Hebrews 12:18-29.  Yesterday’s reading was about stepping out in faith.  The readers were encouraged to follow the example of living for God and serving others that was set by the people mentioned in chapter 11 and by Jesus.  The author admited that it would be a hard life but he said the trouble is like the discipline that parents give us; discipline that helps us be what we need to be as people.  The author warned the readers not to be like Esau who gave up all that he could have been for a bowl of stew.

In today’s reading the author explains why the trouble is worth it.  In verses 18-21 he tells them what their new life in Jesus is not about.  The picture he paints is a picture of Moses.  Remember that the original readers of this letter were Jewish believers in Jesus, and there were probably many of them who had been priests who had helped the Jewish people honor God in the ways commanded in the Old Testament.  Those ways were laid out for the Jewish (or Hebrew) people by God on Mount Sinai.  God gave the laws or “Law” to their leader Moses over a period of 40 days (Exodus 24:18; 34:28).  This part of the story is found in Exodus 19-31.  While the people waited they had been instructed that they were not to touch the mountain.  They also saw lightning, fire and clouds and heard what they understood to be the voice of God, though they did not understand it (See especially Exodus 19).  The picture in these chapters is of a very holy God and a less than holy people.  In Romans Paul tells us that the real purpose of the “Law” was to show us how badly we fail in honoring God with our lives (Romans 3:19-20).  Thankfully, remember, this picture of failure and judgment is not what our new lives in Jesus are about; the trouble that we experience as we follow Jesus is not about punishment.  When we keep following Jesus even when it is hard, though, it does show that we really believe.  It’s good to have that assurance.

In verses 22-24 we see what our life in Jesus is about.  There is a new mountain in this new picture, Mount Zion.  This is the place where Jerusalem is.  Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish kingdom under David and Solomon and also the place where Solomon built the temple to replace the Tabernacle (sort of a portable church) where the Jewish people honored God.  The author of Hebrews quotes Psalms 110 a few times in the letter.  In that Psalm Zion is seen as the place from which the Messiah (promised coming king of Israel) will rule.  But there is more to the picture that just a king in Jerusalem, and there always has been.  What God was doing on earth through the Jewish people often was a picture of what was going on in Heaven.  Here in Hebrews 12:22-23 we see that picture.  The real Jerusalem is a heavenly city filled with angles and believers in Jesus.  God is also there.  The end of verse 23 and verse 24 seem to be a sort of repetition.  I verse 23 we see the church and God and  at the end of verse 23 and verse 24 we see mentioned the “spirits of righteous men made perfect” and Jesus.  The end of verse 24 tells us how we are right with God and what it is that has made us perfect, a new contract sealed and paid for by Jesus’ blood.  I’m not really sure what the comparison between Abel and Jesus would have meant to the original readers of this letter.  To me Able was a guy who did his best to honor God and got killed by his brother because of it.  Matthew implies that Able was sort of a prophet (Matthew 23:35, see also Luke 11:51) and the author of this letter included him in the list of Faithful people from Old Testament times.  While these Old Testament people helped us understand our failure and god’s plan only Jesus, by his blood, fixed the problem.

Verses 25 the author makes a final appeal for us to be faithful.  This appeal paints a complete picture about God and our relationship with him.  There is the awesome holy God on mount Sinai and the loving dying God who fixes us; the is the god who judges all men and Jesus the author and perfector of us.   Both are the same and we need to listen.  Many people today what to know why God lets evil continue or even deny God’s existence because evil does continue.  But there is a day coming when God will judge heaven and earth.  Sin and evil will be destroyed and only the things which have been made perfect by god will remain.  Verses 28 and 29 encourage us as believers to be grateful for our eternal kingdom and show it by serving God.  Verse 29 returns back to the picture of Mount Sinai and the holiness of God, a holiness that burns away all the evil.

God thank you for making me right with you.  If I had to face you with my own works they would certainly be burned up, in a flash.  But Jesus is the author and perfector of my eternity so I know I am secure.  Thank you for that eternal security.  Let my life be like the lives of the faithful in chapter 11.  Help me lead men to you and into eternity with you.  Let my service be acceptable.