Hebrews 12:22 Commentary and Bible Study

We have not come to that kind of terrifying encounter with the Lord, but we have come to a different voice. We have come to the promises of Christ and the record of the gospels, and how God in the person of his Son has come and suffered and died for sinners. We have heard his pleadings in the Scripture calling us to come for forgiveness and new life; that voice does not terrify but urges us to come for mercy and blessing. What a difference! Mount Sion was where the temple in Jerusalem was built, the place where God resides, the place of mercy. It symbolised God’s gracious dealings with his people under the new covenant, and our faith in the gospel and Christ. So here is a powerful motive for holiness. We are not living under the old order, under the Jewish covenant of Mount Sinai, we are living under gospel light. How grateful we should be and how much more we should strive for holiness. So the first reasoning in the chapter was do not sin or you will have to be chastised, and the second reasoning was do not sin or you will pollute your church. The third is do not sin because you should be aware of your great privilege. You have not come to Mount Sinai you have come to Mount Sion. The earthly Mount Sion was an almost impregnable fortress there in Jerusalem. It wasn't entirely impregnable; it was breached, but it still represents security. You have come to salvation by faith in Christ and his atoning death. You have the perseverance of the saints, that is to say, you will never fall or lose your salvation. So here is the contrast which works on multiple levels at once. Mount Sinai is a barren place. It had no vegetation. It was dry, arid, stony place. Mount Zion, the temple mount in Jerusalem, was a fertile place, a beautiful welcoming hill. So the alternatives are a barren hopeless approach to God without Christ, crushed under his holy righteous demands, or a beautiful place, a place where one can live, Mount Zion. So that is the physical contrast. ‘Unto the city of the living God’, the kingdom of God. Immediately we move away from Mount Zion and we come to a kingdom, we come to the illustration of a city. A city to us here in this world can be a disorganised and rather a scruffy place, a place of much commotion, where everything, including the ignoble and shameful, is represented. But it is the pure concept of a city that is in mind. It is a peopled place; it has a wall around it and provides security. It is much more civilised than the rural retreats and the country places in those far off days, and it has systems, order, rules, education, and the presence of the king. The city of the living God. Zion - this is the way of salvation. The kingdom of God is a place where we are in touch with the King, where we have protection spiritually. It is not Jerusalem we are talking about, but the church of Jesus Christ. He is the designer of it, the architect, the builder. It would never exist but for him. He came from heaven to earth to make an atonement, so that people could be saved, and blessed and enrolled in this city as its citizens. It is then described as ‘the heavenly Jerusalem.’ And Jerusalem is brought back in view, because to the ancients it was the place of worship, and instruction in the word of God.‘And to an innumerable company of angels.’ We are reminded of Revelation 4 and 5, the great vision of the worship of God’s people, including the church past and present. While we are on earth when we worship, we are part of this great worshipping body. We worship at the same time that the angels, ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. Through Christ our worship is a valid as theirs.