Last week, I pointed out that one way we could think about God’s story for his saints, the Christian story, the story of redemption, is as the story of God getting us home. God’s people are exiles on this earth and we are longing for our true home, the house where righteousness dwells. I pointed out that this is nothing novel, but rather Christians have always recognized this. I noted we see this in Christian allegories like The Pilgrim’s Progress and The Last Battle. More specifically I noted, it’s the story of God getting us back home with him. I wrote,
“…the story of redemption is the story of God getting us back home with him, in the New Creation. Think of it this way, if the story of the Bible were a map, it would have a dot that says, “You are here” and then as we traced the gospel route we would see that it leads to our homeward destination, “The New Heavens and New Earth.” That’s the story. The Bible is the story of God getting us home.”
Where is this home and what is it like? How does the Bible portray that location and life there? Well, often times Scripture describes our home where God dwells as a mountain. Not just any mountain, but God’s mountain. The mountain of God is our home. In order to best understand our future home on the mountain of God, we first need to grasp securely what our home on God’s mountain was like before the Fall.
Mountain of God
The first place we get catch a glimpse of the mountain of God is in the creation account. While we don’t see the word mountain there, the concept seems to be there. Eden itself seems to be a place of higher elevation, a mount of some sort compared to the world around it, including the garden which perhaps sits at its base. How do we know? Consider Genesis 2:10,
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. Natural revelation tells us something about the flow of a river. They always flow downhill. And most rivers find their headwaters where? A mountain. Eden was a mountain. And not just any mountain. It was the mountain of God. Consider what we know about Eden as the mountain of God.
The mountain of God is a place of freedom. God placed his image bearers, Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. There in that garden at the foot of God’s mountain was a whole lot of “do whatever you want” for man!
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
God says to the first man and first woman, “This whole earth and the fullness there of that is mine (Psalm 24:1), I give to you! Work it as you will. Explore. Spread out. Fill it. And carry my glory wherever you go.” What freedom! But there’s more.
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food… The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden…” (Genesis 1:29; 2:15–16).
God says to the first man and first woman, “Oh, when you get hungry, eat the fruit of any plant or tree you desire! It is all for you.”
Now that is a whole lot of freedom. In fact, in the midst of all of this freedom of “do what you want” there is only one “do not.” Genesis 2:17,
“but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
So the garden of Eden, the mountain of God, is a place of freedom.
The mountain of God is a place of flourishing. Going hand-in-hand with the freedom at God’s mountain home is the gift of flourishing life and beauty for man’s security and enjoyment. Man need not worry about what his next meal will be. The fertile garden itself that bursts with fruits for man to enjoy, the LORD God himself planted (Genesis 2:8). The river cascading down the mountain of God irrigates and nourishes the fruitful vine and the productive tree and verdant shrub, that the LORD God causes to spring up (Genesis 2:9–10). The borderlands of the garden pop and sparkle with gems and precious stones (Genesis 2:11–14). Creatures abound in various sizes, shapes, varieties and assortments (Genesis 2:19–20). And, the tree of life itself with its roots running deep spreads wide its boughs over the middle of the garden (Genesis 2:9). There is nothing but life, security, and beauty for man’s enjoyment. The mountain of God is a place of flourishing.
Finally, the mountain of God is a place of fellowship. In Eden, the mountain of God, man enjoys unmediated fellowship with God. God is present in the garden and with man. Consider the personal interactions. The LORD God forms man, intimately from dust, breathing his divine breath into man’s nostrils and lungs (Genesis 2:7). When the first man opened his eyes, he saw his maker. The LORD God planted a garden (Genesis 2:8). The LORD God took man and put him in the garden (Genesis 2:8). The LORD God blessed man (Genesis 1:28). The LORD God spoke to man, telling him how to live and why he lives (Genesis 1:28–20; 2:16–17). The LORD God brings to the man all the animals to name (Genesis 2:19). The LORD God put man to sleep, made from his rib a woman, and gives the woman to him as a bride (Genesis 2:21–22). And we know man knew regular fellowship with his Creator because Adam and Eve recognized the familiar sound of his walking in the LORD God walking in the garden (Genesis 3:8). Furthermore, they hid, which intuitively registers as “not the normal response,” suggesting that their typical reaction to hearing the LORD God walking in the garden was perhaps to run to him, not away (Genesis 3:8). The mountain of God is a place of fellowship: God with man and man with God.
This was man’s home, the mountain of God. A place of freedom, flourishing, and fellowship. And it was lost in an instant. And, we’ve been longing and looking for that home, the mountain of God, ever since. But, given our sin, we find we cannot climb back up the mountain of God. Thus, the question man has been left asking ever since the Fall is,
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? (Psalm 24:3).
The answer: Not a sinful man in Adam, but a holy man. A new Adam…
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psalm 24:4–5).
Thankfully, Jesus ascended that mountain. God set Jesus his Son on his mountain as king and those who seek refuge in him will find their home there again in the new creation (Psalm 2:6–7, 12). What will that home, the mountain of God, be like? Well, we will consider those details in a future article, but for now, we can consider what we learned from just the creation account. Our future home, the mountain of God in the new creation, will be much like Eden. It will be a place of freedom, flourishing, and fellowship but in a new, escalated, and qualitatively different way. Here’s at least a little foretaste from the OT: The mountain of God in the new creation will be the highest mountain and the nations will flow to it (Isaiah 2:2). The mountain of God will fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:35). The mountain of God will be the joy of the earth (Psalm 48:1–2). And Jesus will reign there as our king. And when we the ransomed come home to Mount Zion, as it is called, we will come with singing and everlasting joy shall be upon our heads, and we shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35:10).
