for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and  burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, (19) and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.  (22) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, (23) to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, (24) to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown. However, he/she is writing to Christian Jews who, for fear of persecution, were in danger of renouncing Christ Jesus as their Savior.  The letter makes much use of the Old Testament to show that all of the Bible was about the appearance of Jesus Christ in history.

In our verses today, we are reminded that God gave Moses the Law at Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai was a “real” mountain that may be touched and the Jews (just freed from Egypt) at the mountain could see, hear and feel the physical manifestations of God – there was darkness, thunder, fire and the blast of trumpets and the sound of God’s word. But the author compares this to the unseen Mt. Zion, or the heavenly new Jerusalem which cannot be seen while we are of this world. At Mt. Sinai, Moses and Aaron were the only mediators God allowed. But now we have Jesus as our forever high priest and we have left Sinai and come to Zion – the new covenant of grace in Jesus’ blood. The readers of the letter to the Hebrews are being told that Jesus is superior in every way.

The author of Hebrews also uses the example of the unbelief and immorality of Esau.  He did not believe what he could not see and his desire for present pleasure as opposed to delayed blessings is the contrast again between the reality of Mt Sinai and Mt Zion.  We are not invited to come to Sinai where men learned the consequences for rejecting God’s word, but to the greater Zion where we will heed the words of Jesus which were not written in stone but on our hearts. We are warned to not return from grace but to remain unshakeable in Jesus Who has set us free from the Law.  The Law could never make us right with God – nothing man can do would accomplish that. The Father’s wrath is satisfied by the  sacrifice of the Son – our sin is covered by His blood

The spectacular does not produce endurance – suffering does. This life is short but Mt. Zion is eternal.