Letter to the Hebrews

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 9, 1890

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 16, No. 22.

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Letter to the Hebrews.

CHAPTER 12: 18-39.

(Lesson 38, June 21, 1890.)

1. UNTO what does the apostle say we have not come? Heb. 12:18-21.

2. Unto what have we come? Verses 22-24.

3. Trace the connection through verses 18-24, and note the contrast. Study note.

4. How are we admonished? Verse 25.

5. Why must we take heed not to refuse?—Ib.

6. When was the voice heard speaking on earth? Verses 18, 19; Ex. 19:18, 19.

7. When he spake on earth, what was the result? Heb. 12:26, first part.

8. What will take place when he speaks again, from heaven? Verse 26, last part.

9. When will this be? Compare 1 Thess. 4:16; John 5:28, 29; Ps. 50:1-4; Jer. 25:30-33; Joel 3:16.

10. Whose voice is it that will then be heard?

11. What is he now speaking to us from heaven?

Ans.—He is speaking peace by his blood, which is still sprinkled before the throne.

12. Then if there was no escape for those who refused to heed his voice when it was heard proclaiming the terror of the law, what hope can there be for those who refuse his gracious call of mercy to the violators of that law?

13. What will the final shaking by his voice signify? Heb. 12:27.

14. What things will God remove? Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8.

15. What cannot be moved? Ps. 125:1; 112:1-6.

16. Then to what exhortation should we take heed? Heb. 12:28.

17. Why? Verse 29.

18. To whom is he a consuming fire? Ps. 97:1-3.

19. But what is he to the righteous? Isa. 25:1-4.

NOTES.

"BUT ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company [myriads] of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written [margin, "enrolled"] in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Heb. 12:22-24.

LET us note each of these cases, to see what scene we have presented here before us. The Mount Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem, is the city of the living God,—the place where God sits as judge of all. In the temple in that holy city, he sits upon his throne, between the cherubim. Around about the throne are ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of angels. Rev. 5:11. These are in the temple in heaven—in the heavenly sanctuary. In that sanctuary, where God sits in judgment, are the books of record and the book of life, in which are written the names of the general assembly and church of Christ, the first-born. Around the throne are the elders—men who have been redeemed unto God "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;" and who, having been raised from the dead at the crucifixion of Christ (Matt. 27:50-53), were led by him from captivity to heaven, when he ascended to the Father (Eph. 4:8), and were made unto God kings and priests (Rev. 5:9, 10). These representatives of the human family are assistants of Christ in his priestly work as mediator of the new covenant. Thus we have in these verses a view of the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ ministers in behalf of sinners, with his own blood. Now we can see the connection running through verses 18-24. It is a vivid contrast between the old covenant, with its ministration of death, and the new covenant, with its ministration of the spirit of life. In the preceding verses the apostle gives a warning against apostasy, and then, as an encouragement, tells us that we are not directed to Mount Sinai, to trust in the law for righteousness, when it has for us only curses, nor to the old covenant, with its ministration of death, but to the Mount Zion, where we may find the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and may find peace and help "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."

HAVING this abundant help so freely offered, it becomes us not to refuse the gracious offers of Him who now speaks peace to us. Those who despised the words spoken by Christ on Mount Sinai could not escape; then how much less can any hope to escape who not only violate the law spoken on earth, but refuse the means of deliverance from that transgression. When he spoke on earth, his voice shook the earth. But when he speaks the second time, his voice will shake not the earth only, but heaven also. The first shaking was only a shaking, but the second shaking means the removal of everything which is not of God, or not anchored to the throne of God, through faith in Christ.