The Spirit, given through the glorified Son, makes the walk possible.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

— Romans 8:3-4

Romans 8 states the purpose of the second mountain: not that the Law be set aside, but that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. The weakness was never in the Law. It was in the flesh. The new covenant answers the weakness, not the Law.

This is the order of the two-stage deliverance. Entry is through the blood — the testimony of Yahushua, favor, the door opened. The walk that follows is in the commandments of Yahuah, now loved rather than feared, because the same Spirit that wrote them on stone now writes them within (Ezekiel 36:27). The Law comes after the blood, never before it and never as the means of it.

Ministers of the New and Better Way

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

— 2 Corinthians 3:6

Paul does not say not of the Law, but of the Spirit. He says not of the letter (gramma, G1121). The letter is the Law received externally and carnally — engraved on stone, administered by men, kept by the flesh or broken by it. The spirit (pneuma, G4151) is the same Law received inwardly, written by Yahuah’s own Spirit on the heart. The letter killed three thousand at Sinai. The Spirit gave life to three thousand at Shavuot.

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

— Romans 7:6

The believer is delivered from the Law’s condemnation, not from its content. He still serves; he serves in a new way. The ministers of the new covenant are ministers of a better way of keeping the same holy commandments.

Governing Through a Person

The two mountains reduce to one thought: Yahuah is now governing His people through a Person instead of through the letter.

• Sinai: governed through the letter, received carnally. Stone tables, a mediator who stood between, a priesthood that imitated, a glory that faded, and three thousand dead.
• The second mountain: governed through a Person, received by the Spirit. A Son who bears the Father’s glory and speaks the Father’s words, a command to hear Him, a temple that is a body, a glory that transforms, and three thousand alive.

This is the Kingdom that Yahushua said some would see come with power. It is not a political kingdom, and it is not a future thousand-year reign. It is Yahuah ruling His people from within, by His Spirit, through His Son, with His Law written where the flesh cannot erase it.

What the Modern Pulpit Does With the Two Mountains

• “Sinai is over.” The pulpit reads the contrast between the mountains as Law against favor and concludes the commandments ended at the tree. Scripture contrasts letter and Spirit, stone and heart, shadow and substance. The same Law that came down Sinai is the Law written on the heart in the new covenant (Hebrews 8:10). Luke 16:16 and 16:17 stand together: the Kingdom is preached, and not one tittle fails.
• “The birthday of the church.” The pulpit treats Shavuot as a new Christian holiday, renamed and moved to late spring. The fire, the sound, and the three thousand are Sinai’s answer; the day is a Torah moed counted by Torah’s own instruction. Cut loose from Sinai, Shavuot loses its meaning.
• “The Transfiguration shows the Trinity.” The text shows a Father speaking about His Son, giving Him glory, and commanding men to hear Him. Glory received is not glory owned, and a Spirit that is “not yet given” until the Son is glorified is not a co-eternal third person but the Father’s own Spirit, poured out through the Son.
• “Moses and Elijah were done away.” They were not cancelled; they stood on the mountain speaking with the Son about His exodus. The Law and the Prophets testify to Him and hand the hearing forward to Him. They step back; they do not vanish from the believer’s walk.

Summary

At Sinai, Yahuah descended in fire, gave the Law to be heard, showed Moses the pattern that the priesthood would imitate, and three thousand died when the letter met an unchanged heart. On the mount of Transfiguration, the Kingdom was shown with power, the Law and the Prophets spoke with the Son about His exodus, the Father refused a tabernacle of cloth, gave His Son honour and glory, and gave one command: hear Him. At Shavuot, the glorified Son poured out the Spirit He had received from the Father, the fire rested on the people instead of the mountain, and three thousand lived.

The Law was given by Moses; favor and truth came by Yahushua Messiah. The shadow has met its body. Yahuah no longer governs His people by the letter from outside, but by His own Spirit within, through the Son He commanded all men to hear.

Revelation closes the account where the second mountain pointed. John hears a great voice out of heaven: Behold, the tabernacle of Elohim is with men, and he will dwell with them (Revelation 21:3). Peter was refused his three tents because the dwelling was standing in front of him; at the end, Yahuah Himself dwells with His people, and there is no more curse. His servants serve Him, and they shall see His face (Revelation 22:3-4) — the same presence Israel begged to be kept from at Sinai.