Another post from a former prof that I enjoyed:

About 2000 B.C., the Lord tested Abraham's faith:
God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." (Genesis 2:2, NIV)

When Abraham reached the place, he commanded his servants, "Stay here...while I and the boy go over there" (v. 5). The old man then bound Isaac and laid him on the altar.

But just as Abraham raised the knife to slay his son, the angel of the Lord stopped him (vv. 10-12). God then provided another sacrifice in Isaac's place:

Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided. (Genesis 22:13-14)

A thousand years later, King David chose the cluster of hills surrounding Moriah as the site for Jerusalem, his capital city. Then, in about 950 B.C., King Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. (2 Chronicles 3:1)

Over time, the Jews offered millions of animal sacrifices at that site. However, those sacrifices provided only an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:3-4)

Finally, in A.D. 30, another Son commanded his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there" (Matthew 26:36). Then the Father accompanied His Son from the Garden of Gethsemane, across the Kidron Valley, over Mount Moriah, to a place nearby called Golgotha.

But this time there was no ram in a thicket, no bull or goat on the altar. And even though twelve legions of angels stood by, ready to halt the sacrifice (see Matthew 26:53-54), the Son refused to call them.

On the mountain, the Lord has provided.

... for Today

We generally use the phrase "mountaintop experience" to describe a positive event. For us, the valleys represent gloom and uncertainty. How ironic that, throughout history, the hills of Moriah have represented just the opposite -- testing, drama, and sacrifice.

But perhaps not.

In each instance, what began as trial and cost, ended in deeper faith, changed lives, and salvation. This particular mountaintop (Moriah) became a symbol of life emerging from death.
We'd like to live on the mountaintops (figuratively) and never face death. We'd like ecstatic experiences without grief. We'd like joy without pain, and intimacy without cost.
Moriah challenges such superficiality.

Jesus himself taught that we must first lose our lives before we can find them (see Matthew 16:25 // Mark 8:35 // Luke 9:24 // John 12:25), and the seed must first die before it comes to life (see 1 Corinthians 15:36). The greatest hope emerges from gritty faith, the highest joy from endurance, and the deepest intimacy from sacrifice.

Next time we crave a mountaintop experience that will elevate us above the demands and disappointments of life, we might consider Moriah. That sacred mountaintop points us toward a greater reality -- not of flight but faith, not of escapism but obedience, not of avoidance but sacrifice.

Most importantly, Moriah teaches us that the Lord not only provides on that mountain. He is also present there.