New Covenant Worship

Hebrews 12:18-29
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, October 26, 1997
Copyright © 1997, P. G. Mathew

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 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, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 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? 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.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken–that is, created things–so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:18-29

Worship As Communion

Have you ever wondered why people go to church? I have, and I am sure that many answers can be given. Some people say that they go because their church entertains them. Others say their church has a very aesthetically pleasing design which makes them feel good. Still others might say their minister preaches very short, superficial sermons, and they appreciate the fact that he doesn’t make any value judgments at all. Some might say they go to a big church so they can get lost in it. Others say they go because during the Christmas season their church has a large Christmas tree decorated with lights and reaching to the ceiling, which their children greatly enjoy. Some say they go because their church has many actors and actresses–stars–who come and speak frequently. Some go because the church has professional soloists and a professional choir, while others go because of the atmosphere, whether it is one of smoke, incense, and candlelight, or lots of flowers and vaulted ceilings. Some go because the pastor is very handsome and pleasant to look at. Some go because the pastor is very nice, so nice that they can tell him what to do, and he will do it.

But true worship involves communion, and the real reason we should go to church is to worship God. Now, we must realize that man is a worshiping creature, and he will either worship the true and living God or he will worship creation. But what one worships reveals whether one is redeemed or not.

God redeems people so they might worship him. When the people of Israel were in Egypt, God told Moses, “When you have brought my people out of Egypt, I want you to worship me on this mountain.” The purpose of our redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ is that we may render exclusive worship to this Lord who created us in his image and likeness for this very reason.

So the redeemed of God are to worship and serve God, not only on Sundays, but every day of our lives. So in Deuteronomy 10:12 we read, “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” We are to fear God, walk in his ways, love him, serve him, and observe his commands with all of our lives.

Worship Is Response

You may ask, “Why should we worship God?” Worship is our response to God in recognition of his manifest glory as Creator and as Redeemer. We see this idea expressed two places in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 4:11 we read, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Here we are told that we are created by God to worship him. And in Revelation 5:9,10 we read, “And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Here we learn we must worship God for a double reason: that he created us and that he redeemed us.

Our God is glorious and full of splendor. Psalm 29 tells us, “Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” So we must adore him, praise him, thank him, serve him, listen to him, pray to him and confess to him. The greater our knowledge of God, the greater will be our adoration and service of him.

Living in God’s Presence

When we come into the presence of God, we worship him because we see by faith that God is in our midst in his transcendent glory. We do this especially on the Lord’s Day as we gather together in God’s presence. And as we gather to worship God on Sundays, we also receive blessing and edification. But we must also realize that worship is an activity for all of life because we, the redeemed of the Lord, live in God’s presence all the time.

We see this idea of living in the presence of God in Genesis 17:1 where God told Abraham, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.” We also see it in the account of Joseph, who had a profound understanding of living in the presence of God. Remember when he was serving as a servant in the house of Potiphar and Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to commit fornication with her? What did Joseph tell Mrs. Potiphar? “How can I do this wicked thing and sin against God?” He understood that he lived in God’s presence. Even though he was living in Egypt, and even though he lived in the house of Potiphar, Joseph knew he was living in the presence of God.

Throughout the life of Jesus we see the idea of living before God. When the devil, who is merely a creature, approached Jesus and told him to worship him, what did Jesus say? “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only'” (Matt. 4:10).

So when we worship, whether by ourselves, together with others or as part of our daily living in the world, we cannot focus upon ourselves. Our focus must always be upon God. In other words, we do not come to worship in order to be entertained or to feel good. As God-conscious people, we come together to honor our great and glorious God. And after we have worshiped in this way, we are prepared to go out into the world to serve this transcendent God who is with us always.

Therefore, we must realize that we are always in God’s presence. He will never leave us alone, even when we want him to. Suppose a Christian man goes to a store and sees pornography. He may want to buy it and take it home, but as he sees God in that place, he will not do it. One can serve and worship God even in that situation when you realize you are always before God’s presence.

The Message of Mount Sinai

Let us, then, examine this very important portion of scripture, Hebrews 12:18-29, which tells us something about the reality of our worship. In verse 18 we read, “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and is burning with fire,” and so on. What was the message of God from the physical, geographical Mount Sinai to the gathered people of Israel? Very simply, God was saying, “Keep out! Don’t come to me! I am holy and you are sinners, so worship and communion is impossible. Don’t you know a holy God cannot have fellowship with a sinful people? Therefore, please do not approach this mountain or draw near to it.”

God had descended upon Mount Sinai and, as a result, the whole mountain was holy. And in Exodus 20 we read how Mount Sinai quaked and burned with fire. It was full of darkness and gloom. There was great storm with thunder and lightning. All of this was due to the presence of God on that temporal, earthly mountain.

Not only that, the assembled people heard a trumpet blast. What was it for? To warn them: “Don’t come!” Then they heard the heart-piercing words from God himself, the ten words which are commandments, not suggestions. Everyone who heard them was convicted of sin, even Moses the leader, the murderer, who heard “You shall not murder.”

The Ten Commandments so convicted the people that they begged God to stop speaking to them. Additionally, they were told that if any man or animal should touch the mountain, that creature would contract holiness and must be put to death by stoning. The Bible says the people were not able to endure this terrifying spectacle. Even Moses, the mediator and leader, was full of fear and trembling.

The Ministry of Death

Why were these people so afraid? They realized they were all guilty of sin. God was commanding them to keep the Ten Commandments. But how can sinners keep the law? They cannot, and therefore, Mount Sinai brought death to the people of Israel. We are told this by St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:7, that the ministry of the law is the ministry of death and condemnation. It was a ministry that made people conscious of their sins and terrified them.

So in Exodus 20:18-21 we read, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.’ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.”

What was the purpose of this objective manifestation of transcendent God in his holiness and attributes? It was designed to scare God’s people in a way that they would never forget it. It was designed to give them an objective standard by which to live. After all, how could someone forget that God is great, almighty, all-seeing, all-powerful, all-holy, and just after seeing such a spectacle?

Moses himself did not forget this experience. Forty years later he was still very aware of the profound phenomenon he witnessed at Mount Sinai and in Deuteronomy 4, beginning with verse 10 he wrote, “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.’ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 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. He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets,'” and so on. Moses still remembered these things, and he was telling the people, “Remember!”

Worship Requires Holiness

Why was it so important to remember these things? Because the experience at Mount Sinai was a manifestation of God’s holiness. God is not an idol, a dumb, mute, nothing who allows us to do whatever we want whenever we want and however we want. God is the all-holy living and true God, and he wants us to realize that. He also wants us to realize our own sinfulness, because true worship, true fellowship, true communion with God requires a putting away of our sins and guilt.

God is holy! We read about this in Psalm 15 and 24. In Psalm 15 David asks, “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?” and the answer is, only a person who is holy. And in Psalm 24 the question is asked again in verse 3: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord” to commune with him, to dwell with him, to worship him, to have fellowship with him, and to live with him forever? “Who may stand in his holy place?” And the answer is given in verse 4: “He who has clean hands a pure heart.” Only a person who is different in his heart, who has experienced profound internal change in his attitudes, understanding, and thoughts, and who has expressed such change in terms of his actions, can come to God. In other words, a only person who is holy and righteous can have this fellowship with God. Why? In other places in the Scriptures we read, “Be ye holy for I am holy,” and “Without holiness no one can see God.” In the beatitudes Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

We must be holy in order to experience the holy communion of worship. So the word at Sinai was, “Don’t come! Stand apart! No admittance! Why? Because you are unclean. You all are sinners, including your mediator, Moses.” Yes, later on we read about people worshiping in the tabernacle and the temple. But even in these situations the vast majority of people could not draw near to God in worship. They had to stand outside, and only one person, the high priest, was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place in a prescribed manner with blood for his sins and the sins of the people one day each year, on the Day of Atonement. Only he could come in through the curtain to the presence of God, who symbolically dwelt above the mercy seat between the cherubim. Only he could sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat and in front of it and then go out. And only he or his successors could come again, but only after a year, on the next Day of Atonement, into God’s presence.

The Message of Mount Zion

But in Hebrews 12:22 we read, “You have come to Mount Zion. . .” What a marked contrast with Mount Sinai! We have come to a different mountain, Mount Zion. And Mount Zion also has a message for us. It is the message of today, the message of the One who speaks from heaven, the message from the dwelling place of God, the city of the living God. The message from the heavenly Mount Zion is distinctly different from that of Mount Sinai.

What was God’s message at Mount Sinai? “Keep out! Don’t come! I am holy; you are sinners. Communion with me is impossible!” But from Mount Zion we hear a different message. In Hebrews 4:16 we read, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Do you see the difference?

In Hebrews 7:25 we read, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them.” Notice, the phrase “come to God”! And in Hebrews 10:19-22 we read, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies cleansed with pure water.” What is the great exhortation of Mount Zion? Come! Approach! Draw near!

Great Remedy for A Great Problem

The message of Mount Zion, then, is totally different from that of Mount Sinai. And now the question is: What accounts for the difference in the messages? We find the reason in Hebrews 1:3: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” The difference is that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, provided purification for our sins and we can now approach the Holy God.

Through his life and death Jesus made provision for cleansing us from all our sins. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the sinless One, was judged by the Father in our place. He offered himself once for all for our sins as a sacrifice acceptable to God, and thus he brought about purification for all our sins.

The message of Mount Sinai was that we as sons of Adam are all defiled by sin and therefore cannot come to God in worship. We did not and could not keep the law; rather, we all are unrighteous lawbreakers. Moreover, the wages of sin is death, and, thus, the law ministered condemnation and death to us. Paul speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 15:56: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” The truth is, no one can be justified by the works of the law.

But the message of Mount Zion gives us the remedy for sin. Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 15:56, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God himself gave us the victory over sin, and as we read here, he leads us in triumph always! Thanks be to God who gives us the victory over sin, over Satan, over death, over hell, and over law through our Lord Jesus Christ!

So Paul says in Romans 8:3, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.” God’s Son made purification for sins. Praise God for the message from the heavenly Mount Zion!

Purified by the Blood

Now the question is: How did this purification come about? In Hebrews 9:11-14 we read, “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

In other words, Jesus Christ shed his blood to purify us from our sins. And what was the reason he did so? That we may serve the living God, worshiping him, fellowshiping with him, daily obeying him, and dwelling in his presence.

Whole Life Worship

Thus, our service to God involves the totality of our lives. Not only do we worship God on Sunday, but we are to do so in all aspects of our lives all of the time. How can we? Hebrews 10:19-25 tells us that we can approach God with confidence. No longer are we coming to a throne of judgment and condemnation; rather, we are coming to the throne of grace, and there we will receive grace to help us in our every need. “Come! Approach me!” God is telling us. And if we ask him how we can do that, he will say, “That which prevented you from coming to me is dealt with by my Son whom I judged in your place. Come on, then, and worship!” So in Hebrews 10:22 we read this gracious exhortation: “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. . .” Our hearts have been made forever clean from all evil corruptions because they have been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ. And therefore, we can serve God with the totality of our lives. We should not let our consciences bark at us; rather, we must believe that Christ shed his blood for us and that we have been cleansed of our sins and been enabled to serve God alone.

How does God want us to worship him? In spirit and in truth. The Bible tells us that God the Father planned our salvation, Christ accomplished it, and the Spirit applies it to us. And now the Father is seeking certain people to worship him in spirit and in truth. So as the Holy Spirit applies this great salvation to us, our hearts are cleansed and our hands are clean. We can then ascend to the holy hill in and through Jesus Christ because we have been made clean and righteous by faith through the sacrifice of Christ. Now we are qualified to draw near, to approach, to come, and to enter, and the Holy Spirit tells us, “Come on! With great confidence, come on! With full assurance of faith, come on!” What encouragement!

And as we come, we know that God will receive us. Why? We are coming to the throne of grace. We are coming into God’s presence by a new and living way opened up for us through the sacrifice of the body of Christ. We are coming to worship God.

Unlimited Access

Do you remember how only the high priest could go, only once a year, briefly into the Most Holy Place on the physical Mount Zion? But now in and through the great High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, every believer in Jesus Christ is invited to come and be in God’s presence always. The great curtain, that thick big curtain that prevented our coming into God’s presence, has been torn from top to bottom, and the way has been made for all of us through Jesus Christ. No wonder the gospel that comes to us from the heavenly Mount Zion has this message: “Come! Come to the Father through his Son Jesus Christ! The time of fellowship has come! The time of communion has come!”

Therefore, in Romans 8:1 Paul says, “Therefore now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” And in Romans 5:1 he writes, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.” There is no more fear, no more trembling, no more terror, no more condemnation, no more evil conscience, and no more quaking! We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Joy of God’s Presence

Not only that, Paul writes in Romans 5:2, “through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Through Jesus Christ we have gained access to come into the very presence of God the Father himself.

Church, consider where you have been brought! You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to heaven itself, to the city of God. The reality is that every believer in Jesus Christ, though he still lives on earth, is seated with Christ in the heavenly realms–seated with Christ whom God seated at his right hand in the heavenly realms, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:21). By faith we have been seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.

God qualified us in Jesus Christ so that we could fulfill the purpose for which we were created. What is that purpose? To come before God to worship and serve him. This is real life. This is true peace and joy. This is the height of blessing.

Coming to Mount Zion

Hebrews 12:22 says, “You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of of the living God.” We have come to a different mountain from Mount Sinai. We have come to a heavenly mountain, where there is no thunder, no lightning, no darkness, no gloom, no storm, no trumpet blast, no fire burning, no commandment spoken against us, no separation, no death. Everything is different. And in the Greek, we find the word proseleluthate , which comes from prosercomai, used in the perfect tense. That indicates an act was accomplished whose effect is continuing.

So the writer is saying we have come to Mount Zion and we are not going to go away. That is what that Greek verb tells us. We have come, and God is telling us, “I am your God and you are my people.” Here is life everlasting! Here is peace and joy, praise and adoration. (PGM) Here is communion, love, and total acceptance by the Father. Here the heavenly Father meets with all his children in his one and only Son. We have come to all of this through the ladder that is Jesus Christ and we are not going away. It is an accomplished fact, in other words, and this coming will continue forever and ever. Unlike the Aaronic high priest who came once a year and had to go away, we are in God’s presence and do not go away. Praise be to God!

As believers in Christ, we are all holy royal priests, and in and through the great royal High Priest, Jesus Christ, we have come into the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to continually offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We have come by faith in and through Jesus Christ and by the energy of the Holy Spirit. We have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and we live in his presence always. Isn’t that wonderful? Whether we live or whether we die, we will be in God’s presence. “Because I live, you also will live,” Jesus said. And we also see mention of this in 2 Corinthians 12 where St. Paul was caught up into paradise.

A Warning Against Falling Away

In Hebrews 12:22-24 we read, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” In this passage the writer describes seven aspects of the place to which those who believe in Christ come.

First, though, we must mention that the recipients of this epistle to the Hebrews were Christians who were in danger of going back to Judaism. Possibly they were Jewish Christians, meaning Jews who had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, and perhaps they had become weary of being mocked, having their properties confiscated, and being kicked out of their professions for the sake of Christ. Whatever the reason, we can infer that these people were saying, “We are sick and tired of this Christian life. It would be easier for us to go back to Judaism. Then everyone will accept us and we will be one with them. No one will mock us. We will be accepted into our profession, and everything will go right for us.”

In this passage the writer was giving a warning to these people. “If you are going back to Judaism,” he was saying, “please understand that you will also be going back to Mount Sinai. You will be going back to a mountain that is quaking and burning. You are going back to darkness, gloom, and storm, to a trumpet blast and the words of the Ten Commandments. You will be going back to hear from God, ‘Do not come.’ You will be going back to a system of justification by works, but your works will never be acceptable in God’s sight. The wrath of God will be against you and you will have to stand at a distance. You will be quaking, trembling and full of fear. You will be going back to the ministry of the law which brings death.”

Mount Zion Described

In this passage, then, the writer was encouraging his readers with a description of seven aspects of the glorious place to which they had come in Christ, which is called Mount Zion.

1. “You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.” As we have already said, worship means communion, and the first thing we must note is that in and through Jesus Christ those who have trusted in Christ have arrived in heaven itself by faith. The writer was saying, “You who are interested in going back must understand this: that God has brought us to heaven itself, to the heavenly Jerusalem. And what is heaven? The city of the living God. You must understand that you have come to a city that is abiding, whose architect and builder is God. This is the better country that we read about in Hebrews 11:16. This is the city which alone shall never be shaken. This is the only city that will abide forever. This is the city where the living God dwells and rules and from which he exercises his sovereignty. And you must consider it a great blessing that you have come through the mediatorship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and through the energy of the Spirit of the living God to this city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”This city, the heavenly Jerusalem, is a city that no enemies will ever come to attack. It is a well-ordered city in which there is full provision for all of us for all time. It is a city where we will experience total security and find perfect happiness.

   The apostle John speaks about this city in the book of Revelation, and in Revelation 21, beginning with verse 9 we read, “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal,” and so on.

   We must understand where we have come, the writer is saying, and appreciate the gospel and the salvation the gospel has brought us. We must think clearly! Then we will not go back to Judaism and Mount Sinai with all the quaking and smoke. We will not go back to the place of darkness, gloom, trumpet blast and storm. We will see the foolishness of even considering such an action.

2. “You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.” Do you understand this, church, that when we come together to worship, we are coming into the heavenly Jerusalem by faith? And we are also coming into communion with thousands upon thousands of angels, all orders of angels, in joyful, festal assembly? These are the elect, holy angels, whose pleasure and delight is to do the will of God. Now, we must realize that we are not coming to worship the angels. Angels are creatures and they worship God. But we are joining with them in worshiping God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.We read about this in 1 Corinthians 11:17. There Paul was instructing the Corinthians how to behave when they came together in worship. The Corinthians were coming together for the worse rather than for the better, and Paul had to write to instruct them that the purpose of the church coming together is to worship God and those gathering must see to it that all things are done decently and in order.

   So in 1 Corinthians 11:17 we read, “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” In other words, Paul was saying, “Pay attention, church, because you have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You are not the center of attention. It is God who is the center of attention, and his Son, Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man.” And so in verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 11 Paul makes this statement: “For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.”

   Now, the purpose of this study is not to discuss the covering of women’s head, but notice that statement, “and because of the angels.” Paul was conscious of the truth that as Christians we come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Zion, the city of the living God, and that we have come also in relationship with, in fellowship with, and in communion with thousands upon thousands of elect angels. They are with us as we worship the only true and living God.

   In Revelation 5:11 we read, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,'” and so on.

   Therefore, we must realize that we have not come to a place where we are free to do our own thing, forcing ourselves and pressing ourselves and our claims forward so that everyone will see who we are. We have come to God’s city! And because of the angels, we must behave ourselves and exercise a certain decorum, a certain order, a certain decency, a certain humility, and a certain subordination to husbands. We must have a sense of submission. Why? Angels are with us, worshiping God.

3. “You have come. . . to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” When we worship, we come to experience what is called the communion in a spiritual sense by faith with all the saints of God. This is an amazing statement in this passage of Scripture. It is not just five people, a hundred people, or fifteen hundred people coming together to worship in a physical place. When Christians worship, we worship our God with all the people of God. There truly exists what is called the communion of saints, which includes those who died in faith as well as those who still live on the earth.This is a reality to be apprehended by faith through the Spirit. The phrase, “the church of the firstborn,” tells us that we are all considered firstborn, not second-born, and in the Greek we notice that the word for firstborn is in the plural. Every believer is firstborn in Jesus Christ who is the firstborn par excellence.

   What does it mean to be firstborn? In Exodus 4:22 we read, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn.” Firstborn speaks about dignity. The people of God are people of dignity. We must understand that and behave ourselves with a certain dignity in the world.

   Not only that, firstborn means we are people of great inheritance. In Hebrews 1:1-2 we read, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things. . .” Jesus Christ, the firstborn, is the heir of all things, but in him we are also firstborn and heirs of all things that belong to him. In 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 we read “all things are yours. . .and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God,” and in Romans 8:17 we read, “we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”

   So when we come together to worship, we are coming into the holy communion of the whole company of saints and joining with them in the worship of God. We come to worship God and his Son, but we are also joining with all the saints of the Old Testament, all the saints of the intertestamental period, all the saints of the New Testament–all the saints who have ever lived and died, in other words–and all the saints still living on the face of the earth.

   In Hebrews 11:4 we read, “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.” Have you ever thought about this, that when we worship God, we are worshiping with Abel and Abraham and the patriarchs and Moses and Joshua and Peter and Paul? In fact, when I worship, I worship with my father who died in faith. That is an interesting insight, isn’t it?

   In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul wrote, “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy,” and then he said, “together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours.” We have come to the church of the firstborn whose names are enrolled in heaven and we have come with all the brothers and sisters in the Lord. We have come in communion, spiritually, by faith but really with those “whose names are enrolled in heaven.”

   In Luke 10 we read of the disciples going out and doing many things in Jesus’ name. Verse 17 tells us, “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” But listen to what Jesus said in verse 20: “Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Praise God! We have come to the city of the living God, to thousands upon thousands of elect angels and to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. That is cause for great celebration and joy, that our names are written in heaven.

   We read about this in Philippians 4:3, “Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” And in Revelation 21:27 we read, “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

   So we have communion with angels and communion with all God’s people, living and dead. Have you ever considered that through the mediatorship of Jesus Christ you have come to experience this glorious aspect of worship?

4. “You have come to God, the judge of all men.” God is the judge of all men. Abraham understood that when he asked, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25) But although God is the judge of all, when we come to him we need not fear. Why? This God judged his Son and declared us to be righteous.We find this idea throughout the book of Romans, but let me highlight two verses. In Romans 8:33 we read, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.” And in Romans 8:1 we read, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

   God is the judge of all, but for us his throne has been transformed into a throne of grace. We must never forget that he is God of all and he is judge of all, but praise be to God, he has declared us righteous in and through Jesus Christ.

5. “You have come . . . to the spirits of righteous men made perfect.” This has reference especially to all saints who have died in faith. In Question 37 of the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith we read, “What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?” What is the answer? “The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.” But when those of us who are still living on the face of the earth come together to worship, we are worshiping with such believers.What happened to Abel, Moses, or Peter? God declared them to be righteous men because of their faith in the Messiah. But when they died, what happened? God perfected them in their spirits and admitted them into his very presence. He did the same thing with the thief on the cross. Remember how Jesus told him, “Today you shall be with me in paradise”? On the basis of Christ’s death in our behalf, all who trust in him are perfected in their spirits at death and immediately are carried by holy angels to paradise, which is the presence of God. So Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23, “I desire to depart and be with Christ.” Departing means being with Christ. There is no intermediate place to park our spirits. When we die, we are ushered into the very presence of God to behold him. That is called perfection. Now, it is only a part of what awaits us. Those who have died still have to wait to receive their spiritual bodies at the resurrection, but even now they are in the very presence of God, enjoying divine comfort.

   What about those who do not trust in Jesus Christ? What will happen to the souls of your mother or father or uncle who are unbelievers? Read Luke 16:19-31. There we find the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Both died, but while Lazarus went to paradise, the rich man went to hell. Or look at 1 Peter 3:18-19. There we read, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”

   The spirits of unbelievers are described as spirits who are in prison, in agony and in torment, waiting for their day before the Judge. That is a pretty serious fact which we all tend to ignore. But it is reality. We would rather believe in annihilationism than in the reality of hell, and to some people that is a much more reasonable idea. But annihilationism is not what the Scripture is teaching. We must always remember that there are two destinations, and if you want to be inspired to evangelize, that ought to help you.

   When we worship, then, we are coming into communion not only with the saints who are alive now but also with the spirits of just men made perfect, meaning the saints who died. That includes my father and all who died in faith in Christ.

6. “You have come. . .to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant.” Where is Jesus? He is seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of the Father, far above all principalities and powers. But do you remember why he was named Jesus? He was so named because he would save his people from their sins. In other words, when we come to worship, we are coming by faith into the presence of Jesus our Savior.Jesus is our mediator, which means he is a person who has relationship with both parties. There is only one mediator who can go between a holy God and sinful man. But God provided that mediator, Jesus Christ, who is very God and very man. Now, a mediator must see to it that the interests of both parties are preserved, and by his life and death, Jesus Christ preserved the glory and the honor of God, while he also preserved our interest to be rescued from sin, hell, death, and damnation. He himself rescued us, becoming the ladder that bridges the gap from heaven and earth. So when we worship, we are coming to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. Christ is the mediator of the new covenant, which he ratified by shedding his own blood.

   What is the new covenant? We read about it in the book of Jeremiah. There are three characteristics to this covenant. First, it promises to give you a new nature; second, it guarantees experimental, relational knowledge of God; and third, it guarantees full and complete forgiveness of all our sins.

   On the basis of this new covenant, therefore, God is our God and we are his people, and now we can have fellowship and communion with God and his Son, Jesus Christ. Worship means communion and fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, the only mediator, as wells as with holy angels and all of God’s people, living and dead.

7. “You have come . . . to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Praise God for the blood of Jesus Christ that brought purification of our sins! Christ’s blood has been sprinkled upon our conscience by faith and we are now clean and qualified to have this communion with God himself. Isn’t it wonderful? Christ’s blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel, we are told. Abel’s blood cried out for retribution, but the blood of Jesus cries out for forgiveness. “Father, forgive them!” was Christ’s prayer.

That is a better message, don’t you think? It is a message, not of retribution, but of forgiveness; not of death but of life; not of separation and condemnation but of communion and peace and joy.

A Better Worship

When we come to worship, therefore, we come to these seven realities. We enter heaven by faith and commune with God the Father and God the Son in the Holy Spirit. We commune with all the elect holy angels and all of God’s people, living and dead. Together with these angels and saints we worship God in spirit and in truth, not on a physical Mount Gerizim nor on a physical Mount Zion, but in heaven itself, the heavenly Zion, the city of the living God.

This is what we should consider when we come to worship. And when we do so, what worship we will experience! There will be communion, joy, embrace, celebration, praise, adoration and singing. Then we will not come for the worse; we will come for the better. We will listen to the word with rapt attention. Sinners will be saved. What glory that will be, as we come to the city of the living God and worship our God.

And as we worship in this way, let me tell you, something will happen to us. We will be filled with joy, peace, and edification. There will be no more fear, no more anxiety, and no more worry. Why? We will be worshiping our God!

For the Praise of His Glory

In Ephesians 1:11-12 we read, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.” Do you understand this? We have been saved by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for what purpose? For the praise of God’s glory. That is the purpose of our life. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

So I must ask you: Do you want to go back to Judaism? Do you want to go back to the world? If you do, you will only find darkness, gloom, wrath, and anger. Why? The ministry of the law kills. All you will hear is the message: “Don’t approach, lest you die.”

But if you come to the heavenly Mount Zion, you will hear the Spirit and the bride saying what? “Come! Anyone who is thirsty, come! Come, all those who are weary and burdened, come! Come to God through Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant. Come!”

Who can come? Anyone. A leper, a miserable man, once came to Jesus and said, “I know you are able to make me clean but I do not know whether you are willing to do so.” What did Jesus say? “I am willing. Be clean!” Does it matter how we come? No. There was a woman who had suffered for many years with bleeding. Trembling in fear she came to Jesus, saying to herself, “If only I touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed.” But it doesn’t matter how we come. We could crawl, we could run or we can come trembling with fear. This woman came, touched Jesus, and was healed instantly healed.

Therefore, I urge you, come to Jesus. He is the only Savior, the only mediator who accomplished purification for our sins. Only he can put our sins away and qualify us to come into the city of the living God so that we can worship the Father and the Son together with all the angels and all the saints. And when we do so, our worship will be a rich, edifying, uplifting, healing experience. There will be salvation, healing, restoration, edification, and blessing because to commune with God is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Amen.