Sunday, August 21, 2022

Pentecost 11

                        Hebrews 12: 18-29

Hebrews 12:18-29

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 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, 20 because theycould not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 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? 26 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.” 27 The

words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

"To what have you come?"    Gordon McPhee

To what have you come? That’s a good question to ask when we approach anything in life. A new time in our life, a new job or situation, a new location, new people; whatever it happens to be we should ask, to what have I come. Not taking it for granted as something common, usual or expected. Every moment of our lives is a new opportunity or challenge. How we meet it is up to us; as just the mundane same-old or as a grand opportunity for experience and learning, for doing and accomplishing. This is the question the author of Hebrews is asking his readers to consider.

In the preceding chapter called the Faith Chapter, we have been reminded of the great patriarchs of our faith but who did not see the fulfillment of the promise they waited for. And then chapter 12 begins with the famous words “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” This is the setting, “Let us throw off everything that hinders … run with perseverance … fixing our eyes on Jesus”, in which the author of Hebrews asks his question, “To what have you come”.

The answer to the question, as it is in daily life, is a matter of contrast. ‘To what have you come’ often is dependent upon ‘to what have you come from’. A place that is comfortably warm for someone entering from the cold may be uncomfortably cool for someone entering from the heat. So the author begins by telling his readers of what they have not come to, by reminding them of what they had come to in the past.

Verses 18 to 21 remind them of the narration from Deuteronomy 4 and 5 recounting the Israelite’s first encounter with God in person and the giving of the law. Most notably he begins in verses 18 and 19 by reminding them that it was a tangible and visible experience; “burning with fire; … darkness, gloom and storm” and very, very audible; “a trumpet blast … a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them.” It was an experience that inspired awe and terror.

In verse 20 saying “they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.’ ” the author echos God’s command from Exodus 19:12 “Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.’ ” We’re told that even Moses was terrified although it was to him the people appealed in Exodus 10:19 saying “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Without a mediator they could not bear to hear the word of God.

The author’s Jewish readers would certainly recognize the parallel to the annual venture of the High Priest into the Holy of Hollies on the Day of Atonement, into the presence of God who sits on the Mercy Seat on the Arc of the Covenant between the two Cherubim. They would remember the command from Leviticus 16:1-2; “The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.” The presence of God was certainly not a thing to be trifled with.

But he tells, us as he begins verse 22, that we have not come to this tangible, visible, audible Mount Sinai. The physical cannot approach God or we will die. We have “come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”. And this is not to be mistaken for the earthly Mount Zion, the city of David, the elevated capital of Jerusalem; home of the Holy Temple where God visited His people. This is the heavenly Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God. The author prepared us for this revelation in earlier passages in Hebrews 11, verse10 “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” and verse 16 “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

We are told of a great welcoming assembly of saints and angels alike, “thousands upon thousands”; an ‘ekklesia’, meaning ‘the called ones’, the word translated in the New Testament as church. And the same word used in Deuteronomy 4 for the Israelites assembled at Mount Sinai. This is “the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven”. Can you envision the portrait of Zion the author is painting?

As you approach, tremulous and uncertain, you hear a joyful shout, your name, and thousands upon thousands of brothers, sisters and angels, more than you can count, are coming to welcome you to the city of God. We are called the church of the firstborn. Yet how can that be as there can only be one firstborn child. But this is a reference to Esau who the author mentioned at the end of chapter 11 as having given up his birthright as the firstborn, irrevocably despising the promise which Jacob stole from him. In Jesus Christ, this birthright is restored, and we are all firstborn, heirs of the promise.

We come with our names written in heaven. Coming before God as our Judge is not as it was on Mount Sinai or for the High Priest entering the Holy of Hollies. We are comforted that God is our Judge because for us it is not to condemn but to vindicate. Jesus has mediated this new covenant that we may be one of the “spirits of the righteous made perfect.” “Made perfect”, not of our own doing, not righteous on our own. Paul’s exact point in Romans 8:33-34 “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” We are vindicated and justified by the work of God the Father in Jesus Christ the Son who intercedes for us day and night.

After all these comforting words; however, the author of Hebrews returns to remind us that the terrible and fearful God of Mount Sinai is the same as He who will judge us from Mount Zion. God does not trifle with evil and we should not mistake His love and compassion for a weakening disposition towards it.

Paul in 1 Cor 3:13-15 warns “their work will be shown for what it is, … It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.” Justice is a double-edged sword.

Justice is served and empowered by judgement, and judgement is neither a spectator nor a respecter of persons. The judgement meted out on others, we hail as just and right, is the same judgement that will overcome us, satisfying justice for others. With greater knowledge, because we live after the revelation of Christ, comes greater blessing. But along with greater blessing for obedience is greater condemnation for disobedience. “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?” the author of Hebrews proclaims.

One of the contrasts highlighted between Sinai and Zion is that the great Mount Sinai was shaken. It was temporal, physical, part of this world, created. This new Jerusalem, Mount Zion, comes down to us from God and we are told “cannot be shaken.” Not that it will not be shaken but cannot be shaken. It is permanent, holy, God’s Kingdom. Verse 27 tells us that created things, things that can be shaken, will be removed. Only what cannot be shaken will remain; God’s kingdom and those who are part of it. The thousands and thousands of saints and angels, the church of the firstborn, the ekklesia, us.

So, to what have we come? Here we are in Lachute Quebec, attending St. Simeon’s Anglican Church as regularly as we can and as circumstance will allow. Ostensibly God’s people, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ out of bondage to sin and coming together to worship Him in thankfulness and truth. But are we? In our daily life, in our conduct at home with family and in our community with neighbours and those in authority, are we the redeemed of the Lord who say so, as it asks in Psalm 107 “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe.”

Daily when you look to your relationship with the Lord Jesus is it Mount Sinai you see? Buildings and institutions, rituals and regulations, forms and rites and times and seasons that will all be shaken and pass out of existence. Or have you come to an eternal hope, Mount Zion? An unshakeable city not created but coming down from heaven, a dwelling place for God with you, his people. Are you the spirits of the righteous made perfect, not refusing to hear and obey the word of Him who warns us from heaven. If you are “receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,” with “God, the Judge of all,” and “Jesus the mediator of a new covenant,” then “[L]et us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’.”

Amen