Sinai or Zion?

Hebrews 12:18-24
18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The writer to the Hebrews makes and impassioned plea to the people to disavow the notion that they need to embrace Judaism in order to come to Christianity. He uses the appearance of God in the form of thick heavy clouds and a pillar of fire over Mt. Sinai with the forgiving blood of Jesus that is filled with grace and peace. Who would choose anger over forgiveness?

This section, contrasting the old and new covenants, is one of the most dramatic in the Bible. Vividly the author shows what believers in Christ would give up if they returned to Judaism. What happened at Mt. Sinai was completely unearthly! The blazing fire, the thick smoke, the impenetrable blackness, the howling whirlwind, and the escalating trumpet blasts awed the people, filling them with a deep sense of God’s presence and power. For people already trembling, the sound of God’s voice speaking the Commandments was too much. They begged Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die”.
Lauersdorf, R. E. ©1986. Hebrews (pp. 162–163). Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub. House.

The entire scene at Sinai was so filled with fear and foreboding that Moses, their leader and God’s friend, himself was shaking. This event at Sinai displays the awesome revelation of God’s righteous requirements and the horrible fear of his just punishment over sin. All it can do is point out the impassable and impossible distance sin puts between man and God, but the law can offer nothing to bridge the gap.

Embracing Christ puts us into an entirely different relationship with God. Now we stand on firm ground, no longer shaking because we are sinners faced with God’s holiness. Instead, the blood of Jesus has purchased our holiness and we are brought into the presence of the Father with love and grace rather than fear and trembling. It’s an amazing transformation.

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