As we approach this last portion of Hebrews 12 we come to the final warning statement in the book of Hebrews. We have seen that Hebrews 12 is about running and finishing the race strong. Hebrews 11 showed us that others have done it and how they did it. Hebrews 12: 12-17 exhorts us to be strong (v. 12), run a straight race (v. 13), pursue peace and holiness (v. 14) and above all not be like Esau who looked at his birthright and gave it up for a single meal (vv. 16-17). God is at work in us to produce this strength, so do not miss out on the grace of God.
As a runner in high school I knew about and experienced the phenomena of “hitting the wall,” although we called it “a bear on your back.” You could be running along at full speed and all of the sudden your side starts to hurt and you can’t get your wind, energy is sapped out of you. Marathon runners face “heartbreak hill,” that long uphill incline that tends to drain all their energy and make their bodies weak. The temptation in such circumstances is to give up.
That is the predicament that our author has been warning against throughout the book: turning away from Jesus because the journey has become too difficult. A combination of persecution and increasing difficulties of discipleship had caused some of them to turn back to what was familiar and convenient and easy, back to Judaism. But like Esau, they would be giving up what is most precious (Jesus Christ) for a mess of potage.
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. 25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 36 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken–that is, things that have been made–in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Verses 18-24 are another basis for the practical warning not to be like Esau. It starts in verse 18 with “For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched . . .” Verses 16-17: “Don’t be like Esau who sold his inheritance for a single meal . . . (verse 18) For you have not come to a mountain that may be touched . . .” Everything that follows then equips us to not be like Esau.
At the end of this section (verses 18-24), the writer repeats the warning using different words: “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking” (verse 25). That’s exactly what Esau did: he considered what God promised and what the life of faith would be like, and he said, “No deal. Give me my food. You can have the inheritance of God.” So verse 16 and verse 25 say, “Don’t be like that. Don’t devalue God’s gifts and refuse God’s voice of promise and grace.
“As vv. 14-17 recall the first warning of 6:4-8, so he [the writer] now proceeds to reiterate the second warning of 10:26-31, reminding his readers that they stand in a critical position, in which any indifferences or disobedience to God will prove fatal” (Moffatt, pp. 213-14)
Back in the first warning, our author had warned us to “pay careful attention” and not “drift away” from such a “great salvation” (Heb. 2:1-3).
In vv. 18-24 our author contrasts the old and new covenants referring to two mountains—Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, representing Jewish life under the law and new life under grace. The former evoked terror while the latter evokes joy; the first reinforced distance, the second encourages closeness. The contrast is between the imperfect and the perfect, the temporary and the permanent, the law and the gospel.
The writer made Sinai and Zion metaphors (symbols of the two covenants) in order to show the difference in quality between people’s relationship to God under the Old and New Covenants (cf. Gal. 4:24-26).
If you want to know the true riches that you possess in Christ, you won’t want to go back to the empty, fleeting pleasures of the world or to that old, empty religious system, Judaism. John Newton put it this way in “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken,” verse 4:
Savior, if of Zion’s city, I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity, I will glory in Thy name;
Fading is the world’s best pleasure, All its boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure None but Zion’s children know.
Solid joys and lasting treasure come through Mount Zion, through the grace of Jesus Christ.
Don’t make Esau’s fatal mistake of trading away what is of utmost value just to gain a few moments of physical, sensual pleasure. This approach still involves reverence (v. 28), but no longer terror and dread.
Verses 18-24 face us with a choice: we can either live in the terror of the old covenant or in the joy of the new covenant. Although verse 18 mentions a mountain that can be touched, they actually put barriers around the mountain so that the people could not touch it (Exodus 19:21-23).
Ancient Israel is in focus in vv. 18-21. Israel, in Exodus 19, came to the mountain with “a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them” (Heb. 12:18-19) but “you have not come” to this mountain.
At Sinai God revealed himself in a terrible manner, with fire and darkness. “Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.” (Exodus 19:18). And Deuteronomy 4:11 says, “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.”
“On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled” (Exodus 19:16).
Whether the trumpet sound was natural or unnatural cannot be determined. I believe it was supernatural because it was heard by all the million plus people in the camp and because the giving of the Law was attended by “ten thousands of holy ones” (Deuteronomy 33:2). Some of these could have been blowing celestial trumpets.
You can imagine that this was a very fearful scene, with knees knocking and hearts trembling. After hearing the “voice” from the mountain they “beg that no further messages be spoken to them.”
The reaction of Israel was understandable: they were terrified (Exodus 20:18-21). They wanted the experience to stop, not to continue. Even Moses was afraid, saying “I tremble with fear” (v. 21).
So Israel did not want to hear directly from God. They wanted Moses to mediate. After repeating the ten commandments with the new generation in Deuteronomy 5, we read this scenario recounting their experience:
23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. 24 And you said, “The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. 25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. 26 For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? 27 Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey.”
Sinai was a visible, physical “assault” of the holiness and majesty of God upon the senses of the people of Israel and it was a terrifying experience. The people were visibly, physically assaulted with the holiness and majesty of God. This palpable divine display on Sinai communicated far more than any speech or written word ever could—and all Israel, young and old, could understand. These verses emphasize the awesome majesty of God, the absolute unapproachability of God, and the sheer fearsomeness of God.
The effect of these physical signs was to display in no uncertain terms the absolute unapproachableness of God. The mountain was so charged with the holiness of God that for a man to touch it meant certain death.
Somewhat ironically, with all these visual and audio experiences of the presence of God these Israelites felt, God remained hidden from Israel. Notwithstanding all the noise and the fearsome sights they encountered at Sinai, God is still distant and obscured and remote.
All this fear, unfortunately, produced no lasting change in the Exodus generation. It didn’t change their hearts. Although they pledged their allegiance, within forty days they were dancing around the golden calf.
So the author of Hebrews is telling those who have trusted in the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, that they have NOT come to the terrors of the law. Well, then, why did God give us the law? Paul partially answers that question in Galatians 3:19-24.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one. 21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. 23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
The law was given not to enslave us but to lead us to Christ. God’s law instills in us a certain knowledge of His holiness and our sinfulness. By nature we are blind to our own sinfulness. We just don’t see it. We successfully compare ourselves to terrorists or child molesters and think, “I’m not so bad.” We generally fail to grasp the holiness of God. I don’t think the Israelites failed to grasp God’s holiness and majesty at Sinai!
When faced with the holiness of God (instead of comparing ourselves to others), we will cry out, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah wasn’t aware that his mouth was so filthy until he saw God in his holiness.
The salutary effect upon those at the foot of Sinai was substantial—it instilled a proper fear of God. As Moses explained, “God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin” (Exodus 20:20). It was patently remedial. To understand that God is holy and that one is a sinner is to stand at the threshold of grace. Moreover, the giving of the Ten Commandments in this awesome context—and Israel’s failure to keep them—served to emphasize the people’s impotence and doom, which is a further grace, however negative the experience may be.
You see, the route to Zion goes through Sinai. We must first face the bad news about ourselves, that we really are filthy sinners in need of grace, forgiveness and cleansing.
John Calvin notes:
Each of us must, then, be so stung by the consciousness of his own unhappiness as to attain at least some knowledge of God. Thus, from the feeling of our own ignorance, vanity, poverty, infirmity, and—what is more—depravity and corruption, we recognize that the true light of wisdom, sound virtue, full abundance of every good, and purity of righteousness rest in the Lord alone. To this extent we are prompted by our own ills to contemplate the good things of God; and we cannot seriously aspire to him before we begin to become displeased with ourselves (The Institutes of the Christian Religion (ed. by John McNeill, [Westminster Press], 1:1:1).
The only way we get a clear knowledge of ourselves is to look upon God’s face. His holiness reveals our pride, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and sin. Until we have some understanding of God as revealed in Scripture, we flatter ourselves and think that we’re not all that bad. Calvin gives many biblical examples (1:1:3) of men who normally were “firm and constant,” but when they got a glimpse of God’s majesty and glory, they were “overwhelmed by it and almost annihilated.”
John Newton expressed the same idea in his well-known hymn, “Amazing Grace”: “’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” Charles Spurgeon went through the same experience. In his autobiography, he spends a chapter describing how the terrors of God’s law tormented him before he came to saving faith in Christ. Martin Luther knew the same thing. He hated God’s righteousness until he came to understand that God imputes His righteousness to us by faith alone.
But this said, the great problem with the trip to Sinai was that while men and women could come to see God’s holiness and their sinfulness, the Law provided no power to overcome sin.
To run and work the law commands,
Yet gives me neither feet nor hands.
Along with a sense of our own sinfulness, God’s law causes us to recognize our need for a better mediator.
At Mount Sinai, Moses and Aaron were the only ones allowed to go up the mountain into God’s presence. But the people could not draw near to God through Moses or Aaron. They were men with sin of their own. But Jesus Christ is our sinless high priest, who offered Himself as our sacrifice (Hebrews 7:26-27). As Paul wrote (1 Timothy 2:5), “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
So, the route to Zion goes through Sinai, where we encounter the terrors of God’s law. But once you’ve arrived in Zion, why would you want to go back to Sinai? So after describing the place we have left, the author goes on to show the place where we’ve come.
Grace Still Amazes 