“life in front of God is really one incessant party”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 12:25-29
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I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Starting With Questions

We opened our discussion this week by making a list of questions anyone had after looking at the passage for ten minutes or so.  People in the group suggested several questions, and we intentionally delayed answering.  Not immediately trying to answer every question enables more questions to come out.

• • Why was the writer so demonstrative about the Law and Sinai in verses 18-21?
  • Why bring up the blood of Abel in verse 24, at the end of the passage?
  • What is the difference between the “general assembly” and the “church of the firstborn” in verse 23?
  • Who is meant by “the spirits of the righteous” in verse 23?
  • How does God as Judge fit into the images in verse 23?

Each of these questions, taken in turn (more or less) then led to more questions that helped us explore the passage.

Why So Demonstrative?

Several people commented on the strong language in verses 18-24 using words like “dark,” “ominous,” “fearful,” “threatening,” and “oppressive.”  Someone noted that the senses were involved:  seeing the gloom, hearing the trumpet and voice, feeling the wind and the heat of the blazing fire, probably smelling its smoke.  As one put it in modern terms, a fully immersive experience.

The brief but powerful picture summarizes the scene at Sinai described in several Old Testament passages.  One member noted that the scene said very clearly, “Warning! Keep Away! Not Welcome! Maintain a safe distance from a holy God.”  Another commented that the description contained nothing relational.  Sinai, living by the Law, could be very lonely.

The pastor, writing under divine inspiration, deliberately chose a series of alarming or even frightening words.  The Israelites had “trembled and stood at a distance” (Exodus 18:18).  They lost all interest in hearing God speak.  As noted in previous discussions, the brief summary here in Hebrews would have produced strong memories of the passages from Exodus and Deuteronomy in the original audience.  So why did the writer bring up that event?  And why use such demonstrative language, such a disturbing description?

The answer seems to be in the sudden switch in verse 22.  The pastor has spent almost 90%[1] of his sermon providing a clear, detailed, logical explanation of numerous ways in which the sacrificial ministry of Jesus as High Priest is superior to the Levitical system.  The sacrifices of the old covenant were the background of the Hebrew congregation.  Some marginal members were considering returning to those more familiar customs.  Perhaps the new covenant was not what they expected.  Christianity was beginning to involve suffering.  Going back seemed like a reasonable decision.

Then the tone changes dramatically.  The Hebrews’ destiny (and ours) is not Mount Sinai, but[2] Mount Zion.  The gloom and fear of Sinai disappears in the glory of Zion, the very city believers long for, with permanent foundations established by God (Hebrews 10:11, 16).  There on Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem, the authentic place of worship, cleansed by Christ, not the shadowy copy of earthly experience (Hebrews 8:5, 9:23-24).  The implied isolation of Sinai is replaced with the relational richness of perfected believers, angels, the Son, and God Himself.  As a group member commented, “You can’t have a bigger contrast.  The intimidating image of Sinai warned ‘Keep Away.’  The beauty of Zion enthusiastically invites, ‘Come on in.  Draw near to God.’”

The pastor’s graphic language paints two pictures:  the old covenant of fear they would be going back to and the new covenant of joy and drawing near to God.  The emotionally charged wording moves his careful, factual argument and explanation of Christ’s work to the emotional level.  A pastor drawing near to the end of his sermon wants to move the congregation to action.  The pastor used “such demonstrative language” in order to convert content into conviction.

Why the Blood of Abel?

Another of our opening list of questions focused on the sudden mention of Abel and of his blood.

It must be acknowledged that the reference to Abel in 24b is unexpected, because it does not belong to the developed comparison between Sinai and Zion.[3]

Our group provided several suggestions.

• • Abel was the first mentioned example of faith (Hebrews 11:4), so the pastor opens and closes this section of the sermon with Abel.
  • Abel “obtained the testimony that he was righteous” because of the faith demonstrated by his blood sacrifice (Hebrews 11:4; Genesis 4:4). Christ’s blood provides our righteousness through our faith.
  • Abel’s blood “cried out to God” (Genesis 4:10) for justice. Jesus’ blood meets God’s just demand for our sins.

While the writer does not clearly explain the connection, we discussed other aspects of that reference to blood.  A person brought up the question, “What blood?  Abel’s blood, shed by Cain? Or the blood of the animal that Abel sacrificed as an offering to God?”  (As mentioned at the beginning, good questions often lead to more good questions to explore in a passage.)

Clearly the original passage in Genesis 4 refers to Abel’s blood: “Your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.”  But the pastor in his sermon repeatedly has stressed the blood of sacrificial animals (Hebrews 9:7, 12a, 13, 18, 19, 21, 25; 10:4; 11:28) as the basis for measuring the superiority of Christ’s blood (Hebrews 9:12b, 14; 10:19; 12:24a).  That comparison will be repeated explicitly at least once more as he concludes (Hebrews 13:11-12).

With the continuous thread of the pastor’s emphasis on blood, a reference to Abel’s own blood would be “unexpected” indeed.  Rather, this is one more powerful reminder to the Hebrew congregation that returning to the old covenant of Sinai would be a move from the reality back into the shadow.

Best of all, the readers, if they place their faith in Messiah as High Priest, come to Jesus, the mediator of the New Testament [i.e., Covenant – mw].  They come also to the blood of sprinkling, Jesus’ blood, which speaks better things than the blood of the sacrificial animal which Abel offered.  It is not Abel’s own blood which is compared here with Jesus’ blood, for the historical background and the analysis of the book show that the purpose of the writer is to prove that Jesus’ blood of the New Testament is better than and takes the place of the animal blood shed under the First Testament.  Our exegesis of this verse, therefore, is in line with the analysis of the letter.  Again, the writer confronts his readers with the superiority of Jesus’ blood as over against that of the Levitical sacrifices.[4]

Here was a good example of the importance of careful inductive Bible study in place of “hearsay impressions” about what the Bible says.  Many (most?) of the members of our group (myself for one) had always assumed that somehow the passage in Hebrews was (in some unexplained way) comparing the blood of Abel to the blood of Jesus.  Seeing the verse in the context of the entire sermon written to the Hebrew congregation now makes much more sense.  Now the peculiar passage adds power to the pastor’s overall argument.

Assembly and Church?

Next question:  What does the writer mean by “the general assembly and the church of the firstborn” in verse 23?  What assembly, what church?  Who are they?

General Assembly

Perhaps the first issue to address is the translation “general assembly” in the New American Standard Bible (NASB).  Comparing several English translations reveals some differences.  About ten of the sampled versions[5] follow the King James Version (KJV) in using phrase “general assembly,” while others (about twenty more) render the word simply as “assembly.”  However, at least thirty translations include the idea of a “joyful” or “festive” gathering.[6]

The original text clearly supports the idea of a joyful, festive assembly.  The word πανηγύρει (panēgyri) is used only once in the New Testament, here in this verse.  However, the word is used elsewhere with a clear celebratory meaning.  For example, the word is frequently found in the context of a feast,[7] “a solemn assembly for purposes of festal rejoicing.”[8]  Franz Delitzsch (a nineteenth-century German theologian) described the word as follows (translated with Google Translate):

πανηγύρει is the full, numerous and especially festive, festively frolicking and delightful gathering. When you think of πανηγύρει you think of festive songs, festivals and celebrations, and life in front of God is really one incessant party.^[9]

The “general assembly” is better understood as a “joyful assembly” (NIV) or a “festal gathering” (ESV). Yet as noted above by Trench (an expert on Greek synonyms and shades of meaning), this is still a “solemn” time.  But this is not the fearsome, uncertain, insecure solemnity of Sinai.  As noted in our discussion, it is the mingled recognition of God’s perfect holiness and God’s perfect grace.  There is no triviality or flippancy in the “festive frolicking” and the “incessant party” in God’s presence.  Rather, like the description of genuine friendship offered by C. S. Lewis,

our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.[10]

The “festal gathering” accents the contrast with the pastor’s description of Sinai.  As one member pointed out, God is still the same.  The violation of His holiness deserves His wrath.  The difference between Sinai and Zion is the sacrifice that satisfied that wrath at Calvary.  The sermon sets the tone of our future on Zion, joined in celebration with myriads [tens upon tens of thousands, probably countless – mw] of angels, and the church of the firstborn.

Church of the Firstborn

The church of the firstborn could mean the church (the gathering) of those who are the earlier generation of believers, those who shared the gospel with the Hebrew congregation (Hebrews 2:1,3).  Or, as our group considered, it could be the followers of the Firstborn, Jesus.

Remembering the importance of context, someone turned back to the beginning of the sermon where the pastor uses the same word for firstborn,

And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,
“And let all the angels of God worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:6; quoting Psalm 97:7)

That citation from the Old Testament clearly intends to specify “firstborn” as Jesus.  Another person mentioned other New Testament uses of the word to describe Jesus, such as Colossians 1:15.  In fact, the word firstborn is only used eight times[11] in the New Testament, and all but one occurrence clearly mean Jesus.  The one exception is in Hebrews 11:28, referring to the protection of the Israelite firstborn children during the Passover.

The “festal gathering” and the “church of the Firstborn” might not be intended to distinguish different groups.  As someone said, the writer might simply be adding emphasis by piling up different descriptions, such as Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem and the city of the living God.  The “solemn, joyful, incessant party” in God’s presence will include all the followers of the Firstborn.

Spirits of the Righteous?

In light of the discussion so far, the “spirits of the righteous made perfect” would almost certainly be the saints in heaven, those believers who have died and gone before.  Those who by faith are counted righteous (Hebrews 10:38, quoting Habakkuk 2:4; also Hebrews 11:7b) have now been completed or perfected (Hebrews 10:14), not by the Levitical system of the old covenant (Hebrews 7:11,19; 9:9; 10:1) but by the eternally perfect Son (Hebrews 7:28), the eternal merciful, faithful, and sympathetic High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; 4:14,15; 5:6) of the perfect tabernacle (Hebrews 9:11).  Once again, the pastor brings together his earlier themes in a brief summary statement.

God, the Judge of All

Several of us wondered how God as Judge fit into the description of Mount Zion and the other inviting images in verses 22-24.  After our discussion of the “festal assembly” or the “incessant party” (v. 33) the question seemed even more puzzling.

Several comments reminded us of the dual perspective needed, the holiness of God and the grace of God.  One member anticipated an upcoming statement in the sermon, that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).  The anticipation of eternally increasing joy in no way should diminish the awe of God, the fear of the Lord.  Aslan is good, but he’s not safe.  He’s not a tame lion.[12]

For most people, a judge is an intimidating figure.  That image of a detached, unapproachable official is what seemed out of place in the otherwise inviting picture of Mount Zion.  In our culture, most of us probably think of judges in criminal court, deciding guilt and imposing punishment.

Another aspect might be what the writer had in mind.  Judges also sit in civil trials, evaluating disputes among people and interceding to see that justice is done.  C. S. Lewis develops this difference, especially seen in the Psalms.

The ancient Jews, like ourselves, think of God’s judgement in terms of an earthly court of justice. The difference is that the Christian pictures the case to be tried as a criminal case with himself in the dock; the Jew pictures it as a civil case with himself as the plaintiff.[13]

Because of the sacrifice offered by Jesus, our High Priest, believers have no fear of condemnation (Romans 8:1) as in a criminal trial.  But the injustices, the unfairness imposed on Christians – reproaches and public ridicule and seizure of property (Hebrews 10:33-34) – those wrongs will be righted by the Judge of all.

Jesus used parables featuring judges, and those examples sound more like our conception of civil court (Matthew 5:25; Luke 12:14, 12:58).  Other New Testament references to earthly judges also depict judgment between private individuals (1 Corinthians 6:1-6).  Those examples suggest the first-century view of judges. The pastor’s picture of Mount Zion is about that kind of Judge.

Lewis uses the parable of the unjust judge (Luke 18:2-3) to illustrate the distinction.  The widow’s repeated plea was simple, “Give me legal protection from my opponent.”

It is clearly a civil action. The poor woman (Luke 18:1–5) has had her little strip of land—room for a pigsty or a hen-run—taken away from her by a richer and more powerful neighbour (nowadays it would be Town-Planners or some other ‘Body’). And she knows she has a perfectly watertight case. If once she could get it into court and have it tried by the laws of the land, she would be bound to get that strip back.[14]

From that perspective, a judge is one who would see that ultimate justice is done and wrongs are righted.  Coming to God the Judge of all on Mount Zion becomes one more encouragement, one more incentive to endurance through the present suffering.

From Fear to Festival

The pastor is nearing the end of his sermon.  He has made the case for endurance based on the work of Christ and the example of Christ.  The Levitical priesthood and sacrificial system has been abolished and replaced with Christ as the High Priest as well as the perfect sacrifice.  His endurance was enabled by the joy set before Him, joy that overwhelmed even death by torture culminating on the cross.  As the pastor moves toward his conclusion, he uses imagery to capture the imagination of the congregation.  He contrasts the stark and ominous past of Sinai with the anticipated delight of God’s presence.

Impersonal, foreboding natural phenomena characterize life before Sinai. Life in the City of God is distinguished by joyful fellowship.[15]

He essentially asks, why go back?  What is there to go back to in the old covenant?  Fix your eyes instead on Jesus.  The old covenant is not a solution to present problems.  The new covenant is “the hope set before us, the anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:18-19).

As in some of our previous discussions in Hebrews, several in our group shared our tendency to return to our own version of Sinai, or as one person expressed it, “living in Deuteronomy 28.”  We gravitate to the old covenant, where obedience brings blessing and suffering follows failure.  We wallow or drown or (in another person’s description) “marinate” in our guilt.  We seem to believe that the work of Jesus was not enough.  God must require our self-condemnation as well.  Our Christian life feels more like Sinai than like Zion.

We agreed that we should not ignore our sin.  We certainly should not trivialize God’s holiness. But we need to find the proper posture between minimizing sin and “marinating” in shame.

One suggestion seemed particularly helpful.  Someone pointed to the example of Paul.  The Apostle was quick to acknowledge his sin.  And he was even quicker to turn confession into doxology.  Failure provided repeated opportunities to acknowledge God’s grace.  As another member commented, instead of focusing on what we have (or have not) done, we can highlight what God has done in Christ.

That pattern is consistent for Paul.  A brief, honest recognition of sin that immediately turns (with no marinating) to worship.

¹² I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, ¹³ even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.

Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; ¹⁴ and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save

sinners among whom I am foremost of all.

¹⁶ Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:12-17)

And again, in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome:

²¹ I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, ²³ but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.  ^8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  (Romans 7:21-8:1)

The habit of imitating Paul’s reaction to his feelings of guilt will help us avoid Sinai and anticipate Zion.  Reminding each other to build that habit may be the best way of “fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2).

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[1] 4,654 words of 5,245 in the Tyndale House Greek New Testament (THGNT).

[2] Greek conjunction ἀλλά (alla); “This is a strong adversative conjunction…. [ἀλλά] is also clearly emphatic in several passages.”  H.E.Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto:  The MacMillan Company, 1927), 240.

[3] William L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13, Word Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1991), 449-474.

[4] Kenneth S. Wuest, Hebrews in the Greek New Testament, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament; Volume II (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 228-229; emphasis added.

[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Hebrews%2012:23

[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Hebrews%2012:22  Note that (unfortunately) the verse division varies in different translations, so both the end of verse 22 and the beginning of verse 23 must be included in the comparison.

[7] See Ezekiel 46:11, Hosea 2:11, Hosea 9:5.

[8] Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975), 7.

[9] Delitzsch quoted in Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975), 7; emphasis added.

[10] C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: HarperOne, 1980), 45.

[11] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/prototokos

[12] C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia Book 1) (New York:  Collier Books, 1973), 75, 180.

[13] C. S. Lewis, “Judgement in the Psalms” in Reflections on the Psalms (London: HarperCollins e-books, 2017), Kindle Edition, 11.

[14] C. S. Lewis, “Judgement in the Psalms” in Reflections on the Psalms (London: HarperCollins e-books, 2017), Kindle Edition, 12.

[15] Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 653.