PM Home Bible Study Group; March 22, 2017
Hebrews 12:18-29
Theme: In light of the greater grace of the New Covenant, we must not refuse God’s call through Jesus.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
The apostle Paul once wrote to his brothers in sisters in Galatia about a very dangerous pattern they had developed. They were Gentiles who had been brought under the grace of God through Jesus. But somewhere along the way, false teachers had crept in and persuaded them to think that they—as professed recipients of God’s grace—could make themselves more acceptable to God by conforming to the old ceremonial standards of the law of Moses. In other words, they were New Covenant people who were trying to earn God’s favor through Old Covenant rituals and ceremonies.
Among the things that Paul did to restore them to a proper stand in God’s grace, he wrote to them about two ‘sons’ of Abraham, born of two ‘mothers’—one who represented the heavy burden of the Old Covenant, and the other who represented the grace of the New Covenant. In Galatians 4, he wrote:
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman (Galatians 4:21-22).
The bondwoman was the servant woman Hagar; through whom old childless Abraham sought to have a son. God had made a promise that he would have a child; but he was impatient with God’s promise, and sought to fulfill his desire for a son through the efforts of the flesh.. That son was Ishmael; but Ishmael was not the son through whom God would keep His promise. But the other woman was his wife Sarah; and it was through Sarah that God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled by faith. Her son was Isaac—the one through whom the covenant promises of God were passed down.
Paul therefore goes on to write;
But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
So; these two sons are symbolic of the two covenants: the Old Covenant—in which God’s favor was sought through a strict obedience to the letter of the law (represented by Mount Sinai, and which consequently results in condemnation before God); and the New Covenant—in which God’s favor is received ‘freely’ by grace in Jesus Christ (represented by ‘the Jerusalem above’, and which results in our being declared righteous in God’s sight by grace according to His promise). Paul then affirms:
* * * * * * * * * * *
The appeal is not just to those Jewish believers of old. It is made to us as well. God no longer calls from Mount Sinai; because the law has been kept for us through His Son Jesus Christ, and He has paid the debt for our sins on the cross. The call is now being made from Mount Zion—the place of grace.
Just as that call from Mount Sinai was not to be rejected; even more must it be that the new call to grace in Christ from Mount Zion not be rejected. It is not a mere option of choosing it or rejecting it—however you wish. We must receive Christ! We must be born again in Him! “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks!”
A. His believing Jewish readers have not come to Mount Sinai;
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel (vv. 22-24).
B. This presents us with a completely different picture than that of the Old Covenant under Moses. It’s not to a dreadful mountain that they come, but to the glorious city of the living God—to Mount Zion, which was the hill on which Jerusalem stood; and to the heavenly Jerusalem—the city that will descend down from heaven (see Revelation 21:1ff). It is this glorious city that the recipients of New Covenant grace are to seek (see Hebrews 13:14). They come to a myriad of angels who rejoice at God’s grace to redeemed sinners (see Ephesians 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12); and to the festive assembly, and to the church of the firstborn (that is, to the church that belongs to Jesus—who is the firstborn from the dead; see Colossians 1:18)—the church composed of those who have their names written in the registry of heaven in the Lamb’s Book of Life (see Revelation 21:27). They come to God—the Judge of all; whose ‘verdict’ of their righteousness in Christ is final and indisputable. They come to the spirits of just men made perfect—that is, those who have gone on before them into the heavenlies and are now victorious in heavenly glory and are now cheering them on. They come to Jesus—the one who mediates this New Covenant for us by His own blood. His blood speaks of a better sacrifice than that of Abel—the brother of Cain. Cain offered a sacrifice of the works of his hands and was rejected for it. But his brother Abel, as Hebrews 11:4 tells us, “offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous …” And in Christ, we have an even better sacrifice than that of Abel—one that speaks of a complete sacrifice through Jesus that forever takes away sin.
These two ‘mountains’, then, present a choice that must now be made. And it is clear that God is no longer calling from Mount Sinai—that is, through the Old Covenant way of the law. He is now calling from Mount Zion—that is, through faith in the New Covenant way made available to us through Christ. And so, the writer presents them with …
III. THE OBLIGATION TO RECEIVE GOD’S GREATER CALL TO GRACE (vv. 25-29).
A. He writes,
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven (v. 25).
Just as the people gathered with Moses dared not refuse God when He spoke dreadfully from Mount Sinai, so they must not refuse God as He calls them from the gracious place of Mount Zion. It is the same God who calls; and His voice is just as authoritative today as it was then—but with the consequences for rejection being even more serious. As the writer of Hebrews puts it earlier;
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).
B. And that voice is powerful and permanent in its effect. It shook the mountain then; but it will shortly shake all things—even earth and heaven itself …
whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain (vv. 26-27).
The writer is here quoting from Haggai 2:6; and he speaks of God’s ‘shaking’ of all things in judgment. That which is built by man—and in which man trusts—will be removed. It may even speak of the ‘ultimate’ shaking described in 2 Peter 3:10-13;
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:10-13).
C. Our hope, then, must not in that which is built by our own hands—that is to say, that which will be shaken and destroyed. Our hope is in that which is ours by God’s grace—that is, that which will remain after the shaking of all things is over! And so, the writer closes with this appeal;
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire (vv. 28-29).
Note three things. First, the appeal is “let us have grace”; that is to say, let us make sure that our stand is not on our own works through the law, but by the favor freely given to us as a gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. Second, the appeal is to serve God within the context of this grace. The word for “serve” is the word that speaks of sacred service in the temple; and it is by God’s grace—and not through the works of the law—that our service to God is rendered in a truly acceptable way; with reverence and true godly fear. And finally, the appeal is to remember that the same God who spoke dreadfully from Mount Sinai is the God who now makes His appeal from Mount Zion. The writer quotes from the words of Moses himself in Deuteronomy 4:23-24:
“Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:23-24).
I. THE HARSH WAY OF MOUNT SINAI (vv. 18-21).
A. He tells them,
For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling”) (Hebrews 12:18-21).
Here, he conjures up before their memory the images of the meeting of the people of God at the base of Mount Sinai at the giving of the law. This story is told to us in Exodus 19-20; and it tells of the commencement of the Old Covenant. If they would keep God’s commandments, they would be His people, and He would be their God.
B. And what a dreadful image it presents! It was a mountain “that may be touched”—that is, physical; but no one dare step forward and touch it! As the account in Exodus tells us, it burned with fire at the presence of God; and was covered over with blackness and darkness and tempest. The coming of God upon it was announced with a horrifying blast of a trumpet; and with the sound of God’s voice so fearsome that they pleaded with Moses, “you speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:20). The mountain itself was unapproachable by sinful man; and anything that came near must be killed. Even Moses himself—the mediator of the Old Covenant—was terrified before God. This all paints a picture to us of the utter inapproachability of a holy God by sinful man. To even try to make one’s self holy before such a God is to ensure one’s own condemnation. It would be impossible; as Paul said, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law …” (Galatians 2:16). But as Paul—a Jew by nature—then goes on to say, “but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law …”.
This leads us, then, to note how the writer presents to us …
II. THE GREATER GRACE OF MOUNT ZION (vv. 22-24).
A. His believing Jewish readers have not come to Mount Sinai;
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel (vv. 22-24).
B. This presents us with a completely different picture than that of the Old Covenant under Moses. It’s not to a dreadful mountain that they come, but to the glorious city of the living God—to Mount Zion, which was the hill on which Jerusalem stood; and to the heavenly Jerusalem—the city that will descend down from heaven (see Revelation 21:1ff). It is this glorious city that the recipients of New Covenant grace are to seek (see Hebrews 13:14). They come to a myriad of angels who rejoice at God’s grace to redeemed sinners (see Ephesians 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12); and to the festive assembly, and to the church of the firstborn (that is, to the church that belongs to Jesus—who is the firstborn from the dead; see Colossians 1:18)—the church composed of those who have their names written in the registry of heaven in the Lamb’s Book of Life (see Revelation 21:27). They come to God—the Judge of all; whose ‘verdict’ of their righteousness in Christ is final and indisputable. They come to the spirits of just men made perfect—that is, those who have gone on before them into the heavenlies and are now victorious in heavenly glory and are now cheering them on. They come to Jesus—the one who mediates this New Covenant for us by His own blood. His blood speaks of a better sacrifice than that of Abel—the brother of Cain. Cain offered a sacrifice of the works of his hands and was rejected for it. But his brother Abel, as Hebrews 11:4 tells us, “offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous …” And in Christ, we have an even better sacrifice than that of Abel—one that speaks of a complete sacrifice through Jesus that forever takes away sin.
These two ‘mountains’, then, present a choice that must now be made. And it is clear that God is no longer calling from Mount Sinai—that is, through the Old Covenant way of the law. He is now calling from Mount Zion—that is, through faith in the New Covenant way made available to us through Christ. And so, the writer presents them with …
III. THE OBLIGATION TO RECEIVE GOD’S GREATER CALL TO GRACE (vv. 25-29).
A. He writes,
See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven (v. 25).
Just as the people gathered with Moses dared not refuse God when He spoke dreadfully from Mount Sinai, so they must not refuse God as He calls them from the gracious place of Mount Zion. It is the same God who calls; and His voice is just as authoritative today as it was then—but with the consequences for rejection being even more serious. As the writer of Hebrews puts it earlier;
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).
B. And that voice is powerful and permanent in its effect. It shook the mountain then; but it will shortly shake all things—even earth and heaven itself …
whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain (vv. 26-27).
The writer is here quoting from Haggai 2:6; and he speaks of God’s ‘shaking’ of all things in judgment. That which is built by man—and in which man trusts—will be removed. It may even speak of the ‘ultimate’ shaking described in 2 Peter 3:10-13;
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:10-13).
C. Our hope, then, must not in that which is built by our own hands—that is to say, that which will be shaken and destroyed. Our hope is in that which is ours by God’s grace—that is, that which will remain after the shaking of all things is over! And so, the writer closes with this appeal;
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire (vv. 28-29).
Note three things. First, the appeal is “let us have grace”; that is to say, let us make sure that our stand is not on our own works through the law, but by the favor freely given to us as a gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. Second, the appeal is to serve God within the context of this grace. The word for “serve” is the word that speaks of sacred service in the temple; and it is by God’s grace—and not through the works of the law—that our service to God is rendered in a truly acceptable way; with reverence and true godly fear. And finally, the appeal is to remember that the same God who spoke dreadfully from Mount Sinai is the God who now makes His appeal from Mount Zion. The writer quotes from the words of Moses himself in Deuteronomy 4:23-24:
“Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:23-24).
* * * * * * * * * * *
The appeal is not just to those Jewish believers of old. It is made to us as well. God no longer calls from Mount Sinai; because the law has been kept for us through His Son Jesus Christ, and He has paid the debt for our sins on the cross. The call is now being made from Mount Zion—the place of grace.
Just as that call from Mount Sinai was not to be rejected; even more must it be that the new call to grace in Christ from Mount Zion not be rejected. It is not a mere option of choosing it or rejecting it—however you wish. We must receive Christ! We must be born again in Him! “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks!”