The Earthly Sinai and the Heavenly Tziyon
12: 18-29
The earthly Sinai and the heavenly Tziyon DIG: What is the point of the comparison between Mount Sinai and Mount Tziyon? What key principle for the Hebrews does Esau illustrate (Genesis 25:29-34)? How does this contrast sum up the author’s argument throughout the book? What happens to those who refuse to heed God’s voice from Mount Sinai (verses 19, 25 and 3:17)? From heaven (25-27 and 1:2)? What is our reward and appropriate response (verse 28)?
REFLECT: For more insight about how to endure, read Psalm 42. What do you learn from the psalmist about how to persevere in difficult times? What other truths from Hebrews 12 are illustrated in this psalm? If you are believer, you have come to Mount Tziyon and the City of the living God, the heavenly Yerushalayim. How often do you think of heaven? What can you do to focus on heaven each day? How can your life better reflect your true citizenship?381
The glory and supremacy of the Messiah is the great theme of Hebrews. A hostile Jewish community doubtless told the Hebrew believers in Messiah that they had turned their backs on Ha’Shem. They were probably taunted for having foolishly forsaken Jerusalem and the Temple, where ADONAI promised to meet His people. In response, the writer placed a God-sized vision before these believers. They received not only an understanding of Messiah’s unparalleled, exalted character, but also a deeper awareness of the privilege they had been given to worship Him and enjoy His fellowship.
The great issue in spiritual warfare is the glory of ADONAI. The Adversary is intent on depriving God the glory He deserves. Unless we perceive the glory of YHVH, our worship will be the worse for it. As a result, we cannot live with the personal and spiritual fulfillment to which His glory calls us. If that’s not bad enough, our service to the Lord will also be impeded, for where that is no dynamic worship, there is also little dynamic service.
For the people of Isra’el, the glory of the LORD was originally something quite visible. His majestic presence terrified them at Sinai (see the commentary on Exodus Dg – Moses Spoke and the Voice of God Answered Him), but was a powerful reminder that He was with them. His presence with them at the Tabernacle during the many years of wilderness wanderings. Generations later, when the Philistines captured the ark of the Covenant, the cry, Ichabod, was heard: The Glory had departed from them (First Samuel 4:21-22).
The Temple in Yerushalayim, with a centuries old history of God-ordained rituals and sacrifice, was the place where the Sh’khinah glory dwelt. It was only a few years after the letter to the Hebrews was written, that the Romans would burn down Temple after a tragic and humiliating siege of the City of David. It was a destruction that Messiah had foretold: Do you see all these great buildings? As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down (Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6).
Yet even before the Temple’s destruction (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Mt – The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple on Tisha B’Av in 70 AD), many children of Abraham had come to see the radiance of God’s glory in a new and living way: ADONAI had revealed His unique splendor in the Person of His Son, the exact representation of His Father (1:3). To see YHVH, you only needed to behold His Messiah. The foundation of the B’rit Chadashah is that Yeshua, who bears the very stamp of God’s essence, has come into the midst of His people. As our perception of Him becomes fuller, so will our worship.382
The dilemma of those Jews in Messianic community to whom the letter was written was this, “Should I stay or should I go?” Should I stay and endure the persecution. Should I stay and look to the City with foundations, whose architect and builder is God, the heavenly Jerusalem (11:10)? Should I stay and place my faith in a better Covenant, a better Sanctuary, and a better sacrifice . . . better than the prophets, better than Moshe, better than the angels, and better than the Levitical priesthood? Or fall back to the fear and darkness of Mount Sinai? Those on the verge of accepting Yeshua, should not fear the persecution they might receive for believing in Him; but rather they should fear the judgement they would inevitably receive if they rejected Him. Their fear should not be coming to Mount Tziyon, but turning back to a burning Mount Sinai. The contrast is striking.
Mount Sinai: The awesome appearance of Mount Sinai when God gave the Torah to the people of Isra’el demonstrated His holiness (Exodus 19:16-20, 20:18-21; Deuteronomy 4:10-13); however, the Torah was inaugurated in the context of terror. Going back to the Temple and the Levitical sacrifices would be terrifying, in essence, returning to the ministry that brought death and condemnation (Second Corinthians 3:2-18).383
The writer then quotes from Exodus 19:12-13 to show that Mount Sinai, where the Torah had been given, was untouchable. You have not come to an earthly mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fires; to darkness, gloom and storm, to the sound of the shofar, as had the generation that stood at its base (12:18). When God appears in the TaNaKh, He is often accompanied by fire (Exodus 13:21; Judges 13:20; 1 Kings 18:38); darkness and gloom (Genesis 15:12; Exodus 10:21-22, 14:20; 1 Kings 8:12; Joel 2:31; Amos 5:18); and a storm (Nahum 1:3; Job 37:9, 38:1; Zech 9:14).
When YHVH gave the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 5:6-21), called the Ten Words in the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:13), all the people of Isra’el heard His voice. And those words made the hearers beg that no further message be given to them (12:19 CJB), for they could not bear to hear what was commanded to them, “Even if an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death” (Hebrews 12:20 quoting Exodus 19:12-13). The people only wanted God to talk to Moshe as their representative because they were fearful (Deuteuteronomy 4:10-13, 5:20-25 and 18:16-17). But Moses said: ADONAI will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You are to listen to everything He tells you. Everyone who fails to listen to that Prophet will be completely cut off from the people (Deut 18:15-19 CJB). According to Acts 3:22-23, Yeshua fulfills this prophecy.
Not only were the people frightened but Moshe was also. The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I was terrified of the LORD’s anger and fury” (Hebrews 12:21 quoting Deuteronomy 9:19 GWT). So the scene on Mount Sinai repelled even Moshe. However, by quoting a remark that Moses made not on Mount Sinai but upon returning and discovering the golden calf (Deuteronomy 9:14-19), the author of Hebrews show us that as a result of Moshes’ personal experience with God, he developed a healthy fear of God (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10), which lasted not only while he was receiving the Torah, but also afterwards – indeed throughout his life. The author’s point (for us also) is that those who begin well with Yeshua should not fall away later.384 If the persecuted believers in the Messianic community returned to the Levitical system, they would return to a system that would only bring terror, death, and condemnation.
For many years Rabbi Sha’ul had been a student of the Torah. He knew the TaNaKh as few men of his time knew it. Yet until Yeshua confronted him on the Damascus road (see the commentary on Acts Bc – Sha’ul Turns from Murder to Messiah), he had never really understood the true meaning of the Torah. He had never looked squarely into it to see himself. He thought he was alive because of his obedience to the 365 negative and 248 positive commandments of the Torah. In seeing Yeshua Messiah, however, he saw himself reflected in the mirror of the 613 commandments. As a result, he said: I was once alive outside the framework of Torah. But when the commandments really confronted me, sin sprang to life, and I died. The commandments that were intended to bring me life was found to bring me death! For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandments, deceived me; and through the commandments, sin killed me (Romans 7:9-11).
Though he had been circumcised on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the Torah, a Pharisee, as for zeal, persecuting the Church, as for righteousness based upon the Torah, faultless (Philippians 3:5-6), he had never stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. He had eyes, but had not seen, and had ears but had not heard (Jeremiah 5:21). He had not understood the clear unmistakable declaration of Deuteronomy 27:26: Cursed is anyone who does not uphold (all) the words of this Torah by putting them into practice (perfectly). But in Messiah he came to understand it, and he quotes it to some Galatians who were beginning to fall back to the Temple and the Levitical system: For all who depend on the legalistic observance of the Torah are under a curse, as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything (perfectly) written in the Scroll of the Torah” (Galatians 3:10).385
Mount Tziyon: But you have come to Mount Tziyon, to the City of the living God, the heavenly Yerushalayim. This is the City in heaven that is destined to be the abode of all the redeemed. This is the City Jesus spoke about in John 14:2-3. In contrasting Hagar and Sarah, Paul tells us that Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children (Galatians 4:25). He mentions two Jerusalem’s. Hagar represented the first-century Jerusalem, a City enslaved to Rome and to the Levitical priesthood. But Sarah, on the other hand, pictured the Yerushalayim that is above and free. She is the mother of all the children of grace. This is the City that Abraham sought in 11:10. The writer will mention it again in 13:14. This is the City that John describes in Revelation 21:1 to 22:5. This will be the home of all the redeemed of every generation since Adam who either enter by resurrection or translation. To those believing Jews who were being persecuted, it was if the writer was saying, “Don’t turn to back to Temple that will only bring death and condemnation. Endure! This heavenly City awaits you!” And to those unbelieving Jews who were on the edge of salvation, he was saying, “Don’t return to Mount Sinai, come to Mount Tziyon and be saved!”
The angels are introduced here because they usually represent God’s glory and ministers of His will. You come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the assembly of called out ones of the firstborn. It is the firstborn who receive the inheritance. Those believers were heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ who is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:17 and 29) whose names are written in heaven (12:22-23a) in the Lambs Book of Life (see the commentary on Revelation Fv – Nothing Impure Will Enter the New Jerusalem).
On Mount Tziyon we can come into the presence of ADONAI, something incomprehensible to the Jew who only knew the terrifying God of Mount Sinai. After Yeshua’s death on the cross, the curtain of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51a; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45b), and the way into YHVH’s presence was forever made open for those who trust in His atoning death. To come into the presence of Ha’Shem at Sinai was to die; to come into ADONAI’s presence at Tziyon is to live (Psalm 73:25; Revelation 21:3). You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the righteous of the TaNaKh made perfect. To those persecuted Jewish believers, the writer declares that they will not be inferior to Abraham or Moshe or Elijah, because they will all be equal in righteousness, because our only righteousness will be our Savior’s righteousness. The only way to get to heaven is to be perfect, and the only way to be made perfect is to have all of Christ’s righteousness transferred to our spiritual bank account at the moment of faith (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith).
You have come to Yeshua the mediator of a New Covenant (see Bw – The Results of Messiah’s Sacrifice), and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (12:23-24). The writer reminded those unbelieving Jews that salvation only comes through the blood of Yeshua, not the Temple or its Levitical sacrifices. The sprinkled blood of Jesus speaks better than the blood of Abel. Abel’s sacrifice of blood was acceptable to YHVH because it was offered in faith, but it had no atoning power – not even for Abel, let alone anyone else. Messiah’s blood, however, is sufficient to cleanse the sins of everyone who has ever lived. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross (Col 1:19-20).386
There will be seven distinct entities present in the New Jerusalem according to Hebrews 12:22-24. First, there will be thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. Secondly, there will be the Church of the firstborn (Acts 2:1-47), whose names are written in heaven. These are first century Jews who represent the Church all through the ages. They were the firstborn of more to come. Thirdly, God, the Judge of all will be present there and emphasizes His role as Judge. God the Father will someday judge all of heaven. Fourthly, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, or the righteous of the TaNaKh will reside there. They were made perfect by the blood of Christ. Fifthly, Jesus the mediator of a New Covenant will tabernacle there. Sixthly, there is the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Yeshua brought His blood into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly Tabernacle. That sprinkled blood is still visible on the mercy seat in heaven because that is where the original ark rests. While Abel’s blood speaks continually on earth, the Messiah’s blood speaks continually from heaven. And seventh, the Ruach ha-Kodesh will minister there.387
To those Jews who were intellectually convinced, but had not stepped over the line from knowledge to faith, the Ruach ha-Kodesh issues a final warning: See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks – the One who spoke through Moses then and though Yeshua now. As the Sh’ma succinctly puts it: ADONAI is One (Deuteronomy 6:4); therefore, anyone who rejects the God of Yeshua is also rejecting the God of Moshe. This point is made many times in the B’rit Chadashah (Luke 16:29-31, 24:25-27; John 1:45, 5:45-46, 9:28-41; Acts 3:22-23, 26:22-23, 28:23-27; Romans 3:29-31, 10:4-10, Second Corinthians 3:6-16, Hebrews 3:1-6; Revelation 15:3).
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 (12:25). The unbelieving Israelites who ignored God at Sinai did not enter the earthly Promised Land, and unbelievers today, Jew or Gentile, who ignore ADONAI when He speaks through His Son from Mount Tziyon will not enter the heavenly Promised Land. Whether God speaks from Sinai or from Tziyon, no man who refuses Him will escape judgment.
At Sinai, God’s voice shook the entire earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens” (Hebrews 12:26 quoting Haggai 2:6, 21). If unbelievers did not escape when the earth was shaken, how much more unlikely will they escape when both the heavens and the earth are shaken? John said it this way: I watched as the sixth seal was opened. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned red blood, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place (Revelation 6:12-14).
Commenting on the Haggai passage, the writer of Hebrews explains that the words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain (12:27). Everything physical (what can be shaken) will be destroyed. Only the eternal things will remain. YHVH has prepared a new heaven and a new earth, which will include the holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:1-2). This is the Kingdom we will receive. It is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken because it is eternal, unchangeable and immovable. We will never be taken from it, and it will never be taken from us. Therefore, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe (12:28).
The penalty for rejecting God is fearful, since even though He is merciful to those who trust in Him, at the same time, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29 quoting Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3 and Isaiah 33:14). The fire and smoke that was seen at Ha’Shem’s presence at Sinai (12:18) were merely symbols of that consuming fire of holiness that destroys all persistent, inexcusable evil. It is God Himself who is the fire that unbelief has to deal with. Having made a profession of faith in Messiah as High Priest, anyone in the Messianic community who renounced their faith in Yeshua and returned to the Temple and the Levitical sacrifices for salvation would become a consuming fire. This is a ominous warning for us and for those we love today. Either you accept Christ’s sacrifice, or you become the sacrifice on the altar of His wrath.
The choice is the same for everyone. Whether we are Jew or Gentile, to try to approach God by our works, is to come to Sinai and to discover that our works fall short and cannot save us. Whether we are Jew or Gentile, to trust in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is to come to Tziyon, where our heavenly High Priest will mediate for us and bring us to the Father, and where we find reconciliation, peace and eternal life (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). And if you have truly come to Tziyon and received all its blessings, it is inconceivable that you would want to hold on to Sinai in any way.388
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