Listen with Me
Hebrews 12:18-24 (HCSB)
For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. (Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, for they could not bear what was commanded: And if even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned! The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am terrified and trembling. Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to God who is the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, to Jesus (mediator of a new covenant), and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.
Listen with Me
The writer of Hebrews draws another stark contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant for the Jewish Christians who were considering turning back to Judaism in order to escape disapproval and persecution.
The Old Covenant was initially given to the Israelite nation by God’s voice speaking from the top of Mount Sinai. Because God’s presence was there, the people were not allowed to even touch the slope of the mountain, because God was holy, and so the place where He was overflowed with his own holiness. And because the people were not holy, they were to be destroyed if they tried to make contact with the place where God’s presence was manifested.
This prohibition was reinforced by powerful signs: the shrill sound of a loud trumpet, dark clouds lit from within by a bright, fiery glow, and thunder and lightning. Even before God spoke aloud, the people were terrified. And when God’s voice came roaring down from the mountaintop, it was more than they could bear.
But the New Covenant was different, even though some of the signs were similar. The covenant was signed by God when Jesus died on the cross, pouring out His own precious blood as payment for the sins of all mankind. It was ratified when the stone was rolled away from the tomb and Jesus emerged victorious over sin and death.
And it was put into effect on the day of Pentecost, when God’s Holy Spirit descended on the gathered believers, not with a storm, but with the sound of a roaring wind; not with fire burning on a mountaintop, but with flames above the heads of each believer; and not with a trumpet fanfare, but with the joyous sound of more than 100 voices chanting God’s praises in languages they had never learned, but which reached into the ears and hearts of Jewish worshippers from all over the Roman Empire.
The sign of God living among people was no longer the tabernacle in the wilderness or the temple in Jerusalem. It was the transformed lives of the people who believed in Jesus, forming a unique new community: the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, which spread out to fill the whole globe as God’s New Covenant people shared the great good news with their families, friends, neighbors and coworkers, and as more and more people from all walks of life believed and were transformed.
No longer were people cut off from God’s holy presence. Instead, their hearts became the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit who transformed them from the inside out, so that they shared in God’s holiness, and could live in his presence here and now, and on into forever.
Pray with Me
Father, this is amazing! It is easy for us, 2000 years later, to either underestimate what You did through the death and resurrection of Jesus and through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, or to take it for granted. But, Lord, you have brought us into Your very presence through the New Covenant which made all that possible, grafting us into Your people, and opening for us a way into Your kingdom so that we can live with You forever. Help me to live out this reality every day of my life, and to bring more and more people into the reality of Your kingdom. Amen.