18 12:18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 12:19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 12:20For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 12:21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 12:22But 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 12:23and 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 12:24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 12:25See 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. 26 12:26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 12:27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 12:28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.
In the previous section, the place where believers enjoyed “rest” with God was the heavenly homeland symbolized by Canaan, the earthly Promised Land, though a promised city was also mentioned (Heb. 11:8–10, 13–16). Now our attention is focused on that city and sanctuary, in which we draw near to worship God. In contrast to the terrors of the earthly Mount Sinai, where God delivered the first covenant to Israel, we have come now by faith to Mount Zion in the heavenly Jerusalem, entering a worshiping assembly filled with joy and thanksgiving through the presence of Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. Since God now addresses us from heaven, we must attend even more carefully to his word, both because spurning him brings judgment and because God bestows an eternal kingdom on those who worship through Jesus, in reverence and awe.
Our preacher graphically portrays the terrifying phenomena that accompanied the Lord’s descent to Mount Sinai to meet with Moses and deliver his covenant to Israel. His point, however, is that those who approach God through Jesus’ mediation “have not come” to such a daunting encounter with God. Rather, our worship centers on a mountain sanctuary far better than Sinai in both mood and transcendent reality. On the other hand, this section opens with “blazing fire” and closes with a reminder that Israel’s God is our God, a “consuming fire” (v. 29). He is gracious toward us through Jesus, but his holiness is still lethal to those who harbor their sin.
Sinai was both touchable and terrifying. The verb translated “may be touched” refers elsewhere to the tangibility of Jesus’ resurrection body (Luke 24:39; 1 John 1:1), which is vital to our eternal hope. But here Sinai’s physical “touchability” shows that it belongs to the present created order, which will pass away (Heb. 1:10–12). That touchable mountain was associated with the sanctuary made by human hands (9:11, 24) and with the animal sacrifices offered there, which could cleanse only the flesh, not the conscience (9:10, 13).
The display of God’s glory at Sinai was also terrifying, visibly and audibly. Reminding the Israelites of what they saw at that mountain, Moses mentioned blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and tempest (Deut. 4:11 LXX; cf. Ex. 19:16–18; 20:18). The mountain also “trembled greatly” (Ex. 19:18), but our author is reserving that detail for later (Heb. 12:25–27).
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King. (Ps. 48:1–2)
The third title, “heavenly Jerusalem,” however, casts a new light on the others. The location of Christians’ worship is not on a mountain that “may be touched” anywhere on earth—neither in the Sinai Peninsula nor in Judah/Judea. The apostle Paul identified Mount Sinai and the law delivered there with the “present Jerusalem,” the center of the Judaism of his day, which rejected Jesus’ gospel of grace. By contrast, believers in Jesus, whatever their racial background, can look to the “Jerusalem above” as their mother (Gal. 4:21–31). Likewise, one of John’s visions on Patmos identified the earthly Jerusalem with the “great city” that rejected God’s witnesses, in which “their Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8). Another vision portrayed the “holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:2).
Jews who came to believe in Jesus sometimes faced expulsion from the Jewish community (John 9:22, 34; 16:2; Acts 18:4–7; Rev. 2:9; 3:8–9). The original hearers of Hebrews may have been facing such exclusion (Heb. 13:12–13). But in Jesus they and we have access to the better sanctuary in the heavenly city of God. This city is the home for which the patriarchs hoped (11:10, 16) and the “lasting city” for which new covenant believers still long (13:14). Yet even now, as we gather in worship, we “have come” to it already.
Those assembled for worship in this heavenly sanctuary show the celebratory and reverent tone of the event. First are “innumerable angels in festal gathering [panēgyris].” In the LXX this term refers to Israel’s appointed feasts (Ezek. 46:11; Hos. 2:13; 9:5; Amos 5:21). The ESV correctly connects “festal gathering” with the myriads of angels rather than with the “assembly of the firstborn” (contra KJV, NASB). In this list, “and” marks off discrete groups, so panēgyris (followed by “and”) belongs to what precedes it. Angels are mentioned first since they appear early in the sermon (Heb. 1:4–2:18). God directed them to worship the Son when he entered the world to come at his ascension (cf. comment on 1:6), and they are sent by God to serve humans who are to inherit salvation through the Son (1:14; 2:5–10). They celebrate as observers of that salvation (1 Pet. 1:10–12; Rev. 5:11–12).
From another perspective, the human worshipers in heaven are the “spirits of the righteous made perfect.” These are the OT people of faith on whose behalf God testified that they were righteous as they lived by faith (Heb. 10:37–38; 11:2, 39). That they are “spirits” indicates they have not yet participated in the final resurrection of the dead (Rev. 6:9–11; 20:4). Yet, in contrast to their condition prior to Christ’s coming (Heb. 11:40), now they have been “made perfect”—along with us—through the sacrifice of Jesus (10:14).
Between the two descriptions of this privileged (“firstborn”) and consecrated (“made perfect”) people stands the divine object of their adoration: “God, the judge of all.” Abraham appealed to God’s supreme authority as “Judge of all the earth” as he bargained for the survival of anyone living in Sodom who might have been righteous (Gen. 18:25). Jesus announced that his Father had delegated to him the role of judge, and various NT texts repeat this point (John 5:22–23, 27; Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 5:9). Here God the Father is in view. As the earlier citation of Deuteronomy 32:36 showed, the Lord’s authority to judge his people is a “fearful thing” to the guilty (Heb. 10:30–31). How, then, can our author assure us that the mountain we have approached does not hold Sinai’s terrors? The answer lies in the last two features of the heavenly festival, described in the following verse (cf. comment).
The OT roster of faith opened with Abel’s acceptable sacrifice and death (Heb. 11:4), but the cause of his death—his brother’s violence—was not mentioned. Now we hear an echo of God’s accusation against Cain: “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10). Its cry was for avenging justice, but Jesus’ blood intercedes for mercy and forgiveness. God the “judge of all,” who sent his Son into the world to accomplish his will, offering his body as a sacrifice for others’ sins (Heb. 10:5–10), is pleased to grant the petition of that precious blood on our behalf. Thus we may draw near with confidence and enter this heavenly assembly with joyful gratitude (12:28).
In chapter 2 the contrast between the ancient law and the “last days” word of salvation focused on the respective dignities of God’s messengers, as the angels were contrasted to the Son. Now the contrast is between the earthly venue of God’s speech at Sinai and the heavenly source from which the Lord now addresses his new covenant people. Since the Son through whom God speaks “in these last days” (1:2) is enthroned above (8:1–2), he “warns from heaven.” Christ speaks in this inspired “word of exhortation” (13:22), since through this Scripture the Holy Spirit is testifying and God’s voice is heard “today” (3:7, 13, 15; 4:7; 10:15). The exalted Christ’s voice is also heard as he addresses his church through human leaders who teach God’s Word (13:7, 17). Such servants of the Word may seem less splendid than angels, but they are heirs of salvation whom angels are sent to serve (1:14), and through them Jesus Christ, who remains “the same yesterday and today and forever,” teaches and leads his people (13:8).
In its immediate context this promise meant that he would compel the nations to contribute their wealth to his sanctuary (Hag. 2:7–9). Yet Haggai’s imagery transcended its immediate application, as he was evoking imagery used previously by Isaiah to portray the coming day when the Lord’s vengeance would bring destruction not only to the earth’s inhabitants but also to the heaven and its starry host (Isa. 13:13; 34:1–5). Isaiah also prophesied that the present cosmos would be replaced by a new heavens and earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22). NT authors develop this motif (2 Pet. 3:10–13; Rev. 21:1–4). Psalm 102:25–27, cited in Hebrews 1:10–12, predicted that the earth and heavens would wear out and perish, whereas the divine Son who created them remains eternally, unchangeably “the same” (cf. Heb. 13:8). Since the eschatological cosmic “shaking” will remove “things that have been made,” we might have thought that only the Creator himself would remain in its aftermath. Yet our preacher hastens to assure us that God has a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and this unshakable kingdom is his gift to those who believe.
Our response to so gracious a gift must be worship offered in gratitude, reverence, and awe (Heb. 12:28). God the judge of all, for the sake of Jesus the new covenant mediator, has welcomed believers to draw near and worship in his Most Holy Place. Thanksgiving for such privilege must motivate worship that God finds “acceptable,” or pleasing (euarestōs). What pleases God in worship is faith: “Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11:4–6; cf. 10:37–38; 13:15–16). Our grateful joy must be blended with reverence and awe because “our God is a consuming fire” (12:29; cf. Deut. 4:24). He is “our God,” committed to us in covenant, and for that reason he jealously demands our complete trust and allegiance.