Two Mountains. Mt. Sinai. Mt. Calvary. Both are mountains of love but each revealing different aspects of love. The common link is the LORD of Love: Jesus. Despite a 1500 year gap, Jesus, was present at both Mountains. At Sinai, Jesus had just saved 3 million slaves by ten mighty plagues against Pharaoh's fiendish slavery. Exodus 14 reveals how Jesus was the Agent of Salvation (14:13, 19) splitting the Red Sea. This was the greatest Salvation event in the Old Testament.
Now, 1500 years later, Jesus is nailed to a tree on a mini-mountain on top of Mt. Jerusalem. Here Jesus hangs on a cross on a big rock in the shape of a skull, Golgotha. Here Jesus is radiating not only the unconditional nature of love but the sacrificial side of true love.
While Sinai dealt with the salvation of a nation, Calvary would deal with a cosmic salvation for all mankind and for the whole restoration of the world. Calvary is the crescendo of God's love in History. It is the great display of God's love not only on planet earth but in the whole universe. Among the billions of galaxies in the universe the greatest display of love was when the Savior the world's creator gave up His life to redeem a world of rebels.
At Mt. Sinai at 1500 BC we see two aspects of God's love called truth and holiness. A love minus truth is satanic and a love minus holiness is lust. When the devil seduced Eve into sin in the very beginning he came seemingly as one who wanted to do something good for Eve. The great pretender told Eve if she would disobey God, become a rebel, she would have all kinds of power, plus she would be equal to God. Eve bit into that Satanic lie and lust entered into the world. Suddenly, all the beautiful boundaries that she and Adam had automatically enjoyed and cherished--perished. When Adam also rebelled they suddenly found themselves floundering, arguing, accusing, struggling for control over each other.
The very fact that Eve and Adam tried to hide from God demonstrated they still had a conscience. They realized their sin. They felt shame over their actions. Their conscience--that little voice box inside--was working but blurry. In time they and their descendants would need God's holy law to help their conscience see the holy boundaries of love. At Mount Sinai, after Jesus' reminds God's people how He freed them from the bondage of slavery, Jesus begins to define what a holy healthy love looks like.
Jesus gives to God's children ten words. They are not only the footsteps of freedom but the boundaries of love. The first word is foundational: You shall have no other gods before me! Real love begins with the God of love and that is the God who said in the beginning, "Let Us make man in Our image." It is this God who is the source of every good gift including love. In time, God would reveal more clearly His three-in-one nature as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He would do this by Jesus showing up as the Messenger of the Lord revealing the love of the Father and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What else does Jesus at Mt. Sinai reveal about God's holy love? He reveals that real love does not take God's name in vain. It does not use it to curse people, nor use it in silly banter, or invoking other gods who do not exist. Holy love loves truth. Third, a holy love will remember the Sabbath Day in order to hear the preaching of God's Word and to receive His gifts via the sacraments. In so doing God grows love in our hearts. Fourth, holy love honors parents and understands that to do otherwise is to invite chaos, crime, and lawlessness. Fifth, we are not to murder. Holy love values life and therefore hates illicit drug activity, people hurting or harming a neighbor. Sixth, holy love understands that we should lead a chaste and decent life in word and deed and each person who is married love and honor their spouse. Seventh, love does not steal--it keeps it grimy mitts off the property of others, rather it helps one's neighbor to improve and protect one's property and business. Eight, holy love does not seek to bear false witness against one's neighbor. It hates gossip and seeks to put the best construction on everything. Finally, holy love recognizes sinful thoughts such as coveting--wanting to get things by hurting others is a vile sin, selfish, and makes one a slave of greed.
In a nutshell, Mt. Sinai reveals the holy aspects of God's love. Yet 1500 years after this revelation of God's holiness, no human came close to keeping these words of love. This was one of the reasons Jesus came into the world. He came to keep perfectly, in thought, word, and deed all these ten words. He did this to show us what love looked like as well as keep them and through baptism give us His perfect record. For this to happen, however, Jesus would need to die on the cross to pay for our sins as well. Still deeper yet Jesus would need to suffer on that cross hell itself to pay the price for our rebellion. It was this SACRIFICIAL death on our behalf for all people that revealed the holiness of God, God's unconditional love for all, and the infinite sacrificial love of the Savior for all mankind.
It would take two mountains of love to reveal the core triple aspects of the love of God. Together, when we ponder the giving of the commandments at Sinai and the fulfilling of the commandments at Golgotha--Calvary, when we grasp the details of these two mountains, love bursts in and all our human wisdom disappears. This love changes everything for the better. A holy, unconditional love anchored in Christ's love is what this troubled world needs more than anything--by far.
This love will turn your world around and that wonderful world will last forever. All of life is peaks and valleys, but where the message of Mt. Sinai and Mt. Calvary is at the forefront of our mind, we become truly human, making a difference that will have a royal ripple effect for all eternity. The aspects of love of these two mountains center us for all the valley experiences of life. It is Calvary, however, that provides the dominant note of God's love. For it is here Jesus perfectly displays love in all its depth and that love is stronger than death.
Let this love adorn your thinking--for it produces joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. It is a love that makes life Holy Spirit fruitful(Galatians 5). Mt. Sinai and Mt. Calvary, let these two mountains, Calvary being the highest mountain of love, conform you into the image of Christ--on your way to heaven. Amen.
