“Ararat, Moriah, Sinai, Nebo, Gerizim, Ebal, Carmel, Zion. Those are just a few of the many mountains mentioned in the Bible. What happened at Mt. Ararat? Noah’s ark came to rest there. You may remember that on Mt. Moriah the Lord provided a substitute sacrifice to take the place of the one he asked Abraham to make. There Abraham found a ram caught in a thicket and he sacrificed it to God instead of his son Isaac. What happened at Mt. Sinai? That is where God gave the Ten Commandments and forged a covenant with his people. From the top of Mt. Nebo Moses was allowed to see the Promised Land before he died. After the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land the mountains Gerizim and Ebal served as a sort of amphitheater where the people spoke antiphonally the blessings and curses of the covenant God had made with them. Later in the history of God’s people Elijah had a showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Remember how the LORD sent fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice, the altar, and the water that had been poured over them both. Mt. Zion was the mountain on which much of the city of Jerusalem was built.
Again and again mountains played an important part in God’s interaction with his people. In the verses that we will consider in our sermon this morning we hear about two mountains. These two mountains will allow us to focus on the relationship that God has formed with us through his Son Jesus. We will be encouraged in our worship and praise. We will be motivated in the life of faith we live for God. To lead us to that goal I want you to consider one question:
WHERE DO YOU MEET WITH GOD?
I. At a mountain of fear like Mt. Sinai?
II. Or at a mountain of faith like Mt. Zion?
Since this Letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians they would have been very familiar with the two mountains that I just mentioned. Did you notice that the inspired writer didn’t even name the first mountain? All the Hebrews needed to hear was the description of the mountain and they knew which one it was.
It was Mt. Sinai that was “burning with fire” and covered in “darkness, gloom and storm” when God met with his people there. At Mt. Sinai the ancestors of these Hebrew Christians heard “a trumpet blast” and “a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them.” Even Moses was “trembling with fear” when God showed his glory at Mt. Sinai.
The writer then went on to describe another mountain with which the Hebrews were equally familiar. Mt. Zion was in Jerusalem. Since these Jewish Christians had faith in Jesus as their Savior they also understood that Mt. Zion represented the new covenant relationship that God had made with them. It was a symbol of their eternal home in heaven.
So what point was the writer to the Hebrews trying to make with this comparison between Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion? Was this just a review of Biblical geography and Bible history? No. These Jewish Christians were under extreme pressure to give up their faith in Jesus and return to Judaism. If they did that they would be going back to the false belief that their relationship with God depended on their keeping his Commandments. That approach would lead them to a mountain of fear like Mt. Sinai. These verses encouraged them to remain at the mountain of faith were God had led them. Faith in God’s promises is here represented by Mt. Zion.
I.
Listen again to the first half of these verses. “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’” The question that these verses set before the Hebrews was simple. Where were they going to meet with God? Would they meet him at a mountain of fear or a mountain of faith?
If a person wants to meet with God at Mt. Sinai he or she can expect certain things. There the holiness of God will make anyone tremble in fear. If you are not completely holy in all that you say, and do, and think you will die as soon as you take one step toward the LORD at Mt. Sinai. His perfection, his purity, his righteousness can tolerate nothing less than equal perfection, purity, and righteousness in those who come to him. A person would have to be blind to his or her true nature to try to meet with God on those terms. For these Hebrew Christians Mt. Sinai could only be a mountain of fear. There was no hope for a relationship with God there.
Can you see that these verses contain more than a geography lesson for us? The point of these verses is not about a mountain in the desert where God appeared to his people. No, the writer uses Mt. Sinai, the mountain of fear, to get us to look at the basis of our relationship with God. Would we ever try to meet with him there? Would we ever seriously consider having a relationship with God based on our obedience to his Commandments?
Before you answer those questions I want you to think about why the mountain of fear and what it represents can become attractive to us. Most of the people in our country try to meet with God at Mt. Sinai. We frequently hear people express the thought that if you are a good person and try your best to keep the Commandments you can have a relationship with God and you will have a place in heaven. We may even hear this type of reasoning among people who have some knowledge of the Bible and who claim to be Christians. Also in each of us there is a sinful nature that wants to believe that since we are good people and keep the Commandments most of the time we will be okay with God. Under pressure from the world’s way of thinking, work righteous Christians, and our own sinful pride; we may seriously think that we can meet with God at Mt. Sinai.
To crush such foolish thinking we must look more closely at Mt. Sinai--the mountain of fear. That’s the purpose of these verses on which we are focusing in the Letter to the Hebrews. Imagine the scene at Sinai. God’s glory and power cover the mountain. We can’t even look at it without being filled with fear. Then the voice of the almighty booms. Our eardrums feel like they will break. He says, “You shall have no other Gods! You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God...Remember his day of rest. Honor you father and mother. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet.” Well, are you ready to walk up the mountain and meet with God? Who is with me? Let’s go! Oh, friends I pray that none of us would be so foolish! There is no hope for us at Sinai. There we cannot meet with God.
Where would these Hebrews meet with God? Would they go back to the belief that they were okay with God if they worked hard to keep his Commandments? Before they did that the inspired writer wanted them to consider the consequences of their actions. At that mountain which filled their ancestors with fear they would have to earn the right to go God. Only if they obeyed the Commandments perfectly would they not be consumed by his holiness.
Where do you meet with God? Do you go to him at Mt. Sinai--the mountain of fear? That is a hopeless place. Only disappointment and death await you there. In the booming voice of a holy God you will only hear what you have done to bring his disapproval. If you put your hope in reaching him in your goodness and your obedience you will not be allowed to take one step toward God.
The writer to the Hebrews shows us a better way. Listen to his description of where we are allowed to meet with God and why we are allowed to meet him. “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” May we never go to meet with God at the mountain of fear. Let us always go to the mountain of faith instead.
II.
In these verses the writer to the Hebrews wasn’t saying that God had changed his mind in the hundreds of year that separated them from Mt. Sinai. Even as he gave his law he knew his people would not keep it. But even before the creation of the world he knew what he was going to do to allow sinners to come to him. He painted a picture of it on one of the mountains I mentioned earlier. At Mt. Moriah when he asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac God showed how he would save us. Through his Son’s death on Calvary he would provide a replacement for the mountain of fear. When he formed his covenant with Israel at Mt Sinai he did it with blood that prophesied the blood of the new covenant his Son would shed many centuries later. God never intended that his earth shaking words at Mt. Sinai be his last words to his people.
The writer to the Hebrews pointed this out. He wasn’t asking his readers to believe something new. Throughout the Old Testament God had pointed to Mt. Zion as a mountain of faith where his people could come to him. Psalm 43:3 said, “Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.” The Hebrew Christians might also have known what Isaiah had prophesied about the time after the Savior completed his work, “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains…Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD…He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” (Isaiah 2:23) In chapter 25 Isaiah also wrote, “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples…he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.” (Isaiah 25:78) Through Ezekiel the Lord promised, “For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel…there in the land the entire house of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them.” (Ezekiel 20:40) Through other prophets the Lord had declared that he would provide a way of faith for his people. He would remove the fear that Mt. Sinai put in their hearts by giving them everything he demanded and everything they needed in their relationship with him. His Son Jesus would never sin against the Commandments and he would give his life as payment for all those who have broken them. Then people could meet with him without fear.
So Mt. Zion in Jerusalem was really just a symbol of God’s unfailing love and unchanging forgiveness. We could say it represented the way of faith. Mt. Zion was a picture of how a person is given what he or she needs to have a relationship with God. Through faith the Hebrews had received everything mentioned in these verses. Seven wonderful things belonged to them by faith. They had a place in heaven--in the city of the living God. They had joined with thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful celebration over God’s awesome love. Their names had been recorded as members of the church of the firstborn and were written in heaven. They had come to God, the judge of all men, and had been “declared not guilty.” Not only were their names written in heaven, but by faith they were already there! Through faith they had come to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant. And his blood had cleansed them of all their sins. At Mt. Zion, the mountain of faith these things were theirs. How could they even think of going back to Mt. Sinai the mountain of fear?
To see that you have these same blessings by faith, focus on the last half of the second Scripture lesson from Hebrews 12:18-24. Let’s look at each of these faith blessings. When you give up on what you can do and simply believe in God’s promises this is what happens. “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. (We couldn’t earn a place in the New Jerusalem or in the city of the living God. But he simply adopted us into his family and made us citizens. We accept that gift with the hand of faith.) The writer goes on to tell us, “You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.” (Do you remember how the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents? As the angels jump for joy over God’s love we join the party. Not by doing anything. No, we have been given a free invitation to the celebration.) When we meet with God at the mountain of faith we belong, “to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” By faith we belong to the church that has triumphed and rests in the LORD! And the writer to the Hebrews declares, “You have come to God, the judge of all men.” God, the judge of all men, has justified us—that means he has declared us innocent of all wrongdoing. And by faith we have come, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. That is a description of Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints. By faith we are members. And when we meet with God at Mt. Zion, the mountain of faith we come,” to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Moses was the go-between at Mt. Sinai. But he wasn’t any better off than anyone else. He trembled with fear. He was a sinner. The blood of the animals that he sprinkled on the Israelites didn’t forgive their sins. But since we have been brought to Mt. Zion we have the Son of God as our mediator. He sprinkled his blood on us and cleansed us from all our sins.
Once again let me ask you the question, “Where do you meet with God?” In the verses that we have just considered in our sermon we were led to two mountains that represented two ways to go to God. Mt. Sinai is a way to God. If someone can do all that he declared from that mountain he or she has the right to go up it and stand in God’s presence. But that is clearly impossible. Mt. Zion stands for another way to God. It is the way of faith. Like the Hebrews you are there at the mountain of faith. Don’t go anywhere else. Amen.
