Here is a list of themes in the Bible. Mountains are one of them and are mentioned in 310 verses in the Bible. They are presented as the point where human nature meets God: the meeting place for the temporal and the eternal, with Jesus himself as the connecting point, acting as the bridge between heaven and earth. Mountains, therefore represent holy places, where God is present. Pagans also had this idea of gods dwelling on mountains (think Olympus).
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” -Genesis 22:2
[ The Burning Bush ] Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God....He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” -Exodus 3:1,12
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. -Exodus 15:17
In Exodus 19-34 Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God and recieve God's word in the 10 commandments.
[ The Shining Face of Moses ] When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. -Exodus 34:29
[ The Lord Is in His Holy Temple ] [ To the choirmaster. Of David. ] In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain,-Psalm 11:1
"I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from?" -Psalm 121
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his path." -Isaiah 2:3a
Matthew specifically utilizes this theme and makes the connection of Mountains and Jesus. This makes sense because Matthew is a Jew, writing to the Jews to explain how Jesus is the Messiah. He is transitioning and linking the Old and New Testaments as well as showing that Jesus is God with us.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.-Matthew 4:8
The Sermon on the Mount -Matthew 5
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,-Matthew 14:23
[ Jesus Heals Many ] Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. -
Matthew 15:29
[ The Transfiguration ] And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. -Matthew 17:1
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” -Matthew 17:20
And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. - Matthew 21:21
Jesus commissioned the apostles on a mountain, just like Moses was.
[ The Great Commission ] Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. -Matthew 28:16
Revelation is a vision is full of symbolism about the end of this world, the beginning of the next, and Jesus at the nexus, so mountains featured prominently there as well.
The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, -Revelation 6:14-16
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. -Revelation 8:8
This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; -Revelation 17:9
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, -Revelation 21:10
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