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 they could not bear what was
commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to
death.”[c] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with
fear.”[d]
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.”[e] 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.”
Dig Deeper
Many years ago now we were able to purchase a new
vehicle. It was the first new car that
we had ever had and it was pretty cool to have something that was brand new in
every way. And our response to it was as
you might expect. We wanted to do
everything in our power to keep it as nice, and clean, and new as
possible. For the first several months,
I cleaned it out constantly and we were very careful to not bring in any food
or do anything that might mess it up.
But as time wears on, you begin to get more comfortable and take an
object like that for granted more and more.
I won’t bore you with the whole process but if you fast-forward a few
years, all of that new car reverence and awe had worn away. We regularly ate in the car when we had to,
we used it as a work vehicle when need be, we moved things in it, and so
on. Pretty soon the vehicle was not
exactly a beater, but it was certainly not in pristine shape any more.
I suppose that the processes that we go through with
things like that are fine and maybe even healthy, but there are times when we
can do something similar and it is not so healthy. We might start out in a relationship really
respecting someone immensely but then as we get to know them better, we go
beyond just being more familiar with them and we start to take them for
granted. That is decidedly not healthy.
In a sense, this is what the author of Hebrews is
warning us against here. Yes, Jesus is
the mediator of a far better covenant than the Old one. In fact, he will give us one more memorable
picture in this section to drive that point home. And yes, the New Covenant has replaced the
Old Covenantal system of fear and obedience with the ability to be confident
and bold as we approach the throne of grace; thanks to the blood of Christ
which has allowed us entry into the life of the Kingdom. But there is a human tendency to at first be
grateful for God’s grace and mercy that is poured out in the New Covenant but
then to drift over time. Pretty soon, it
is God’s grace that can allow some to grow too relaxed and to abuse the
freedoms that we have been given in the Kingdom. We can forget to be thankful and to continue
to approach God with the reverence and awe that he so richly deserves.
At the heart of this whole section is comparison and
contrast. It’s like trying to explain to
a young child who has never seen a zebra before what a zebra is like. Rather than starting from scratch you might
compare and contrast the zebra with a horse and a tiger. In certain ways, it is like each of those
animals, while in other ways they are very different. Comparison and contrasting things helps us to
understand something new based on the information that we already have. That is why there is so much comparison and
contrast in this sermon called Hebrews between the New and Old Covenants. It is a teacher using a wonderful technique
to help us understand the New Covenant and Kingdom that we have in Christ.
To start this comparison and contrast, the author takes
us first to Mt. Sinai (although he never actually says “Mt. Sinai,” it is clear
that this is what he is thinking about).
That mountain was a fearsome thing.
The people could not even come near because they had no standing on
which to draw near to the magnificent presence of a holy and almighty God. Mt. Sinai was terrifying. Anyone who dealt with it without the proper
fear and reverence were sure to die.
Even Moses trembled with fear, knowing that he was hardly worthy to go
into the presence of God.
The author of Hebrews is using Mt. Sinai to represent
the Law and the Old Covenant. It was
full of laws and requirements which would train the people, if followed
precisely, to at least approach holiness.
Yet, they never could and God knew that.
In fact, that was kind of the point.
God was showing human beings that what we really need to reconcile our
relationship with him could never be done through our own abilities or
efforts. We needed something new;
something that only God could do. That
is why, under the Old Covenant, drawing near to God was a fearful and
terrifying thing.
But he doesn’t draw that picture to mind just to scare
us. In fact, understanding that picture
more clearly should steady our legs. For
we haven’t traveled to that mountain. We
have come to an entirely different mountain.
We have come to the serene beauty and peace of Mount Zion, which of
course represents the Kingdom of God as is available in the New Covenant. We now have a new mediator, who through his
own blood, has blazed a trail that seemed impossible to go down
previously. We no longer have to keep
our distance in fear and trembling. We
can enter into God’s presence and do so with boldness. We are the recipients of a new and better
covenant and can stand with confidence.
When you really stop to think about that, it is stunning in its scope
and implications. We can now do
regularly what could never even be thought of before. We can enter into God’s presence with the
assurance that we belong there.
This New Covenant is far superior to the Old Covenant,
but there is also a danger. It is human
nature to grow accustomed to things and even begin to take them for
granted. Human beings have learned how
to control and use things like fire and electricity but they can still be quite
dangerous things if not respected. The
New Covenant is all about forgiveness, grace, and access to God in Christ. And that’s precisely where human nature can
become so dangerous. It’s easy to slack
off a bit and start to take things for granted.
What we used to approach with incredible reverence and thanksgiving can
easily become commonplace and ordinary in our own minds.
That is why the writer gives us two very important
warnings. The first is a negative
command that comes in verse 25 as he urges us to “not refuse him who
speaks.” Yes, God has made incredible
new arrangements in Christ for us to have access to him but we had best not
forget that we are still dealing with a holy and almighty God. The more we understand about God, the more we
appreciate him and grow in maturity, and the more we have access to his
presence, the more that we should increase our reverence and awe for him, not
decrease in those things. We should show
even more reverence for God’s commands under than the New Covenant than did
those under the Old. We do not live in
constant danger of being struck down like those at Mt. Sinai were but that
should drive us all the more to respect and honor God.
After all, the impact and effect of Mt. Sinai was
limited. But God’s Kingdom now is far
more threatening. Mt. Sinai shook those
around it for a short time. Mt. Zion
will will shake the earth and the heavens.
It’s not that holiness doesn’t matter under the New Covenant, but that a
new way has been found to draw near to God.
God’s holiness is still every bit as dangerous as it ever was when
trifled with. And one day, at the
resurrection and return of Christ, that holiness will shake everything, so that
whatever is temporary, second-rate, and unholy will shake off and fall
away. This is the new creation that is
coming and that chapters 11 and 12 have been pointing to all along.
But the author has one more warning for us, and this one
is a positive action. “Let us be
thankful and so worship God acceptably.”
The HCSB translates that phrase more correctly, I believe: “Let us hold
on to grace.” In other words, we have
received this incredible Kingdom and access to God through the grace of Christ
so let us hold on to it. Let us cling to
it so that we can approach him. But let
us continue to approach him in the manner that he deserves. Let us not treat casually that which is
holy. God is still a consuming
fire. He may have given us new access to
that fire, but as we all know, if you play around with fire you will get
burned.
It is certainly worthy of taking some extra time in
consideration. Perhaps we have stopped
taking our shoes off when we walk onto the holy ground and have started to
treat the holy with a casualness that it doesn’t deserve and won’t tolerate for
long. Do you take God for granted? Do you approach him with little sense of
holiness and reverence? Do you worship
him with indifference? As bibilical
commentator, Charles Swindoll once wisely observed, “When we stop taking our
shoes off before the burning bush, it is we who change—not the bush.”
Devotional Thought
Do you take your approach to God and his presence every
bit as seriously now as you always have?
Or have you drifted a bit in your reverence and awe for God and his
Kingdom? If you have, what is the
solution offered in this passage to get things straightened out?
No comments:
Post a Comment