Hebrews 12:18-29
Readings for this week October 16 - 20
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Day 1 – The Old and the New
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:18-21
The book of Hebrews says a lot about contrasts and offers several telling juxtapositions like the one that we will read today and tomorrow. Many of these contrasts are to do with the way things were, the way life used to be for the people of God, and the way things are now, and the new possibilities that the life and work of Jesus have opened up for us all. In today’s opening image, the writer is describing Mount Sinai, in particular the way it appeared to the Israelites during the time of the Exodus: a fiery mountain covered with dark clouds, enshrouded in gloom. Mount Sinai represents the old covenant, the place where God and Israel meet.
But hopefully, even if we only read verses 18-21, we should already be thinking, “But wait, surely there’s more…” If we’ve been paying attention throughout our reading of Hebrews, we’ll recognise this as the old, earlier parts of the story, and will be remembering back to the way in which the author pointed to Jesus as the hinge point about which the story – and its effects – pivots. He’s the one who brings God closer to us and makes it possible for us to come to God. The menacing mountain of these verses – the unapproachable, fear-inducing, smoke spewing mountain – is not the end of the story. God met his people there, he moved down the mountain, into the tabernacle and travelled with his people to a new land, a new place. What has gone before was good. But God has an even better destination planned…
Questions to Consider
How are the things of verse 22-24 ‘already’ here? In what ways are they ‘not yet’? What does this tell us?
Prayer
Almighty God, thank you that you are doing a new thing, always at work redeeming and transforming and restoring your creation. Help me play my part in your work. Thank you that we can come to you. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – The Heavenly Jerusalem
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:22-24
The writer has highlighted many contrasts throughout the book; Moses and Jesus, the law and the gospel, the old temple system, the new temple with its new once-and-for-all high priest. And Sinai for the old covenant, Zion for the new. From a foreboding, dangerous, fire swept mountain to the heavenly Jerusalem and angels arrayed in glory, the contrast between the two mountains could not be greater. Rather than a mountain promising death to those who touch it, we now have the mountain onto which God invites us. It’s not that the old ways are useless and obsolete, rather that they have been fulfilled and a new reality awaits us: the promised future kingdom of God, in all its consummated glory.
Our invitation to the heavenly Jerusalem is written in the blood of Jesus. That is what makes it possible for us to enter. What started in Genesis – the story earlier recapped by the writer of Hebrews – has now reached its conclusion. Yet there is still more to come. The kingdom is not fully here yet. We see glimpses of it here and there, when God’s reign breaks through in our world and in people’s lives and his kingdom becomes a reality. But the promise also remains before us, ahead of us – sin and brokenness are still present, and are still part of our reality now. The kingdom is not yet here in complete fullness. But we are invited to be citizens of heaven’s kingdom now, and we are to live now in the shadow of that fullness, working and praying for completeness for God’s world and his people.
Questions to Consider
How is the heavenly Jerusalem a reality in your life now? What is still to be done? What does playing our part in God’s kingdom mean for you?
Prayer
Lord God, help me see the sparks and glimpses of your kingdom as they break into this world and play my part in fanning them into flame. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – A Warning
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:25
But even in the midst of the glorious joy entailed by the promise of the heavenly Jerusalem, there is still a solemn warning for the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews and for us: heed the words of God, the one who speaks to us, the one who calls us and directs us. Hearing is not enough; obedience is required too. Although the description of Mount Sinai puts us in mind of Moses as the preeminent one who spoke with God and passed on his covenant to God’s people, and who abjured the people to follow the law or face calamity, the Hebrew bible contains a long tradition of the type of ‘earthly warning’ mentioned here. The long line of prophets also warned the people of the perils of not obeying God’s warnings. We have certainly be warned enough.
We must be careful not only to listen for the voice of God, but also to obey it, to heed it, to follow where it leads us. There were many who heard the voice of Jesus but ignored it, did not pay attention, and chose not to follow. As the writer says, if people in the past didn’t listen to Moses and suffered the consequences, what might the consequences be for those who don’t listen to Jesus, one who is even greater than Moses? Yes, the promise of God’s new world is real, but so is the warning to heed the word of the one bringing that world into being. The writer wanted the Hebrews to listen hard and listen well and step out in obedience. We need to do the same.
Questions to Consider
How has God warned you in the past? How well did you listen? What are the consequences of our failure to listen – for ourselves and for others?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, faithful obedience requires that I listen well and heed the warnings you have given. Help me put away my self desires and ignore the voices that try to pull me from you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – The World God Intended
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:26-27
God is going to make his creation what he always intended it to be. This is his promise – has always been his promise – and if we have learnt one thing from the story told in the book of Hebrews it is that God is faithful and will do what he says he will do. But the transition to this new creation won’t be a nice, smooth journey. It will be tumultuous. It is not just the earth that is shaken; so is heaven. If there is going to be a new heaven and a new earth this suggests that the current heaven and earth will undergo some sort of significant, God-directed change. All that is temporary and second rate will pass away, allowing the new creation and all those living renewed lives based in Jesus the Messiah to be seen all the more brightly, all the more clearly.
God also promises that all those who belong to Jesus, to the new covenant, will have a place in this new creation. In fact, they will live in the power of the Spirit of the risen Jesus as if new creation was here already. Even though the heavenly Jerusalem is not yet present in all its fullness, God’s kingdom people will live kingdom lives as a demonstration to others of what such fully transformed lives will look like. God’s kingdom people will live faithfully each day in the light of God’s ultimate triumph, showing the rest of the world what God’s promised new life and new creation can look like and calling all people to join in.
Questions to Consider
What does God’s intended creation look like to you? What is different? What role do you see God’s people playing in this new creation?
Prayer
Gracious Lord, when life is hard and things look bad, when your world groans in pain, help me live a life informed by your promised transformation of the world. Help me show others the possibilities for life and transformation that you bring. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – Worship and Gratitude
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Hebrews 12:28-29
So what is our response to all of this? How are we to act – how are to live – in the face of this shaking? These important questions could also be asked of what we have read in the entire letter to the Hebrews up to this point. What is our response to everything that we have read: the whole story, the old and new, the work of Jesus? What the writer gives us in these few concluding verses is an amazing picture of what the relationship between God and his people truly looks like, and what a true, appropriate response to the reality of God looks like. And it looks like worship. When we are faced with the enormity of who God is – yes, his sacrificial love for us and all that follows from that; but also his awesomeness, his power, his majesty – bowing down in humble, thankful worship and gratitude are the only valid responses.
The true God, like Aslan in the Narnia chronicles, is not ‘safe.’ He is not tame. He is a God who can shake heaven and earth to their very foundations. He is a consuming fire. He is holy. And he is a God who invites us onto his ground, into an eternal kingdom that cannot be destroyed, that is breaking through all around us, that has him at its centre. He invites us to himself and to join in his work of restoration. His purpose for creation involves us embracing our purpose in him, worshipping him in love and gratitude, and stepping forward to share the possibilities of his new creation with all people.
Questions to Consider
What are you grateful for? How do you show God your gratitude? What, if any, part of how and when and why you show God gratitude needs work?
Prayer
Loving Lord, teach me gratitude. Show me all the things, big and small, that I have in my life to thank you for. Show me the people in my life I need to be grateful for. May I see you behind all that I have. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)