Love goes both ways Pt 12: The two mountains

Hebrews 12:18-24                 18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”  21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”  22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

1Samuel 12:14-15                  14If you fear the LORD and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God—good!  15But if you do not obey the LORD, and if you rebel against his commands, commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.

Jeremiah 31:31, 33                31“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah… 33“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.

A mountain that cannot be touched

This passage uses the imagery of two mountains to symbolize the transition from the Old Covenant to the New.  In the Old Covenant, God, while not distant, does not interact with his people in an intimate way.  In the Old Covenant, the Israelites were required to obey God and keep the Law, and in return He protected and blessed them.  In the New Covenant, things change and God becomes the proactive and unconditional source of salvation and blessing.  In the New Covenant, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  The passage describes Mount Sinai in strikingly physical and terrifying terms: “a mountain that can be touched,” that is, it is physical and real, but ironically, must not be touched due to its holiness and danger.  This paradox underscores the fearful nature of the old covenant and the separation between God and his people.

The Old Covenant required repeated, daily sacrifices of animals as a reminder of the people’s sin.  Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place where God’s presence dwelt—and that only once a year.  The Old Covenant was a set of “external regulations applying until the time of the new order” (Hebrews 9:10).  Even Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, is portrayed as overwhelmed by God's presence.  His fear emphasizes the holiness of God and the limits of human access under the law (Lane, 1991).

Angels in joyful assembly

But the new Covenant is different.  As prophesied in the Jeremiah verse, God has drawn close to his people.  Where once the Law, with all it restrictions and regulations, was imposed upon the people from above, now God’s law is written on the hearts of the people.  Under the New Covenant, Jesus is our High Priest (Hebrews 10:21), “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (verse 19), and we can “draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings” (verse 22).  Because of Christ’s sacrificial death, we believers are among the “church of the firstborn.”  This is a significant phrase.  Christ is the ultimate firstborn because he is the first to have rien from the dead.  But we too will one day rise to new eternal life.  God remains Judge, but the context has changed.  Believers stand among those “made perfect” (possibly OT saints), a phrase that implies full reconciliation with God through Christ (Hebrews 11:40).  The judgment motif is not removed but transformed through the work of Jesus.

Blood that speaks a better word

Jesus is the superior mediator (cf. Hebrews 8:6), bringing a covenant based not on repeated sacrifices but on His once-for-all offering (Hebrews 9:12).  The “sprinkled blood” references sacrificial rituals (Leviticus 16:14), especially the Day of Atonement.

In Genesis 4, when Cain killed Abel, God approached Cain and said to him, “What have you done?  Listen!  Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10).  Abel’s blood cried out for justice, but the blood Jesus shed on the Cross is different.  It speaks forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation.  The tense of ‘speaks’ in the original Greek indicates ongoing action, that now and forever more Christ’s sacrifice continues to testify on the behalf of all believers.  This “better word” encapsulates the theological core of Hebrews: Christ's covenant surpasses the old in every respect.  Where Abel’s blood condemns, Jesus' blood redeems.

What about me?

Believer, this Covenant Theology is a difficult concept, but it has profound personal application for you.  The Old Covenant, symbolized by Mount Sinai is preparatory.  Its purpose was to teach God’s children that sin was evil and must be removed because God in his ultimate holiness could not have any part of sin.  The daily and yearly sacrifices made under the sacrificial system were intended to make his people ritually clean.  But God knew that no animal sacrifice could ever make a person actually clean, so he sent his Son to make his children permanently clean, clean at their core, through Jesus’ pure and innocent sacrifice.

Since you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior this applies to you.  Jesus' blood does not simply cleanse—it speaks, intercedes, and assures.  It continues to declare that you, personally, are righteous before God, unlike the temporary sacrifices under the Mosaic law.  You are now and forever seen as pure, clean, and holy because of what Jesus did.

Sinai demonstrated divine inaccessibility.  Zion, however, is about welcome and inclusion.  Through Christ, you can approach God without the barrier of fear or ritual mediation.  And you can approach God with boldness, recognizing the relational shift brought about by Christ.  Whereas the Old Covenant exposed sin, the New removes your sin.  So scream with joy and exult in laughter!  You are now a child of God and forever his friend.

Bruce, F. F. (1990). The Epistle to the Hebrews (Rev. ed.). Eerdmans.

Lane, W. L. (1991).  Hebrews 9–13 (Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 47B).  Thomas Nelson.