Mountains: Find Hope and Vision in God’s PresenceSample

Becoming Secure in Your Identity

In our first devotional, we are going to take a look at the story of creation in the Garden of Eden, which takes place on top of a mountain. Yes, you read that right: Eden was on top of a mountain. Ezekiel 28:11-16 (NIV) refers to “Eden, the garden of God” as being “on the holy mount of God” and describes God driving those who were once blameless “from the mount of God” after they sinned.

On the BibleProject Podcast, Tim Mackie and Jon Collins summarize the “imaginative framework” of most early readers of Genesis. In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is home to the gods. Many ancient kings built temples, places to live and worship, on mountains. Mountains were considered holy hinge points for heaven meeting earth. Ancient readers would have readily envisioned Eden as a cosmic mountain.

When Moses was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write and edit the Torah, the Israelites were suffering Egyptian slavery and mourning hundreds of years of unmet expectations. Imagine listening to the Mount Eden story as a desperate Israelite wondering, How did we get here? Are we really God’s people?

When God expelled Adam and Eve from Eden, he did not just demand that they walk away from a garden. He sent them on a journey down the side of a mountain. Their expulsion was a type of exile from God’s presence, and their physical distance from Mount Eden symbolized a relational distance between God and his people.

Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God’s clear instructions was a fall from God’s presence, a fall from an intimate relationship with him, and a fall from the mountain where he lived. We should feel the tense reality in this story: There seems to be no coming back from this fall from grace.

But the separation between God and his people would not be forever. The Scriptures point to a redemption of Adam and Eve’s fall from Mount Eden through Jesus Christ. In Ephesians, Paul writes a letter to Christians who were, like the Israelites when they heard the Creation story, mid-identity crisis. They were learning to live in a pagan society while still following the ways of Jesus. Paul tells them “when the times reach their fulfillment... [God will] bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Ephesians 1:10, NIV).

If mountains are where heaven and earth meet, Paul is clarifying that Jesus will eventually remove the divide altogether. Mountains will no longer be the true summit to meet with God because Jesus is the summit. Climbing a mountain will no longer be what unites heaven and earth. Jesus will be.

Do you find yourself disoriented, not sure where you fit in or what you’re supposed to be doing? The Mount Eden story meets you there. Understanding God’s heart for us from the very beginning can be a foundational, life-stabilizing force in all of our lives—because a relationship with our Creator secures our identity.

Prayer: God, thank you for securing who I am to you. Help me to grow unshakably confident in my identity as your image bearer. May I never forget that I am defined by my relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.