Biblical Logos Blog

In prior posts, I mentioned that at the second coming of Jesus, the Jewish people will be taken to the “wilderness.” Those who did not accept Christ before the Rapture will be judged there. The Bible doesn’t explicitly say where in the wilderness this will happen. I have speculated that the Lord will take them to Mt. Sinai (Jabal al-Lawz in my opinion), because there appears to be so many archaeological remains there. To make this argument, let’s consider first Matthew’s gospel where Jesus addresses his second coming:

Mat 24:29 – 31  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

Upon “gathering his elect”, he brings them into judgment. In a prior post, I gave multiple reasons why Matthew’s Gospel was for the Jewish people. For now, let’s consider the passages that show the judgment and likely location of the judgment at Jesus second coming:

Eze 20:4 – 13  Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Let them know the abominations of their fathers, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God.  On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.  And I said to them, ‘Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.’  But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. “Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.  But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.  So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.  Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. “Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them. 

As you can see in the Ezekiel passage above, the Son of Man, Jesus, will judge the Jewish people. He points specifically to their oaths they made at Mt. Sinai which they broke and profaned. Further down in this same chapter in Ezekiel, the Lord says a judgment is still coming for the Jewish people. He will again bring them into the “wilderness” and judge them there.

Eze 20:33 – 38  “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you.  I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.  And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.  As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.  I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.  I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 

Notice, ” I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.” There is a “rapture” in a sense as the Lord gathers the Jewish believers at the second coming. He brings them into the wilderness for judgment. For me, this all but confirms that the Lord will perform this judgment in the region of Mt. Sinai where they both confirmed their covenant with the Lord and where they first broke that covenant. What a perfect place Mt. Sinai would be for this event as it is coming full-circle to the place the Jewish people made this commitment.

Although there is much debate about the location of Mt. Sinai today, I believe it is a placed called Jabal al-Lawz. Movies and documentaries and blogs have examined the reasoning for this being the place for God’s Mountain. At this location, there appears to be many archaeological remains that the Jewish people had been there after the Exodus. Would that not be convicting for the Jewish people? At the very spot where they bound their covenant with the Lord. At the very sport where they first broke that covenant. And at the place where Ezekiel tells them they will receive their judgment from the “Son of Man”, they are then brought there at the second coming!

I spotted the other day an extra sign that this judgment will be at Mt. Sinai. In the opening of The Book of Enoch 1 we read:

1. The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked ⌈⌈and godless⌉⌉ are to be removed. 2. And he took up his parable and said–Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, ⌈which⌉ the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come. 3. Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them:

The Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling,

4. And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, (even) on Mount Sinai,
   ⌈And appear from His camp⌉
   And appear in the strength of His might from the heaven of heavens.

Even though the Book of Enoch is not in the Biblical cannon (except the Ethiopian cannon). It is referenced in the Bible several times as well fragments from it appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Finding this reference to the Second Coming and a judgment at Mt. Sinai just confirmed for me the location of the Lord’s judgment he promised in Matthew and Ezekiel, Mt. Sinai!