PART TWO
PART TWO
On October 25, 1964, defensive end Jim Marshall did something remarkable in the world of professional football. After the other team fumbled the ball, he picked it up and ran 66 yards (60m) into the end zone. While that might sound like a rather ordinary play, it’s famous for one simple reason: Marshall ran in the wrong direction! He ran with all his energy and all his might into the other team’s end zone.
While there’s certainly a lesson here for football players, there is also a lesson for the Christian life. The issue is not just whether we are running, but whether we are running toward the right finish line. Indeed, the whole book of Hebrews has been about exactly this theme. Our author is trying to persuade his audience not to run back to the ways of the old covenant but to run forward toward Jesus Christ.
In the second half of Hebrews 12, our author uses a new image to describe these two different destinations. It is essentially a choice between two mountains: Mount Sinai, representing the old covenant, and Mount Zion, representing the new covenant.
An Earthly Place of Fear
In verse 18 our author begins with the mountain that Christians are not (or should not be) running toward: “You have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest.” Though the name is not used, this is a clear reference to Mount Sinai, the mountain which Moses climbed in Exodus 19 and 20 to receive the Ten Commandments. It is a symbol of the entire old-covenant way of relating to God.
In Hebrews 12:18-21, we learn a number of key things about the old covenant. For one, this mountain is “what may be touched”—a physical place you could go to. That was very much the nature of old-covenant worship, as we saw in earlier chapters. There was a physical temple full of things you could lay your hands on, where rituals were performed.
But that is not the most important thing the author wants you to see about Mount Sinai. What he really wants you to see is how terrifying it is.
He describes “a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet” (v 18-19). This is the storm and the earthquake and the trumpet blast which happened when the people came near to Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:16-20. It was scary. All of the people were glad that it was only Moses who had to go up that mountain!
They also heard a terrible voice “whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them” (Hebrews 12:19). God spoke from the mountain and ordered that no one come near it (v 20; see Exodus 19:10-13). If even an animal touched the mountain, it would be struck dead.
The voice of God was so overwhelming that the people cried out to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19). They could not handle the overwhelming majesty and holiness of God’s own voice as it came from the mountain. Even Moses was terrified: “I tremble with fear” (Hebrews 12:21).
This terrifying scene highlights God’s holiness. God is the Lord. He is the Creator. He is not just a better version of us; he is something wholly different than us. His standard of holiness is utterly perfect. That is why, in the story of Mount Sinai, God is distant. He is not inviting the people to come close to him; he is telling them to stay away, because he is holy and they are not.
We have seen this before, in Hebrews 9 and 10. Old-covenant worship was all about barriers, expressing the single major message that God is utterly holy and people are utterly sinful.
Of course, this does not mean people were not saved under the old covenant. God arranged for a system of worship by which people would draw near to God’s temple through the blood of animal sacrifices. While those sacrifices did not actually take away sin, they pointed toward the coming Savior, who would be the perfect and final sacrifice. Thus, people were saved by grace through faith in the coming Messiah.
Even so, the old covenant still emphasized God’s holy distance, because Christ had not yet come. Remember Hebrews 9:8, which tells us that the restrictions around the Most Holy Place shows that “the way into the holy places is not yet opened.”
If a person ran back to Sinai—as opposed to running to Christ—then they would be left with only animal sacrifices to stand between them and the holy God. And we already know that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). In effect, then, to reject Christ and return to the old covenant would be attempting to draw near to God in one’s own strength and on one’s own merits. This would enslave a person to law-keeping as a basis for their acceptance, which inevitably would lead to a lack of assurance and peace.
But if you are in Christ, “you have not come” to Mount Sinai (12:18). You can admit that you are not good enough on your own and that you need grace and forgiveness. You can stop exhausting yourself on that treadmill, and you can have peace because you know that Christ is enough, and that he has already done all that needed to be done to save you.
The Heavenly City of Joy
If you are a Christian, Mount Sinai is not where you’re going. Instead, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (v 22).
Mount Zion was a real historical location—the hill on which Jerusalem was built and the place where God’s temple was located. It was understood to be the holy mountain where God “dwelled” (Psalm 2:6; 9:11; 14:7; 20:2; 50:2; 65:1; 74:2; Isaiah 2:3; 8:18). But the earthly city of Jerusalem was never an end in and of itself. It was always pointing to something more: namely, the “heavenly Jerusalem.”
We should remember John 14:2, where Jesus promises his disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” God has a home waiting for us: a heavenly, eternal home. That is what we are talking about here.
It is easy to get sucked into spending a huge amount of time thinking about our earthly homes. TV shows are continually calling us to redo our kitchen or build an extension. We may worry about the state of our carpets or the quality of our furniture. But we should remember that we have a far better home waiting for us. If we redecorate our earthly homes, they will be out of date again in ten years’ time; if we renovate them, they will eventually decay and crumble. But our eternal home can never change or decay.
The author tells us who is there in the heavenly Jerusalem. There are “innumerable angels in festal gathering” (Hebrews 12:22); there is also “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (v 23)—that is, the saints who are there to be glorified, “the spirits of the righteous made perfect.”
That line is not accidental. Mount Sinai may remind you of how unholy you are, but Mount Zion is where you find that you have been made perfect. You have been made perfect because Christ has redeemed you and changed you. You have gained righteousness and holiness by his grace. Therefore you can come even to God, “the judge of all,” in confidence.
How is it possible that the same God who was so terrifying and distant on Mount Sinai can now be satisfied and welcoming at Mount Zion? Verse 24 has the answer. We have come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” It is the climax of all we have learned in the book of Hebrews up to this point.
Christ is there, but he is not just there: he is there as your great mediator. He is there representing you, speaking on your behalf, and standing in your place. The thunder of the law has been hushed because Jesus has satisfied it.
Next, our author invokes the blood language again from chapter 10. It is Christ’s blood that allows us to be received without fear by God.
The “sprinkled blood” (12:24) of Jesus is better than the blood of Abel. This is another contrast between the old and new covenants. The blood of Abel cried out to God for justice (Genesis 4:10)—and so it reminds us that God upholds his holy standards by bringing judgment. But Christ’s blood cries out for mercy. It says, I have died for them. Show them grace.
That is why the new covenant is one of joy and celebration: a “festal gathering” (Hebrews 12:22). It is a covenant of complete, unmerited mercy.
The hymnwriter John Newton—who, as a former slave trader, knew what it meant to be a terrible sinner and to find undeserved forgiveness—wrote lines that summarize this passage well.
Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s name.
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with his blood;
He has brought us nigh to God.
This song reminds us of what mountain we have come to. Do not live as if you are running to Sinai, where the thunder is loud and the fire represents God’s holy presence. Run instead to Zion, where Christ has enabled us to draw near.
Being Unshakable
Have you ever had an experience in your life where you ignored a warning but later you wished you had listened?
The 2019 film The Challenger Disaster details the events leading up to the explosion of the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger shortly after launch in January 1986. It tells the story of an engineer who warned NASA not to launch the shuttle that day because he knew that the O-rings, which sealed the joints in Challenger’s rocket boosters, were not certified for use in cold weather. It was a freezing cold day, and essentially the engineer said, “Don’t launch.” But he was ignored. NASA ignored a warning they should have listened to, and the result was that seven astronauts died.
In verse 25, we are given a warning that we must listen to if we value our lives: “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.” Throughout Hebrews, our author has been clear that God has “spoken to us by his Son” (1:2), and that this saving message should not be ignored.
Why? Because if it is ignored, judgment will follow. To demonstrate this, our author reminds us that the Israelites at Mount Sinai, despite all the frightening sights and sounds, “refused him who warned them on earth.” As a result, they “did not escape” God’s judgment. Then he makes an argument from the lesser to the greater—something that appears elsewhere in the book (Hebrews 2:1-4; 10:28-29). If God held people accountable when warned on earth, “much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”
The argument here is a compelling one. The old covenant is “earthly,” and yet God still held people accountable for following it. The new covenant is “heavenly,” and thus we should expect even more that God would hold people responsible for following it.
To drive his point home, our author contrasts the “shaking” caused by the two covenants. Yes, God’s voice “shook the earth” (12:26) at Mount Sinai (see Exodus 19:18). But under the new covenant there will be a greater “shaking”—that is, a greater judgment. One day in the future, God’s voice “will shake not only the earth but also the heavens,” a citation of Haggai 2:6. In the book of Haggai, the shaking is a picture of God’s promise to judge the nations. Our author sees that promise being fulfilled ultimately in the new covenant under Christ—he will be the judge of all the world when he returns.
When Christ returns to “shake” the world, that is the moment when he will sift eternal things from temporal things. No doubt, this is a reference to the creation of a new heavens and earth, when “the things that have been made” (Hebrews 12:27) will be transformed (see Isaiah 65 – 66; Hebrews 1:10; 2 Peter 3:10). In fact, just as Hebrews mentions the “heavenly Jerusalem” (12:22), so the book of Revelation describes the new heavens and new earth as involving a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven (Revelation 21:4).
The only things that will survive this monumental transition are “things that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:27): that is things that pertain to God’s “kingdom” (v 28). All earthly kingdoms, all worldly powers and authorities will be defeated and overthrown. Only what is done for Christ is eternal and unshakable (see 1 Corinthians 3:13-14).
So what should be our response to the good news that we have a “kingdom that cannot be shaken”? We are called to do the two things that God’s people are always called to do: give thanks and offer worship. First, we are told, “Let us be grateful.” Thankfulness is the mark of the believer (Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:18) and lack of thankfulness the mark of the unbeliever (Romans 1:21).
Second, we are told, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship.” It is noteworthy that worship follows thankfulness because the latter naturally leads to the former. It is really hard to worship if you are not grateful. If you go through life thinking you got the short end of the stick, then worship will not come easy. But when you read a passage like this, you realize that there is no short end of the stick here. You have come to Mount Zion and Christ—the very best place to be. It is by grasping this extraordinary grace that you can worship with gratitude.
This worship is given “with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (v 28-29).
What an amazing way to end the chapter. When was the last time you heard a sermon end with the words “Don’t forget, your God is a consuming fire”? Truthfully, most of us today do not want to talk about that. But we must. It is only if God is a consuming fire—only if he is holy—that his provision of a way to draw near to him is such good news.
We are not just praising someone a little bit bigger than ourselves or a little bit better than ourselves. We are worshiping the Lord of the universe—a Lord who is “holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3). Although our worship is joyful like the festal gathering of the angels (Hebrews 12:22), it should also have gravity. Those two things seem incompatible, and for sinners they would be if it were not for Jesus. But in him the holiness of God and the joy of being in his presence are brought together. In Christ alone your sins are dealt with completely, and when he comes again, you will not be shaken. When you worship the Son, worship in the light of that fact.