The Sermon contrasts with the event at Mount Sinai. Christ goes up the mountain and preaches a sermon that is really an exposition of the law. When the law was given at Mount Sinai the Lord came down on the mount. When God spoke the law at Mount Sinai it was accompanied by thunder lightning and earthquake while the people ordered to keep their distance cowered in fear. This time He speaks in a small still voice and the people are invited to draw near.

The text indicates that the Day of Trumpets points back to God coming down on the mountain of Sinai. This event occurred on a different day but receives its own commemoration because God came down on the mountain and it was heralded by trumpets. The Day of Trumpets incorporates the idea of God coming down and visiting His people and giving His law. With the giving of the law comes judgment. The event at the mountain featured smoke and fire. If anybody came close to the mountain they were to be shot through. There was a threat of death and awesomeness in what was going on. The text states that people are supposed to remember that God came down and visited His people and gave them His law and came down in judgment. What happened immediately after that involved judgment occurring because of what the Israelites did at the time of the Golden Calf and their idolatry. A judgment had to take place right after that. These ideas flow through what the Day of Trumpets is all about. The text connects various themes to what happened on Mount Sinai when God came down to visit His people.

Mount Sinai was the location where God gave the Ten Commandments on the Day of Pentecost. The trumpet blew long, loud, louder, and even louder, and God spoke the Ten Commandments. The ancient Israelites heard God speak on the mountain. They could not endure what was commanded. If so much as a beast touched the mountain, it was to be stoned or shot with an arrow. The sight was so terrifying that Moses said he was exceedingly afraid and trembling. This event is connected to the parallel between the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, all that followed, and coming to the resurrection as part of the church of the firstborn registered in heaven at Mount Zion, the city of the living God. The experience at Mount Sinai involved blackness, darkness, tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those who heard begged that the words should not be spoken anymore.

At Mount Sinai the Israelites received a demonstration of a tiny amount of God's power and glory. On the third day there were thunderings, lightnings, a thick cloud, and a very loud trumpet blast that made the whole camp tremble. The mountain was wrapped in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire, and it quaked greatly. God answered Moses by voice and called him up the mountain. Before the people could meet Him, they had to wash their clothes and be physically clean, and bounds were set around the mountain so that none would break through to gaze at the Lord and perish. Moses consecrated, or sanctified, them; the same Hebrew word, qadash, is translated both ways and means to set apart as clean and holy. Since the ancient Israelites as a nation did not have God's Holy Spirit, God taught them physical cleanliness as a type, so that they would later understand spiritual cleanliness: overcoming sin and being cleansed by Christ's blood. Coming before God requires cleanliness and holiness, and the church is expected to be clean inwardly, in heart and mind, as well as outwardly. Only God declares anyone holy. The lightning, thunder, and trumpet at Sinai, when the Ten Commandments were given, resemble the scene around God's throne in Revelation 4.

At Mount Sinai the Israelites received a demonstration of only a tiny amount of God's power and glory. On the third day there were thunderings, lightnings, a thick cloud, and a very loud trumpet blast that made the whole camp tremble. The mountain was wrapped in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire, and it quaked greatly. God answered Moses by voice and called him up the mountain. He then sent Moses down to warn the people not to break through to gaze at Him, lest many perish. The same signs of lightning, thunder, and trumpet accompany the throne of God in Revelation, and lightning there announces the presence of the omnipotent God. Before the Israelites could meet God, He required them to wash their clothes and be physically clean, because nothing unclean or impure may enter His presence. Moses consecrated them. The Hebrew word qadash means to set apart, to be clean, and to be holy, and it is translated both "consecrate" and "sanctify." Since ancient Israel as a whole did not have the Holy Spirit, God taught them physical cleanliness as a type, so they would later understand spiritual cleanliness, which is overcoming sin and being cleansed by the blood of Christ. God's church is held to a higher standard. Its members must be clean inwardly in heart and mind, and God alone declares them holy.