Day 842: A warning we mustn't ignore - Hebrews 12 vs 18 - 25

18-21 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.” 22-23 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly (church) of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, 24 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.

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. Hebrews 12:18-25 English Standard Version.

In the verses just before today's reading the writer had said: “Strive for peace with everyone - and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God.” His concern was that none of the mainly Jewish Christians he was writing to should turn back from their commitment to Christ and miss out on the glorious hope set before them. So he first uses the incident in the Old Testament when God had given Moses the Ten Commandments on a mountain in the Sinai desert. It had been a terrifying experience for the Israelites as they saw something of the awesomeness of God. But what was the wonderful contrast that the gospel message had now brought them to? (vs 22-23)

What amazing words those are. The gospel is a message that brings men and women not to an earthly mountain or an earthly city, but to the spiritual realities of all that the Old Testament had spoken of. The physical Jerusalem had been built on Mount Zion, but the gospel calls us to the heavenly dwelling place of God. It is a realm where angels surround God's throne. And who else is in this wonderful realm that the gospel calls us to? (vs 24)

Verses 22-23 said that the gospel brings men and women into the Church that Jesus established in the world made up of people whose names were recorded in heaven itself. But vs 24 goes on to speak of believers (from the Old Testament and New Testament days) who had left this world through death, and refers to them as 'the spirits of the righteous made perfect'. What a lovely picture that is. They did not yet have their resurrection bodies, but they were already in the bliss of God's presence without any sin to drag them down. The reason for that was because Jesus had shed His blood to blot out their transgressions. In the 'last supper' He had with His disciples before going to the cross, Jesus had taken the cup of wine and said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:20)

So the gospel message calls men and women to fellowship with the God of heaven, and to forgiveness of all our sin. It didn't come with blazing fire and a trembling mountain, but came from the lips and through the life of One who was so gentle that it was said of Him: “He will not crush the weakest reed, or put out a flickering candle.” (Matthew 12:20) But though it came so gently, it doesn't mean that the consequences of rejecting it, or turning from Jesus, are any less serious. See the urgent words the writer uses in vs 25.

The same God who thundered at Sinai and showed His awesomeness, spoke gently through His beloved Son and showed His mercifulness. If it was foolish to ignore His fiery warnings at Sinai, how much more foolish it is if we ignore the gospel that came through Jesus. There will be no escaping from judgment if we do that.