A Sermon on Hebrews 12:18-29
This transcript of a sermon on Hebrews 12:18-29 has been lightly edited for formatting and ease of reading.
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So today we are going to consider the words that the author of Hebrews gives to us in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 18 through 29. So if you have your Bible with you, please open it and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12.
The author began the book of Hebrews by telling us the greatness of Jesus, how he was the greater word from God, even than the inspired prophets. He goes on to tell us that as much glory as the angels have because they minister at the throne of God, that Jesus had a greater glory because he was the son of God, sent by God into this world.
He goes on to look at Moses and to show that Jesus was the greater mediator for his people, even greater than Moses, and that Jesus was the great sacrifice that fulfilled all of the Mosaic law, including the sacrificial system. And he reminded his hearers, he reminded us of these truths because oftentimes we are tempted in this world when life gets hard to turn our back on Jesus and to find hope in the things of this world.
For the original audience, they were seeking hope in those Old Testament sacrificial systems. But each of us is tempted at times to place our hope in something other than Jesus. When life gets difficult throughout the book, he is giving us a handful of warnings.
And we come now to the last warning that he gives in this book as we consider the two mountains that he has us to look at. So please follow along and listen as I read Hebrews chapter 12, beginning in verse 18:
“You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire to darkness, gloom and storm to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded. If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.
The site was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven.
You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.
The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken. That is created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and all for our God is a consuming fire.”
Let’s pray. God above whose glory is shouted forth from the heavens and from all creation, you have promised that the reading and preaching of your inspired word will bring life to deadened hearts. You have promised that your word will bring joy and light into the darkness of life.
Help us to see the value of your word and to pursue the sweetness of knowing you through that word and help us to know the reward of pursuing holiness according to your righteous laws. Keep us from sin and draw us close to you. We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.
INTRODUCTION
So 40 years after that passage that we read earlier from Exodus chapter 19, the nation of Israel is gathered at the border of the promised land, getting ready to enter into that land. And the book of Deuteronomy is the account of Moses’ last address to the nation of Israel before he goes up to the top of the mountain to see God and to see the promised land from afar.
And in chapter 11 of the book of Deuteronomy, God tells the people – after reminding them of the law, after reminding them of the grace that he has shown to them, after reminding them of the power that would accompany them into the promised land – he says, “Once you get established in the promised land, go to the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal and take the curses that come that are written in this book. Take those curses and put them on top of Mount Ebal and have them read from there. And the blessings that come from following the law of God set atop Mount Gerizim and read from there.”
The visual example would be a concrete reminder for the people of God that they had a choice before them. Obey God and ascend the mountain of blessing or disobey God and find yourself on the mountain of God’s wrath and judgment.
While the two mountains that we will consider today have different names, this is the picture that the author of Hebrews places before the church. We stand with a choice before us. Do we place our hope in Mount Sinai and the law with its demands for perfection and the blood of sacrifice? Or do we turn to Mount Zion with its offer of salvation based upon the perfect finished work of Jesus? And the choice is significant because each mountain has vastly different outcomes.
Today, we will contrast those two mountains and see that we cannot stay in the valley. We must choose.
GOD’S JUDGMENT AT SINAI
So the first mountain that the author of Hebrews presents to his audience is Mount Sinai. Verses 18 through 21 point us to the scene that we read about earlier in Exodus 19.
Put yourselves in the shoes of the Israelites. You have left Egypt a mere three months before, having seen the power of God through the plagues and the power of God at the Red Sea.
You approach this mountain that God has led you to, and God, through Moses, gives you commands to prepare and to purify yourself to meet God at that mountain. On the day of the meeting, a loud trumpet blast begins and grows in power and intensity to the point where the ground begins to shake. Then a dark and fiery cloud falls from heaven with an unnatural weight and crashes upon the mountain with thunder and earthquakes.
Think, if you will, of the power of a category five hurricane mixed with fire and the destructive force of an earthquake, all falling at one point in the middle of the desert. Then out of this holy and heavenly storm, a voice shouts out ten words or ten commands and declares warnings of death to any person who approaches the holiness of the mountain.
Why such warning? Why such noise? Well, the warning and the noise come because it is the holy presence of God that crashed upon the top of that mountain.
In the fire, in the wind, in the storm, it is God’s holiness, much like Isaiah saw and felt in Isaiah 6. It is that holiness that crashes upon the mountain, and it is the holy voice of God that booms forth from the fiery storm. God is a holy God, and only holy people can approach him. And we go on to read in Exodus 20, after the giving of the ten commandments, we read that the people of Israel felt the fear and the terror of God’s holiness as they cried out, “Moses, you stand before God on our behalf. We cannot stand on our own.”
And so from Mount Sinai we learn and we see that God is a holy and a just God. The precautions that God gave to the people at the foot of Mount Sinai, the fence around the mountain, the command to not touch the mountain, the sprinkling with blood that cleansed them to be even that close to God’s mountain, all of those things point to the great gulf that exists between God and man.
Why does this great gulf exist? Because you and I, each one of us, has broken fellowship with God by arrogantly thinking that we know better than our creator how to live our life and what is right and what is wrong. And we do those things rather than the law that he has given. And God has promised that he must punish that arrogance and rebellion and to be truly just, to be truly holy, we must feel the weight of that punishment.
See, Sinai represents what you and I can do to please God in our power. Whether you try to keep God’s law as a means of earning his favor, or more likely in today’s culture, you try to redefine how one approaches God according to your wants and your desires, in whatever way you try to earn his favor on your own, the best you can do is experience the holy justice of God that keeps you at an infinite distance from his grace and from his mercy. And so the author of Hebrews reminds them that if you are turning your back on the offer of grace through Jesus, you are left at Mount Sinai.
GOD’S GRACE AT ZION
But then he reminds them that there is more than one mountain that they are to consider, and he takes them to the foot, actually to the top of Mount Zion. And he says, beginning in verse 22, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
In language that is reminiscent of what we read in Revelation 4, 5, and 7, the author of Hebrews describes for us the glorious room on Mount Zion where God resides. Listen to these words from Revelation 5, beginning in verse 11.
“Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang, worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them singing to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever. Then the four living creatures said amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped.”
We have this picture of an uncountable number of angels swirling around God’s throne worshiping him for all of eternity. We see an uncountable number of saints who are there in the throne room of God whom the author of the book of Hebrews describes as those who have been made perfect through Christ as the firstborn of those the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven – we see them around the throne of God offering worship, offering praise, and finding peace and grace being welcomed into the presence of God and that is what the author of Hebrews has been describing throughout his book. In chapter four he talks about the great high priest that we have in Jesus Christ and because we have such a great high priest we are called to enter the presence of God that holy that just that righteous God who will not allow sin to go unpunished welcomes us into his glorious presence in peace because of the work of Jesus Christ. We are sprinkled we are cleansed with the blood of Jesus so that we can boldly approach God’s throne without fear of God’s judgment.
He compares this blood of Christ to the blood of Abel. Remember in chapter 11 we looked at Abel and we saw that he was murdered because he walked by faith and in his blood God told his brother Cain that Abel’s blood cried out from earth. Why did his earth why did his blood cry out? It cried out for vengeance for the wrong that was done against him and so the murder the blood of murdered Abel cries out for vengeance cries out for justice, and yet the blood of the murdered Jesus doesn’t cry out for vengeance but cries out grace cries out mercy and bids us to boldly approach the throne of God because that blood was shed taking the punishment the judgment the wrath the holiness of God due to the sins of those who believe.
CHOOSE YOUR MOUNTAIN
So the author puts a choice before his audience.
We have a choice between two mountains. We see that we stand in the valley much like the Israelites did as we read in Joshua chapter 8. We read that the nation of Israel stood in the valley they were commanded to and they had the blessings read from Gerizim and the curses read from Ebal and for the original audience of the book of Hebrews the author reminds them that if you turn your back if you reject the work that Jesus has done for you if you reject the hope that Jesus has purchased for you then your only hope is the same hope that the nation of Israel found at the foot of Mount Sinai. You turn your back upon the glorious heavenly city – that glorious city that we are told in Hebrews 11 that Abraham and his children waited for that city whose foundations are in God that better heavenly country.
You turn your back upon welcome and love and mercy in the presence of God and you submit yourself to his holiness and to his justice. He goes on to say that yes the ground shook at Mount Sinai but there will come a time – referencing Haggai chapter 2 verses 6 and 21 there will come a time where God will not only shake the earth but he will also shake the heavens.
The author here is applying these words of Haggai to that day that glorious day when Jesus returns when the clouds are rolled up like a scroll when everyone is raised – some to life and to glory others to judgment – and he says there will come a day when it’s too late. If you have relied upon yourself, if you have relied upon your righteousness, if you have relied upon your own definition of who God is you will stand at the base of Mount Sinai.
Yet those who have put their hope in Jesus and find themselves atop Mount Zion will remain, they will see the enemies of God judged, they will understand the depth of their sin and the depth of the grace that God has given to them, and they will be welcomed once and for all into the glorious presence of their God and their father to join that heavenly worship.
CONCLUSION
So the author warns them one last time he says “Beware turning your back on Jesus beware turning your back on the salvation that he offers and make sure you are approaching Zion and not Sinai” Then he wraps up with these concluding remarks “Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
This speaks to our time of worship both corporately together and in our daily lives we should live our lives with this sense of reverence and awe at the wonder of who God is and at the wonder of what he has done. The children of God need not fear punishment for their sin, but it is good to be reminded that there is a punishment out there because it develops within us a greater sense of what God has done for us. We don’t ruminate on it in a depressing way, but we we see the depth of our sin as the Holy Spirit illuminates the word.
And we are reminded of what God has done for us and that should lead us to the sense of reverence and wonder at the glory and the joy that God has given to us in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We feel that in the corporate worship of the church; we gather to worship in reverence and awe, but we also worship in reverence and awe in our daily life.
1 Corinthians 10:31 says “Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God.” Your family life, your work life, your hobbies, your volunteer work – everything the child of God does should be done with the worship of God in mind. So if you have placed your hope in Jesus know that you are welcome to Mount Zion. And take peace and hope and joy in that welcome.
But if you are still placing your hope in your own goodness or in your own definition of what God expects then beware; without Jesus on your side you stand at the foot of Mount Zion overshadowed by God’s holiness and justice unwelcome to approach.
Surrender and find the peace and joy and welcome of Zion today.
Let’s pray. To the great God and Father, we do thank you for these words for this reminder that not only do you hold us secure but we are called to daily worship and glorify you. Lord bless us as we gather for lunch; bless us as we leave this place, and remind us of the sense of peace, the sense of wonder, the sense of awe, that is ours in Jesus Christ.
We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
After the benediction also notice that there is a call and response to close out our service today. “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.”
Come quickly Lord Jesus!
Amen! Come Lord Jesus!
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