Exodus 3:12 NIV
And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."
To understand that verse you need to understand the circumstances that prompted the remark.
God needs nothing from us. Not glory, not fame, not adulation. The above statement had nothing to do with what God needed, and everything to do with the needs of those EGYPTIAN JEWS, who for generations had lived and worshiped every God Egypt had to offer to no avail.
What
they needed for their sake, for their strength, for their freedom, was to re-recognize the God they had discarded over the years they spent in a pagan land.
Him, from whence came their help in generations past.
They needed a way back to
Him< who rewards those who know Him and call on Him, from any mountain top, not the other way around.
He wanted them to recognize Him, rely on Him, call out to Him,
so that He could (by way of their their free will and petition), care for them. He, Abraham's covenant partner, that wanted to end their slavery in Egypt and their adoration of powerless gods that failed to hear their cries. But amazingly, the response He got, from their hard hearts was, "Thanks, but no thanks, we're used to golden calf gods and such." And so they died there.
Worshiping God on that mountain would have meant that
they would have regained
their footing and
their understanding of the God who chose to provide help to them for Abraham's sake.
Had they turned from their pagan ways, the 40 year trip would have taken 3 days and
all of them would have enjoyed the land promised to them by the God they had forgotten. He would have heard them rejoicing on the mountain top and gladly shepherded them home. He heard not.
The loss was theirs, not God's. God's esteem remains intact. Worship is for our benefit, not His.
