But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem ...
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. ...
“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ...
in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. ...
for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 1222-29
1. You have come to Mount Zion.
Where and what is Mount Zion? This would be obvious to the Hebrews. The writer reveals it as the new, heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. The eternal place where Almighty God reigns in all his holiness and glory, where he lives rejoicing with all his people in righteousness, truth and justice. But while we rejoice in the certainty of God’s covenant, we are also painfully aware that we are currently surrounded by sin and deceit and are involved in the battle. We long for the day when the promised future will be for ever present. In the previous chapter it is written, 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. Heb 1113
So it is true that we have both come to the Mount by faith and we eagerly await the day when sin and temptation will be no more. The day when the Stone, not cut by human hands, will become the great Mountain that will fill the whole earth. (Dan 234,35) It is true that God has written our names in his Book of Life, but we have to wait for the day when the book is opened and the names of the redeemed are read.
It is vital to know ‘how’ we have come to Mount Zion.
Thankfully the Hebrews writer tells us:
2. You have come to Jesus.
When on the Mount, Abraham offered a ram instead of his son, he called the place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Gen 2214 But the world had to wait 2,000 years before the Son of God came as the promised sacrificial Lamb to cancel sin. He is the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood. As was written earlier: Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Heb 922 When Jesus was crucified the veil of the Temple was torn in two, which enables us to come to the Mercy seat and be granted forgiveness. Pilgrim’s ‘wicket gate’ stands open and the gracious invitation is presented to all who seek the Lord God.
Why does the sprinkled blood (of Jesus) speak a better word than the blood of Abel ? The blood of Abel cried out for justice. God told Cain, “The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground. ... When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Gen 410-12
The blood of Christ also cries out for justice; but not to condemn us for our sin, but being a perfect and sinless sacrifice, he is able to redeem us and to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Heb 217
Thus, like Moses, we are invited to come before Almighty God on the Mount and not die. Sadly, disastrously, most people reject the invitation of Christ who still pleads, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! ... Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant.” Is 551,3
3. I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
But why does Goes need to shake his creation? And again we don’t need to speculate because the Hebrews writer tells us. It is the removal of things that are shaken ... in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the first command was to create light and to separate it from darkness. In Rev 21 when God reveals the creation of the new heaven and the new earth there is no darkness, only the glory of God that gives it eternal light. In Dan 2 when God revealed his plan to destroy all the great man-made empires, they are simply blown away and replaced by the great mountain not made by human hands. God’s righteous kingdom will stand alone for ever, permanently separated from all evil. All sin is shaken away, never to be seen or remembered again. Nothing unclean will ever enter it ... but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Rev 2127 Being in the hand of Almighty God, he will ensure that all who believe in Christ will remain; we will not be shaken away.
4. Therefore let us be grateful.
Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Is 122, 5,6