The Mount of God - Part I - "The Threshing Floor of Ornan"

It is safe to say that all of history tells nothing but the magnificent story of God's redemption of His people. His Word is concerned at every point with pointing us to this grand story, and it does so in a marvelous variety of forms. We find the gospel fully in the doctrinal and theological treatises which comprise large portions of the Pauline epistles. We find it plainly in the proclamations of our Lord Himself. And we even find it in the types and shadows of the Old Testament.

Indeed, it is rather amazing how the gospel is hidden in nearly every corner of Scripture, and those who would prefer to hide from it and cling foolishly to their own self-righteousness are advised to handle the Bible carefully and at their own risk. Since these types and shadows are given to us in order that we might glean a more full and glorious conception of the gospel, the worthiness of their study is beyond question. And so a shadow as intriguing as "The Mountain of God" which flows like a tributary stream through Scripture, ought to woo our attention with ease. In the consideration of passages which deal with God's holy mountain, we will uncover a rather striking and edifying statement of the gospel.

Let's begin by considering King David's sinful census as recorded in 1 Chronicles 21. We may recall that David had been provoked by Satan to sin and number the people and that as punishment, God had offered him the choice of one of three plagues: famine, military defeat, or destruction at the hand of the angel of the LORD. To this he appealed to his understanding of God's merciful nature and chose the Lord’s angel. God's hot displeasure with His people is illustrated most strikingly in verse 16, "Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem." This is very certainly the plight of mankind, the angel of God's wrath which has been provoked against us stands between heaven and earth with sword drawn and stretched out over the nations, ready at every moment to mete out excellent justice.

David's heart-aching intercession for his people is met with instructions for him to build an altar to God at a particular site. The site is "on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite" (v. 18). We will notice that this is the very place where the angel stood once God had stayed his hand (v. 15). In obedience, David erects the altar at this location and offers a burnt offering there to the LORD as he calls on His name. "So," it says, "the LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath" (v. 27). God's wrath was finally averted and propitiated by virtue of David's obedient sacrifice.

What is outstanding in this story is the simplicity of David's instructions. To avert the most dire of disasters, he is simply commanded to erect a common altar and offer an ordinary sacrifice. The only peculiar element in the command is the seemingly arbitrary location chosen by the Lord - the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Why was the angel there? And why did the altar need to be erected at that very site? Regardless of the reason, David was so impressed by the experience that he immediately consecrated that site for the Temple, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel" (1 Chr. 22:1). David's word would later be carried out by his son Solomon, "Now Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite" (2 Chr. 3:1). So we learn that the place that the temple was erected by Solomon was at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, which was also the very location of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

This begs the question: just what do we know about this Mount Moriah?