Hebrews: The Daily Discipline of a Devoted LifeSample

The contrast between the old and new covenants is symbolised in this passage by two mountains: Mount Sinai, the literal, physical mountain where God gave the law to Israel; and Mount Zion, the spiritual, eternal mountain representing the kingdom of God. 

Mount Sinai was a mountain shrouded in fear, as God appeared in ‘fire … darkness, gloom and storm’ (v. 18, cf. Exodus 19:16–19) to bring the Ten Commandments to his old covenant people, Israel. Sinai was a fearful place because the God who appeared on the mountain was unapproachable due to human sin. If you even touched the foot of the mountain on which he appeared, you had to be stoned to death (v. 20, cf. Exodus 19:12–13). 

That same God meets new covenant believers on the spiritual Mount Zion, but the meeting is much more joyous and liberating! Christ’s blood has ensured that every Christian can now enter God’s holy presence with confidence and boldness. Sin is dealt with, and every week when we worship on earth alongside God’s people, we join this heavenly gathering of ‘righteous men made perfect’ (v. 23) and ‘angels in joyful assembly’ (v. 22) to worship God through the power of Jesus’ sacrifice. 

It’s a scene that reminds me of Charles Wesley’s great hymn ‘And can it be that I should gain’ with its words: ‘Bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown through Christ my own.’* God is no longer fenced off and fearful. He is Father, and he invites us to come and worship in the heavenly sanctuary that used to have barbed wire placed around it. 

But the joy of the heavenly Zion does not mean we can treat our place in this new kingdom lightly (vv. 25–29). We cannot approach our Saviour in any old way, but ‘with reverence and awe’ (v. 28), acknowledging the price that was paid to get us here – the blood of Christ – and the fact that God is as holy as he has always been. 

Our salvation has not been purchased because God has lowered his standards – deciding to be softer on sin in the New Testament age than he was in the Old. Not at all! God has dealt with sin ferociously, but his fury has been poured out on Christ, and grace is ours. It’s not cheap grace brought on by a relaxation of holiness, but costly grace achieved through the death of the Son of God, ‘for our “God is [still] a consuming fire”’ (v. 29). 

Reflection

Do you worship God as if he were a ‘consuming fire’? 

*Wesley, Charles (1707-78), And can it be that I should gain