Hebrews 12:18-24

Does anybody know where they are today?

I asked a group of middle school age friends to draw me a map showing how to get to their house.  This was part of an object lesson on the importance of knowing where you are going and how to get there . . . the middle schoolers knew where they were . . . but they did not know how to get home.  They drew me maps that looked like a plate of left over spaghetti.  When I drove a delivery van around the Twin Cities there was a place in St. Paul called spaghetti junction.  I found out that we have spaghetti junctions all around Warroad too – and I had the hand drawn maps to prove it.

Do we know where we are today?

Hebrews 12:18-24 says that we have come to a very important place.

Oddly enough . . . I think it is possible for some to arrive at this important place and not even know it.

Oddly enough . . . I think there are some who have come to this place but want to somehow hold on to the former place.

Oddly enough . . . I think there are some who reach this important place, but have failed to live like they have arrived.

The goal of the writer of Hebrews at this point in chapter 12 is to get all God’s sons and daughters to recognize where they are . . . or what they have come to.

He does this by drawing two different maps.

#1 – Notice what we have not come to:  Mount Sinai.

Remember, this is the book of Hebrews.  The entire book is built upon the contrast between Old Covenant (OT) and New Covenant (NT).

That makes Mount Sinai an extremely interesting stop in one’s journey. 

For the Jewish believer in Jesus Christ it was enormous!

For a Gentile believer in Jesus Christ it was important.

-         a mountain that can be touched

-         a mountain that is burning with fire

-         a mountain that is covered with darkness

-         a mountain that is filled with gloom

-         a mountain covered with a storm

We know that mount Sinai was the OT mountain where Moses received the Law from God – right?

Can you show me on a map where it is?

Have you ever noticed that many times there is a little question mark after Mt. Sinai? 

We don’t know for certain which mountain this was on the Sinai peninsula – but we know that it was a real physical mountain.

-         a trumpet blast

-         God’s voice speaking and people begging that He speak no more!

-         God’s warnings of judgment on man and even animal.

-         Moses said, “I am trembling with fear”.

-          DT 9:18 Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and so provoking him to anger. 19 I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me. 20 And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too. 21 Also I took that sinful thing of yours, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust and threw the dust into a stream that flowed down the mountain.

Leviticus 10:1-3 . . . Nadab and Abihu died for offering unauthorized fire before the Lord.

II Samuel 6:1-7 . . . Uzzah died for touching the ark of the covenant.

Joshua 7 . . . Achan died for disobeying the Lord’s clear command.

REMEMBER:  This is where we aint or aren’t. 

The first map drawn in Hebrews 12 18-21 is of Mount Sinai which is the mountain that we have not come to.

(Now for the second map)

#2 – Notice what we have come to: Mount Zion.

-         Mount Zion

-         the heavenly Jerusalem

-         the city of the Living God

-         mediator of a new covenant

-         sprinkled blood

-         He speaks!  A better word than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 4:6 – “approach the throne of grace with confidence”

What is the difference?

1)      Sinai concentrates on the physical firs and the spiritual second (this didn’t have to be as seen in the Psalms, but always seemed to happen) . . . Zion concentrates on the spiritual first and then cares for the physical.

2)      Sinai tends to overdue the negative aspects and loose sight of the positive aspects . . . Zion can over concentrate on the positive and forget the negative.

3)      MAIN THEME OF HEBREWS:  Zion is so much better than Sinai (8:6) !

Acts 5:1-11 . . . Ananias and Sapphira died for lying to the Holy Spirit.

I Corinthians 11 – says many sleep because of their disrespect for the Lord’s supper.

Hebrews 12 says to Endure hardship as discipline.

In order to do this, I must figure out where I am.

The goal of the writer of Hebrews at this point in chapter 12 is to get all God’s sons and daughters to recognize where they are . . . or what they have come to.

He does this by drawing two different maps.

#1 – Notice what we have not come to:  Mount Sinai.

#2 – Notice what we have come to: Mount Zion.

There was an older lady in a Bible study I was leading down in Bagley.  She came to me one week and said that she felt terrible after our study the week before; she was miserable, felt dirty, and afraid.  She was rebuking me for doing that.  In her mind it was to much like Sinai.  I’m not so sure.  When coming to Zion there are times like that – but it is so much more and so much better!