Universal Companionship

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect...

(Hebrews 12:22-23)

I began to peruse some of the Greek words behind these texts and I came across something very compelling. The word for general assembly literally means universal companionship. I wish that the English translators had used that phrase instead of general assembly. It denotes more of a fellowship flavor to the concept than the words general assembly. It highlights better the love-bonding that will be the trademark of the purified body of Christ in the last days and then on into eternity.

I am still comparing these concepts to the previous passage where its alters have been just presented. Last time in my post I considered Mount Zion, the city, living God and heavenly Jerusalem. These are in contrast to Mount Sinai and all the fear-based dark things presented there, in contrast to one very fiery God thundering and stirring up the dust and smoke on that desert mountain. Instead we have come to myriads of angels – un-countable numbers of messengers all committed to helping us come back into full fellowship with them and with God. They are eager to restore the universal companionship that has not been enjoyed fully since Lucifer began his program of universal disruption long ago in heaven.

This companionship is based on pure, unaffected love for others flowing out of hearts captivated by the overwhelming beauty and loveliness of God. There is absolutely no fear in this love for as John has stated so explicitly, Perfect love casts out all fear. When all fear has been eliminated from the hearts of every being in the universe, we will be able to really know this level of intimate companionship. The fear will be gone either because it has destroyed those who clung to it as a result of being exposed and resistant to God's perfect love, or because the person has embraced that love and has allowed grace to rewire their hearts and minds to survive love's intensity. That is the commission of the angels at this point – to assist God in facilitating the massive rewiring, reprogramming project going on in the hearts and minds of all who are willing to submit to the influence of the sweet Spirit of Jesus.

The church of the firstborn is an interesting phrase. The word for church really means a group of people who have been called out. In this phrase it could likely mean everyone collectively who have responded to being called by the firstborn Son of God. And the term firstborn is not really what it sounds like to our Western way of thinking. It does not refer as much to chronology as it does to the level of importance and significance. Jesus was never born as such except as being birthed as a human being. He has always existed as God and always will. But He is termed a firstborn to convey certain concepts to us that would be impossible to grasp otherwise because of our lack of capacity to understand the language and terms used in heaven.

In ancient times the firstborn son was considered not only the primary heir of the parents estate receiving twice the portion given to the rest of the children, but he was also supposed to receive and pass on to his own firstborn the blessing and authority and name of the family line. Along those lines we can perceive a little bit of what the role of Jesus is to act as the agent of transfer to pass along the blessings and empowerment of the Father to us as His children.

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