Which Mountain?

The Old Testament Reading: Sinai’s Fearsome Holiness

Please stand in honor of God's word. The Old Testament reading is in Exodus chapter 19 beginning in verse 7. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

All the people answered together and said All that the Lord has spoken we will do and Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses behold I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and they also believe you forever.

When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord the Lord said to Moses Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day for on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people and And you shall set limits for the people all around saying take care Not to go up into the mountain or to touch the edge of it.

Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot whether beast or man. He shall not live when the Trumpet sounds a long blast. They shall come up to the mountain.

So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people and they washed their garments and Said to the people be ready for the third day and do not go near a woman. I'm in the morning of the third day.

There were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain. And a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled when Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and They took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke went up like a smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly and As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses spoke and God answered him in thunder the Lord.

The Lord came down on Mount Sinai To the top of the mountain and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses go down and warn the people lest they break.

Through the lust they break through to the Lord to look Look and may not even perish. Also, let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves lest the Lord break out against them and Moses said to the Lord the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai for your for you yourself warned us saying set limits on the mountain and consecrate it and The Lord said to him go down and come up bringing Aaron with you.

But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord lest he break out against them.

So Moses went down to the people and told them a New Testament reading is Revelation 21 1 through 4. Then I saw a new heaven in a new earth for the first heaven in the first earth that passed away and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself would be with them as they as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.

Coming to Hebrews 12:18-24

Let's take our Bibles once more and return To the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. I'm gonna be reading verses 18 through 29. Which contains our text today of 18 through 24, please follow as I read for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and Darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg.

That no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned indeed. So terrifying was the sight that Moses said I tremble with fear.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering and To the assembly of the firstborn who enroll 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.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not escape when they refused him when warned Who warned them on earth. Much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth.

But now he has promised yet once more I shall shake not only the earth but also the heavens. This 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.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving the kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God Acceptable worship with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire. Let's pray Father we embark now in understanding the Word of God and This is not just any book.

But your word living words words that can shape us words that can change us. Words that will change our attitudes and our thoughts and our behavior a word that offers conviction and hope. It offers us help.

I pray that your word would have its effect on this people granted Granted father for your glory and our good. And we'll thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Two weekends ago Beck and I were in Portland, Oregon the Pacific Northwest.

And when you're in that city, you can look out at different areas and see these gigantic mountains they stand above all the rest and and if you were going hiking up there you might say well What mountain do I want to hike on?

Well, what should I look for? You could go to Mount Jefferson, which is 10 ,402 feet above the ground or Lassen Peak which is 45 feet shorter and You say well 45 feet isn't much. I'll just go to the one that's closest to the city of Portland.

I'll fly to Portland and I'll. Either one's fine with me. What if I told you that Mount Jefferson was a volcano and Mount Lassen was just another mountain. And what if I told you that two days before you got there that Jefferson had erupted and there was lava coming down the sides and things were blowing up off the top of it and there was smoke all over the place and and.

These huge.

Flames shooting up in the air, which one would you choose to. Which one would you choose to climb? Well, my guess is you'd probably take the safe one. Steer away from the volcano. When our text this morning our author describes two mountains that we can come to Mount Sinai and Mount Zion.

One is terrifying while the other is welcoming which one would you choose?

Which one would you choose?

But we're not merely talking about mountains here. We're talking about different approaches to God.

Now.

These two mountains have much to do with endurance or perseverance. They still our author is still moving us in the direction of Understanding our perseverance our endurance in the face of persecution and the temptation to relieve the pressure By abandoning Jesus and remember that the hearers of of this lengthy sermon have experienced imprisonment ridicule Humiliation and even the loss of their property because they follow Jesus.

And so what does God tell you? That will help you to endure in the midst of this these kinds of circumstances. Well, we've seen it. He's told us like the heroes of old. You've got to bank on the promises of God.

You've got to live through the trial with the promises of God. You bank on those promises and like Jesus He says you must believe God's promises. And he also says you've got to gain an encouraging perspective in the midst of your trials that in your trials God is treating you as a son and That he's using even Persecution to move you closer to move you towards holiness and righteousness and peace.

He's told us that endurance is a team effort that we're in this together and we strengthen one another for the battle. He's told us as we saw a couple weeks ago that it requires holiness and peace and Vigilance.

And now we come to verses 18 through 24. Let's read them again for you've not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom. I'm sorry for you have now come to what may be touched a Blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg That no no further messages be spoken to them for they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches The mountain it shall be stoned.

Indeed so terrifying was the sight that Moses said I tremble with fear. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and 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 here.

He still speaks to us the perseverance of endurance in the midst of trials and persecution. He says for for he says for that is in the light of all I've said about persevering because of the fact that you must pursue peace and holiness and rebuff those influences that would Lure you away from Jesus.

Our pastor writer says you must see endurance in light of these two mountains. These will determine how you endure. He says you've not come to Mount Sinai now you say well. It doesn't say Mount Sinai.

It doesn't identify. No, but the description he gives is a description that we read in Ezekiel. I'm sorry Exodus 19 the when they came to Mount Sinai. He describes Mount Sinai here. This is the mount where God establishes covenant with the people of Israel.

He's saying you haven't come To this covenant. You haven't come to this one. He's just summarizing in these verses. He's just summarizing everything. He has said to us in the rest of the book of Hebrews.

This is a summary if you will. Jesus is superior to the Old Covenant and he's established the new covenant. Well, what was Mount Sinai like when he established that covenant with Israel? Well, you could touch it.

You say wait a minute. It just said a little bit ago. You couldn't touch it. Well, you could touch it in the sense of it was an earthly Mountain it was part of the created order that will pass away. You see in that sense.

It could be touched. I remember what he told us in chapter 9. You remember he said things like this not even the first covenant now even the first covenant has regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. Then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation.

Right.

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rights. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices and these for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands Which are copies of the true things but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

You remember all the way he emphasized that the tabernacle was earthly and would pass away same with Mount Sinai. It's something that's part of the created order. It's going to pass away. He says you have not come to the mount that will pass.

Away.

Nevertheless as God descended in all his holiness this mountain proved to be dreadful in sight and in sound. Blazing fire. God descended on this mountain with blazing fire fire. It's like fire erupting from a volcano.

As he descended on that mountain there was darkness gloom and tempest. Darkness and gloom as as smoke surrounded this mountain and and and as as.

As.

A thick cloud.

Surrounded that mountain not to mention he said something about a tempest. There must have been some wind blowing or something was happening. That was just frightful. The people were stunned by the sound of a trumpet that kept getting louder and louder and louder.

And the people were also given a horrifying message Don't touch that mountain or you will die and even if an animal touches that mountain he must die. That's a horrifying message and the whole site was Disturbing.

It produced this appalling fear on their part. The people were so frightened by the sight and the sound of it all that Moses writes in Exodus 20. Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and.

The mountain.

Smoking the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses You speak to us and we will listen but do not let God speak to us lest we die. They were so terrified. They were so frightened that they were saying if God speaks to us, we're gonna die.

You you talk to us you you tell us what he says. Moses himself it says in our text found himself trembling which is interesting because this is the one that God spoke to face-to-face. And yet at this site He was horrified.

In short coming to this mountain was an absolutely terrifying.

Experience.

It would be like. It would be like standing at the foot of a volcano as a tornado passed over you while you're fleeing someone who's threatened to kill you. Can you imagine that. Would you be calm in that kind of a situation?

I don't think so. This is where they found themselves as they stood at the foot of that mountain. The glory of the Lord consecrated that mountain with his dangerous holiness. This was a holiness so dreadful.

So dreadful and terrifying that it made approaching God Impossible. That's what that mountain is like. But isn't that how our pastors described the Old Covenant all the way through the book? Under the Old Covenant God was unapproachable cut off from the people you approach God through Priests and high priests and rituals and sacrifice except that.

Only the high priest could really come into his presence and he could only do it once a year. There were barriers to approaching God and our writer says you've not come to this mountain. You've not come to that mountain.

That's not the mountain you've come to now remember some of his congregation in order to relieve the pressure of persecution. We're heading back to that mountain. That's part of what he's saying here.

Remember some in order to relieve the pressure of temptation of being followers of Jesus said well. We'll just go back to the legal religion of Judaism. At least we'll we'll stay out of trouble that way.

But essentially he's saying oh, yeah, you can go that way, but this is the mountain you're going to come to then. They may want to reduce the pressure of persecution, but in so doing they return to this terrifying mountain.

Do you want to abandon this gracious Savior for the terror of that Old Covenant now he says Dear people when it comes to living for Jesus for enduring persecution. You have not come to that mountain when it comes to the strength that you need to endure in the midst of difficulty in persecution.

You've not gone to that mountain when it comes to persecution. You have a high priest who sympathizes with you. Right, he's walked in your shoes. He sympathizes with you and he's the one who represents you to God when it comes to endurance.

You have the promises of God not the threats. You have the promises of God when it comes to hardship. You have the fatherly love of God. That's what you have. You haven't come to this mountain. You've not come to that mountain when it comes to living for Jesus.

You've not come to this mountain. He says instead you have come to Mount Zion. Verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God to heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering into 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. Now what is Mount Zion? What is Mount Zion you see that seen all the way through the Old Testament in the Psalms and the prophets even in the historical narratives?

Mount Zion. Well, let's put it this way the seventh seven years into his reign over Israel David conquered a Jebusite city called Jerusalem. It belonged to the Jebusites. He conquered it. He made the capital capital.

Zion was one of the hills on which Jerusalem rested and soon Jerusalem was also known as Zion or Mount Zion. Solomon built his temple specifically on that particular hill on Mount Zion. Thus it was identified as the dwelling place of God on earth.

On Mount Zion is where he was. It was the city chosen by God above all the other tribes by which he would put in which he would put his name. It was the meeting place between God and man and became the center of all their religious affection.

And so you read things like this in Psalm 48. 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.

Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress. Let Mount Zion be glad let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. Walk about Zion go around her number. Her towers consider.

Well her ramparts go through her citadels that you may tell the next generation that this is God Our God forever and ever he will guide us forever. This was I it was the city of the living God. Now, where have you come?

You've come to Zion the city of the Living God, which he identifies now as.

The heavenly.

Jerusalem this now is the heavenly Jerusalem. Mount Zion is no longer in a place in the Modern-day state of Israel, even though there's still a Mount Zion there. That's not where the Zion is any longer.

It's a heavenly city a heavenly Jerusalem. It's the city that will one day descend to earth. We heard it already this morning in our New Testament reading. I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no More and I saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Mount Zion has not come down yet is in a spiritual realm. But we have already have access to it. We have full citizenship in it. It is accessible to us. It was once the meeting place between God and man For the old covenant people it is now the meeting place for God and man for the new covenant people of God.

And our writer has already assured us Since we have a great high priest over the house of God. We can draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. We have access to this heavenly Zion. He says you've come to innumerable angels in festal gathering.

What an incredible picture that is. I mean, I've got a particular picture in my mind when I read that now the old covenant. Well, look back at chapter 2 real quick. Chapter 2 verse 1. He's remember. It's been a long time ago.

Pastor Andrew asked me this morning. Hey, do you remember how you described? How Jesus is described in chapter 1 and I said no. And I thought I thought well just calling everybody else they remember all my sermons.

That's right.

That is the right response to that. All right, but let's look just as a reminder Hebrews 2. Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we've heard lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by Angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just restribution How shall we escape if we neglect such a great?

Salvation. You remember that Old Covenant message was delivered by angels in all its terror and dread. Angels were there and all that fire and smoke and dread and terror angels were there. But now you see them at a heavenly.

Festival.

You don't see them as they're described in Deuteronomy. Where they came with that Old Covenant you see them instead in Festal gathering you see angels. Not pointing you see angels not gathered to punish but rather to party.

Right. They're not pointing to judgment. They're pointing to celebration now. That's the mountain you've come to the place where the angels are Celebrating. Okay. You've come to the assembly of the firstborn.

Enrolled in heaven now what's interesting about this is this is an assembly of firstborn. You say wait a minute. Firstborn that's one person. That's one person who? Who's supposed to receive all the blessing in the inheritance.

But you got a whole bunch of firstborn. How does that work. Simply this. Jesus is the firstborn par excellence. He is the firstborn not not in terms of firstborn as we discussed in Sunday school this morning.

Not as firstborn of creation in sense of he's created first. No, not at all but firstborn in in the sense of favor of the one who will inherit all the blessing and all who have trusted in Jesus are In union with him and thus become the firstborn.

All the people of Christ are the firstborn in light of that Union and our birthright here's the point it's an assembly of people in which our birthright will never be bartered away as Esau did our birthright is guaranteed our Inheritance is guaranteed.

We are the firstborn and we are enrolled in heaven our names are enrolled in the Lamb's Book of Life and. So he envisions here all the Saints from years ago who are now in heaven and us. Today all in this great assembly of people who of the firstborn who've had their names enrolled in the books of heaven.

We are part of that group the church at peace and glory the church militant now on the earth. We are all part of that one assembly. We have come to that assembly. We are part of all those who will inherit Glory, he says you've come you've come to God the judge of all.

Now here he talks about God as the judge. Yet on this mountain. This judge does not strike terror and fear. I I pondered this why does he say God is the judge of all here in the context of? This mountain.

The.

Meeting place between God and us. The place of celebration. The mountain where the heirs of God's riches rejoice in heaven and on earth. Why does he point out that he's the judge of all. Here's what I think.

We've come to the God who vindicates and rewards us. We've come to the God who vindicates and rewards us. This is the judge. Remember chapter 6. Remember this is the judge who is not Unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name and serving the Saints.

This is the judge who looks at you and says I see your service, and I've noted it. I've noted all the things you've done in serving the Saints because you're loving my name by that and I am not gonna overlook that.

I will never overlook any small thing that you have done. That's the judge. It's the judge that will vindicate us before the world on the day of judgment. He will say to the world these have been all always been my people.

These are my people. All of you called them bigots. All of you who called them haters. All of you who called them narrow-minded and Intolerant. Guess what? They're my people. That's the God That we have come to.

This is the God whose judgment will never be against us, but always for us. You've come to the spirit of the righteous made perfect. He's referring here now to the Old Testament saints that we've been looking at in chapter 11 all those who've been declared righteous.

Because of their faith on this mountain you find those Old Testament saints who've gone before us. Their spirits are in heaven. The resurrection hasn't happened yet. So their spirits are in heaven heaven.

They've been declared righteous by their faith and now they're perfected we saw earlier. They're perfected along with us when Jesus came and did the work that he did on the cross. We all reached perfection.

Remember He made perfect. Those are being perfected. Not only do we see them in the record of the Old Testament, but God reveals that they're in heaven. Waiting for you this great cloud of witnesses that we look at.

They're alive. You ever thought that you ever thought that thought. They're alive. They're in heaven. They're waiting for you. You've come to that mountain. You've come to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant.

We've come to Jesus who's brought into force the new covenant. Hasn't this been the burden of the entire book? He's bringing us to this place where he summed it up by talking about this great mountain that we've come to.

And that part of that mountain is that new covenant? Brought into force by Jesus. Haven't we've been told that we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens. Haven't we've been told that we can with confidence draw near to the throne of grace?

Because of that covenant haven't we've been told that we can draw near to God. Because of that new covenant a covenant it does not require rituals and sacrifice and and guards the presence of God. Instead we've come to a covenant that opens the way to God.

God's presence is no longer barred to us his his his his. Person is no longer guarded. We can run into the throne room of God because of this covenant. You've come he says to the sprinkled blood of Jesus.

Just as Moses sprinkled the blood to bring that first covenant into force so Jesus in the same way sprinkled his blood and brought a new covenant into force. A Covenant is always brought into force by blood and Jesus.

Blood sprinkled blood is that which has done it represents the infinitely costly sacrifice of Jesus. His death secured the better promises of the new covenant. His death secured our forgiveness. His death secured the Transformation of our hearts and changed us his death secured access to God.

We've come to this mountain where this new covenant is. We've access to God. We've been changed. We've been forgiven and it speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Well, what's that all about?

Abel's blood was spilled on the ground through the violence of his brother Cain and it cried out to God. It cried out to God Protesting the murder and appealing for justice his blood cried out that his murder was unjust and there should be justice.

But the blood of Jesus spilled with the violence of his opponents Declares to God that his death his blood meets all the demands of justice and Declares a message of forgiveness and cleansing and peace.

It's better than the blood of Abel. It's better than the blood of Abel. So he says you've come to this mountain. This is the mountain you've come to. If you come to this mountain, you will find the strength to endure.

If you realize that this is the mountain you've come to you realize that you will have the strength to endure. It communicates the power to endure. Here You find the meeting place with God the God who judges those who stand against you and rewards you for your faithfulness.

Here you will find celebration and joy. Here You find first the firstborn enrolled in the books of heaven those who along with you have fought the battle And now are at peace. Here you find those faithful ones who believe the promises of God Revealing that those who believe his promises in the midst of trial will have the strength to endure.

Here you find Jesus the new covenant and the sprinkling of his blood Guaranteeing your welcome from God when you you can only persevere when you have hope and this mountain.

Gives you hope.

There's nothing but hope on this mountain, why would you trade that for anything else? So he says you've come to Mount Zion. But this is more than a picture. It's more than a metaphor. It's more than a symbol.

You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. You are on that mountain and here on that mountain the atmosphere.

Is grace.

It's not the acrid smell of smoke and fire. Here you feel welcome joy freedom and communion with God. Some of you here have never trusted Jesus. Listen, I want to tell you something. When you come to Jesus by faith you come to this mountain.

This is what God holds out to you when you say I am a sinner. I have no Claim on you God none. I don't have any. I'm a sinner who deserves your punishment. But I know that Jesus had taken that punishment.

His righteousness can be given to me so that I'm right with you. Then you come to the place where there's freedom and joy. There's grace access to God. Why would you turn away from that. Would you turn away from that?

So he says You have come to Mount Zion to the city of the Living God. Father. How we thank you for a mountain where the atmosphere? is bright and lovely.

Where it's grace.

We can breathe deeply of that Father. Help us to see this is not merely a metaphor. But this is what we truly have through Jesus. Father help us. Help us to realize that we are planted on that mountain when hard times come.

When we are marginalized When we may be persecuted. Help us to remember the mountain upon which we stand. That we might have the strength through grace to follow Jesus. Father remind us That this is our dwelling place now that in every day.

All of these things are true of us. Thank you for your grace so magnificently portrayed to us this morning. God I pray that you would help us to live on this mountain. We thank you then in Jesus name.

Amen.