Moses 
Chapter One 

The Mountain of the Lord

 

Verse 1

THE words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain,

 The Mountain is a symbol of  sacred beginnings, that represent the creation,  and the presence of God.  It is the "Mercy Seat" the "Garden of Eden" and the "Tree of Life".  It is the "primordial mound" or "primeval hillock" the "axis Mundi" or "center of the earth" the altar and  creation.  It is also the the intersection of the "six cardinal directions" where the "three worlds"  (the worlds of the Gods, the living, and the dead) come together in space and time. At this intersection where space and time come together, work can be done in the world of the living that will be binding for those in the spirit world in the world of the Gods.  By being the "closest point between heaven and earth it becomes the "umphalus" or the "navel of the earth" where life originates  and the point where the temporal world in which we live receives sustenance from God. 

The "temple" in its construction represents the mountain and the "mountain" represents the "temple" and altar where manifestations, revelations, and ordinances are received by the power of God and often in the presence of deity.  It is here that the mysteries of godliness are made manifest and unfolded to the prophets of God.  Often in scripture it is on a mountain that a "Theophany" (vision of god) and/or a "Cosmology" (vision of creation) is received by the prophet as can be seen in Moses Chapter One.  The same type of vision is seen by the brother of Jared in Chapter Three of Ether as the Lord puts his hand through the veil, pronounces him clean and  "redeemed from the fall" and introduces him into His  presence where all things are continually manifest before him, where the Brother of Jared sees things "as they are, as they were and as they are to come." (The Brother of Jared was the first mortal person to pass through the veil into the environment or presence of God.  Every other Theophany, or manifestation of deity,  prior to this event, the Lord came through the veil into this temporal environment.)  Likewise Nephi  is carried away to an 'exceedingly high mountain' to view and understand the condescension  of God, the atonement and glories of exaltation.  It is to the top of the mount of transfiguration that, in the words of Elder McConkie, Peter James and John receive their endowment of power, with priesthood keys being restored as was done in this dispensation in the Kirtland Temple (D&C 110).  The "Mountain of the Lord's house (temple) shall be established in the tops of the mountain." (Isa. 2)  On Ensign Peak the early saints in the Salt Lake Valley  received their endowments  while the temple was constructed. The mountain represents the sacred place where communication commitments and covenants are made between God and man.  (see Temple Typology)  

This verse heralds and suggests that the Book of Moses is an endowment of power from on high for Moses.  This is a record of  the light and knowledge he received during this endowment that he is commanded to write for "them that believe" and that Joseph is to show unto none except "them that believe" (Moses 1"42).  All scripture  has at it's foundation the doctrines and ordinances of the temple.  The "Three Fold Mission of the Church" is to accomplish the salvation and exaltation of the family of God.  We "proclaim the gospel"  that the converts may go to the temple,  we "perfect the saints" to realize the blessings of the temple, and we "redeem the dead" by doing their temple work.  The work and glory of God,  is the immortality (salvation) and eternal life (exaltation) of mankind, that can only be accomplished by the righteousness of the individual and the ordinances and fullness of the priesthood, obtained only in the Temple of the Lord.
Moses 1:2

And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence.

 Moses "saw" and "talked" with God "face to face"  not symbolically, or allegorically, but "as one man speaks to another."  (references about speaking face to face)