Marching Upward to Zion, Part 1

Turn with me in your Bible to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12, we're gonna begin our reading in verse number 18 down to the end of the chapter I would like to say that we're gonna cover all that today It's not gonna happen but at least let me read it set it in your minds and then we'll see what God has for us as we begin to Study this passage of scripture together Hebrews 12 verse number 18 Goes as follows For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which Sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word would be spoken to them For they could not bear the command if even a beast touches the mountain it will be stoned And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I am full of fear and trembling But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels and to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all into the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and To the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth Much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven and His voice shook the earth then but now he is promising yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as Of created things said those things which cannot be shaken may remain Therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken Let us show gratitude By which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire this passage of scripture is the fifth warning that the writer gives in the book of Hebrews If you have been with us over the last couple of years in our study of Hebrews, you will know there are reasons behind Why we read the book and what the book will eventually lead us to We told you at the very beginning that Reading Hebrews and studying Hebrews will lead you to the exaltation of Christ In other words as you read this book, you're going to begin to lift God on high Why well Hebrews 1 1 2 3 begins by telling us that he is the exact representation of his father and That he has been exalted to the highest position the right hand of God the Father If you read the book of Hebrews if you study the book of Hebrews and you still want to exalt yourself Over God you didn't read it, right? In fact when you read the book of Hebrews, it's going to cause you to Minimize yourself and maximize God in all that you say and do Because the book of Hebrews leads you to exaltation On top of that the book of Hebrews leads you to expectation Not only do we exalt God But we learn to expect him to come That's why in chapter 2 verse number 5 it speaks of the world to come That's why in Hebrews chapter 11

You have Abraham who was looking for The kingdom who's who's builder and architect is God himself Why is it there the people of of the Hall of Faith were always looking with? expectation to a greater promise the fulfillment of a coming kingdom So if you read the book of Hebrews and you don't come to a point where you're expecting God's kingdom to come More than ever before you didn't read the book of Hebrews properly If you're not looking to exalt the Christ You didn't read it properly Because if you read it and study it, that's exactly what it drives you to Thirdly we told you that it's a book that leads you to exhortation Because all throughout the book there is a strong emphasis on exhorting encouraging Consoling one another through the words of the Living God And so as you read the book of Hebrews it leads you to exhortation that you might exhort others Stimulate others to love and good deeds because of what you have seen and heard It's also a book that that leads to explanation It explains to us the majesty of the Son of God and the ministry of the Son of Man The book of Hebrews explains to us the identity of Christ The ministry of Christ and our responsibility now to Christ So if you read the book of Hebrews and you don't see the Christ or understand the Christ, you didn't read it, right? Because it's the greatest book in the New Testament That reveals to us the beauty of the Christ now everything in the Bible reveals to us Christ everything about the Bible is about the Lord God himself and Yet Hebrews and Revelation Revealed to us some things about the Christ that Noah the book reveals to us So it leads us to exalt him

It leads us to Expect him to come It leads us to exhort others It leads us to explain him to others Outside of that the book of Hebrews leads us to Examination That is to examine our lives Where do we stand with the Christ that's why there are five warning passages in the book of Hebrews The right of Hebrews knows like we should know that when there's an audience of people who gather together There are there are four kinds of people

Okay Four kinds of people in the church four kinds of people that were Hebrews Okay, one is that they are possessors of the Messiah Christ in you the hope of glory they possess Christ Christ possesses them

They are truly born-again believers So like the audience a Hebrew audience like the church today There are people who possess the Christ On top of that there are professors those who profess Christianity can say a lot about Christianity Come and look like Christians But they're not They profess it But they don't possess the one Christ himself So in every audience there even in our church, there are possessors

There are professors And then number three there are protesters Those who protest the truth they want nothing to do with the truth They might come because their wife or husband dragged them they don't be children that were brought here because their parents made them come right and They protest all the way because they want nothing to do with Christ So even in churches you can have protesters as well as professors as well as possessors Thirdly or fourthly there are always in the church Pretenders People who pretend to be something they are really not and So the book of Hebrews is written To weed through and to warn those people who are pretenders Maybe they're protesters

Maybe they're professors to come all the way to Christ To forego your rituals your Judaistic symbols all that you've done and come all the way to Christ in The book of Hebrews the 12th chapter the passage we read today is the last warning in that warning Drives us to understand What it is Christ Wants us to do The first warning was as you recall in Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 2 verses 1 to 4

He warns the the the readers or the listeners for the word Spoken verse number 2 through angels proved unalterable and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty How shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation He warns them about Disregarding the salvation of God letting that salvation opportunity drift by let it pass by For today is the day of salvation so at the very outset when he talks about Christ and the superiority of Christ and the Sufficiency of Christ because that's the the theme of the book of Hebrews

He wants them to understand that he is so sufficient and so superior Don't let that opportunity pass you by and Then with that comes a growing intensity to the second warning That's in chapter 3 verse number 7 all the way through chapter 4 verse number 13 when he says today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as When they provoked me as in the day of trial in the wilderness There's a warning By not provoking God not testing God not trying God that you might enter into the rest of God and Then in chapter 6 that familiar verse in verse number 4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have spoken Or excuse me and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and then fall away It's impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame If you come so close to receiving the Christ Hearing all that Christ is understanding all that Christ does Believing that all the symbols in the Old Testament pointed to the to the Messiah and you don't come to him in light of all that truth It'd be impossible to renew you to repentance Like Esau like we read last week Esau knew about the promised Messiah knew about what was going to happen when the Messiah would come and yet he would reject all that for the things of the world It's impossible to renew those people to repentance the fourth warnings in Hebrew chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 says in verse 26 for if we go on sinning willfully After receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins But a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries such a intense warning Because with each warning comes There this this increasing intensity to believe to come to accept to follow the Messiah Because he's all-sufficient He's a king of glory So when you come to the last part of Hebrews chapter 12 you come to the fifth warning The fifth warning and what he does is he makes a contrast he contrasts Mount Sinai with Mount Zion He makes this contrast because Sinai is about the law in the giving of the law and Zion is about the grace of God the compassion of God and So he wants to contrast both mountains now if you were a Hebrew person and You were in the audience You would know all you need to know about Mount Zion but We're not Hebrew people Right

We're not well-versed in the Old Testament We don't know that much about Mount Zion But you need to know about the mountain Why? Because what you believe about Zion Will tell you what you believe about the future of the world if you don't understand Zion You don't understand the end If you understand Zion You have a firm grasp of the end so what you believe about Mount Zion will determine whether or not you are a pre Millennialist or in all Millennialist so you can't get it wrong

You got to get it, right Because you don't want to mess it up But Mount Zion is everything and you need to understand it In fact, you know that Zion is mentioned a hundred and fifty four times in the Old Testament most of them in the Psalms and Isaiah 35 plus in the Psalms and over 45 plus in the book of Isaiah It's mentioned seven times in the New Testament So what is it about Zion that is so unique That is so special That's important for us to understand Because the right of Hebrews doesn't go into talking about Mount Zion then have to Because they're Hebrew people They know all about Mount Sinai we know a little bit about that Not as much as they did we know a little bit about Zion But not as much as they did So in order for us to go through the text Understand what the author is saying You must have an historical setting of what Zion is all about To do that you need to master the Old Testament

So I'm gonna give you Just icing on the cake I'm gonna give you a sketch of what Zion is that should drive you to study the scriptures Because the understanding of Mount Zion and all that God has for his people Israel is extremely Important So the question comes What is Mount Zion The good thing for you today is that I'm gonna put it up on the board for you Well, I'm not but Kish is so Kish is gonna put up Mount Zion for you Now maybe you can't see that you might want to turn the lights off here in the middle a little bit so they can maybe See that okay To understand what Mount Zion this is what Mount Zion would have looked like in 2nd Samuel chapter 5 Okay in 2nd Samuel chapter 5 David conquered the Jebusite City and Then called it the city of David This is what the city would have looked like something similar to this During the time in which David conquered this Jebusite City when he conquered the city He set up his throne on Mount Zion That's That's where he ruled as king So if you know anything about Zion you need to know that Zion is a place of authority Because that's where the king sat and When the king sat there, which is King David he ruled was authority all throughout Jerusalem So the very first thing you need to know about Zion is that it's a place of absolute authority but it's also a place of glory Because after David conquered that conquered the Jebusite City He would soon thereafter bring the Ark of the Covenant To Mount Zion and There the glory of the Lord Would fill the tabernacle There the Ark of the Lord which was a manifestation of the presence of God It symbolized God's presence among his people

That's unique about the Ark of the Covenant

It symbolizes God's presence among his people Israel and He shined with glory and splendor And so not only did Mount Zion Represent authority it represented glory the glory of the Lord God of Israel and So when David conquered the city It became a very unique place So the very first thing you need to understand about Mount Zion is that it always refers not always but it refers to a Property in the land of Israel that would soon be called Jerusalem That's the first thing you need to understand that Zion is a literal property in the land of Israel that David conquered and owned and Would later after this Continue up this area right here, which would be called Mount Moriah, right? and Moriah then would become part of Zion the place of authority and the place of glory and So we begin to understand these things when we read verses like Psalm 2 verse number 6 Psalm 2 verse number 6 but as for me the Lord God says I have installed my King upon Mount Zion my holy Mountain My holy mountain so the property listen the property of Mount Zion is number one a specific hill number two a sacred mountain and number three a significant city You need to understand that That Zion is a specific mountain we know exactly where it is or it's a specific hill In fact, they would call it the hill of Ophel the hill of ascent Because there there are valleys here

This is the the central valley and this is the this is the Kidron Valley here right and so as it Ascends upward it would be called a hill of us and the hill of Ophel as it would have sent up Mount Moriah to Solomon's Temple So it's a very specific place it's a specific hill But it's also also a sacred mountain The Bible says in Psalm 48 great is the Lord and great to be praised in the city of our God his holy Mountain He says beautiful in elevation the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion in the far north the city of the great King So the Bible tells it it's a sacred mountain because it is the holy city of God in fact, listen to what it says in the book of Micah Micah chapter 4 verse number 1 as Micah prophesies about the end He says then it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains It will be raised above the hills and the people will stream to it Many nations will come and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord into the house of Jacob or to the house The God of Jacob that he may teach us about his ways that we may walk in his paths From Zion will go forth the law even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem so the Bible tells us that in the latter days that God will raise this mountain above all the other mountains Now remember the hill of Ophel is the hill of ascent up to Mount Moriah Which became all-encompassing to Mount Zion the place of authority and the place of glory and Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains and yet there's one mount that will rise above all the other mountains Because Zion is a property It's a specific hill With a sacred map with a sacred mountain

It's also a significant city for the Bible says these words In first Kings 8 1 it's called the city of David Psalm 48 the city of our God Isaiah 52 the holy city Isaiah 1 the faithful city of the righteous Zechariah 8 the city of truth Psalm 51 Jerusalem in Psalm 76 78 it identifies with the tribe of Judah So you need to understand this Now if I go to the second slide kids go to the second slide

This is what looks like today Here is the Central Valley right we showed you Here is the Kidron Valley, which we showed you this is Mount Zion That once the temple was built up on Mount Moriah, which is up here all of this became known as Mount Zion as David would begin to expand the kingdom and Solomon would begin to expand the kingdom

It all became the place of authority and the place of glory So not only is Zion a property Authority with a specific hill a sacred mountain a significant city but Zion is also referring to a people a People that had been graven on the hands of God Listen to the Prophet Isaiah Isaiah 49 Isaiah 49 Verse number 13 Shout for joy

Oh heavens and rejoice the earth break forth into joyful shouting Oh mountains for the Lord has comforted his people and he will have compassion on his afflicted but Zion said How can Zion how can a mountain or city speak? but Zion said the Lord has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me Can a woman forget a nursing child that had no compassion on those son of her womb even these may forget But I will not forget you behold. I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands Your walls are continually before me Zion is this not a property Zion refers to a specific group of people that are That are engraved on the hands of God You need to understand this because if you're reading Hebrews chapter 12 and you're in the audience, right You begin to go back to your Old Testament Go back to the law and go back to read about you being Zion That's who you are Because you're one who submits to the authority of God and Reflects the glory of God that makes sense if Zion is about authority and glory those Who are Zionists? Then are under that authority and reflect that glory because he rules in our hearts

He reigns over our lives We are submission submissive to his authority So you need to understand Zion And I'm just giving you a brief sketch of Zion you could spend the rest of your lives studying the Old Testament and come to understand the significance of What the word means? so Zion refers to a property refers to a people and Number three Zion refers to a plan the plan of God to return his people to the land of Israel did you know that? Listen to what the Bible says The Bible says in Psalm, Isaiah chapter 51 Isaiah 51 Verse number 11

So the ransomed of the Lord will return and Come with joyful shouting to Zion and Everlasting joy will be on their heads They will obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing will flee away When will the people of Zion Have all of their tears and all of their sighing flee away God has a plan for Zion Because Zion It's not just a property It's just not a people

It truly is a plan Look at Isaiah chapter 35 Isaiah 35 what talks about Zion's happy future it says Verse 4 say to those with anxious hearts take courage fear not behold Your God will come with vengeance the recompense of God will come He will save you then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped Then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arab

Ah verse 10 The ransom of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion With everlasting joy upon their heads

They will find gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing will flee away Almost the exact same thing you said in in Isaiah 51 Because it truly is the plan of God to do a great and mighty work with his people the book of Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 31 Jeremiah 31 verse number 12 Says these words They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion and They will be radiant over the bounty of the Lord over the grain and the new wine and the oil and over the young of the flock and the herd and Their life will be like a watered garden and they will never languish again That's what's gonna happen to Israel So Zion's a plan a plan Orchestrated in the mind of God

It's a people That God will return to the land of Israel and save them is a property number four Zion refers to a place Where God himself presently dwells not that he is going to dwell there But that he does dwell there That's important to understand that Zion is a place Where God presently dwells There are a myriad of verses that speak about this Psalm 9 11 Psalm 76 verses 1 & 2 Joel 3 14 to 17 Joel 3 verse number 21 Isaiah 35, I'm sorry Psalm 135 Psalm 135 verse number 12 says this for the Lord has chosen Zion He has desired it for his Habitation there or this is my resting place Forever Here I will dwell For I have desired it

Why would God desire this place? Why would God say I'm going to dwell in this place Why would God even want this place That's a great question The Bible says in Psalm 135 verse number 21 blessed be the Lord from Zion who dwells in Jerusalem Because Jerusalem is Zion He dwells there Why? Psalm 87 tells you Psalm 87 Says these words in verse number 1 His foundation is in the holy mountains the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwelling places of Jacob That's why That's why God dwells there He dwells there simply because he loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwelling places of Jacob God loves this place Personally, I do believe that all of that there is the original Garden of Eden if you've been with us over any part of time I've explained to you why that is so Taking it back to the scriptures to explain to you why that would be the Garden of Eden We know we know that our Lord was crucified just on the other side of the dome of the rock here right over here on a place called Gagetha which at one time was part of the whole Mount of Moriah or a part of Zion the place of authority in the place of glory and So he would be crucified there

He would come back to there as well And we'll see that in a moment So when you read the scriptures you begin to realize Zion is pretty important It's not any property it's a property in the land of Israel owned by David he purchased Moriah the threshing floor of Ornanda's Jebusite and Because he purchased that he owns it Israel has a title deed to Mount Moriah To Mount Zion So it's just not any property

It's a specific property It also refers to a people to a plan to a place it also refers to the proclamation of good tidings That announced the coming of the Lord to Israel The proclamation Zion is a proclamation of good tidings How do we know that Isaiah chapter 40? Isaiah chapter 40 the Bible says these words It says in verse number 5 the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together Did all flesh see together the glory of the Lord when he came the first time no but the second time Every I will see right So it says in verse number 9 Get yourself up on a high mountain

Oh Zion bearer of good news Zion is a proclamation of good news Get yourself up on a high mountain Oh Zion bearer of good news lift up your voice mightily Oh Jerusalem Bearer of good news lift it up Do not fear say to the cities of Judah Here is your God behold The Lord God will come with might with his arm ruling for him behold There's reward is with him and his recompense before him

What is that going to happen? Read the book of Revelation? Tells you exactly what's going to happen When he comes again to set up his kingdom, so Zion is just not just simply a property Not just simply a people Not just simply a place or a plan Or proclamation Zion is also a prophecy It's a prophecy of salvation through the Messiah To the nation of Israel itself Verse is Psalm 57 and there are many of them in the Old Testament but Psalm 57 I'm sorry Psalm 52 Psalm 52 7 to 10 How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news? Who announces peace and brings good news of happiness? Who announces salvation and says to Zion your God reigns? Who is I on it's a people It's Israel Your God reigns Listen your watchmen lift up their voices They shout joyfully together for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord bestores

Ion break forth shout joyfully together You're you waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted his people He has redeemed Jerusalem The Lord has bared his holy arm In a sight of all the nations that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God Zion is a prophecy a Prophecy about salvation that will come to the nation of Israel, but lastly and not least Salvation refers to a promise of our Eternal home and that's where Hebrews 12 Comes into play It's a promise of our Eternal Home Now why is that important? Because everything about Zion References Authority and glory Some would say That the name Zion means to shine forth Because from Zion would shine forth what authority and glory That's where the throne is

That's where the throne will be, right? And so therefore everything about Zion speaks and screams of authority and glory And so when you come to Hebrews chapter 12 In all the Hebrew people in the audience having some Recollection a lot more than we would about Zion and what it means and where it's at and what God's gonna do, right? Since you haven't come to Mount Sinai where the law was given, but instead you want to come to Mount Zion where the Lord himself reigns and the glory of a splendor is This is where you need to come He speaks in such a way with such language That speaks with authority and urgency The Bible says in Psalm 50 Verse number 2 out of Zion the perfection of beauty God has shown forth That's where people would get the definition of the word Zion meaning to shine forth What does God the perfection of beauty shine forth from Zion his authority and his glory Psalm 84 verse number 11 says what the Lord God is a son s-u-n and a shield The Lord God shines forth and as he shines forth He shields you and no good thing with the Lord withhold from those who walk of rightly the Bible says these words in the book of Joel Chapter 3

It says let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat this is not the return of the Messiah This is the valley of Jehoshaphat it extends up this way and out so he says Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat for there. I will sit to judge Why would God sit to judge at the valley of Jehoshaphat? because when he comes again He raises this mountain above all the other mountains and that's where his authority reigns and his glory shines Put in a sickle for the harvest is ripe come tread for the wine press is full the vats overflow for their wickedness is great multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near in the valley decision The Sun and the moon go dark and the stars lose their brightness but the Lord He roars from Zion He roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem for Jerusalem and Zion are one in the same and The heavens and the earth tremble but the Lord is a refuge for his people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel Then you will know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountain So Jerusalem will be holy and strangers will pass through it no more That's where the world's going When the Lord returns and gathers all of his enemies in the valley of Jehoshaphat There's what Matthew 25 calls the sheep goat judgment

Where is that going to be? It's in this valley right here because the Lord he roars from Zion He roars from Jerusalem That's why that piece of real estate is so important the most in the most expensive piece of real estate on the planet Is Mount Zion? Which came to be known and incorporate Mount Moriah which also incorporated Mount Calvary Because everything about the majesty and the glory and splendor of God shines forth from Zion Because it's not a place

He's going to dwell It's a place he already dwells in So, wait a minute if he already dwells there then why are things in such shambles Oh he's got a plan because Zion is a play it is Zion is a prophecy in Zion is a people a People that are a part of that plan and that prophecy to what to fulfill the promise That God gave Way back when to Abraham Isaac and Jacob God is faithful And true to his word and so we sit and we study and look at this and begin to realize God is unique and and this is just an a sketch of what Zion really is all about And to understand Zion Is to better understand Hebrews chapter 12 the final warning passage Where he says and I close with this in verse number 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who is Speaking It's the last summons it's the last invitation that the writer gives why Because he concludes for our God is a consuming fire And he is That's why he says in verse number 28 Since we have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God acceptable Service with reverence and all how do you know? How do you know you've come to Mount Zion and not Mount Sinai Because those have come to Mount Zion are so grateful That they render service to their God with reverence and fear Let's pray father We thank you Lord for today and a chance to to briefly look at the scriptures And to understand more of what you have for us our prayer Lord is that you would truly lead us to the place of your glory Thank you that we can grasp a little better Of what Mount Zion is that would force us to even study all the more But most importantly Lord, let's all realize that as you give this last invitation to these Hebrew people that we would understand the beauty and joy of our God and Serve you with a grateful heart knowing that we've come to Mount Zion The city of our God the city of our King the holy city of truth the Lord himself In Jesus name