Hebrews 12:18-24 - Homiletics

Sinai and Zion.

This grand passage, extending to the end of the chapter, forms a magnificent finale to the lengthened general exhortation to constancy, beginning at Hebrews 10:19 , which occupies so important a place in the Epistle. The verses before us exhibit a highly wrought and impressive contrast between the Mosaic and the Christian dispensations. Mount Sinai is the emblem of the one, Mount Zion of the other. And Zion is incomparably superior to Sinai, in the privileges and blessings which flow from it.

I. A PICTURE OF THE OLD REVELATION AT SINAI . ( Hebrews 10:18-21 ) The nature of the dispensation inaugurated there was reflected in the character of the scene on occasion of the giving of the Law. The old economy was:

1. Sensuous. Sinai was "a mount that might be touched" ( Hebrews 10:18 ); i.e. a tangible, palpable, physical mountain. The expression suggests the ceremonialism which was so prominent a feature of the Mosaic dispensation. The scene at Sinai was spectacular ; and Judaism, in like manner, was a religion of externals. Its teaching was elemental, because elementary, Its ritual was sensuous. Its precepts were sustained by earthly sanctions.

2. Obscure. When God came down upon Sinai, he made "blackness and darkness" his pavilion; he revealed himself in flame and storm. This is an emblem of the clouded character of the Old Testament revelation. Under it the plan of redemption still remained veiled in mystery. "The way into the holy place was not yet made manifest" ( Hebrews 9:8 ). The Jews, in their ignorance and weakness, could only bear a shaded, shadowy, portentous manifestation of truth.

3. Exclusive. God spoke at Horeb only to one small nation, gathered before him there on the plain, and separated by the rocks and passes of the desert from the great peoples of the world. The Jews were a little flock, and the Shepherd of Israel shut them into a little fold by themselves.

4. Remote. The Hebrews dared not approach the God who revealed himself to them. The mountain was fenced round, and the stern penalty of death was threatened upon the trespasser ( Hebrews 10:20 ). Similarly, while the Mosaic economy granted a certain access to God, and Israel was "a people near unto him," this access was yet not the most real. For Jehovah, to the mind of the Jew, was clothed with thunder; legal barriers stood between him and sinful men; and the Levitical system was saturated with ceremonial restrictions. Moses could not be an adequate mediator for Israel, to bring them to God; at the giving of the Law he was himself smitten with fear and trembling ( Hebrews 10:21 ).

5. Terrible. This is the most prominent feature of the whole picture. At Sinai the lightnings flashed and the thunder rolled; the trump of God sent forth its wild weird blasts, and the awful voice of the Eternal spoke the ten "words" ( Hebrews 10:19 ). But the people could not endure the revelation. They crouched and cowered in terror.

"When God of old came down from heaven,

In power and wrath he came;

Before his feet the clouds were riven,

Half darkness and half flame.

"Around the trembling mountain's base

The prostrate people lay;

A day of wrath, and not of grace;

A dim and dreadful day."

(Keble)

Now, this awful scene symbolized the spirit and genius of the old dispensation. The Law inspired terror. It was "the ministration of death" and of "condemnation." It "bore children unto bondage." The ceremonial system became an unbearable yoke, by reason of its burdensome constraints; while the moral law pronounced its pitiless curses upon the disobedient.

6. Temporary. Sinai rears its shaggy cliffs of granite in the naked wilderness, and Israel made only a year's encampment there. The tented plain of the desert was not their home. And so the dispensation set up at Mount Sinai was provisional and preparatory. It was only to stand until, under the Divine leading, the Church should be brought to the spiritual Mount Zion, and to the heavenly Jerusalem as its "city of habitation."

II. A CONTRASTED PICTURE OF THE NEW REVELATION AT ZION . ( Hebrews 10:22-24 ) Although we did not attempt to trace the various points of comparison in detail, we should yet be impressed with the contrast as seen in the large outlines of the two pictures, and in their general tone and color. The new economy, as represented by Mount Zion, is:

1. Spiritual. The Church of Jesus Christ is the ideal Zion. It is also "the heavenly Jerusalem," the metropolis of the mediatorial kingdom. The New Testament system of religion is inward, supersensible, experimental. The types and ceremonies of Sinai have passed away. The matter of the new revelation is more spiritual. Christianity speaks of righteousness, not of ritual. The gospel laws are written upon the heart.

2. Clear. No night, or cloud, or storm gathers around Mount Zion; its very name means "sunny." The Sun of righteousness shines upon its towers and palaces, gilding them with brightness and beauty. The new covenant is "clear as the sun" in its teachings. It has given the world the most advanced truth; and it presents that truth in the simplest and the most explicit form.

3. All-embracing. Mount Sinai stands in the lonely and silent desert; but Mount Zion is the center of a populous city, whose teeming inhabitants are cosmopolitans. The Jewish Church was shut out from intercourse with the rest of the world; but our fellow-citizens under the new covenant are:

4. Access-giving. At Sinai "the people stood afar off." They could not draw near to God. The presence of his attending angels brought them no confidence. The mediation of Moses could not remove the barrier of their guilt. But now the great invitation is, "Come." The sum of gospel privilege is expressed in the words, "Ye are come" ( Hebrews 10:22 ). Believers have been admitted to the mount and city of God, to the companionship of his angels, to the fellowship of his redeemed saints, and into his very presence as the righteous "Judge, the God of all." And to what are we indebted for this access? We have come to God, because we have come "to Jesus," and have been sprinkled with his "blood" ( Hebrews 10:24 ). Christ and his blood are the ground of all our blessings, and the sum of all. The nail-pierced hand of a better Mediator than Moses has opened for us the door of access.

5. Genial. The scene at Sinai was terrific; but all is peaceful in the sunny garden-city of Zion. It is true that the punishments connected with the new dispensation are far more dreadful than the merely spectacular terrors of the old; but these occupy the background of the picture, while at Sinai the terrors were in the foreground. And all who really come "to the blood of sprinkling" are safe. The atmosphere of the new covenant is balmy and genial by reason of the merit of that blood. Abel spoke ( Hebrews 11:4 ) by his sacrifice only of a coming atonement and a future redemption; but Christ's blood certifies that these blessings have been secured. And so the whole panorama of Zion is genial and attractive. Its verdure is unfading ( Psalms 72:6 ); all is winsome and gladsome and serene.

6. Final. "The heavenly Jerusalem" is "the city which hath the foundations" ( Hebrews 11:10 ). The life of the Church now is no longer a tent-life. It has exchanged the tabernacle for the true temple. The covenant of which Jesus is the Mediator is a "new," i.e. (according to the Greek in Hebrews 10:24 ) a fresh covenant, one that shall never become stale or old. The kingdom of heaven is a "kingdom that cannot be shaken" ( Hebrews 10:28 ). As this whole picture embraces the entire history of the Christian Church, its truthfulness will be more and more appreciated as the centuries roll on, and most of all in the times of the latter-day glory.

CONCLUSION . The practical improvement of this graphic and pregnant passage is indicated in the solemn verses which follow.