OUTLINE:
18-21 Mt. Sinai, Old
Covenant, The Letter Kills
22-24 Mt. Zion, New
Covenant, The Spirit Gives Life
25-29 The Voice, shakes
the shakable
As children of God, we are called to:
Joyfully, endure
chastening (discipline, instruction, training,
education). Heb. 12:7.
Pursue peace and holiness, without
which no one will see the Lord. Heb. 12:14.
Walk
strong and straight with an intentional sacred strategy.
Looking diligently to avoid falling short, selling
out or allowing any root of bitterness to spring up.
All this in preparation for our Divine Eternal Purpose and calling to possess the Kingdom of God, as joint heirs with Christ, glorified with Him, judging the world, even angels, reigning with Him as kings and priests, redeemed saints of God, overcomers, singing a new song. (Daniel 7:18, 27, Romans 8:17, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 1:6, 2:26, 3:21, 5:9-10, 20:4, 20:6, 22:5).
For if we are indeed the Bride of Christ, the Church
of God, His Ekklesia, (a people called out, to be salt and light, rightly
interpreting, living out and enforcing His Word of Truth), then we have come
too far to slow down, give up or turn back.
Which is the purpose of the whole book of Hebrews, and
our lives today.
Don’t quit, dear saints, we are on the threshold of
victory.
We are not back at Mount Sinai, in the wilderness, trembling
in the dark, ignorant of the ways of the Lord.
Mt. Sinai, Old Covenant, The Letter Kills
18 For you
have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that 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. 20 (For they could not endure what was
commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be
stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying
was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and
trembling.”) (Ex. 19:16-19).
It is important to summarize the background about how
and why they went to Sinai.
At Mount Sinai, God had just delivered Israel out of
400 years of bondage.
He used an unlikely character to do it.
Moses.
Raised with a silver spoon. Rich and royal. Trained in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Mighty
in word and deed. (Acts 7:22).
He had it made. Possibly next in line to rule the
nation of Egypt.
However, he knew where he came from.
He knew he wasn’t Egyptian.
He knew, the blood of the Hebrew slaves flowed in his
veins.
At forty years old he couldn’t take it anymore. His
nation, Israel, was in trouble. He had to do something. The wealthy and wise
tycoon figured they’d welcome his help with open arms.
So, he stepped out of his comfortable life and...
All hell broke loose.
Overnight he went from the golden boy to a fugitive,
with powerful people once allies, wanting him dead.
He wound up at a place called Midian on the backside
of the desert, where no one could find him.
He settled down, got married to Zipporah, daughter of
Jethro, the priest of Midian.
He had a couple kids, Gershom, meaning, sojourner
there, and Eliezer, meaning, my God is my help.
He worked the next forty years as a shepherd, maybe
thinking that’s what he’d do until he died. After all, by then he was eighty.
Half his life he’d been a shepherd on the backside of that dusty desert.
The once silver spooned, royal robed, tycoon, mighty
in word and deed, now smelled of sweat and sheep, was leather skinned and slow
of tongue.
Nobody from his
past would even recognize him, let alone find him...
Except God.
God appeared in a burning bush telling Mo to go back
to Egypt and tell Pharaoh, that God says, “Let my people go.”
After much hemming and hawing and stuttering, Moses
went.
Pharaoh said “No.”
So, God sent ten Divine judgements that left Egypt in
ruins and Pharaoh begging them to go.
That very night was the first Passover.
God told them to choose and kill and eat a spotless lamb
and to paint some of its blood over the door posts of the house in which they ate.
Thereby, death would pass-over the house covered by the blood of the
lamb.
God Divinely prophesying
of how one day, He Himself would become, the Passover Lamb.
But until then, Israel had a lot to learn.
So, off they went and wound up at Sinai, where school officially
began.
There, twice Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on the
Mount with God, so much so that when he came down his face glowed with the
glory of God.
He received the Ten Commandments, written in stone by
the finger of God. He received instructions about how to make the Tabernacle,
the Ark of the Covenant, the Altar, the priestly garments and He was given the
Torah (the Pentateuch, the Law, the Five Books of Moses) Genesis-Deuteronomy.
At Sinai God spelled out His plan, provided the
blueprints, the roadmap.
We call it the Old Covenant, written, partly, in
stone.
All of it points to the New Covenant, written in
blood.
All the Old Covenant was to prepare the Way for when in
the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born
under the law, 5 to redeem those who
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And
because we are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore
we are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Galatians 4:4-7.
All of it, so God could get His family back. His
family that had been separated from Him since the Garden of Eden.
All of it began in Genesis 3:15, when he told that old
serpent, the devil, that one day the Seed of the woman, would crush his slimy
head.
So, ever since then, whenever God is on the move, the
serpent is scared and starts to rattle.
Sinai is the day the official documents were signed,
sealed and delivered.
But we are not there, says the writer of
Hebrews.
Sinai served its purpose, but we cannot go back.
We cannot return to an Old Covenant that no longer
exists.
The New Covenant makes the old obsolete.
2 Corinthians 3:6, He made us ministers of
the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life.
That brings us to beautiful, beautiful Zion.
Mt. Zion, New Covenant, The Spirit Gives Life
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.
But you have come... Home.
The Hall of Faithers (Hebrews 11), of whom the world
was not worthy, sought Mount Zion, the heavenly city whose Builder and Maker is
God.
Mount Zion. The Home Moses looked to, considering the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
Where the Master Builder, has gone to prepare a
place for you.
Just imagine how marvelous. He who paints each sunrise
and sunset, has gone to the heavenly Jerusalem, to prepare a place for you.
Mount Zion is for the Church of the
firstborn registered in heaven. That’s important data
regarding the strict entrance policy for the occupants of heaven. No illegals.
Only those born again, washed by the blood of the Passover Lamb. Only those
whose names are written (registered) in heaven.
Jesus says it like this:
Enter
by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because
narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which
leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus
the Mediator of the New Covenant,
took the cup on the night in which He as betrayed and said, this is My blood of
the New Covenant, shed for the remission of sins. Matthew 26:28.
The Voice, shakes the shakable
25 See that you
do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused
Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away
from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose
voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more
I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now
this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things
that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot
be shaken may remain.
Compare that with this parallel passage:
Hebrews
10:28-31
28
Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you
suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God
underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified
a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we
know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again,
“The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God.
Living in sin while claiming Christianity, is
insulting, mocking, the Spirit of grace.
Be
not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will
also reap. Galatians 6:7.
Today, God is speaking.
Today, if you hear His Voice, harden not your heart,
do not refuse Him, reject him.
To not respond, is to reject.
To ignore is to deny.
The Voice of God from Sinai, shook the earth, but now,
the still small Voice is shaking everything that can be shaken.
The seen and the unseen, rattling the very thoughts
and intents of hearts.
When God is on the move, the slimy serpent rattles.
Amos
3:7
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His
servants the prophets.
How much more does He reveal His plans to His Bride,
His family, His Ekklesia, those filled with His Holy Spirit.
Recently we felt prompted to pray for Justice.
For a sneak peak of the Justice that’s coming.
It wasn’t written on tablets of stone by the finger of
God, but about 400 years ago men of God, penned a Covenant with God, called the
Mayflower Compact.
Like Israel of old, we find ourselves in bondage, to
sin, to debt we can never pay, without Divine Intervention. And also like them,
we have cruel taskmasters who want us in bondage, as their slaves.
Now, it appears in answer to prayer.
To give us a glimpse.
Because surely the Lord God does nothing without first
revealing His plan to His people...
Justice is Rising.
Like Israel, God called an unlikely Moses.
Raised with a silver spoon. Rich and royal. Trained in
all the wisdom of the world. Mighty in word and deed.
He had it made.
But His nation was in trouble.
He had to do something.
The wealthy and wise tycoon figured his country would
welcome his help with open arms.
So, he stepped out of his comfortable life and...
All hell broke loose.
When God is on the move, the slimy serpent rattles.
Overnight he went from golden boy to felon with
powerful people once allies, wanting him dead.
Nevertheless, God chooses who He chooses.
So, the unlikely Moses came back, again, to tell the
Pharaoh’s of the world:
GOD
SAYS, LET MY PEOPLE GO.
Justice is Rising
Just ask Gaza, they attacked Israel and now lie in
ruins.
Just ask Iran’s nuclear sight.
Just ask Christian killing ISIS terrorists in Nigeria
Just ask National Guard killing Islamic terrorists in
Syria
Just ask dozens of drug smuggling boats at the bottom
of the ocean
Just ask dictator Maduro and wife
Just ask thousands of illegal aliens, now deported.
Why do the heathen rage?
Why are the rioters roaring?
Psalm 2.
When God is on the move, the slimy serpent rattles.
When justice stands, the unjust shake.
Justice is Rising
Just ask the one possessed by lawlessness
She blocked the law with her weapon
The officers told her to drop her weapon
She refused
An officer approached from the side
She and her lesbian sex partner mocked and taunted the
law
Another officer stood in front of her
The law repeatedly commanded her to stop and release
her weapon
Rather than comply, instead of acknowledging the
officer, she pulled the trigger
The officer was wounded
He pulled the trigger
She is dead
Her weapon, a vehicle
Her trigger, an accelerator
Her motive, darkness
Ephesians
5:11
Have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather expose them.
Justice is rising.
The serpent is shaking.
1
Peter 4:17
17 For
the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and
if it begins with us first, what will be the end of
those who do not obey the gospel of God?
28 Therefore,
since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us
have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our
God is a consuming fire.
We are (present tense) receiving a kingdom which
cannot be shaken.
All that can be shaken is being shaken.
All that can be consumed is being consumed.
For our God is a consuming fire.
You dear Saint, are called to be unshakable, and
fireproof. Joyfully enduring chastening, pursuing peace in holiness, walking
strong and straight with sacred strategy, ever climbing toward Mount Zion.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You. We love You. Please
show us, individually, how we can love You better, from our thoughts to our
deeds and everywhere in between. From this moment through forever, this one
thing we seek: to be pleasing in Your sight. Please speak to us and through us
so all those around us will be drawn to You.
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
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12:18-29
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12:18-29
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