Slices
Prepare
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’ (Matthew 5:8). What thoughts and emotions are evoked by the thought of ‘seeing God’?
Bible passage
Warning and encouragement
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterwards, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
The mountain of fear and the mountain of joy
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.’21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.’
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’[ 27 The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’
Explore
We are commanded to run ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus’ (Hebrews 12:2a). In order to run right, we must live right by pursuing holiness – for ‘without holiness no one will see the Lord’ (v 14b).
The prospect of spending extended time with someone is viewed as a reward only if we enjoy a mutually satisfying relationship. To the ‘pure in heart’, it is a precious blessing to see a holy God (Matthew 5:8); to the impure, it is a fearful prospect. When God’s voice ‘shook the earth’, the Israelites shrank back in fear (vs 19–21).
God’s holiness is both awe-full and awful. Mrs Beaver says of Aslan, the Christ-figure of the Narnia chronicles, ‘If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.’* When God’s kingdom of justice comes, so does ‘the Judge of all’ (v 23b). Judgement is that inescapable ‘other side’ of the coin of salvation, for without purging the earth of evil there can be no justice. ‘The removing of what can be shaken’ is necessary ‘so that what cannot be shaken may remain’ (v 27). Will you be counted among those who cannot be shaken?
*CS Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, HarperCollins Publishers, 2001, p146
Respond
Pray for strength to remain unshaken in your commitment to cultivate an intimate relationship with the King of kings and to always ‘seek first his kingdom and his righteousness’ (Matthew 6:33a).
Deeper Bible study
ZION! – ‘where finds the dreamer waking, truth beyond dreaming far, / nor is the heart’s possessing less than the heart’s desire.’1
Today’s reading shows, as does all of Hebrews, how impossible it is to understand the New Testament without reading the Old. The ‘bitter root’ (v 15) is from Deuteronomy 29:18; the Esau story (vs 16,17) is in Genesis 25:29–34 and 27:30–40. The burning mountain (vs 18) is in Exodus 19, especially verses 16–19; Moses ‘trembling with fear’ (v 21) is after the golden calf episode, Deuteronomy 9:19. The shaking of earth and heaven (v 26) is in Haggai 2:6; and God as a consuming fire (v 29) in Deuteronomy 4:24. I will not allow scampering through all these passages to prevent my concentration on today’s reading. Esau’s profanity and godlessness are seen in his trading in his patrimony for – a bowl of stew! Lord, protect me from falling – perhaps irreversibly – into similar practical atheism through obsession with trivialities.
I pray for my imagination to awake as I read the awe-inspiring paragraphs about Sinai and about the heavenly Jerusalem. Terrifying forest fires it seems are becoming more common around the world; one place where a person may find safety is in an area already burned over. Our burned-over area is Jesus and his sacrifice, absolutely central in the whole of Hebrews and now the last ‘better’ thing in the procession of better things we have been studying (v 24). I revel in the descriptions here in verses 22–24 as beginning to describe the wonders of Zion – a kingdom not just of the future, but whose joys we have already begun to taste and a kingdom which we are receiving here and now (v 28). Lord, amidst all the earthquakes and upheavals of this world or my life, I thank you for this unshakeable kingdom which I am receiving!
‘Don’t just describe the joys of heaven, but go there yourself! Don’t be like a person who draws exact maps of countries but never visits them!’2
1 Peter Abelard, 1079–1142, ‘How mighty are the sabbaths’ 2 Adapted from Richard Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, 1650
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Kings 22; Psalms 60,61
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for all those normally working in schools in the south east, that they would have opportunities to be a light and witness. Pray for local mission partners who are faithfully serving schools and sharing the good news of Jesus.
