There is an early passage in Pilgrim’s Progress in which Christian, amidst the difficulties of trying to walk the narrow path to Zion, is lured away by Mr. Worldly Wiseman’s counsel and directed toward the futility of Sinai. Bunyan writes:
So Christian turned out of his way to go to Mr. Legality’s house for help; but, behold, when he was got now hard by the hill, it seemed so high, and also that side of it that was next the wayside did hang so much over, that Christian was afraid to venture farther, lest the hill should fall on his head; wherefore there he stood still, and wotted not what to do. Also his burden now seemed heavier to him than while he was in his way. There came also flashes of fire out of the hill that made Christian afraid that he should be burnt: here, therefore, he sweat and did quake for fear. And now he began to be sorry that he had taken Mr. Worldly Wiseman’s counsel; and with that, he saw Evangelist coming to meet him, at the sight also of whom he began to blush for shame.2
And, of course, Mr. Evangelist got him back on track, and the race continued on to Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Today few Christians, especially Gentiles, are in danger of turning back to Sinai per se and embracing the Levitical corpus of the Old Testament. However, we can easily slip back into legalism. In fact, I think it’s our default mode. After all, all throughout our childhood and adult life we are taught that if we want to experience good grades, win a wonderful girlfriend, or keep a good job, we have to work at it. Grace is foreign to us. Even today we believe that we have to “help God out” with our own attempts at righteousness.
God’s will and law are eternal and we should follow it, but we are never made more acceptable to God by it. Isaiah tells us that even our righteousness is like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
Last week we noticed that the writer of Hebrews is contrasting the Old and New Covenants by identifying them with two mountains: Sinai where the law was given and Zion where Jesus was crucified.
The Old Covenant is presented in vv. 18-21…
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.”
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.
At Sinai there is gloom and doom. Everything says: Stay away! Do not draw near! You are not worthy to be close to God.
At Zion there is joy and freedom. Everything says: Come close! Draw near. Christ by his blood and the forgiveness he has brought you has made you worthy to enter God’s presence.
If you have trusted in Jesus’ blood, you have come to the joys of the new covenant. Our author puts it like this, continuing the metaphor:
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.
This is already a reality to which we who have believed in Christ “have come.” This is an experience of the present, not just a future hope. He is describing what is true of us as the church right now. This is a reality that we encounter from the day of our conversion and all through our Christian lives, all the way up until the time of the end.
First, then, you have come to the joy of inclusion in the city of the living God.
The word “but” at the head of verse 22 is a strong contrastive word. You did not come to Mount Sinai “BUT you have come to Mount Zion…” The author of Hebrews is saying, “We are in a different place. Our relationship with God is not modeled after Israel’s experience on Mount Sinai.”
To “come” or “draw near” to God is a recurrent theme in Hebrews. We’ve seen this same verb in Hebrews 4:16 where we are invited to “to come” or “draw near” to the throne of grace in prayer. In 7:25 we are encouraged to “draw near” to God through faith in Christ because he lives to make intercession for us. Again in 10:22 we are exhorted to “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” and in 11:6 we are described as those who “draw near to God.”
And this is a permanent condition. The verb “you have come” is in the perfect tense, speaking of a past action which has continuing results. It was a decision you made to come to Jesus, to draw near to him, but now it is a settled condition with great blessings.
Rather than experiencing fear and dread and a sense of being distant from God, Christians have come into an experience of unparalleled joy and festive celebration! And the reason is simple: through the blood of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the new covenant, we now live in God’s presence fearlessly and boldly and confidently.
We come to God’s other mountain, Mount Zion. This was the name for the stronghold in Jerusalem that David conquered (2 Sam. 5:6-8). It became a synonym for Jerusalem (Psalm 147:12; Amos 1:2; Micah 4:2). It represents the place where God, the King, dwells with His people. We will dwell forever in the “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 20).
Zion, of course, is another name for Jerusalem, the very place in the New Testament era where Jesus was crucified. The law came to Sinai; the cross was on Zion.
Mount Zion was the location of the Jebusite stronghold that David captured and made the religious center of his kingdom by bringing to it the golden ark of God—God’s presence with his people. When Solomon built the temple and installed the ark, Zion/Jerusalem became synonymous with the earthly dwelling-place of God. In Christ we have come to its heavenly counterpart, the spiritual Jerusalem from above.
The second description of the place to which we believers have come is “the city of the living God.”
This is the same “city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10). It is the city which God prepared for the Old Testament saints who died in faith without receiving the promises (Heb. 11:13, 16). And while we now dwell in it spiritually, there is a sense in which it is yet “to come” (Heb. 13:14). In other words, there is still a fuller, future experience of it as well.
“City,” a word used more in Hebrews than any other book of the New Testament, carries the idea of orderliness and security against the enemy. It is a place where needs for food and water are met, and where there is fellowship with others.
Whereas we once were aliens, now we are citizens of this city, if we continue to follow the “living God” (Heb. 3:12) because this is the “city of the living God.” Our writer affirms that the blood of Christ would “cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
Again, we are in Zion for good. “But you have come to Mount Zion” is in the perfect tense, emphasizing our permanent, continuing state.
For many years, a popular bumper sticker in Colorado bore a single word—NATIVE. It proclaimed to every new arrival, “You just moved in, but I was born here. This is my state, my heritage, and I belong.”
Our nationality, citizenship, and sense of belonging are usually determined by birth. This was especially true for the Israelites in Old Testament times. They were not only the people of Israel but the people of God.
It may seem surprising, then, to read in Psalm 87 that people of rival Gentile nations will one day be treated as if they had been “born” in Zion (vv.4-5). Herbert Lockyer says of this passage: “Whether some were born in Egypt or came from Ethiopia, all [will be] equally honored as home-born sons of the city of God. The proud from Egypt, the worldly from Babylon, the wrathful from Philistia, the covetous from Tyre [will be] brought under the regenerating, transforming power of the Spirit of God.” That is, they will be spiritually reborn.
This is also the “heavenly Jerusalem,” the holy city that John saw, “coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). The angel goes on to describe that this means God dwelling with His people and promises that when this time arrives that God will wipe away every tear, and that there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain (Rev. 21:4). The fulfillment of these promises will be enjoyed at Christ’s second coming.
Christians are now citizens of the heavenly city and enjoy its privileges. Paul wrote, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). We are in Zion by virtue of our incorporation in Christ, for “[God] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).
Sure, the fiery presence of God is there, but through our union with Christ we are now clothed in His righteousness and have free access to Jesus Christ and need fear no condemnation.
Not only do we enjoy this new location—now spiritually, then in every respect and forever—we will join with the angels in praising God. Instead of experiencing the terrifying blast of trumpets when the myriads of angels attending the giving of the law (Deut. 33:2), we will join “innumerable angels in festal gathering.”
We know from Daniel that “A thousand thousands served him [the Ancient of Days—God], and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him” (Daniel 7:10). David said, “The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands” (Psalm 68:17).
This multitude of angels is assembled in “festal gathering” (a word found only here in the NT but used in extra-biblical literature of parties and celebratory festivities). This word connotes excitement, revelry, and well-being. As David says in Psalm 16:11, when we enter into the path of life (heaven), we will be filled with joy and experience eternal pleasures at His right hand.
We see a glimpse of this worship expressed in Revelation 5:11-12.
“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’”
Every time we lift up our voices in praise to our God on earth now, we join in the heavenly chorus. Apathetic, ho-hum, “worship” is sin! It shows that we don’t understand the majesty of our God, and we are not focused on His great salvation that He lavished on us by His grace. I can’t wait to actually join this choir and to hear our united voices in a thousand harmonies rejoicing in our beautiful, glorious Savior! This, too, is something to which we have already come, and yet the full experience remains in our future.
Not only are the angels in heaven exhilarating in God and His glory, but right now the angels in heaven erupt in praise whenever one sinner repents (Luke 15:10). I can remember as a teenager going to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and watching an IMAX movie on the space shuttle. Amidst all the noise as the Shuttle lifted off, they cut to command central and showed the utter joy at the successful lift off. Such is the joy in heaven among the angels when a single sinner repents.
Jacob saw angels shuttling back and forth from heaven to earth on a ladder. Jesus told Nathaniel he would see angels descending and ascending on the Son of Man. Angels are around us.
Every day we are surrounded by these ministering spirits (Heb. 1:14). Sometimes they protect God’s elect—for example, the “tall men in shining garments” who surrounded Mr. and Mrs. John G. Paton years ago in the New Hebrides—or the “tall soldiers with shining faces” who protected missionary Marie Monsen in North China—or, on another occasion, the “huge men, dressed in white with flaming swords” who surrounded the Rift Valley Academy—and on another the “hundreds of men dressed in white, with swords and shields” who stood guard over a hut shielding Clyde Taylor, who would one day found the National Association of Evangelicals. Similarly, a missionary from the church I pastor, Carol Carlson, serving in China in 1922, learned why the bandits never attacked her compound—there were “men in white walking up and down the wall.”
At other times, angels preside over the apparent earthly tragedy of God’s people. Olive Fleming Liefeld in her book Unfolding Destinies tells how two young Auca Indians, Dawa and Kimo, heard singing after witnessing the martyrdom of the five missionaries in the jungles of Ecuador. “As they looked up over the tops of the trees they saw a large group of people. They were all singing, and it looked as if there were a hundred flashlights” (Olive Fleming Liefeld, Unfolding Destinies (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), p. 236).
But the grand emphasis of our passage is not so much the angels’ care of us, but rather our joining with them in festal assembly. The word translated “festal gathering” was used in ancient culture to describe the great national assemblies and sacred games of the Greeks. Whereas at Mount Sinai the angels blew celestial trumpets that terrified God’s people, we are to see ourselves on Mount Zion as dressed in festal attire and worshiping in awe side by side with these glorious shining beings!
Third, we come to fellow-believers —“to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” (v. 23a). Natural families have only one firstborn. But in God’s family, as F. F. Bruce puts it (Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Eerdmans], p. 377), “All the people of Christ are the ‘firstborn’ children of God, through their union with Him who is The Firstborn par excellence; their birthright is not to be bartered away, as was Esau’s.”
This group probably refers to all those believers who had died but will receive their full inheritance because they followed the Lord faithfully and did not apostatize. The term “firstborn” often meant, in Scripture, the most excellent, the chief.
What God gave at Mount Sinai was mainly for Israel; what God gave at Mount Zion is for all and it spans all the redeemed, both the church and the general assembly of the redeemed, all together.
All the rights of inheritance go to the firstborn—to us who are “fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Bishop Westcott says we are “a society of ‘eldest sons’ of God” (Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1967), p. 415). There are no second-class citizens in heaven. Male or female, young or old, rich or poor, genius or uneducated, we are all “fellow heirs in Christ.”
Only those who are “enrolled in heaven,” whose “names are written in the book of life” (Rev. 20:15, cf. Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). This is the entire communion of the saints, all those covered by the blood of Christ whether Old Testament saints or the Church.
This family is ever growing, whether they are in heaven now or will be there in the future, we join this family.
Everything about the New Covenant encourages us to continue to come boldly into God’s presence (cf. 4:16).
Grace Still Amazes 