Hebrews: The New Covenant Administration of Christ Max A Forsythe (c) Anno Domini 2005

From the Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Presbyterian Church in America

An Unshakable Kingdom
For the Lord’s Day:  the 31^st of August 2005

Hebrews 12: 18-29

Introduction:  F.F. Bruce reminds us again of the underlying contrast demonstrated in and throughout the book of Hebrews.  Concerning the difference between the giving of the law and the reception of the gospel, he well notes:  “Awesome as were the circumstances of the giving of the law in Moses’ day, more awesome by far are the privileges associated with the gospel, if they are despised or refused.”

In the book of Exodus, once the children of Israel had been led to the foot of Mount Sinai, they were carefully instructed about the dangers on the mountain.  The mountain itself was thick with the glory of God, and the people were very afraid.  Fences were erected so that no one might stumble into the midst of the fiery presence and perish.  We read in this account from Hebrews that even Moses was trembling with fear.  Isaiah too fell on his face in the Divine presence.  The Apostle John fainted as he received the revelation.  Awesome indeed is our God.  There is no media like George Burns character indicated here in this passage.  No, being before God's awful throne is and ought to be a fearful event.  An agnostic once told his Christian friend that if there was a God, when he died he was going to tell that God what he really thought!  The Christian observed that he really didn't think that God cared what an unbeliever though.

Again, a few years ago one of the major News magazines highlighted the teaching of Friedrich Nietzsche on their cover banner which boldly blazed the phrase: "God is Dead" - Nietzsche.  The following week a cartoonist had the last word when in a rival publication a cartoon tombstone was engraved: "Nietzsche is Dead" - God!  To paraphrase another media image that you may be more familiar with as we come into the presence of God:  "Toto - this isn't Kansas!"  No, it isn't!  Mere words cannot convey the awesome fear felt by saints and sinners alike at Mount Sinai.  Even Moses trembled.  

But you say, the coming of Jesus was different?  Yes, in a way it was.  In baby Jesus the love of God appeared to deliver us from the righteous wrath of God.  And yet, all those who came to Bethlehem bowed down and worshipped Him.  Here He was, the promised King in His first advent, a mere child, seemingly so much more approachable than the mighty overshadowing appearance of God the Almighty at Mount Sinai.  But we have to remember that the baby grew, in time He became a man's man as Pilate envied His still being able to stand defiantly after taking a beating that would have humbled even a Sampson.  It is to this Jesus we have come today.  Not to the traditional babe in the manger, but to God Himself revealed in the flesh. 

By contrast, we (in the light of Christ’s coming) have come into a more awesome place indeed.  The implications of the text before us is that we have come into the heavenly Jerusalem – the spiritual reality of God’s presence for ever and ever, now and forever more.  It is as Bruce describes it: “the city or commonwealth which comprises the whole family of faith, God’s true dwelling-place.  Even now this city has not been manifested in its fullness; it is still in one sense ‘the city which is to come’, but the privileges of its citizenship are already enjoyed by faith.”

Development:  The Greek of verse twenty-two is down right personal.  It tells us, (you and I) that we, who have come into faith in Jesus Christ, we have come into a greater throne room than Mount Sinai, to which only Moses was admitted.  “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 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, and to Jesus , the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”  Hebrews 12: 22-24 

Now a very important question, is immediately important:  how do we come into this place?  Three possible attitudes are noted by the commentators:

 1.        With a superior attitude to God:  this is what some would call an animal instinct, the natural man who wants his own way – selfish to the extreme, even if he has to use God to achieve his own eternal salvation.
2.        With an equality complex:  in this context there is a conscientious level where a less selfish creature recognizes the rights of all others, even those of a powerful God whose moral and legal codes are at least respected.
3.        With a submissive heart:  this is the entrance through grace where God’s absolute primacy is understood, and His will and love believed in.  With such hearts, the true saints seek the Lord’s will and blessing in every matter.

We have to remember, even as the Apostle frames it, “we have come to God, the judge of all.”  In the Greek, the phrase is more precisely rendered:  “we have come to a judge who is God of all.”  Even the worldly liberals of our time understand what the word “supreme” means when it applies to a judge nominated to our own highest court.  Even though the current nomination seems mild by many conservative standards, the humanists are reacting as if the Apostle Paul himself were being nominated to a court, whose jurisdiction is far less than that of the current Roman curate, who they also despise.  And yet, the worldly reactions to merely earthly positions is almost comical, given the final sway of the awesome Lord of all the earth and the final judgment which must finally come when all heaven breaks loose!

Indeed, we have come before “a judge who is God of all.”  And in that coming, we - like Moses, Isaiah and the Apostle John – should all tremble unless we know for certain that it is the very blood of this eternal Judge which was shed for our sin.

A second point concerning this text is brought to our attention by John Owen.  “We have here a blessed, glorious description of the catholic (universal) church and its nature as revealed under the Gospel.  We have here the substance of all the privileges that we receive through the Gospel.  It is the access ascribed to believers here, and that alone, which will secure their eternal salvation."

However flawed the church on earth is, in any time or place, still all of those who belong to Christ are participants in either the church militant or the church triumphant.  Militancy here means simply your continued presence on earth, while the triumphant church is made up of all those who have gone on to glory.  However, we count our membership – it is still one and the same church of the living God, ruled over and blessed by and through the precious blood of our savior and lord:  Jesus Christ.

Our third point is simply this, just as the ESV entitles our text:  We have “A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken.”  I am reminded of a conversation I once had with an unbeliever.  After being maligned for believing in mythical promises of pie in the sky, I simply pointed out what should have been an obvious distinction between our two world views.  If I was wrong and they were right, then their expectation that everyone ceased to exist when they died – that concept had no immediate or final threat to my constitution as a reasonable person who lived by a creed and confession that meant them no immediate threat, imagined or otherwise.  However, I carefully and tactfully pointed out, if I was right and they were wrong, then they would have eternity to grieve their situation.  So why should they give me a hard time?  We all know why individual Christians and the Church as a whole is persecuted:  precisely because the worldly do realize in the back of their minds that they have rebelled against the God of heaven and earth.  And since they cannot assault His high and mighty person – they must take out their petty hatred upon those who belong to the visible fellowship of His people.  It is to this crowd of worldlings that the warning in verse twenty-five is issued:  “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.”

Application:  Then in the closing verses, we are promised that “once more” the God of glory will not only cause the earth and all her residents to tremble, but indeed:  when He appears all things will be transcended into a New Heaven and a New Earth.  Look carefully at the details of this "once more" appearance.  Our writer here would have us understand that if the first words thundered at Mount Sinai were terrible to be heard, just wait until King Jesus returns at the end of the age.  Here in the final verses of this chapter, the last and final day is well described in proper biblical images.  All that is known and sensed will disappear.

All that is perishable will perish and only the imperishable will survive.  We who belong to the Kingdom will part of that imperishable order.  In order to appreciate this fact, let us turn back in out text to the promise of verse twenty-four.  “But you have come … to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”  Here we find the reason why we are not consumed by God's judgment.  It is because of the nature of the Christ to whom we come.  He is not only the mediator of a new covenant, but it is His sprinkled blood which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.  We remember from Genesis that Abel's blood cried out for vengeance.  By comparison, the blood of Christ atones.  And by that word atonement, we understand that we are individually covered by the blood of Christ, and therefore all our sins are forgiven and we are invited through Him into the eternal and glorious kingdom which awaits us when He comes again.

He it is who reigns in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  By coming to Him, we join a fellowship that numbers the joyful angels and the assembled saints from both Testaments.  These saints include all those whose names are written in heaven.  And if our names are written there, we have naught to fear because our God, who judges all men, has covered our sins with the righteousness which is Christ's.  This is the gospel which we must believe, and having believed it, ought we not to listen Him even as the author of Hebrews admonishes us?  May the Spirit enable us all to give our hearts to Jesus today and enter into His present and future Kingdom?  Amen.

Rushsylvania United Presbyterian Church (USA) 21 April 74
Christ Covenant Reformed (PCA) 20 December 92  & 22 December 96
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PREACHING RESOURCES
Brown, John.  A Geneva Series Commentary:  Hebrews.
Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today:  The Message of Hebrews.
Bruce, F.F.  The Epistle to the Hebrews.
Hewitt, Thomas.  Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Hebrews.
Owen, John:  Commentary on the Book of Hebrews.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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