The Mountains of Abarim: What Moses Sees from Mount Nebo

Introduction

There are places in the Bible you read without stopping. A slightly strange name, a geography you don't recognize, and you turn the page. The mountains of Abarim are one of those places. And yet God stops Moses there to show him three immense things: the beauty of communion with him, the urgency of reaching those who are still far away, and the certainty of his promises. Jeremiah would later add a fourth message there, a more sober one: the announcement of judgment.

In a sermon given at the Nice Cimiez church, Pastor Frederic Lenormand opens his Bible to Numbers 27, Numbers 33, Deuteronomy 32, and Jeremiah 22. He takes you up to the mountains of Abarim, and more precisely to the summit of Mount Nebo, where Moses gazed at the Promised Land without entering it. This article faithfully follows his sermon.

Article outline

1. A place we pass through too quickly
2. The mountain: a symbol of communion with God
3. Abarim, "those who are beyond"
4. From Mount Nebo, gazing at the promises
5. From Abarim, hearing the warning of judgment

1. A place we pass through too quickly

Three passages set the mountains of Abarim before you.

In Numbers 27:12, "Yahweh said to Moses, 'Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. You will see it, and you shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered.'" In Numbers 33:48, "they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho." And in Deuteronomy 32:49, Yahweh tells Moses further: "Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession."

Abarim is above all a region. It lies in the land of Moab, east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. It's a mountainous area, present-day Jordan. You cross the Jordan eastward and you enter this region. The Bible shows you that Israel, on its long journey from Egypt to Canaan, stopped here. It even says they camped there, meaning they stayed for a while.

You could read past these verses without really hearing them. But Frederic Lenormand reminds us of a simple conviction: everything the Bible says, everything it contains, matters. Every written thing, every verse, every word, every place mentioned counts. It's our lack of understanding of Scripture that sometimes keeps us from grasping this truth. So we need to study all of Scripture, and ask the Spirit to open us to its richness. Let's pause, then, on the mountains of Abarim.

2. The mountain: a symbol of communion with God

In Scripture, the mountain is first of all a symbol of relationship with the Lord. There you see Abraham, to whom God reveals himself. There you see Moses receive God's first revelation at Mount Sinai, when the bush burned without being consumed, then the ten words and the oracles of God. There you see Elijah encouraged by God to keep going and finish his work. There you see the disciples taught by the Lord, and Jesus himself spending time on the mountain, in prayer and communion with his heavenly Father.

This verse from Psalm 121 comes to mind: "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth." The mountain is a place where God builds a relationship with you. Now, this doesn't mean you need to climb some hill tomorrow. It's a spiritual place. This relationship needs to be real, more regular, deeper.

But let's be honest: getting there isn't easy. Watching Israel's journey, you discover it wasn't easy for them to reach the mountains of Abarim either. There were battles against Sihon, king of the Amorites, and against Og, king of Bashan. There was the story of Balak, king of Moab, who asked Balaam to come and curse Israel. God turned things around: instead of cursing, Balaam blessed Israel, because you can't go against the will of God.

So living in communion with the Lord isn't simple. Many things get in the way, and the enemies of such a privilege are numerous. But God does everything needed to help you live in that intimacy with him. Two things are essential in your heart: the desire to live out this communion, and the firm resolve to enter it and stay in it. Thirst, hunger, desire, then hold on. God does the rest.

3. Abarim, "those who are beyond"

The name Abarim means "those who are beyond." A somewhat strange name, given to this region by those who lived west of the Jordan. We don't know exactly why they called it that, but we can say this: God always looks at those who are beyond.

God looked at humanity and considered all those who were beyond his presence. Because of sin, we were cut off from him. We couldn't cross the distance that separated us from him. So it was God, in his grace, who crossed the distance, sending his Son Jesus to the land of men to restore contact. Jesus came to bring humanity, far from God, back to the Lord. He is the one who closed the gap. Man couldn't do it, and no one can do it on their own. That's why we approach God in the name of Jesus.

Among the people of Israel, this access was granted to only one man, once a year: the high priest. A veil in the temple separated the holy place from the most holy place, which symbolized God's presence. When Jesus died on the cross, that veil tore from top to bottom, showing that access is now open to all who put their faith in him. Now you can draw near to the Father.

Jesus also showed this desire to reach those who are beyond. He told his disciples about other sheep who needed to enter the kingdom. Frederic Lenormand tells his church: God sees the church in the Ariane district, he blesses its being planted there, but he also sees all those around it who are still outside his presence, outside his grace. He would love to open your eyes further to those who are beyond.

We live in a struggling world, bent under its burdens, in distress, pretending to be happy. Young people try to overcome their inner emptiness with all sorts of things, thinking it will make them forget the void. We know, though, that Jesus fills hearts. So we need to go toward those who are beyond. We need to speak to them. We need to pray, in the year ahead, for the joy of bringing someone to the Lord. Not to gather up people already in other churches: to seek out those who are not yet in God's presence. "Your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

4. From Mount Nebo, gazing at the promises

It's at the summit of one of these mountains, Mount Nebo, that God invites Moses to gaze at the full extent of the land promised to Israel. Moses is going to see the whole land. There, the promise made to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is about to be fulfilled. He knows the time has come for Israel to take possession of the land, under Joshua's leadership.

You too are invited by God to discover the promises he makes to you. In your relationship with him, you need to gaze at them, to discover them. Moses couldn't enter the promised land, because of what we saw in those texts. But you, by faith, can access all of God's promises. "However many are the promises of God, in him is the 'Yes'" (2 Corinthians 1:20). There are certainly some for you. You need to discover them, take hold of them, hold them close to your heart, and stand firm until they are fulfilled.

Look at Abraham. God promised him a son. He already had 75 years behind him. Years passed, and then God spoke to him again, when he was 99 and Sarah was 89. Humanly speaking, it was impossible for them to have a child. But God had made the promise. "In hope, believing against hope," Abraham believed that what God had promised, he was able to perform (Romans 4:18-21). God doesn't make empty promises. Whatever he promises, he has the power to fulfill. It's sometimes our lack of faith that keeps those promises from being fulfilled in our lives.

Think of the promise of the gift of the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem, the apostle Peter declares: "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself" (Acts 2:38-39).

Frederic Lenormand tells the story. In 2007, at his mother-in-law's home, he stopped one night in Marseille with a pastor friend. He couldn't sleep. He was soon to take on the church in Nice Cimiez, and he had some fears. He got up, began to pray, and, continuing his regular reading, came upon a passage full of precious promises. From that moment on, he couldn't explain it, but he was completely sure his sons would come to faith. Whatever happened.

Years went by. In 2017, the oldest turned to the Lord and now serves in the church of Cagnes-sur-Mer, alongside Pastor Nordine Touamia. The other two remained. One evening, he re-reads Acts 2:39: "The promise is to you, and to your children..." He grasps it: Holy Spirit, my children. He becomes convinced something is going to happen in their hearts.

A few weeks later, lying in his room, he sees his third son arrive. He sets a Bible on the living room table, sits down, starts reading, then praying. He is filled with the Spirit. The second son, a few days earlier, had already been laid hold of by the Lord in a meeting. God had promised, and he fulfilled it.

God has other promises for you. The promise of the Holy Spirit. The promise of his return. Jesus is coming back soon. You'd have to be blind today not to see that all the signs pointing to his return are being fulfilled. If you believe it, you prepare yourself. You don't get too weighed down by the affairs of this life, you don't pour everything into things below while neglecting things above. You're going to leave everything here behind: your apartment, your screen, your belongings. Solomon understood this: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity, a chasing after wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 1:14). Only one thing remains: the hope of eternal life.

This coming kingdom is glorious. Don't even try to picture it: whatever you can imagine falls far short of the reality. Frederic Lenormand tells the story of a pastor who, while preaching, suffered a heart attack. He "died," the paramedics went to the wrong address and arrived too late, but the church prayed with all its heart and he came back. He saw and heard nothing, just a feeling. That feeling was so extraordinary that it took him two years to truly get his feet back on the ground. Nothing interested him anymore. Everything felt flat. The apostle Paul, for his part, said he had "heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Corinthians 12:4).

God didn't just save you from hell, he saved you for heaven. That's where you're headed. He promised it, and he will do it.

There are still other promises. The promise of a full and flourishing life. Jesus says: "He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:14). This full life is tied to your attachment and your love for God. "Delight yourself also in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

5. From Abarim, hearing the warning of judgment

There's one last point that's hard to receive, but it's part of God's message. Jeremiah pronounces a judgment against the people from Abarim. "Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up your voice in Bashan: and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers are destroyed" (Jeremiah 22:20). The people had broken their covenant. They had abandoned God's ways, turned their hearts toward idols, ignored the prophets' warnings. Despite all the good God had done for them, they forgot him in their prosperity. So God pronounces a judgment.

It isn't easy to talk about God's judgment. It's so much simpler to talk about grace, blessing, prosperity. Some preachers promise success in every area (health, finances, marriage), as if the Christian life never faced any trouble. But God had warned his people.

Frederic Lenormand shares his conviction: our old Europe is in danger, and God's judgment may well fall on it. We have abandoned God so much, turned hearts so far from him, that at some point the sentence will come. Experts keep saying: "It's getting worse and worse, we've never seen anything like it." When Covid arrived, he told his wife: "I'm not saying God sent it, but it didn't hit hard enough. We're going to get back up and act arrogant all over again. One day, it might hit very hard." And when that happens, you too may be affected, since it is Jeremiah who pronounces the judgment, and Jeremiah himself bore the consequences of his people's choices, even while seeing God's hand in it.

Remember Belshazzar. They were feasting at the king of the Chaldeans' palace, taking the vessels from the house of God to defile them. Suddenly, a hand appears in the palace and begins writing on the wall. The king trembles, his knees knock together. No one can read the inscription. Daniel is brought in, and he declares: "You have been weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. God has counted the days of your kingdom, and this very night your kingdom is divided" (Daniel 5:25-30). That very night, Belshazzar died. After everything that had happened with Nebuchadnezzar, he should have listened to the voice of the God of Israel. Instead, he kept feasting. Then everything collapsed.

Read the prophets. In Jeremiah's time, one season without rain, then two, then three, and only then did the people start to think something was wrong. Jeremiah had come to tell them it would be so. When you don't listen to God, you are in danger.

But rejoice. The Bible says God will deliver his people from the wrath to come. When Jesus speaks of his return, he says: "But when these things begin to happen, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28). He speaks of his return as a deliverance. What is he going to deliver you from? From this world, which is going to face the wrath to come. The church should long for it, should sigh: "Lord, come, come and take us."

But the church should also long for others to escape that wrath: family members, loved ones, children, uncles, aunts, cousins, in-laws. There are so many people you can pray for, so many you can speak to. "Lord, grant us to do this effectively by the Holy Spirit, so that all these people turn to you to be saved and escape the wrath to come." Count on the Lord. You will see his grace at work.

Key takeaways

• Every place the Bible mentions matters, including the mountains of Abarim, often passed over without a second thought.
• The mountain symbolizes communion with God: it calls for a deep desire and a firm resolve, despite the obstacles.
• The name Abarim, "those who are beyond," reminds us that God looks for and seeks the lost, and sends you toward them.
• From Mount Nebo, God invites Moses to gaze at the promises he keeps, the same ones he still keeps for you today in Jesus Christ.
• From Abarim, Jeremiah also announces judgment: God warns before he strikes, and he will deliver his people from the wrath to come.

Personal application

1. Is there a passage of the Bible you tend to skim past? Take time to pause on it this week.
2. Where are you in your communion with the Lord: is the desire there? Is the firm resolve to enter it and stay in it there too?
3. Whose face comes to mind when you think of "those who are beyond"? Write down one or two names, pray for them, and look for a chance to talk with them.
4. Is there a promise of God you need to take hold of again and hold close to your heart until it comes to pass?
5. Is Jesus' return a reality that shapes your choices, or an idea you set aside? What needs to change, concretely, in how you invest your time and strength?

Verses cited

• Numbers 27:12-14
• Numbers 33:48
• Deuteronomy 32:48-52
• Jeremiah 22:20-24
• Psalm 121:1-2
• Acts 2:38-39
• Romans 4:18-21
• 2 Corinthians 1:20
• 1 Corinthians 15:58
• John 4:14
• John 6:35
• Psalm 37:4
• Ecclesiastes 1:2, 1:14
• 2 Corinthians 12:4
• Daniel 5:25-30
• Luke 21:28

FAQ

Where are the mountains of Abarim in the Bible?

The mountains of Abarim are a mountainous region in the land of Moab, east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, in present-day Jordan. The Bible mentions them in Numbers 27:12, Numbers 33:48, Deuteronomy 32:49, and Jeremiah 22:20. Israel camped there before entering the Promised Land, and it was there, on Mount Nebo, that Moses gazed at the land without entering it.

What does the name "Abarim" mean?

The word "Abarim" means "those who are beyond." This region was named that by the people living west of the Jordan. In Frederic Lenormand's sermon, this name becomes a picture: God always looks at those who are "beyond" his presence, and he sends you toward them with the gospel.

Why didn't Moses enter the Promised Land?

According to Numbers 27:14 and Deuteronomy 32:51, Moses and Aaron rebelled against God's command in the wilderness of Zin, during the dispute of the assembly, at the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh. They did not sanctify God in the midst of the children of Israel. That is why Moses saw the land from Mount Nebo, but did not enter it. You, by faith in Jesus, can enter into all of God's promises.

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• SEO title: The Mountains of Abarim: What Moses Sees from Mount Nebo
• Meta description: From Mount Nebo, Moses gazes at the Promised Land. Discover three messages from the mountains of Abarim (communion, mission, promises), with Frederic Lenormand.
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• Preacher: Frederic Lenormand (Nice Cimiez Church)