Climb The Mountain invites you to ascend the slopes and sit at the feet of Christ as He delivers the Sermon on the Mount. Through each chapter, youâll explore His radical teachings in Matthew 5â7 and trace their deep roots in the Law and the Prophets. Youâll see how every word points to His ultimate sacrificeâand how it was all for you.
This study doesnât just unpack familiar commands like âturn the other cheekâ and âgo the extra mileââit reveals their intent and how Jesus fulfilled them perfectly at the cross. Youâll gain a fresh perspective on discipleship grounded in grace rather than striving.
The Sermon on the Mount isnât merely a call to live differently. Itâs a revelation of what Jesus has already accomplished for His people. Come prepared for transformation as you journey with Him through His Word.
Climb The Mountain invites you to ascend the slopes and sit at the feet of Christ as He delivers the Sermon on the Mount. Through each chapter, youâll explore His radical teachings in Matthew 5â7 and trace their deep roots in the Law and the Prophets. Youâll see how every word points to His ultimate sacrificeâand how it was all for you.
This study doesnât just unpack familiar commands like âturn the other cheekâ and âgo the extra mileââit reveals their intent and how Jesus fulfilled them perfectly at the cross. Youâll gain a fresh perspective on discipleship grounded in grace rather than striving.
The Sermon on the Mount isnât merely a call to live differently. Itâs a revelation of what Jesus has already accomplished for His people. Come prepared for transformation as you journey with Him through His Word.
Matthew 5:1-2
David is fidgeting. His fingers tap unconsciously on the table. He stares off, looking at nothing in particular. A thought has burrowed into his mind from the Holy Spirit, but he cannot riddle it out. âWho may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?â[1] He picks up pen and parchment to turn the prayer into a song.
David knows there are only two possible answers: a priest or a king. The mountain God claimed as His own, despite holding the deed to the cosmos and the entire created realm, Scripture calls Zion. His mountain is the city of Jerusalem, where both Israelâs temple and royal palace were physically located. It is the special place God swore to never turn His eyes from and where He promised to personally reside. Each generation, anointed ones, hand-selected to serve and to reign, scaled Zionâs mount to take their posts before the Lord. David knew this anointing firsthand.
âThe earth is the Lordâs,â[2] David scribbles in wonder.
But who is the Spirit thinking of, king or priest? David hears no name given in response, sees no picture; no ancestral tribe or job description is revealed to clarify. He does not know. Instead, the Holy Spirit answers with a sense of oneness. One person, He imprints on Davidâs heart.
âThe one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god,â[3] the Holy Spirit replies. That is the One.
Someone worthy. Someday, David is assured, some One will ascend. Someone thoroughly, utterly pure, who has never strayed from the Lord or broken His covenant, will stand. He will climb the mountain, slip behind the veil of the Holy of Holies, and be given the Messianic crown. Priest or king? âYes,â says the Spirit. Someday, this One will ascend as both.
One. David does not stir. He remains still before the Lord. The psalm is taking shape but not yet finished. As he waits, the Holy Spirit shares more.
âHe will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior,â comes the whisper. âSuch is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.â[4]
A generation? The vision pans wide. David beholds a multitude beyond counting. One ascends, and an entire generation receives blessing and vindication? Whenâhowâdid One become they on the mountain top? But the Lord gives him no time to dwell on this thought. The focus snaps quickly back and his meditation transforms into Spirit-led worship. David is overwhelmed. Whoever this One is, He is clearly great in the eyes of the Lord, worthy of the worship God alone deserves. Like a flash flood, a chorus pours out from his pen:
Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almightyâhe is the King of glory.[5]
Who will ascend the mountain? David understands now. God Himself will do it.
All four Gospels begin the ministry of Jesus at the same moment in time. They tell us Jesus first appeared on the public stage at the Jordan when He came to be baptized by John.[6] Something momentous happened that day and kicked off a revolution in the tiny, backwater Judean country. John immersed Jesus in the river, and when He resurfaced, heaven opened. The Spirit fluttered down in the form of a dove and rested on Him. And a voice, the likes of which the crowd had never before encountered, boomed into the atmosphere: âThis is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.â[7]
It was the Father speaking, quoting and forever linking two distinct passages from the Old Testament. His thunderous announcement was definitive. Jesus, this ordinary and unknown figure standing quietly in the current with John, was both king and priest. He was the One. He was the Son of David, the king to whom God had sworn to give the throne in Psalm 2.
I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountainâŚYou are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.[8]
The Voice also declared Jesus was the promised priest, the Suffering Servant Isaiah had foreseen. He was the One who would please the Lord fully through His goodness, pain, and meekness, whose wounds would heal others and bring eternal peace.
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hopeâŚI, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.[9]
One and the same were the conquering Messiah and the gentle, suffering Lamb. David had never learned His name, but now the world knew it was Jesus. Jesus was the One to ascend.
With a proclamation of this magnitude, we might expect Jesus to leave the Jordan and head straight for Jerusalem. The Father had called, and the mission was clear. Surely He would go to Zion as soon as possible to offer His body as a sacrifice and begin His reign as Davidâs heir. He would go to the holy mountain, fully pleasing in Godâs sight as He did.
But Jesus did not. The Voice from heaven spoke, and then for three more years, the Son slowly and methodically wandered from village to village. He met with strangers and ate meals. He showed mercy to the poor and the sick. He amassed a following that waxed and waned in size. He attended religious festivals and kept kosher law. He performed remarkable miracles known as signs. Serving as His own herald, He preached and urged people to repent. âThe kingdom is right on the horizon!â
And early into it all, as His fame was just starting to blossom, Jesus took on the additional role of teacher. Matthew describes things concisely: âNow when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.â[10] He climbed a mountain. Not Zion, not Golgotha, at least not yet; but a mountain nonetheless, specifically, so He could teach. The people were curious to see if the buzz about Him was true. He wanted to disciple them. Up Jesus climbed, and up His students followed. The discourse Matthew records for us is the beautifully challenging Sermon on the Mount. It is a deep dive into the Old Testament Law and Prophets; strict, abrasive, and unflinching. Whatever the people understood of their religion up to that point, Jesus turned on its head. Satisfying the demands of the Lawâand thus pleasing the God who gave it to themâwas infinitely harder than anyone realized. They did not even know what it really said, let alone how to obey it.
The One also became a teacher. Have you ever wondered why? Why did Jesus hold this brief but awesomely powerful ministry, healing, preaching, and untangling heavenâs mysteries when His purpose was waiting up the road at the cross? Why did He take time to call disciples, students, to Himself and pour deeply into their lives? Why, even after He was raised from the dead, did He send them out with the command to continue discipling others in His name?
To understand, we must look back to the Old Testament. The sermonâs mountain setting was purposely reminiscent of Mosesâ time on Sinai more than a thousand years prior.[11] Long before Christ and long before David, there was Moses, who at Godâs command climbed a fiery and lonesome peak to receive the very Law Jesus unpacked. Mosesâ experience was terrifying. He went up alone into a dark and thunderous cloud. The rest of the people were forbidden from climbing. They could not even touch the mountain while God was present, lest they die. They stared up, afraid and roped off, waiting until their shepherd returned carrying stone tablets. A covenant was being put in place, securing the special relationship of Israel to her God.
Only Moses was allowed to climb. God was very clear on that, but the restriction was not permanent. He told His people also to listen for a trumpet signal.[12] Afterward, a long, low note on a ramâs horn would announce that the mountain was once again safe for all to approach.
Moses descended with the Ten Commandments tucked in his arms, and the barricades at the mountainâs base were lowered. At Godâs beckoning, the prophet ascended once more with his fellow leaders of Israel in tow. Seventy-four people hiked up that day and were met with the warmest and most jaw-dropping of welcomes:
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.[13]
There on the summit stood the Lord, ready with a feast for His friends. It was merely a hint of all that was coming through Christ.
Jesus climbed up alone, but only so His disciples could join. His heart burned to teach them there so they would be able to see for themselves. All along, the old and familiar Mosaic Covenant had been laying the ground for something staggeringly new, though it was not something altogether different. Jesus had come to fulfill everything the Law and Prophets promised: its hope and salvation; its union and peace with God Most High. All these were coming through Him and the New Covenant He would mediate by His blood. He was both the purpose and the explanation of all God had spoken.
He had been born into this world to do it, taking the form of a bondservant to the Old Testament Law.[14] As a human and the Messiah, He was tasked with completing its every line, fulfilling it faithfully by obedience. The Sermon on the Mount is Christâs declaration: how God will save, how God will deliver, how a most holy God will bring His redemptive plan about to live among His people. Everything God required through Moses, down to the most minute legal regulation, Jesus was born to carry out, and it would all unfold exactly as the Prophets said it would.
He was what He wanted the disciples to see, and the sermon was the chosen means to lay everything bare. The sermon is about Christ. Who else is able to meet its demands? Let its strictness cure us forever of thinking we can keep the Law on our own. By the grace of God, let it totally strike down our pride. Let us learn to trust His goodness instead, and in response, let it build our faith. âI am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am,â[15] Jesus said. The sermon tells us what the Law requires and then shows us how it will be doneâby Christâs death. Threaded all through the Old Testament were bright hints of the deliverance God would bring through the sacrifice of the Messiah. The Law and Prophets resound with references to the cross. God promised the One would rescue His people from all sin, death, and darkness and, in the end, from the burden of the Law itself. He would set them free from the Law, by the Law, to live forever by the Spirit.
Godâs glorious secret was that the Law was given so that the Messiah could come. It was the peopleâs covenant; it was also Jesusâ job description. It carved out His place in history. And as the Sermon on the Mount explains, it is completed by His cross.
The disciples climbed up eagerly to see Him better. All who belong to Him are invited, for that is what a disciple is: one who dares to make the ascent with Christ. A disciple is one who beholds Jesus on that summit, who listens and comes to see with ever-increasing clarity that He is the center of all God has said. Disciples, it is Jesus we find each time we open His Word. Do you see Him as He truly is? Do you believe Him? A disciple is one who looks on with rapt attention, only to discover they have been radically changed by the Spirit in the process. They are God-blessed, the recipients of His pure affection. Nothing in heaven or on earth can compare to seeing Jesusâ beauty firsthand! Nothing can make us look away! A disciple is one whom God can display His Christ in and through.
The long-awaited day of freedom is here. Because God is God, Old and New have never clashed. The Law and our Redeemer relate in perfect harmony to one another. The Old Testament is done, and with it, slavery through obedience. Hebrews goes so far as to render the Old Covenant âobsolete and outdated.â[16] But that does not mean Scripture is without value. Everything in Christâs New Covenant depends on faith, and we cannot understand or appreciate what Jesus accomplished without knowing the Law and Prophets. That is why Jesus took such great care to teach and why even to this day, the Church carries on in His name. We study every word so we may see Jesus well and grow in our worship and admiration. To see Him as He truly isâyes, this is what it means to believe. Our humility cannot help but deepen as we look on Him with understanding. And as we do, through the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, we will be transformed into something utterly new. Look on every page, and feel your heart burn like those in Emmaus did when they put the Risen Jesus and the Scriptures side by side.[17]
âI know whom I have believed,â Paul declared, âand am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.â[18] That is faith. Disciples, let us press on to know the One we believe. Climb the mountain.
[1] Psalm 24:3 NIV
[2] Psalm 24:1 NIV
[3] Psalm 24:4 NIV
[4] Psalm 24:5-6 NIV
[5] Psalm 24:7-10 NIV
[6] This story occurs in Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-23; and John 1:26-34.
[7] Matthew 3:17 NIV
[8] Psalm 2:6-9 NIV
[9] Isaiah 42:1-7 NIV
[10] Matthew 5:1-2 NIV.
[11] This story occurs in Exodus chapters 19 through 34.
[12] See Exodus 19:13
[13] Exodus 24:9-11 NIV
[14] See Galatians 4:4-5.
[15] John 13:19 NIV
[16] Hebrews 8:13 NIV
[17] This story occurs in Luke 24:13-35.
[18] 2 Timothy 1:12 NIV
Climb The Mountain: 20 Days In The Sermon On The Mount offers a refreshing, grace-oriented perspective on Jesusâ most famous sermon, making it an excellent devotional for those seeking to understand discipleship through the lens of God's finished work rather than personal striving.
Author Andrea Edin guides readers on a 20-day journey through Matthew 5-7, using a narrative and accessible style that makes deep theological concepts easy to digest. The bookâs primary strength lies in its consistent, Christ-centered approach. Edin argues persuasively that the radical commandsâsuch as turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and loving enemiesâwere primarily fulfilled by Jesus at the cross on our behalf. This framework reframes obedience not as a burden of "spiritual slavery," but as a joyful response to divine love and accomplished redemption.
The writing is engaging and uses vivid analogies, painting pictures of biblical scenes (such as David writing Psalm 24 or the scene at Golgotha) that draw the reader in. Each chapter connects New Testament teachings with their Old Testament roots in the Law and the Prophets, providing rich context and demonstrating the unity of Scripture. The focus on themes like faith over worry, treasures in heaven, and authentic prayer effectively moves the reader from outward behavior to internal transformation.
As for the book's downsides, its theology may seem distant or incomprehensible to someone who is not familiar with the context of the Biblical stories. Its focus on a specific theological viewpoint may furthermore seem restrictive to those from different traditions who emphasize the role of personal holiness and striving in the Christian life. Finally, the narratives occasionally venture into imaginative embellishments which ultimately might not suit readers preferring a strictly literal exegesis.
Despite these minor concerns, Climb The Mountain is a powerful, encouraging study for those searching for inspiration and a new insight into the Hebrew Bible. It successfully reveals the Sermon on the Mount not as an impossible checklist of moral demands, but as a "revelation of what Jesus has already accomplished for His people." As for myself, I found it to be extraordinarily written and a highly recommended read for anyone seeking genuine transformation grounded in grace.