Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons


Hebrews

Mount Zion. 12:18-24

[Seed logo] Introduction
      Our passage for study is part of the section 10:19-12:29 which serves as a call to worship, faith and perseverance. It provides the theological impetus for two exhortations. The first, 12:14-17, is an exhortation to get into living the Christian life. The second, 12:25-29, is an exhortation to listen carefully to the voice of God and to do it. The passage contrasts Sinai with Zion; it contrasts the declaration of the law with the declaration of the gospel. Although the declaration of the law was awesome, filling those who were present with fear, binding them with great responsibilities and terrible consequences, the declaration of the gospel was far more awesome and demanding. The contrast serves as a warning against treating the gospel lightly, of not submitting wholeheartedly to its claim on our lives, of accepting halfhearted discipleship.

The passage
      v18-19. The writer reminds his readers of the awesome moment when God spoke with the people of Israel gathered before Mount Sinai, Deut.4:11f. Yet, his readers have not come to such a mountain, they have come to a mountain far more awesome.
      v20-21. The Sinai event emphasized the holiness of God, along with the fear and awe that is rightly felt in the presence of His glory. Even Moses himself was filled with fear. This idea comes from Deutnomy 9:19, although it is not explicitly stated that Moses trembled with fear.
      v22. The "you have come" is best understood as our coming to Christ, our conversion. The people of Israel escaped from the bondage of Egypt and came to a mountain where they met with God. We too have escaped from the bondage of sin and death and have come to Calvary and met with Christ. The writer, in detail, now lists what we have come to:
        i] We come into the presence of the living God;
        ii] We come and serve with the angelic host.
      v23. iii] By hearing and accepting the gospel we participate in the communion of the Saints, the fellowship of believers.
        iv] We come into the presence of God.
        v] We join with those Old Testament saints who are saved by faith, 11:6.
      v24. vi] We come to Jesus the mediator of a new agreement between God and mankind, an agreement outlined in the gospel.
        vii] We come to the cross, to the sacrificial death of Christ.

Seeing past our nose
      A criminal who went to the gas chamber some years ago, a man by the name of Harris, gave a little speech to the watching crowd. He said, "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone has to dance with the grim reaper."
      As I am sure you realize, all of us are affected by the "spirit of the age". What I mean is, we are all powerfully influenced by our culture, by the ethos of the age we live in. For most people, eternity, God, goodness.... are often only memories of an inquiring youth. Meaning is found within; secular humanity is existentialist and humanist. Our age is concerned with the present moment and the individual experience of it.
      If there is any ethic in our age it is Marxist egalitarianism. The buzz-words today are multiculturalism, sexism and the like. These "isims" derive from a socialist dogma proved worthless in the cold light of history. None-the-less, Western humanity powers on into oblivion. Can we see past our nose? Have we forgotten the wonder of our God? Do we fail to honour him in our lives?
      There were times, in the history of the people of Israel, when the hand of the Lord was so impressive that it instilled in the people a powerful reverence and awe. If we could be aware of the Lord's hand as they were, we might not be so easily sucked into the power of the moment. The people of Israel saw the mountain tremble; they saw the fire of God; they heard his voice; they could smell the fear and sense the awe of the moment. Maybe we need this type of experience, something more powerful than an existentialist moment.
      Yet, the writer to the Hebrews says that our experience is no less than theirs. We might not have actually seen, nor felt, God's presence on the mountain, yet our confrontation with God is of far greater measure. We have actually touched reality, whereas they touched only the shadows; we have touched the substance of God's being; we have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.
      Yet, now we are carried along in the power of the moment - the age with all the answers. Shall the ground of our being be existential, egalitarian, humanist, secular? Do we really want to rest on the brave new world which has abandoned the faith of our forefathers? Do we really want to place the substance of our being on the shifting sands of secularism?
      Let us lift our eyes from the power of the moment; let us imagine our own burning mountain, our own Zion. When first we glimpsed the reality of God, it thundered. At that instant, in that moment, our faith was sure. That image may now be dimmed, covered by the business of living. So, remember the glimpse of the majesty of God, sense the thunder and the lightening.
      Remember, "you can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone has to dance with the grim reaper."

Discussion
      In what sense has a believer "come to Mount Zion"?


Notes

Textual notes   Abbreviations,   Bibliography
 

      In this passage, and in verse 22 in particular, the writer theologically links the people of the old covenant with the people of the new. This is a perfect example of Biblical theology at work where the events of the Old Testament are paralleled with those of the new. The writer aligns our standing in the present spiritual kingdom of God, with particular events which affected the people of the historic kingdom of God (The pre-exile people of Israel) in 1500BC. In their journey they met with the living God prior to their entrance into the kingdom - into the land flowing with milk and honey, into Palestine (Canaan). We have come to our Sinai, our Zion, to a trembling mountain of glory and wonder. We have done this in the hearing of the gospel. In listening to this message and accepting it, we have placed ourselves at the foot of the heavenly mountain, Zion. The people of Israel heard God speak jas they listened to the reading of the law, and in that reading they trembled. We too have heard God speak. We have heard the gospel, and like them, we should be filled with fear. They had the law declared from Sinai, whereas we have heard the gospel declared from a mountain that cannot be touched or seen, but not only is it just as real, it is reality itself. Sinai was but an image of the heavenly Zion, its glory a mere shadow compared to the glory now found in Christ.

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