You must respond to the great gospel of Christ!
Shaded relief map of the Sinai Peninsula, 1992, produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”
And this expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. (12:25–29)
After giving the contrasts between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, the writer says, in effect, “Here is what you must do. You must not ignore Him who is speaking.” “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:1–2). If men were held accountable for heeding God when He warned them on earth, from Mount Sinai, how much more will they be held accountable now that He warns from heaven, from Mount Zion?
The unbelieving Israelites who ignored God at Sinai did not enter the earthly Promised Land, and unbelievers today, Jew or Gentile, who ignore God when He speaks through His Son from Mount Zion will not enter the heavenly promised land. Whether God speaks from Sinai or from Zion, no man who refuses Him will escape judgment.
The blessings of receiving the second covenant are immeasurably greater than those for receiving the first. And the consequences for refusing the second are also immeasurably greater. “Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28–29).
At Sinai, God shook the earth. From Zion He is also going to shake the very heavens, the entire universe. If unbelievers did not escape when the earth was shaken, how much less will they escape when both heaven and earth are shaken? The writer quotes from what the Lord had predicted through Haggai, “Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land” (Hag. 2:6; cf. Isa. 13:13). The sun will become black, the moon will become like blood, stars will fall to earth, the sky will split apart like a scroll, and every mountain and island will be moved out of its place (Rev. 6:12–14).
Commenting on the Haggai passage, Hebrews 12:27 explains that the expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Everything physical (those things which can be shaken) will be destroyed. Only the eternal things will remain.
Peter tells us that at that time, which “will come like a thief, … the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” and “the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!” (2 Pet. 3:10, 12). This will constitute the “shaking” of those things which can be shaken, the total destruction of the physical universe by the wrath of God.
But some things are unshakable, and these will remain. God has prepared “a new heaven and a new earth,” which will include “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:1–2).
This is the kingdom we receive. It is a kingdom which cannot be shaken. It is eternal, unchangeable, immovable. We will never be taken from it, and it will never be taken from us. For this amazing blessing in Christ, we should show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. The right response, then, is a worshiping life offering holy service to our worthy and awesome God.
The closing verse of chapter 12 is perhaps the severest warning in the book of Hebrews: for our God is a consuming fire. The writer is warning again by saying, “Some of you have come to the edge of full acceptance of Christ. Don’t go back to Judaism now. Only judgment awaits you at Sinai, and even worse judgment in refusing the offer of Zion. Don’t be consumed in God’s fierce, unrelenting fire of judgment.”
To live under Judaism is to come to Sinai and its judgment, wherein all who trust in the works of the law, even God’s own law, will be condemned. To go back to Judaism, after hearing the gospel, after seeing Zion, brings even greater damnation. Those Jews who had “been enlightened” and had “tasted of the heavenly gift,” and even “been made partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Heb. 6:4) could not simply revert to Judaism. They could not pick up where they had left off. If they turned back now, they would be subject not only to Sinai’s judgment but to Zion’s as well.
For every person the choice is the same. Whether we are Jew or Gentile, to try to approach God by our works is to come to Sinai and to discover that our works fall short and cannot save us. Whether we are Jew or Gentile, to trust in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is to come to Zion, where our heavenly High Priest will mediate for us and bring us to the Father, and where we find reconciliation, peace, and eternal life.
And if you have truly come to Zion and received all its blessings, it is inconceivable that you would want to hold on to Sinai in any way. Come!!
