Hebrews 12: 18-29 are another discussion of the two covenants. The author makes the point that the approach to God no longer occurs in awe-inspiring theophany as on Sinai, but in verse 22, in a city built by God, for which the Old Testament saints yearned, the heavenly city. The author applies the imagery of Sinai to the realized eschatology of the church. The author shifts from an emphasis upon faith to an emphasis upon the Christian hope.
In Hebrews 12:18-21, the writer does not avoid the greatest glories of the old covenant to make his comparison. He goes right to the foot of Moses' smoking mountain itself. The writer combines the account we find in Exodus 19:12-25, 20:18-21, Deuteronomy 4:11-12, 5:22-26.[1] 18 You have not come to something that in the words of Deuteronomy 4:11 can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and in the words of Exodus 20:19 and Deuteronomy 5:24 a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. We find the LXX version of Exodus 19:6,
… but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites." (Exodus 19:6 LXX)
Only Moses had permission to approach and ascend the mountain to receive the divine instructions. Approach or movement toward something is an important theme in Hebrews. In all seven instances, he uses the verb to describe coming before God (4:16; 7:25; 10:1, 22; 11:6; 12:18, 22). This is the only instance in which the author uses fearful language to describe the approach toward God. He paints a picture of an ominous place. Symbols of God's presence -- fire, darkness, a tempest, not to mention the voice itself -- all warn the Israelites to leave a wide berth between themselves and the mountain. 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” In a difference with the Old Testament, the people had fear, but the Old Testament account does not say the people begged God to add no more. 21 Indeed, the author says the signs frightened not only the common folk, but, contrary to the Old Testament accounts, he says that so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) Only in Deuteronomy 9:19, after the account of the people forming an image, does Moses have fear. The description of Mt. Sinai during the time God's presence dwelt there is terrifying. As a holy place, ordinary people cannot touch it. You can see the penalty of death in Exodus 19:12-13. The Israelites witness a theophany on Mount Sinai. In the Exodus passage, the language of clouds, darkness, thunder, and lightning, and sounds of trumpets emphasize God’s mystery, holiness, and power. The method of interpreting the passage by the author of Hebrews is complex, and often conflated with terms from Deuteronomy. With an overall background in the Sinai traditions from Exodus and Deuteronomy, the author can proceed with his comparison of the two covenants and their implications. Nevertheless, he communicates his point. While Jews counted Sinai's Covenant of Law among the greatest of feats in their salvation history, this author focuses on the "fear and trembling" that accompanied the event. The point of all this is that believers in Jesus Christ do not have such a threatening covenant, and should not consider returning to it. 22 But you have come, indicating present enjoyment of the things he mentions. This passage is a remarkable instance of realized eschatology. Another example is Ephesians 2:4-7, where God now makes us alive together with Christ, raises us up with Christ, and seats us with Christ in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.[2] First, they come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God. This term for God usually suggests a wrathful and militant deity. They come to the heavenly (an affirmation of divine origin) Jerusalem. The final description of the mountain is that it is Jerusalem. In the case of Hebrews, it is a heavenly Jerusalem, just as other authors of the time describe it.
For the angels who shall go with me are standing before me and urge me to my departure from you; they are standing here on earth, awaiting what has been told them. For to-morrow I shall go up on to heaven, to the uppermost Jerusalem to my eternal inheritance. (II Enoch 55:2-3)
But that which is called by the Hebrews the city of God is Jerusalem, which name being interpreted means, "the sight of peace." So they do not look for the city of the living God in the region of the earth, for it is not made of wood or of stone, but seek it in the soul which is free from war, and which proposes to those who are endowed with acuteness of sight a contemplative and peaceful life; (2.251) since where could any find a more venerable and holy abode for God amid all existing things, than the mind fond of contemplation, which is eager to behold every thing and which does not, even in a dream, feel a wish for sedition or disturbance? (Philo (20BC-50AD), On Dreams, 2.250-51)
But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother. (Galatians 4:26)
Hebrews often focuses on heavenly things. The readers have a heavenly calling (3:1). Jesus took his sacrifice to a heavenly temple (9:23), and the faithful of Israel’s past were looking forward to a heavenly city (11:16). As the author directs his audience’s attention to Mount Zion, they can gaze into this heavenly realm. Second, they come to innumerable (myriad as in Deuteronomy 33:2[3]) angels in festal gathering. Third, 23 in a thought like Revelation 19:6,[4] they come to the assembly (ἐκκλησίᾳ) of the firstborn ones who are enrolled (or registered in a written document) in heaven. The exact meaning of this unusual title is unclear. Since the author has already named the angels, it seems logical that the author intends the "firstborn" to be descriptive of the whole communion of saints -- including those on Earth, even though they are still awaiting the eschatological gathering. Firstborn is the terminology the author used to speak of Jesus in the first chapter (1:6), a trait common with other New Testament documents as well.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. (Romans 8:29)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; (Colossians 1:15)
He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. (Colossians 1:18)
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, (Revelation 1:5)
Yet in this instance, this is not the assembly that belongs to the firstborn one (singular) but the assembly made up of firstborn ones (plural). Every member of the assembly receives the honorable designation of being the firstborn. This is a reiteration of the sermon’s theme that those who follow Jesus are children of God (2:10, 12-13, 14; 3:6; 12:5-9). It is especially comforting after the warning about Esau, who squandered his birthright and lost access to the blessings that come to the firstborn son (12:15-17). That these believers are "enrolled," their "names are written" in heaven, recalls Jesus' promise in Luke 10:20 that believers should "rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Fourth, in an image like Daniel 7:10,[5] they come to God the judge of all. Although this could be as fearful as the Old Testament account of Mount Sinai, the joyful context of Hebrews makes this meeting a quite different type. Further, God is not alone, for, fifth, they come to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. The saints of Hebrew history whose perfected spirits (with their yet-to-be-resurrected bodies) have granted them admission to this party. Whereas God permitted Moses alone to ascend the site of the first covenant, at this scene of celebration there is gathered an enormous crowd. Most importantly, they come 24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. The party on Mt. Zion might be for the benefit of believers. However, Jesus throws the party for all. Of course, the party required the sacrifice of Jesus, so they come to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Without his sacrifice, the "sprinkled blood" which is "better" than any Old Testament sacrifice, no one would have received an invitation. Abel's sacrifice offered vindication. Jesus' once-and-for-all sacrifice offers final forgiveness. The author relates the atoning blood of Jesus to the Day of Atonement. Such a sacrifice was better than that of Abel. For this author, Jesus is a priest-king rather than a Davidic Messiah. This festive atmosphere, however, should not obscure the fact that this gathering is about serious business. Hebrews' concluding remarks remind readers that this gathering at Mt. Zion, this party thrown for our salvation, is in fact our last gasp chance to cross the gap. There were undercurrents of doubt, continuing asides of disbelief, which threatened the strength and joy of the faith the congregation of Jewish-Christians nurtured. The author's words here add a stern warning to his usual line about the new covenant as the "better way." It is the ONLY way.
Here is the point. God sternly relegated those present at Sinai to an anonymous crowd to keep its distance. Those present at Mt. Zion are joyfully welcomed, their names noted and proudly announced to the whole assembly. What a contrast the author now offers between the environment surrounding the old covenant and that which envelops the birthplace of the new covenant, Mt. Zion. This is one of the author’s most significant passages as he illuminates the effects of Jesus’ role as high priest. Rather than a scene of raw divine power that brings terror to the people, the gathering on Mt. Zion is a joyful party scene. Whereas approaching the scene of the old covenant meant death, this new gathering place on Mt. Zion, "the city of the living God," is bursting with life and light. No fires, no darkness, no storms await believers who approach Mt. Zion. There are "innumerable” angels gathered into a "festal gathering." The approach to God no longer takes place in the awe-inspiring theophany as on Sinai, but in a city built by God. Old Testament saints longed for this city.
Hebrews 12:25-29 contain a final warning. If they approach God in the way the author prescribes, let us say that it would be bad form not to follow the directions to that destination. Thus, 25 see that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! Refer to 2:1-3 and 10:28-29 for the same warning. The people asked Moses not to let God speak to them. The author asks these Christians not to make the same mistake. Throughout Hebrews, however, the author is quick to emphasize that even though the community has received these gifts, this covenant, and this place before God; nevertheless, they are not yet permanent residents of this city. They can still “refuse the one who is speaking” (a reference to God, who has been “speaking” throughout the epistle, beginning at 1:1) just as those who received the first covenant refused God, which we can see in the building of the golden calf in Exodus 32. His point is that if God punished those who received the inferior revelation, Christians will receive even more punishment if they fall away. The contrast is not so much between Moses and Christ as between the recipients of the two covenants. The first covenant regulated earthly life, while the second introduced new life, the former being but a shadow of the latter. Clearly, to turn away from the second covenant merits greater punishment. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth. When the Lord descended upon the mountain, it shook violently (Exodus 19:18). The mountains quaked before the Lord, the One of Sinai (Judges 5:5). When the people marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked at the presence of the God of Sinai (Psalm 68:7-8). But now, reminiscent of Haggai 2:6,[6] he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” This prophecy predicted that while God shook the earth at Sinai, there would come an even greater time when God would cause both the heavens and the earth to shake. For this author, in contrast to the shaking that occurred at Mt Sinai, Jesus will bring a universal shaking. This would be the sign that God is about to make a final, decisive intervention into creation. This "second shaking" will further winnow out everything that stands apart from God's gift of salvation. Verses 27-29 apply his interpretation of the prophecy to the readers in their present circumstance. 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things, like the old covenant, old law, and old priesthood —so that what cannot be shaken- the new covenant, the new temple, perfect sacrifice, the great high priest, and other benefits from Jesus- may remain. Such cosmic metaphors are typical of apocalyptic literature. This shaking occurred when the administration of covenant changed.
All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall wither like a leaf withering on a vine,
or fruit withering on a fig tree. (Isaiah 34:4)
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord,
who has compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:10)
For the present form of this world is passing away. (I Corinthians 7:31b)
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. (II Peter 3:10)
And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. (I John 2:17)
28 Therefore, since we are receiving, in an image that summarizes verses 22-24, a kingdom that cannot be shaken, [7] the author affirms that God reigns over both the saints and the angels in the kingdom of heaven, the eternal and the spiritual Jerusalem. From now one, Christians can enter this kingdom and live there a life of Eucharistic liturgy. "Kingdom" is not a common topic for this Hebrews author. However, here he is anxious to clearly show the results of God's ultimate sovereignty. Let me draw analogy with people who need to spend much time in a culture different from the one with which they are familiar. One will need to learn the local customs, language, and ways of being. The same is true for learning to live in the kingdom that no one can shake. To live now aware of the rule of God over our lives individually and corporately is to learn some practices that help us along the way that anticipate our arrival at our ultimate destination. The author now reflects on the implication for worship: let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe. The only proper response to the rock-solid, unshakable kingdom that those believers, redeemed by the blood of the new covenant, will receive is great thanksgiving. Many passages focus upon this aspect of worship. The covenant is for life and well-being, which called for reverence and awe of the name of the Lord (Malachi 2:5). Those who revere the name of the Lord shall see the sun of righteousness rise with a healing presence (Malachi 4:2). Paul appeals to his readers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is their spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). Those who worship God are to worship God in spirit and truth (John 4:19-24). Such worship is obviously not simply a static posture of obedience before God. Rather, it can refer to service of various kinds. With thanksgiving, then, believers are to offer all their service, all their lives to God with awe and reverence, for the tremendous gift that God has given. To accept the grace of God necessarily means to respect the holiness of God, and therefore to accept the divine law, to fear the divine threats, to experience divine wrath and to suffer divine punishment. Otherwise, acceptance of grace is indistinguishable from heathen quietism. However, again, respect for the holiness of God can only mean directly to accept the grace of God in thankfulness. Such acceptance means to receive contentedly the replenishment the grace of God provides.[8] 29 For indeed our God is a consuming fire. The image occurs often. The glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire (Exodus 24:17). The Lord is a devouring fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24). The Lord crosses before the people as a devouring fire and will subdue their enemies (Deuteronomy 9:3). The crucifixion was not criminal punishment but atonement majesty. The author mentions unapproachability, and terror. However, the author stresses the glories given to the Christian. 1) The New Jerusalem, 2) angels, 3) the elect, 4) God the judge, 5) all people who have reached perfection, and 6) Jesus is the one who has initiated this covenant. A double responsibility exists for those who hear the gospel as over against those who heard the Law. "If people are true to God, they gain everything; and if they are untrue to God, they lose everything. In time and in eternity nothing matters save only loyalty to God."
For the writer of Hebrews, the contrast between the old covenant and the new covenant is one his readers need to appreciate at deeper levels than they do. His readers have received the word preached in the past. However, will they continue living in the better way provided by Christ, or turn back to the old way. The contrast is simple. The way of the old covenant led to death. The way of the new covenant, the city of the living God bursts with life and light. The angels gather in this heavenly city for a celebration. The old covenant shook the Hebrews tribes. By extension, one might say that the way of the old covenant continues to shake the Jewish people. However, the way of the covenant provided in Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, the perfect high priest, and the perfect temple, will bring a universal shaking. This second shaking will winnow out everything that stands apart from the gift of God that leads to salvation. What God leaves behind in this second shaking is a kingdom that no one can shake! In that sense, “God is a consuming fire,” removing what is unworthy.
A fourth-grade student needed to do a paper on a simple question: how was I born? He went to his mother first. "How was I born?" She did not have time to answer his question at the time, busily engaged as she was in cleaning up after supper. She gave the simplest answer she could, "The stork brought you." His grandmother was there as well, so he went to her. "How was mommy born?" She was also busy, nor did she want to get into the details. She also produced the simplest answer she could, "The stork brought you." He went to his desk and began his paper in this way: "According to my research, there has not been a normal birth in our family for three generations."[9] Obviously, simple answers were not sufficient for this boy. Yet, I fear the church sometimes gives itself over to simple answers to the questions people have about their lives. Truly, the simplest questions are the most profound. Where were you born? Where is your home? Asking such simple questions at various stages of your life will yield different answers.[10] Simple questions. The answers do not come to us quite so easily. Nor do they necessarily remain the same over the years. We evaluate ourselves throughout our lives. Simple questions are the most important. How we answer such questions determines our success and happiness in life.
If we experience the kind of shaking of the foundations that Hebrews suggests in this passage, what will remain? We look for answers to simple questions as if someone else could give them to us. Rather, our task is to uncover them, for they already within us. The Zen image of a man riding on an ox, looking for an ox, is appropriate here. Ask the question, “Who am I?” Asked in youth, such a question raises the issues regarding our values and the kind of person we desire to be. We will develop an answer in the decisions we make regarding career, family, and faith. At another stage of life, after children graduate from school, we will ask the same question, but the answer will change. We will be evaluating how well our decisions have worked or not worked. We will ponder the wisdom have learned from life experience.[11] Simple questions may well be the most important, but the daily business of life demands our attention. We have to give ourselves the time and place to ask such questions. Where am I from? At one level, I come from Minnesota, the town of Austin. Its only claim to fame is that it is the international headquarters of Hormel meat packing. "Where do you come from?" To answer psychologically, I may come from a content home, or a troubled home. Biologically, we come from the womb of our mothers. "Where do you come from?" Do we not all come from God, who is the source of life? The simple, profound questions are the ones that challenge us.
If God is in the business of shaking, are we open to letting God shake us?
Frankly, those of us who have been in the church a while could probably use some shaking up. Do you not think so? We run the risk of turning everything Jesus and everything church into something so standard that it becomes boring.
First, the letter to the Hebrews challenges us to focus on a new hope, showing reverence and awe, “for indeed our God is a consuming fire” (12:29). True, we think of the God of Jesus Christ as the coming of the grace and love of God. I agree with fully with that. Yet …
Such thinking reminds me of what German theologian Rudolf Otto called mysterium tremendum et fascinans. He found that at the heart of all forms of religious experience was human contact with a fascinating, awe-filled mystery — an experience that was literally full of awe. Whether we know it or not, we need a God who will disorient us, who will shake the foundations, if you please, not only of the earth, but of the heavens as well. We are in danger of losing this awe-full experience in worship — not awful as in “terrible,” but awe-full as in “full of awe.” We have lost the sense that there is a gulf between human sinfulness and divine purity, between our finite nature and the infinity of God, between our selfish actions and Christ’s perfect sacrifice.
Here is the desire of one young woman for some awe in worship:
“As a young adult, I do not need flashy graphics, a loud worship band, projected images on a screen or a cool, hip and stylish pastor [George Plasterer is a lot of things, but cool, hip, and stylish would not likely be one such description] to evoke passion in worship. Passion isn’t synonymous with loud, big and flashy. …
“I want to worship a Creator who formed the universe with a word and molded my very being from the fibers of the earth. I long to sing praises to a God who shouts with excitement through the joys of life and holds me tightly, with mutual tears, in the pits. I want to surrender all I am to the workings of a Holy Spirit who guides my movement in ways I never dreamed possible for myself. I want to humbly bow to the most humble of babies who changed the course of history for eternity. I want to lay offerings before a God who offered his own Son to wipe away the distance I continually place between [us]. I want to meet this Jesus over and over again, so maybe someday I will begin to understand the magnitude of a Love so grand, so extreme and so passionate.”
Second, such new hope comes in all shapes, sizes, and volumes. One can experience such hope in an evening prayer service in a cool, dark cathedral, around a campfire, accompanied by the music of guitars, at the start of a church meeting with scripture and prayer, and in a particularly heartfelt sermon in a sanctuary on a summer Sunday morning. Such an experience can catch you off guard. Sometimes, during a vigorous walk or run, the beauty of where I live almost overwhelms me. Sometimes, I can be watching a movie, and its message does “something” that I find difficult to describe, but I know that I have connected with God.
One of the anti-Christian philosophers by the name of Feuerbach charged that religion is nothing more than a projection of our own needs onto the divine. We create the kind of God we think we need. We project onto God what is most comfortable to us. Now, if I thought that was all we are doing with God, I would not be writing the way I am. Yet, all too often, this is true. Our temptation is to dissolve our involvement in religion into nothing more than another way to make us feel better. We bring God down to our size, so that God speaks in our voice, and the image of God we see is one we have fashioned.
Third, we need to be open to the possibility that encountering God will make us uncomfortable. I think a church that truly worships opens the door to God in a way in which God can act in a way that causes the people involved to respond by faith with open hearts.[12] There is a well-known legend about a seminary student approaching the great theologian Paul Tillich. Tillich had just lectured on the authority of the Scripture and the student was clutching in his hand a large, black, leather-bound Bible. "Do you believe this is the Word of God?" shouted the student. Tillich looked at the student's fingers tightly gripping the book. "Not if you think you can grasp it," said Tillich. "Only when the Bible grasps you." There is an over-familiarity with things holy, which, ironically, can make us numb to the intrusion of the holy in our lives. We build up such comfortable ideas about God that nothing can shake us, not even by the voice of God.
An Art and Chip Sansom's comic strip "The Born Loser," makes the point humorously. A mother is leaning over the back of her husband's chair, where he rests with his young son sitting on his lap. "Have you ever had a near-death experience, Pop?" asks the lad. "Can't say as I have, my boy," replied the father. Whereupon the mother intrudes, "The question is, has he ever had a near-life experience."
We can see the need for a new hope. We can be too confident that the foundation we have built is secure, and therefore close ourselves off from the ways God may want to shake us. Too many of us, preachers included, have become “certain” of far too many things. The longer we are in church, the more we may think have the “answers” for everyone. I hope we never lose the “seeker” in us, open to the new things we may discover about life, self, others, and God. Yet, we may also be so lifeless and hopeless that we become content with such littleness of life. Christian hope is an excess of meaning, a passion for the possible. Such is not just wishful thinking or utopian dreams.
Worship is not simply a moment of time and space in our lives. Rather, worship is a lifestyle, a posture, and an attitude. Worship is an ongoing recognition of the need to respond to God for how God continues to bless us. When you think of whom this God is and in whose presence we are, the end is nothing less than shaking the foundations. Worship of God is about our access and our need to respond to God’s calling and blessing.
St. John of the Cross, after he escaped from prison, wrote this poem:
There in the lucky dark,
none to observe me, darkness far and wide;
no sign for me to mark,
no other light, no guide
except for my heart -- the fire, the fire inside!
Our God is a consuming fire. Jesus is the light of the world. He is the light of our lives. We need to see Jesus. If we do, it may quite well rock our world.
[1] 12 You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, "Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or human being, they shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain." 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 And he said to the people, "Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman." 16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. 20 When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people not to break through to the Lord to look; otherwise many of them will perish. 22 Even the priests who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves or the Lord will break out against them." 23 Moses said to the Lord, "The people are not permitted to come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself warned us, saying, "Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy.' " 24 The Lord said to him, "Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let either the priests or the people break through to come up to the Lord; otherwise he will break out against them." 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them. (Exodus 19:12-25)
18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, 19 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." 20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin." 21 Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:18-21)
11 you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Deuteronomy 4:11-12)
22 These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders; 24 and you said, "Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live. 25 So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and remained alive? (Deuteronomy 5:22-26)
[2] 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)
[3] He said: The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran. With him were myriads of holy ones; at his right, a host of his own. (Deuteronomy 33:2)
[4] Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. (Revelation 19:6)
[5] A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10)
[6] Haggai 2:6,
For thus says the LORD of hosts:
Once again, in a little while,
I will shake the heavens and the earth
and the sea and the dry land;
[7] Say among the nations,
"The LORD is king!
The world is firmly established;
it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity." (Psalm 96:10)
[8] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [30.1] 367.
[9] (Lucinda Bates, "Daring to Doubt," April 7, 1991)
[10] Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
[11] (David Neff, "Have I Done Well," Christianity Today, February 17, 1989, 22)?
[12] Robert E. Webber, Blended Worship (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006), 86.
No comments:
Post a Comment