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Bro. Bill Nichols
This morning we're going to continue with Hebrews 12 and we'll pick up at verse 18.
I want to read just a short passage and then we'll pray. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor into blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken unto them any more, for they could not endure that which was commended.
And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it should be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.
Let us pray. Most gracious heavenly Father, we honor you.
We honor you because of what you are and who you are. You are the almighty. You are the creator.
You are the all in all. We come here this morning to worship you. Part of our worship will be to read and study your
Holy Scripture. We come here to thank you for the things that you've already done.
For providing for us your Holy Word, that we may study it. Your Holy Spirit, that we may understand what your
Holy Word says. And most of all, your Son. Your Son, that you gave us to intercede with for us, to bear our burden, the burden of the sin that we do.
Take it upon himself and pay for its entirety on the cross. And we ask you to continue to bless us, to continue to bless this country, to bring this country back to the foundational principles that we had when the nation was founded years and years ago.
The principles of Christianity. The principles without which the founding fathers themselves said the country could not endure.
Bless us and keep us. Bring us back to you. Bring our country back to you. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. So, here we go. Verse 18. For you are not coming to the mount that might be touched.
That would be Mount Sinai. That would be the mount that Moses went up on to receive the law.
The mount that might be touched. That burned with fire, knowing to blackness and darkness and tempest.
Now, I want to jump here to Exodus chapter 19 and pick it up at verse 10 and read a bit of the interaction between the
Lord and Moses on Mount Sinai. And the
Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day.
For the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.
And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about saying, Take heed to yourself that ye not go up into the mountain nor touch the border of it.
Whosoever touches the mount shall surely be put to death. So they can go to the foot of the mountain but not on the mountain.
There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through.
Whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mountain.
And then I skipped down to verse 16 and picked it up again. And it came to pass on the third day,
In the morning there were thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain.
And the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether part of the mountain, that's at the foot of the mountain.
And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the
Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of Avernus.
And the whole mount quaked greatly. And the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder.
And Moses spake, and God answered him by voice.
That's as much as I want to read of that passage. That's the incident that the writer of Hebrews is referring to.
Now, the trumpets that we're talking about, Hebrews goes on in verse 19 to say,
And the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of words, which words they that heard entreated, that the word should not be spoken to them any more.
For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart.
Okay, that was Hebrews' rendition of the same event that we just read.
Moses speaking to the people after he'd come down off the mountain. The mountain where God gave
Moses the mosaic laws. So what did Moses do? He said,
I exceedingly fear and quake. So what was there about the law that made
Moses quake and fear? What was
Moses so afraid? I think you did a better job than I'm going to do.
But I'm going to read just read what I said. The problem was not the law. The problem was no man was capable of obeying it.
And as a result, Mount Sinai became a symbol for something both forbidding and terrifying.
As you said, the repercussions of not obeying the law and no one could obey the law, the repercussions were going to be exceedingly fierce.
But there's something coming as terrifying as Sinai was. Something is coming that is even more terrifying.
And what would that be? Well, I'll give you a hint.
We're going to talk about it the rest of the day. Judgment. For ye are not coming to the mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, nor into blackness and darkness and tempest.
That was verse 18. Our destination, however, is not Mount Sinai. We're not heading that way, are we?
That's in the past. That's already happened. Moses dealt with that. The people of Israel dealt with that, but we didn't.
Nor is our destination the earthly Mount Zion. That's the mountain on which the city of Jerusalem was built.
So what is our destination? Our destination is the heavenly Mount Zion, God's abode in the heavens, which is inviting and gracious.
Now to repeat what we just said. No one could please
God on Sinai's terms by fulfilling the law. Not just fulfilling it, a perfect fulfillment of the law.
Galatians makes that clear. Galatians 3 verse 10.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law for them to do.
So, Dave, how many things could they fail to do? Okay, I said that backwards,
I guess. They could fail to do them all. How many fail to do, how many of them would lead to their being cursed?
Just one of them, any one of them was enough to curse them. So you had to have a perfect fulfillment of the law, and no one is capable of that.
And then it goes on to say, but that no man is justified of the law. That's not why you are justified.
But no man is justified of the law in the sight of God. It is evident for the just shall live by faith.
Where else have you heard that phrase? The just shall live by faith. There are four places.
Can you name any other one? It's found in Romans.
It's found here in Galatians. It's found in an Old Testament book,
Habakkuk. We went through that. And it's found in one other book. Which one is that?
It's found earlier in Hebrew. And by the way, how many of those were written by Paul?
I believe three. Most people believe two. A lot of people believe three but are not willing to say more than two.
They say, well, we're not sure of Hebrews because it's not written quite the same. My argument would be, yes, but Hebrews was not written to the same people that Galatians and Rome was written to.
What people... I don't know how to say plural or singular. What people was
Galatians written to? Jew or Gentile? Galatians was
Gentile. What about Romans? Gentile.
Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. What people were
Hebrews written to? Jews, Hebrews.
And what about Habakkuk? Everybody. But strictly you could say
Jew. So if Hebrews was not written by Paul, then we know who did write it, don't we?
The Holy Spirit wrote all four of those. And the author was not really the author.
He was only the appendant. He only wrote it down. Well, I didn't mean to go there, but I just had to comment on that as we went by.
The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith. But the man that doeth them shall live in them.
What does that say? It says, brother, if you want to obey the law, you got to obey them all.
And if you fell on one of them, you might as well have fallen on all because you're cursed.
But you don't have to live on the law. It goes on to say, verse 13,
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So we don't have to pay for our own sins.
Who paid for them? Therefore, the heavenly
Mount Zion is accessible to all, to all those who come to Jesus, I'm sorry, come to God through Jesus.
How many else? What other way can you come to God? No other way, only through Jesus Christ.
Does that make Christianity an exclusive religion? It surely does.
And it's exclusive to whom? God's people, God's chosen people, those that he preordained before the making of the earth.
Well, let's go on. I want to touch three words, and I'm going to tell you before I get there, before I read this, that all three of these phrases,
Mount Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, all of those refer to heaven.
So three synonyms for heaven in this verse, verse 22. But if you are come into Mount Zion, I say heaven, and into the city of the living
God, heaven, and to the heavenly Jerusalem, heaven, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
All right, a couple of things. The church of the firstborn. Who is the firstborn? Jesus. The firstborn is
Jesus Christ. The church of the firstborn. Who's that?
Is that the church of Christ? Absolutely it is.
It is the church of Christ. Is it any other church? No, no matter what we call ourselves, if we're not the church of Christ, we're not the church of Christ.
And even if we call ourselves the church of Christ, we're not necessarily the church of Christ. Who is the church of Christ?
Those written in the Lamb's book before time began.
Those are the church of Christ. Part of them. There's another phrase here.
The church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. When was it written in heaven?
Before the earth was formed. And to God. We know who
God is, but He specifies the judge of all. And the spirits of just men made perfect.
Now, just men made perfect. Those are the people from which
He chose His people in chapter 11 to list them.
When He began with all the people by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.
All of these people by faith. He was selecting from the just men made perfect.
So here we go. The church is comprised of believers who are fellow heirs with Christ.
The preeminent one. The preeminent one among many brethren.
The just men made perfect are those Old Testament saints in distinction from the church of the firstborn who are the
New Testament believers. Okay. Verse 24. And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Now, I'm going to add to that phrase something that the author of Hebrews didn't put in. That would talk about all sacrifices done under the law and done prior to the law.
Abel's sprinkling was done prior to the law. Abraham's sprinkling was done prior to the law.
In the old days, the head of the household, the one who got the birthright to be the spiritual leader, that person offered the sacrifice for the whole family.
After Moses, that duty fell to the priest. But before Moses, the sprinkling was like that of Abel.
And after Moses, the sprinkling was still like that of Abel.
Okay. Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God. Not Cain's, but Abel's was.
So why was Abel's sacrifice pleasing to God? Because it was offered in faith and obedience.
He did it because he believed, and he did it in obedience to the instructions that God gave him.
Why was Cain's offering not acceptable? Because it was vegetable?
No, because it was not given as was required by the instructions given by God.
He knew the instructions. He just chose to go his own way. He says, I will take my own way to God.
And God said, no, you won't. Nimrod said, I will make my way to God by building a tower.
And God says, you can build it, but it will fall. You have no other way to God except through Jesus Christ.
Can't say that enough. And if we don't get through as far as I want to get today, I think it's well worth mentioning.
You can get to God by no way other than through Jesus Christ. Okay, I'll go back and read what
I meant to say. Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God because it was offered in faith and obedience.
But it had no atoning power. Only Jesus' blood is sufficient to cleanse sin.
All Abel's sacrifice could do was push it back one more year. All the priests could do every year was push it back one more year.
Only God's blood is sufficient to cleanse sin. John in 1
John 1 -7 says this. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we will have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Not some of it, all of it. The sacrifice of Christ brought redemption, forgiveness, and complete salvation.
And those are all better things than that of Abel. The blood of Abel, temporary covering.
The blood of Christ, eternal salvation. Okay, I am going to go ahead and read
Colossians 1 beginning at verse 12. Colossians 1 verse 12.
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things and by Him all things consist.
And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Him by Him. By Him, I say, whether they be things of the earth or things in heaven.
And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath
He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you a holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.
Whew! That was a mouthful. What does that say? You owe it all to Christ.
It's not for what you did. It's for what He did. Verse 25, see that you refuse not
Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not, who refused
Him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.
Now what that saying is, as bad as the consequences for the apostates prescribed under the law, if you fell away under the law, your consequences were bad.
But as bad as those consequences are, the consequences to be experienced and the expected terror are far greater for those who turn away from Jesus.
Turning away from the law is bad enough. Turning away from Jesus is even worse. Verse 26, now it looks like we're going to get through, but we're not,
I don't think. There's only two more verses in Hebrews, I believe, in Hebrews 12.
26, whose voice then shook the earth. When?
On the mountain. Back at the mountain. Whose voice then shook the earth, but now hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. Now, actually,
He shook the earth at least four times. And I'm going to get you to help me sort these things out, and I'll tell you what
I'm talking about. But as we read the following verses, and I've got a whole slew of them listed, and I'm going to read some of them.
As we read the following verses, ask yourself, when? That is to say, has this already happened, or is it a future event?
Now, we just read an event at Mount Sinai, and I'll give you a heads up on this one.
This one's already happened. This one happened back at the time of Moses. At Mount Sinai, as we just read,
God shook the earth. Now, what is He just now saying? He's going to shake it some more.
Another place He shook the earth. Can you think of another place where God shook the earth?
Now, I'm thinking four places, four times. I'm sorry.
At the crucifixion at Calvary is what I said, at Calvary. And I've got a couple of things, and two or three things tied together.
Darkness, things in heaven, and things on the earth. Shaking the earth would just be shaking the earth.
That's what happened at Mount Sinai. Here's something else happened, and I'll pick it up in Matthew 27, verse 45, and it says,
Now from the sixth hour, that's in the morning, there was darkness.
I think that's at noon. From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
So for us, that would be from 12 to 3. That would be the sun didn't show its light for three hours.
And then going on down further in Matthew 27, it says, And Jesus, when
He had cried again with a loud voice, now this is about three hours later, yielded up the ghost.
And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.
And the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to many.
Now when the centurion and they that were with Him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
Truly, this was the Son of God. Now, that same event is chronicled in two other of the
Gospels. I'm not going to read those two for the purpose of time, but in Mark 15, picking up at 33 through 39,
I'll start it. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, and then
Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and they gave Him something to drink, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain, what tore it apart, the earth, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the centurion which stood over against Him cried out and said,
Truly, this is a man of God. This man is the Son of God, not a man of God, a
Son of God. And Luke 23, 44 says the same thing.
Darkness over the earth, sun darkened, veil of the temple rent. So now we're going to go on.
So we've taken two incidents. What? Giving of the law and Jesus bearing the sins of us all, the crucifixion.
Those two events. Now from Zion, He is going to shake the heavens and the earth.
In fact, He's going to shake the entire universe at times. But I believe there's two distinctive shakings going on here, and I just listed a bunch of them, and I'm going to start reading some.
The first one is Isaiah 13, 13, and you won't get enough out of the passage that I cited to make a decision on which one this one is.
Isaiah 13, 13, Therefore I shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, and the wrath of the
Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger. So we got that shaking.
What's it shaking? The heaven and the earth. And then
Isaiah 34, verse 4, And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved.
That would be the stars. And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down.
Stars will fall out of the sky as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
Well, when do you think that occurs? Well, we're going to come to two events that we can place accurately, and then we will decide which of the two they are if we get back to this point.
Isaiah 65, verses 17 -21,
For behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come to mind.
But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.
For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. And the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
There shall no more fence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not fulfilled his years.
For a child shall die a hundred years old, but the sinner, being a hundred years old, shall be accursed.
Now, can you place that event? When did that event take place? When is it that a child, if a person dies at a hundred years old, you say he was but a child, in the
Millennial Kingdom? So this is after the Great Tribulation and before the
Millennial Kingdom, because the new heaven and the new earth is going to be created, and in it, a child shall live, a child that lives a hundred years will be thought accursed.
And people will generally live throughout the entire Millennial Kingdom. Okay, so we've got that one.
Now we're going to go to another one. But now I want to make something very clear.
A child shall die. People are there, and people are still dying. In the
Millennial Kingdom, people occupy the kingdom, physical, real people, just like we are, but with better health.
And they live, and some of them die. People are living and dying in the
Millennial Kingdom. Now we're going to go to 2 Peter 3, verse 10.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye be in all holy conversation in godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the
Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Okay. How many people are alive at that point? How many people are going to live and die after this?
They're all going to be gone. When the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works therein are burned up, there is nobody left to be living.
Okay. Let's go on. This brother David talked about last week,
Revelation 6, 12. And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake.
The earth shook, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.
And the star of heaven fell unto the earth, even as fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
And the heavens depart as a scroll when it's rolled together, and every mountain and island is moved out of the places.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the den and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and the rocks,
Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand?
Now when is that? Is that in the event that Peter described when everything melted away with fire?
Or is this more like the Millennial Kingdom? This is like going into the
Millennial Kingdom. The sixth seal, I believe, and brother David, correct me if I'm wrong, the sixth seal,
I believe, is talking about events that take us into the Millennial Kingdom.
That's what you think? Now we're going to go to one more. Verse 20.
And I saw a great white throne. Did I tell you what book this is?
I don't have to, do I? This is Revelation 20, verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.
So where's the earth and heaven now? There's not one. They fled away.
And there was found no place for them. And then down to 21, Revelation 21.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride going for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people.
And God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, not the millennial kingdom anymore, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
And he that sitteth upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And I'm going to skip much more.
There's some more passages in Isaiah and some passages in Joel.
And there's a passage out of Haggai where he's talking about shaking the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, shaking, shaking, blackness, darkness, all signs of his wrath.
Isaiah 2 .19, They shall go into holes of rocks and into caves in the earth for fear of the
Lord. I'll stop there. Isaiah 24,
Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, maketh it a waste, turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad all the inhabitants thereof.
That's a shaking that went on earlier. And here's a shaking that goes on later.
And the earth is utterly broken down. The earth is clean, dissolved, and the earth is moved exceedingly.
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard. And now we're going to go back to Hebrew 27.
Hebrew 12, verse 27. And this word, Yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Now here's what he's saying. Everything physical, that is to say, the things being shaken, everything physical will be destroyed.
Only eternal things, things that cannot be shaken, will remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve
God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
God's law, given at Sinai, prescribed many severe punishments, but the punishment is far worse for those who reject
His offer of salvation through His own Son, Jesus Christ. And I want to remind you one more time of Hebrews 10, verses 29 through 34, of how much sore punishment
Sabogie thought he to be worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
He was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done the spite unto the
Spirit of grace. For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth to me.
I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge His people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. But call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions.
That's kind of where we are right now. We're enduring a great fight of afflictions.
But we are looking forward to a better day. We're looking forward past the tribulation, past the millennial kingdom, past the earth melting away with fervor and heat, past all physical things being shaken and destroyed, and only spiritual things remaining.
We're looking forward to heavenly Jerusalem, God's abode, where we are received with grace if we come to God through Jesus Christ.
Well, that's it for me. If you've got any questions or comments, if not, a quick prayer.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us the assurance that we have waiting for us a better kingdom, a kingdom that involves the real us, not the physical me, but the spiritual me, not flesh and blood and not possessions, none of the things that we think are so important here on this world, not even our country, as much as we love it, has anything to compare to what we are promised.
Take us through these times of hardship. Bless us and keep us. Make us strong.
Make us able to persevere. Give us the courage to meet whatever oppression, whatever discipline you might have in store for us.
And we know that we're not being punished for our evil doing. God Himself, Jesus Christ, took all of that punishment for us.
We are only being disciplined to obey as a son should obey.