Thursday 03 February 2011

Background

Drawing on a knowledge of and love for what we call the OldTestament (and assuming that readers will know and love it too),the writer to the Hebrews now paints a vivid contrast-picture,between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. 

Mount Sinai was the place where, on their journey from slavery inEgypt to freedom in the Promised Land, the Jews had received thelaw from God in the form of the Ten Commandments, written on stoneby God's own hand and given to Moses (Exodus20). Fire, darkness, gloom, tempests and trumpets were all, atvarious times, dramatic indications of the presence and majesty ofGod, such that all the people, even Moses himself, were afraid andtrembled. 

But the new covenant is not like that - readers are assured thatGod's revelation was in the physical realm, which was tangible butalso temporal. By contrast Mount Zion is not on any map, but is thelonged-for peak which represents the place of God's presence toGod's people. It is synonymous with the city of God, the heavenlyJerusalem, which was so much a part of the apocalyptic literature -that which and captured a longing for the world still tocome. 

What has now been revealed, through the life, death andresurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be touched; it is spiritual innature, and it is eternal in its effectiveness. Whereas the oldcovenant was based on laws, on obedience and on the blood ofanimals, the new covenant brought in by Jesus is based on his ownblood, shed on the cross, with its message of the true and lastingforgiveness of sin. 

Curiously the writer here compares the shed blood of Jesus withthe blood of Abel (Genesis 4:1-16). The second son of Adam andEve, Abel was murdered by his jealous elder brother, Cain, to whomGod says, "Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me fromthe ground!" (Genesis 4:10). The suggestion is, perhaps, thatwhilst the blood of Abel can only draw God's attention to the sinof humanity, only the blood of Jesus can deal with that samesin. 

Jesus is not a stopgap measure, but a permanent solution - so,stay faithful! 

To Ponder

What thoughts and images does the concept ofMount Zion conjure up for you?

To what extent do you sometimes still live as achild of the old covenant - of law and smoke and fear andtrembling?

How far are you aware of the need for the bloodof Jesus to 'speak a better word' (verse 24) for you?