heb 12:18-12:29

18. For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,
19. and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.
20. For they could not bear the command, "IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED."
21. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, "I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling."
22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
23. to the general assembly and church 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, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
25. See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
26. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."
27. This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
29. for our God is a consuming fire.

A. in the old testament, the presence of god was terrifying (v18-21)

two examples worth noting, israel in the exodus and isaiah's encounter with god.

exodus 19:10-20
note the need for purification...

10. The LORD also said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments;
11. and let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
12. "You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, `Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.
13. `No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not live.' When the ram's horn sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain."
14. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their garments.
15. He said to the people, "Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman."
16. So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
17. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
18. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
19. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.
20. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

isaiah 6:1-6
note the need for purification...

1 In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one called out to another and said,
'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.'
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
5 Then I said,
'Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
7 He touched my mouth with it and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.'

summary:

there is a lot to say about the idea of the 'awesomeness' of god.
for now, suffice it to say that we conceive of god as more "on our level" than he is.

additionally, we should note the seriousness of sin in contrast to god's holiness.

let's reread hebrews v18-21 with this OT context in mind.

B. the presence of god is...still awesome. (v22-24)

heb 22-24 reminds us of coming encounters with god.

22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
23. to the general assembly and church 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, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

heaven :

v18 referenced god's appearance on mt sinai; here we compare to mt zion.
mt zion is the mountain of jerusalem, referencing heaven; thus the phrase "the city of the living god, the heavenly jerusalem"

the hosts of heaven are there:

angels (terrifying enough as they are) we get a bit of a detail about who is in heaven; kind of an interesting way of showing it's greatness.
- myriads of angels
- the general assembly and church of the firstborn (who are enrolled in heaven)
- to God, the judge of all
- to the spirits of the righteous made perfect
- to jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.

a bit on the "general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven"

first...this is confusing and nobody is entirely sure what is meant here.
but i felt that this was a good explanation.

the "general assembly and church of the firstborn" is...the church alive on earth.

'firstborn' is what god called his people in exodus 4 ("Israel is My son, My firstborn."), jer 31:9...

the piece on "enrolled in heaven" is pretty great.

enrolled in heaven - same idea as "those who have their names written in the book of life".

likely this is referring to god's people on earth.
two things about that:

- the assembly of god which we encounter (god and his posse) includes his church.
we are already numbered among his people because of he has written our names down in the book of life.
- there seems to be a distinction here between those enrolled (on earth) and those made perfect (in heaven)
don't want to extend that too far, but it's a nice reminder of how we look forward to being made perfect in death.

finally, note the phrase separating those who are 'enrolled in heaven' and those who are made perfect - "God, the Judge of all"
those perfect have been judged to be so, on the basis of christ's blood (v24)

final note on the blood of christ speaking better than the blood of abel

in gen 4, after cain has killed abel, god asks cain where abel is, giving him a chance to confess.
cain responds, "I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?"
god says, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground."

in the case of cain/abel, abel's blood 'spoke' as an accusation against cain.
in the case of christ, his blood speaks as a covering of innocence for his people.

Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

jesus' blood covers his people and erases their guilt. it here is spoken of as speaking better than the blood of abel

review of principle:

the presence of god is a terrifying thing.
his holiness is terrifying, and god's limited revelation on sinai is only a hint of his awesomeness.
v18 "For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, .... but you have come to mt zion and to the living god."

this is not something you are experiencing now - this is something you are to prepare yourself for, knowing that you are going to have to face it.

A. "see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking." (v25)

essentially, don't ignore god and his messangers.

if you need it to be spelled out a bit more, v25 continues with a more direct warning: "For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. "

increased pentaly for increased revelation

consistently in the bible god speaks of increased responsibility for increased knowledge.
matt 11:21-22 illustrates this nicely:

21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 “Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

here...we're reminded that god punished those who ignored his revelation through moses.
how much worse is it to ignore god himself, who came to earth to serve and was rejected?

B. bear in mind that god is going to judge earth (v26,27)

v26,27

26. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."
27. This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

basically, this is a reminder that god is not done with revelation and judgement (ultimately judgement is a form of revelation).
this is a quote here of haggai 2:6, in which god is speaking of his future plans...

6. "For thus says the LORD of hosts, `Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.
7. `I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts.

oddly, the human response to this sort of prediction is skepticism.

we tend to think of the future that if we can't see it, then it's maybe not that important.
i think thats a big issue with how we read god's plans for the future...

v25 is interesting this way - "For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven."

C. we should respond to god's holiness/awesomeness with gratitude, reverence, and service (v28,29)

28. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
29. for our God is a consuming fire.

the carrot and the stick

carrot: "since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken" (and access to god and rightousness)
stick: "our god is a consuming fire"

classic god motivation here: do what i say and you'll have everything, disobey and you'll be destroyed.
classic human response: really? i haven't seen that happen so far...

gratitude, reverence, service

we'll talk more about this in a second.

(review warnings)

we've seen the author remind us of the awesomeness of god when he is revealed and the revelation of his holiness.
we've been reminded of the consequence to ignoring the warnings of god, and been encouraged to respond with gratitude.

v25 "See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. "
v29 "our god is a consuming fire"

geez. i thought god was known for cutting us slack and being nice?

god is known for cutting us slack. he has enabled us a way to escape our sin.

look at v24 and the work of christ:

Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

look at v23 and those who have been made perfect.
&nbps;
* there definitely are people who receive grace. the question should be "how can i be one of those who receives grace"

not "why is god judging sin", but "how can i receive god's grace for my sin"
the text is going to pains to communicate that - you need to respond to the revelation of christ.

- understand a piece of god's holiness
- admit your sin
- accept the sacrifice of christ and respond with gratitude, reverence, and service.

gratitude at christ's sacrifice
reverence for god's awesomeness and holiness
service to reflect our status as grateful, accepted servants

also, it's a bit stupid to whine about god's grace when his communication is consistently reminding mankind to repent before wrath comes.

a bit like an older person telling someone young to stay in school or avoid credit cards.
when they stuggle to find a decent job or find themselves in debt, you can't help but think that they were told.

so...if god is telling us what happens to those who refuse...how do we know if we're doing that?

well...easy to hard:
- non-christians ould be in trouble here.

per the bible, if you are a non-believer and you ignore the warnings of god, you are in for the wrath of god.
this warning should at least motivate you to figure out if this is true or false, if you believe in sin and guilt, if you believe in god, and/or if you care.
again, per the bible, you're in big, eternal trouble with an awesome, holy god; and if there is a god, he is not a being like we are.

- slack christians

this is where things turn sticky. hebrews doesn't seem to leave much room for slack christians.
god's people either have god as their sole priority (from which all others derive) or they aren't god's people.
&nbps;
that is awkward for me. my experience is that i lose sight of my priorities and goals.
but on the other side, i can honestly say that at the end of things, my most important goal is to have god as my only goal. i hate that i lose sight of this.

there is a bright side here...this passage includes the comparison between those who are enrolled in heaven with those who are perfect, and assuming this is a pre/post death situation, that's a reminder of the biblical teaching that we are imperfect until our recreation, after we die.
another thought of comfort...
those who are genuinely worried about whether or not they are whole hearted enough in their response are whole-hearted enough.
if this is your genuine concern, then you are genuinely concerned with what god wants.

so...maybe we could phrase this warning as a paradox:
if you take this warnings seriously, then you don't need to worry.
if you aren't worried, then you should be.

for those of us that worry...there are a few thoughts on how we should live.

"let us show gratitude"

gratitude to who? god
gratitude for what ? his revelation, his salvation and innocence, our access to him.
what does this look like?

are we thankful that god is god, and that he was good to us?
do we take for granted the hope of heaven and assume we should have at least that much?

at core, i think this is a huge part of what joy looks like.
it's not necessarily happiness, as god's people go through terrible things (see hebrews 11).
but it's certainly the opposite of angst, it's the enemy of self-pity, and it's a huge limiter on how bad things can be.
in the words of ralph's favorite bumpersticker, "gratitude is the best therapy."

"...gratitude...by which we may offer to God an acceptable service"

gratitude is the gateway drug to service.
we have acceptable service to offer god.
you...yes you...have something valuable to do with your life, something that god values and accepts as service.
more on what that is in the coming weeks...chapter 13. for now lets start with motivation.

note here...how and why is as important as what.

service done in gratitude...not just service.
doing good things with crappy motives doesn't count. as 1 cor 13:1-3 says...

1. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

"service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. "

don't lose your reverence and awe. e.g. fear.
evangelicals chuck this.
as a church, please pray that we don't.
please remind one another that god is awesome, and that we should be afraid, as he is a consuming fire.

brooke has this verse on the cover of my bible so that we don't lose this thought.