From Mount Sinai to Mount Zion (Hebrews 12:18-24)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. Where We Meet with God

Where do you meet with God? Now for some of you, after hearing that question, your mind immediately goes to your favorite chair in the corner of the living room, or to the desk in your study or office, or to your back patio, or to your local Starbucks, or maybe even to the top of mountain after a morning hike. But actually, my question, “Where do you meet God?,” is not asking about the physical or geographical location of your devotional time, but instead, about your spiritual location. Your physical location is confirmed by your five senses. But your spiritual location is confirmed by faith... faith in light of what God has revealed through his word. So let's consider our spiritual location this morning by looking together at Hebrews 12, verses 18-24.

II. The Passage: “To the City of the Living God” (12:18-24)

This ancient book (or sermon or treatise) we call Hebrews was written to a community of Jews who were confessing Jesus as the Messiah. But the book, through direct and indirect evidence, reveals that pressure was being exerted by unbelieving Jews in an attempt to turn these Jewish Christians away from Jesus and the movement he had begun. So the writer of this book has been laboring for eleven chapters to help them see the superiority of Jesus and the better covenant that he has enacted through his blood. Listen to yet another contrast that he presents here in 12:18-24, a contrast meant to highlight how much better this new covenant really is.

[v. 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.” [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.

The contrast here couldn't be clearer. Though a “mountain” is mentioned (v. 20), the name is not given in this passage. But if you read through Exodus 19 and 20 last week, then you probably recognize the location being described in vs. 18-21. It's Mount Sinai. And specifically, Mount Sinai when God descended on it in order to establish his covenant with the Israelites, who were newly emancipated from Egypt. As we move into v. 22, we discover that this mountain is being contrasted with another mountain: Mount Zion. Zion was the hill on which part of the city of Jerusalem was built. This included the area where the Temple was later established.

But based on how the writer is describing the two mountains in this passage, we know that he isn't talking about the actual physical locations in Israel and Arabia. No. He's using these mountains to describe two very different spiritual locations. Mount Sinai was a place where sinful Hebrews trembled in fear in the awe-inspiring, but fiery presence of a holy God. But Mount Zion was often a place where joyful Hebrews danced in worship in the awe-inspiring presence of a merciful God's dwelling place, that is, the Temple in Jerusalem.

Because that's true, the writer of Hebrews adopts these powerful images to describe spiritual locations in which we meet with God. Up to this point in the book, the author has been trying to remind his spiritually unsure readers that no one (!) can truly be saved by means of the old covenant that God ratified at Mount Sinai. Hebrews 10:11... “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” For as he explained six verses earlier in 10:4, “...it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” And when our sins cannot truly be covered or blotted out, then we really will stand trembling in fear in the presence of holy God; a just God who must judge all sin.

You see, it appears that some of these original readers were shrinking back in fear and doubt, unsure about abandoning the ancient rituals of the Temple. But the writer desperately wants them to see just how different the new covenant really is. In coming to Jesus they have not come to a terrifying, untouchable, dark, and gloomy meeting place, where dread and fear reign. That's the true nature of the old covenant! Instead, they have come to Zion, which is the “city of the living God”; specifically, “the heavenly Jerusalem”. And this divine meeting place is not characterized by possible condemnation, but by genuine celebration (with angels in festive assembly); a place where the spirits of the righteous dwell perfected in the presence of God the Father and of Jesus; a place wonderfully marked by spiritual security, where the names of God's people are inscribed forever, where Jesus is “the mediator of a new covenant”, and where that covenant has been ratified by blood that “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (which cried out from the ground in Genesis 4 and brought only retribution and a curse).

As he draws closer to the end of this book, the writer is once again showing them that what they have in Jesus, what Jesus has done for them, what Jesus is offering them, truly is the fulfillment of what came before; of what was only partial and temporary. In the new covenant they have amazingly moved, by grace through faith, from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, from the earthly Jerusalem with its rules, its rituals, its earthly priests, to the heavenly Jerusalem, with its completeness and certainty because of a great High Priest, who “has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (9:26); who has defeated death, and thus, “always lives to make intercession” for us (7:25). And thus, where can we now go to meet with God? Hebrews 4:16... “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

III. Seek the City

Now, as you think about this passage this morning, if you are trusting in Jesus Christ as your only hope, I pray that the original writer's goal is accomplished in your heart as well; that is, that you have also been reassured of your new standing with God; that you have been reassured by this passage that in coming to Christ we have not come to a place of condemnation, but a place of celebration; a place where your sin doesn't lead to fiery judgment, but to a place where the judgment for your sin was taken by Jesus; where “Christ... [was] offered once to bear the sins of many” (9:28). May God strengthen our hearts with this in light of our own struggles with sin.

But I also want us to think more deeply about this spiritual Mount Zion; about “the heavenly Jerusalem” the writer described in our main passage. Did you know this isn't the first time the author of Hebrews talks about this city? Listen to and be encouraged by how he introduces this topic in the previous chapter. This is Hebrews 11:8-10, and 13-16...

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. [9] By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. [10] For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God... [13] These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. [14] For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. [15] If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. [16] But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Brothers and sisters, if you belong to “the assembly [or church] of the firstborn”, if your name is “enrolled in heaven,” then God has prepared that city for you as well. Remember what the Apostle Paul taught us in Philippians 3:20 that “our citizenship is in heaven”. Not that our 'citizenship will be in heaven', but that it is right now. He also explained to the Ephesian disciples that God, because of his great love, “raised us up with him and seated us with him [Where?] in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). We can draw near to God's throne of grace, not because it's a physical location and we are physically present there, not even because we have been spiritually translated into his presence (which only happens through death). We can draw near in that city right now as we walk by faith in the glorious reality of our position in and access through Jesus, our great High Priest.

As you think about the stunning truth, listen to the final place where this city is mentioned in the book of Hebrews. This is 13:14... “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” I love that in the closing verses of the book, the writer brings them back to the reality of the city. I hear in that verse two encouragements for us in light of Mount Zion:

First, live today (and each day) knowing that you have no lasting city here. We heard in chapter 11 that people of faith, like Abraham, “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth”. Have you acknowledged this as well? No, I don't mean do you agree with the statement. I mean have you genuinely and deeply accepted that this world system, that this present age, that this country, that this state, is not your true home; that you don't really belong here, in the fullest sense of that word? You and I are refugees. Pilgrims. Foreigners. May God help us to accept this more and more. But what does that mean practically? Well...

Second, live today (and each day) seeking your city, the city that is to come. Chapter 11 told us that people of genuine faith “are seeking a homeland”, that they “desire a better country”, that they are “looking forward to the city that has foundations (firm foundations, eternal found-ations!), whose designer and builder is God.” Could any place be better and more secure than that place? When we acknowledge that we are simply “strangers and exiles” in this place, then more and more our thoughts will turn toward, and our values will be drawn from, and our alleg-iance will be strengthened for, and our longing will be deepened for... our true home. None of us have to be taught about trying to get more comfortable here. That is our constant temptation and we have a lot of experience doing exactly that. But are we intent on trying to get more uncomfort-able here? What does it mean to become more like Jesus if not a growing discomfort in and with a world that hates him? Maybe like me you feel far from that mindset. Nevertheless, let's pray for it. Let's seek it; that is, let's seek the city to which we've come through Christ, which is also the city to come with Christ. Through faith, meet daily with God in that place, rejoicing with the spirits of the righteous, rejoicing along with those “innumerable angels”, and rejoicing in the presence of God, the judge of all, because of your mediator and his sprinkled blood. Friends, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”