Hebrews 12v18-24

You haven't come, after all, to something that can be touched - a blazing fire, darkness, gloom and whirlwind, the sound of a trumpet and a voice speaking words which the hearers begged not to have to listen to any more. (They couldn't bear the command that 'if even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned'.) The sight was so terrifying that even Moses said, 'I'm trembling with fear.'

No: you have come to Mount Zion - to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to where thousands and thousands of angels are gathered for a festival; to the assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God the judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which has better words to say than the blood of Abel.

If God's will was not being done on earth as in heaven because of the fall then the earthly manifestations of the heavenly realities must have been all out of whack. We must have had gotten some crazy ideas about the nature and character of God. Not because Torah was bad, not because the Law in ordinances was bad, but because man's heart and creation was that out of tune. Something better was to come, something better is here, to give us a clearer picture and to draw us to God in trembling awe and wonder.

A journey toward something better is always progressive that means things ought to be changing and that ought to be an unchanging feature. The closer we get to Zion the further we get from Sinai (Exodus 19), the closer we get to the law of grace the further we get from the redundant law in ordinances. The more faithful we are to the new covenant the more pointlessly the old seems. The closer we get to the Father the further we get from the things of the flesh. Not because these things aren't included in the story, but because the story has moved through its climax at the cross and onward towards its finale. For the recipients of this letter the judgment on the regimes and systems that murdered the Son of God and then continued to refuse His Lordship and the Way through persecution. For everything Torah, Land, Race and Temple did to mark out God's Holy people it never created image bearers. They couldn't do it they were merely shadows of Messiah and couldn't accomplish what was and is being accomplished in and through Messiah. These people are going to have to let go and move on and not be dragged into fear and loss of hope when a building gets destroyed or a land is overrun, as we discussed this path leads to destruction, but when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me" A people to carry His image and purposes into all the world.

What GREAT NEWS!!! Live by Faith and Hope!!! And so NOW WE HAVE COME to the New Creation, if anyone is in Christ that is. If we are in Christ then we can go to the Father for his wonderful judgements. The living God has a dwelling and Zion is her name.

Zion was the central part of Jerusalem, the first royal city of David and eventually the site of the temple. We are the temple, we are the royal city, we are the new Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven, ambassadors of New Creation, hosts to myriads of angels, the spirits of the holy ones made perfect in and through our faith and yes in our very midst, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ our Lord ruling and reigning over us and through us and in and upon us. The Lord of Hosts is who he is. How wonderful for those hungering for justice and mercy and faithfulness that God is here to judge and set things right, that the blood of the Son cries out forgive them, rather than vengeance! (Genesis 4v10). How wonderful are the feet of them who bring Good News! What wonderful things are there to be found in Zion!

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God!
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God
has made himself known as a fortress.

For behold, the kings assembled;
they came on together.
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
anguish as of a woman in labor.
By the east wind you shattered
the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of hosts,
in the city of our God,
which God will establish forever.
Selah

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
As your name, O God,
so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!

Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
He will guide us forever.