Click here for the Hebrews 12:18-21 PODCAST
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire. You have not come to darkness, sadness, and storms. 19 You have not come to the noise of a trumpet or to the sound of a voice like the one the people of Israel heard and begged not to hear another word. 20 They did not want to hear the command: “If anything, even an animal, touches the mountain, it must be put to death with stones.” 21 What they saw was so terrible that Moses said, “I am shaking with fear.” ~ Hebrews 12:18-21
Today, we continue our study of Hebrews 12 where we have been given some practical teaching regarding our faith in the God of the Bible. This faith, which is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see, trains our hearts to see God more vividly with each passing day. Today, we are given the first half of a comparison. The writer of Hebrews contrasts the Old Covenant with the New Covenant and the motivations involved. Today, we will only consider the first half of this comparison.
We live in a fallen world that has been impacted by sin. As a result, living things die, and, natural disasters occur. This world is now a place where the second law of thermodynamics rules. Having been separated from God by sin, man can not exist in the presence of God. Our sin must be remedied, and, this is why the Lord Jesus came in the first place. In the future, according to the Bible, we know this world will be shaken out of existence; and nothing will be left, including space and time. According to the book of Revelation, God will Himself shake the earth and the sky.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire. You have not come to darkness, sadness, and storms."
In this verse, the writer of Hebrews points us back Mt. Sinai on that day when Moses went up the mountain to receive from God the Ten Commandments. Fear gripped the people then, and rightfully so. They had been reunited with their Creator and their sin still hung over them. This was not the way God had meant it to be, but man's rebellion had to be remedied before anyone could move forward with God.
Fear is most often a losing proposition. When we are motivated out of fear we always lose something. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and like Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai, we are frightened and then we run from God. But, it is not fear that is our worst enemy. No, our worst enemy is ourselves because until we come to faith in the Lord Jesus, we are defined by the evil one. Most unsaved people are not aware of this fact. And, as a result, man fears God. And, the writer of Hebrews asks these newly born again believers, "Having come to know the forgiveness of God through Christ, why would you desire a system that motivates you out of fear?"
In Exodus 22, 3000 people died when the Law of Moses was given. The Law of Moses, given man's sinfulness and inability to measure up to the Law, only breaks us and brings us to the end of ourselves. The Law is the bad news of the good news. Like, those Jews who were delivered from Egypt, many want the benefits of the God of the Bible without turning away from the familiar, without repenting from their normal way of approaching life. You see, the Israelites were addicted to the flesh which is the fallen part of our existence on this earth.
The words, "You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire," were penned to help these young Jewish Christians understand the daily choice that they had. Essentially, the choice is fear or faith. You see, like you and me, these young believers in Christ had come into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and, their faith was not strong enough in order to enable them to see the folly of depending on their adherence to the Law to cause them to know the Lord like they could. They were under new management and they should have come to an end of the fear the Law produced in them. And, the only way we get to the place where we put off the fear is by growing in our personal relationship with Christ.
In v.19 of today's passage we read, "You have not come to the noise of a trumpet or to the sound of a voice like the one the people of Israel heard and begged not to hear another word."
These two thoughts, "the noise of a trumpet" and "the sound of the voice," took these young Hebrew Christians to the foot of Mount Sinai where the people of Israel "begged not to hear another word" from God. They begged this because the word of God cut them to their sinful hearts and their sin had not been removed from them. The sound of the voice of the Lord was so overwhelming that they feared they would die if they heard anything more from Him directly. As a result, God gave them the elaborate Old Testament sacrificial system that would point them, eventually, to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The way the Lord gave the Ten Commandments to Israel on Mount Sinai reveals He was checking the people’s hearts. Moses said to the people of Israel in Exodus 20:20, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin." You see, these to whom the writer of Hebrews wrote were in danger of choosing the wrong mountain and Mount Sinai was the mountain of death.
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "They did not want to hear the command: 'If anything, even an animal, touches the mountain, it must be put to death with stones.'"
Anyone with unforgiven sin will always be the recipients of God's wrath which is essentially the absence of His love. In Exodus 19 we read the story of how the children of Israel came to Mount Sinai. Through His servant Moses God said to the Hebrews, "Beware that you do not go up on the mountain or touch the border of it; whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death." There was no mercy or grace at Mount Sinai. And, as a result, there was no forgiveness there. The Law was written on stone and it only presented Israel with death because they could not measure up to it.
Most interestingly, when asked if they will go to heaven when they die, most people, today, believe they will make it into heaven on the basis of their ... goodness. But, in Romans 3:19-20 we read, "19 We know that the law’s commands are for those who have the law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God’s judgment, 20 because no one can be made right with God by following the law. The law only shows us our sin."
In Galatians 3:10 we read, "But those who depend on following the law to make them right are under a curse, because the Scriptures say, 'Anyone will be cursed who does not always obey what is written in the Book of the Law.'"
In v.21 of today's passage we read, "What they saw was so terrible that Moses said, 'I am shaking with fear.'"
Moses fully perceived the danger of violating one of the commandments of God. The word translated "shaking with fear" means "totally frightened." The only other time this word is used in the New Testament is in Mark 9:6, describing the state of Peter during the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus before Moses and Elijah. Both of these events brought such a deep fear on those who beheld the sight, that it brought about a reaction of absolute terror, and rightfully so.
After the people of Israel made the golden calf at the bottom of Mount Sinai, Moses went back to the Lord and said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."
Fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat of significant loss. There is nothing that makes us more uncomfortable than fear which is counter-productive. The problem is that fear is paralyzing because it shuts down the brain and paralyzes heart-felt action. Tomorrow, we will consider how grace motivates.
Moses was "shaken with fear" because he knew the requirements of the righteous God of the Bible. He also knew Mount Sinai represented the Old Covenant which only led to condemnation, since the people could not be holy enough before God. Today, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that such a covenant offers no lasting safety for sinners. And, in the end, it only leaves us overwhelmed by the wrath of God or its prospect. Thank the Lord He sent His Son to take that awful place of suffering because we could never have remedied our sin problem.
