I. Introduction
A. The passage is the grand finale of Hebrews: like the last part of a fireworks show. The whole letter has been building up to this moment.
B. It is a tale of two mountains: Mount Sinai, representing the old covenant, and Mount Zion, representing the new covenant of Christ. (Remember the original readers were Jewish Christians being tempted to return to Judaism.)
II. Explanation of Hebrews 12:18–29
A. 18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
1. This story is found in Exod.19:16-19; 20:18-21.
2. After the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt across the Red Sea, Moses led them to Mount Sinai to meet God and receive His law. It was a terrifying experience. There was storm and darkness and fire and gloom and strange loud noises. Even Moses trembled.
3. But the most fearsome part was when God spoke to them. That was so scary that they begged Moses to tell God to stop speaking to them directly and speak to them only through Moses.
4. The author’s point is that this experience encapsulates Judaism, the religion the original readers grew up in and are now being tempted to return to, as a result of pressure and persecution.
5. Someone might say to this: “Who cares? I’m not tempted to become Jewish.”
a. I want to remind you of a point I’ve made earlier. By showing the inferiority and powerlessness of Judaism, the author has shown the inferiority of every religion, every philosophy, every way of thinking about the world and about life. You see, if anything can compare with the way of Christ, it is Judaism. It is the only other way that was established by God Himself. It is the second greatest mountain, the closest competition. So, if the way of Christ can be shown to be superior to Judaism, then it is superior to everything else.
B. 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
1. These verses tell us so much of what is true about Christian believers.
2. First, notice that it says, “you have come,” not “you will come.”
a. This isn’t just something we’re waiting for. It is something we enjoy right now.
b. We have already arrived there in spirit.
3. “You have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,”
a. This mountain (Zion) is also a city, the city of God, Jerusalem. For this is the mountain on the top of which Jerusalem was built. But he’s not referring to the earthly city of Jerusalem, but to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the true and ultimate home of every believer in Christ.
b. In Rev.21 we read of the vision of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven, a place where God will wipe away every tear from His people’s eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Rev.21:4)
c. In coming to Christ, they had come to a new mountain, a heavenly one, not an earthly one.
4. “You have come...to innumerable angels in festal gathering,”
a. What this all about? Well, in the Bible, whenever we get a glimpse into the royal court, or throne room of God, He is surrounded by a massive, constantly-worshiping congregation of angels worshiping and praising Him: majestic, awesome beings in awe of the majesty of God.
5. “You have come...to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven,”
a. This cannot mean believers who have already died and gone to heaven, because that would make it synonymous with “the spirits of the righteous made perfect” later in the verse.
b. It most likely refers to all those whose names are listed in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev.21:27).
c. Luke 10:20 “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
d. Why does it call them the ‘firstborn’? There are several possibilities of what this might mean.
(1) It could mean the early generation of Christian believers (Rev.14:4).
(2) It could mean those who receive the inheritance of their Father.
(3) Or it might refer to God’s elect. In the OT the firstborn of every family belonged to the Lord (Exod.13:2). They were the ones the Lord set apart for Himself.
6. “You have come...to God, the judge of all,”
a. This seems like a strange thing to include in this list. Everything else on the list is so positive and upbeat. But when it refers to God, it refers to Him as the judge. Why not the God of grace or something like that?
b. It is because he wants these Hebrew Christians to not only be thinking about all that they would miss out on if they depart from Christ. He wants them also to be thinking about the judgment they will receive from God their judge if they depart.
c. You can tell that this is what is on the author’s mind because of what he says in the next verse: v.25 “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”
7. “You have come...to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,”
a. These are the OT believers, like those mentioned in Hebrews 11, and especially in 11:40.
8. “You have come...to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
a. We have come to Jesus! He’s not just someone who existed in history. He’s someone we can come to today!
b. In the OT the blood of the lamb was sprinkled over the ark of the covenant for the atoning of sin. But that was just ceremonial and illustrative, pointing to Jesus. But now the blood of Jesus actually covers us and cleanses us from our sins.
c. His “sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
(1) You remember the story of when Cain killed Abel, and Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance from the ground.
(2) The blood of Abel cried out for justice. The blood of Jesus cries out for forgiveness.
C. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
1. Jesus speaks. God spoke out of heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!” (Matt.17:5; Luke 9:35) Now the author warns his readers to make sure they listen. “See to it that you don’t refuse” Jesus.
2. If the folks in the OT didn’t escape punishment when they refused God’s warnings, how much more will we in the NT not be able to escape if we refuse God’s warnings.
D. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” (Quoting Haggai 2:6)
1. When the Israelites were at Mount Sinai, God spoke to them and the ground was shaken at the sound of His voice.
2. Later, through the prophets, God promised to shake the earth again (on the judgment day), this time on a grander scale: “not only the earth but also the heavens.”
E. 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
1. Here he explains the whole concept of shaking.
2. When I was a kid we always played ball in our yard. But there were trees. Sometimes a ball or a frisbee got caught in a tree, and we had to shake the tree to get it to come down. This is the kind of shaking that the author is talking about. It separates that which is permanent from that which is temporary.
3. 1Cor.3:12–13 uses a similar analogy: the fire of judgment which tests us: proving the gold, silver, and precious stones, while burning up the wood, hay, straw. This analogy is also used in verse 29: “for our God is a consuming fire.”
4. There is a day coming when everything will be shaken up. “I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.” – Isaiah 13:13
5. Many things which looked solid will be shown to be flimsy: just like a hurricane or tornado came through.
6. Everything else will be shaken to smithereens, but the kingdom of Jesus is unshakable.
F. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
1. Each week as we close the service, we end with Jesus’ words in Luke 12:32, “Do not be afraid, little flock, your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” The gift of being a part of God’s kingdom is one of the greatest gifts God has given us.
2. It is an unshakable kingdom. We are citizens of a nation that will never be overthrown.
a. These Jewish Christians were being tempted to believe a lie: the kingdom of Judaism was being shaken and about to fall. But the unshakable kingdom of Jesus would endure forever.
3. If you are in Christ, (and I don’t mean if you just go to church or just agree with Christian truth, I mean if you sincerely know and trust and love Christ) then you have been received into an unshakable kingdom.
a. There is nothing in your life which is a greater privilege to be a part of than that. It’s better than being a part of a great family. It’s better than being in a great marriage. It’s better than being in a great community. It’s better than having a great career. It’s better than having a great life.
b. Those who haven’t had their eyes opened to the glorious grace of Christ don’t see it. All this talk doesn’t impress them. But this is the most marvelous thing that exists, and it’s for you and me.
c. “The humblest life may be in touch with the grandest realities in the universe.” - Maclaren
4. Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”
a. It may not seem so, but the child of God is in a very safe place, a place of protection from everything that is scary in this world. We live in the kingdom of King Jesus! The LORD of the armies of heaven is with us; He is our mighty fortress. He may allow enemies to threaten in the night; but He will intervene on behalf of His people when morning dawns.
b. Because of this, you don’t have to be afraid even if the earth shakes, and everything which seemed solid comes crashing down.
5. There is a flip-side to this. Just as the citizens of the new Jerusalem are the safest people in the world even though it doesn’t look like it, so those who set themselves against the Lord and His people look safe, but they are actually in great peril. They will not escape from God, the judge of all.
6. “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (28-29)
III. This says much about the people who know this King, people who have been included in this unshakable kingdom:
A. Instead of the thunder of God’s wrath, God has spoken to them in His Son, whose blood cries out for their forgiveness. Instead of fearsome sounds, God has spoken to them in gracious words of consolation, so thrilling, so soothing, so enlightening, so encouraging, that instead of saying, “Don’t speak to us anymore!” like the Israelites at Sinai, they say, “Speak to me again, and again and again.”
B. Their lifestyle is to be one of worship with reverence and awe.
C. They ought to be the last people on earth to be driven to and fro by trivial cares, to be absorbed in fleeting ambitions, or to waste their lives in the pursuit of perishable ambitions.
D. But sometimes we foolishly forget, or get distracted. Or we lured by the deceptions of sin.
E. The rational response when you find the pearl of great price is to sell everything you possess in order to obtain it. But the original readers of this letter were being tempted to do the opposite. They were being tempted to sell the pearl of great price to purchase some temporary relief from human disapproval and pressure.
F. It’s a suicidal decision. It is despising the most precious & valuable thing in the universe, which God has graciously given to them. And He will surely repudiate them if they repudiate that gift.
IV. Mothers of young children:
A. Don’t forget where you live. You don’t live in a world of diapers and dishes. You don’t live in a world of cooking and cleaning. You don’t live in a world of errands and extracurricular activities. You have not come to a dead end, or a big mess, or a hopeless situation.
B. You have come to Christ’s unshakable kingdom. You have come to the new Jerusalem, filled with saints and angels. And there your name in the Book of Life. You have come to King Jesus, and to His blood which cleanses your sin.
C. For now this kingdom is hidden from the world. So, to some of your friends it may look like you’re living for something which isn’t there. Some days it may even feel to you like it’s not there. But it is there. And not only is it there, but one day it will be revealed for everyone to see, and those who lived in it while it was hidden will be celebrated and honored as the faithful ones.