Saving for Relationships

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, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

As I look over this list something jumps out at me in contrast to the previous list centered on Mount Sinai. Nearly everything in this list is about people or relationships whereas most of the things in the previous list were physical externals that had little to do with relationship but produced a lot of fear. This again confirms for me the stark difference between false and true religion as being a shift from externals to internals, from outward show and appearances to inward connections and relationships with others. To perceive true religion as God views it is a massive paradigm shift from nearly everything we have thought of as being religious.

The reason the old covenant failed is because the people of Israel attempted to do religion without a love-bonded, dependent relationship with the true Originator of righteousness. They put more focus on the externals and the symptoms of righteousness and consequently spent thousands of years trying to figure out the right formula to achieve holiness. Sadly we are still attempting the same impossibility today. This has led to the flourishing of roots of bitterness that multiply like weeds in our hearts as we encounter frustration upon frustration in our attempts to appease our perception of an angry, demanding God or try to accumulate enough pleasure and power to satisfy our longings for fulfillment.

What I am seeing in this passage is a clear pointer to where my attention must be focused if I am to enter into real life. I must shift my attention away from all the external demonstrations of power that try to attract me and instead spend my time cultivating deeper connections to all the these entities described in these verses. This is quite interesting in light of my recent conversations with a lady who believes she has conversed with angels for many years.

It would be very easy for me to write her off as just another New Age type person and to discount what she has been learning throughout her life. But what I have sensed is that the basic principles that she has been learning are very much in line with many of the basics that I too have been lead to understand in my own journey. Just because she is coming to these truths from a completely different direction does not make her a dangerous person to be avoided or condemned, although I know that many Christians would likely do so. I perceive that God has been leading her step by step into a closer relationship with Himself and she is very open about that. She seems to have an open mind and her spirit is alert to learning truth from whatever direction it may come. She also believes and teaches that people should cultivate a relationship with their angels which to most ears sounds almost bizarre.

But what do I find right here in this text? The Bible says that we are coming, not only to God, the Judge of all and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, but to myriads of angels, to the universal companionship that I wrote about last time, to the church of the firstborn which in other places refers to not only to those here on earth but all of the loyal beings throughout the universe. We also come to the spirits of the righteous made perfect whatever that may imply.

What seems to be clear here is that we, as born-again Christians are to have our lives more and more intertwined with the lives and destinies of all the other intelligent beings who are also living in harmony and devotion to their Creator and Lover. Being saved is not about getting ourselves to heaven so we can escape the discomfort of earthly life; being saved or experiencing salvation is the restoration of the broken connections and relationships that sin has caused throughout all of the universe. Implicit in this restoration is the need to have all roots of bitterness removed so that all of these relationships can be healthy and not in danger of being poisoned again.

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. (Hebrews 12:25)

All of the external, fear-inducing demonstrations of power experienced at Mount Sinai were not enough to produce real righteousness. God never intended us to operate from a basis of fear, but that has generally been the motivation of preference in most religions throughout history. But the final warning that comes from heaven that we cannot afford to ignore is the warning of the consequences of failing to enter into harmonious relationship with the loyal universe and become a part of the true body of Christ. This comes sharply into focus in the warnings of the three angels in Revelation 14. And what would cause us to fail to enter into these necessary relationships? Well, one thing again is the roots of bitterness allowed to remain our hearts that will poison our spirit and make us unfit for the fellowship of heaven.

Father, I don't want to have any roots of bitterness, criticism or condemnation to be left anywhere in my heart or mind. These things have poisoned my spirit and damaged so many of my relationships for all of my life and I want to have all of them completely eradicated. Please continue to completion Your salvation in me personally to remove all of these bitter roots and replace them with roots from Your truth and love. I choose to cooperate with Your means and ways to accomplish this in my life. I claim Your Word that You do not give me a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.

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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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Mount Zion

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 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, 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, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-24)

I am eager to immerse myself in the second part of this contrast and fill my heart with the much-needed truths that can work as healing medication to dissolve away the root lies in my heart that cause bitterness in my life. In my study over the past few weeks and months in this chapter I have come to realize that the whole chapter revolves around exposing and removing these roots of bitterness. I believe that is why I was sent here in the first place and I want to cooperate with my rehabilitation program. Now I am getting to the really good stuff.

I ponder some of these words in the last few verses to see what might emerge. It is clear that Mount Zion is in direct contrast to Mount Sinai just mentioned. I look up the meanings for the word Zion and find some very interesting connotations buried deep in the roots of this word. After starting with the definition of being the mountain of Jerusalem, a permanent capital, it combines several concepts together to form an image that is very compelling. It sets a picture in the context of a parched, arid, solitary land or place and conveys the idea of a guiding pillar, a conspicuous waymark. Then it combines with that the image of a glittering sparkling from a distance coming from the eminence of a permanent leader in charge of spiritual worship and music who is set forward. All of that is bound up in this word Zion.

This brings to my mind the words of Jesus, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. (John 12:32 NRSV) The book of Hebrews is a whole book of comparisons between the old and the new and repeatedly presents Jesus as the better alternative to any other option of religion. It will be finally discovered that it is Jesus who is the focal point of all the universe and all attention and desire, not a place or a city. These are only tangible illustrations of concepts or experiences that emanate from the heart of God.

It is only the Godhead that is truly permanent and that is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus that can be seen at a great distance like a mountain rising above the desert in which we experience intense needs for nourishment and life. It is Jesus that is the guiding waymark showing us what direction to move so as to receive life and thrive. And the closer we get to really perceiving Jesus the more sparkling and attractive we will discover Him to be. We will begin to catch the music of heaven and be filled with the spirit of hope and inspiration as our heart recognizes the source of real life for which it has longed all of our existence. This is truly amazing what can be found in just one four-letter word.

...to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly...

Again, this is in stark contrast to the previous picture of millions of terrified people cowering near the foot of Mount Sinai while a lone deity thunders impossible-sounding standards from the top of a smoking fire-engulfed mountain in the middle of a desert. The word city conveys the idea of a closely knit society of many people integrated together. Living God is in direct contrast to the god of religion itself or the many false gods that have crowded in to distract our attention. Heavenly Jerusalem is also in contrast to the obsession with earthly Jerusalem, not only in the minds of Jews everywhere but now also in the focus of many Christians who believe that God's attention is still based in physical Israel. Myriads of angels and the general assembly also convey the intense idea of togetherness and many entities joined together in focus on one, glittering center of attraction.

I will pick this up again next time I visit this passage. What is becoming clear very quickly is that the new is so far superior to the old that it must consume all of my attention the more I really begin to see it.

The old is full of fear; the new is full of joy.

The old is focused on externals without real heart-transformation; the new is eternal realities springing out of hearts full of admiration for God's beauty and deep connections with other hearts.

The old gives priority to religion and knowledge and performance; the new gives emphasis to relationships, heart-connections and focusing on God's glory.

Father, I don't know what this day is going to bring, but You already know every detail and have wonderful plans for me. There are extremely life-changing decisions being considered today by some people around me and I employ my privilege of authority under Jesus Christ to authorize You to release Your Spirit and have Your plans implemented in every life who does not clearly refuse You. I am looking forward to traveling to a very interesting place today where I hear of people who seem to have a special connection to You with their hearts more than the average Christians. I ask You to fill me with Your presence and remove all the chains of fear and inhibitions that bind my heart from enjoying Your freedom. Fill me more with Your joy and increase greatly my capacity for joy. Prepare me to enter into Your Sabbath rest this evening and fill my heart with Your presence. Glorify Your name through me today.

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Religion of Fear and Trembling

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 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." (Hebrews 12:18-21)

It is extremely clear that these verses are being contrasted with the following verses to highlight the differences between two ways of religion, two very different paradigms of reality, two very different perceptions of God and of what is important to us.

As I meditate carefully on the contrasts presented here it becomes evident to me at least two characteristics that can be seen about this description. One is that this first paradigm is based mostly on externals and the second characteristic is that it is also filled with the element of fear. I find this very interesting because those are the two things that have become transition issues in my own life and relationship with God over the past few years. I don't think that it is just a coincidence that these are prominent in this passage.

The Old Covenant, which was formed most openly at Mount Sinai, was the attempt of humans to be good enough to please God and be saved. It was a response of fear mixed with self-dependence and a definite lack of understanding their own weakness and the overwhelming difference between themselves and the goodness of God. (see Exodus 19:8; 24:3,7) Their perceptions of God were seriously distorted by years of ignorance and slavery and the infiltration of false ideas picked up in Egypt and absorbed into their thinking about the supernatural. Their motivation for life had been for so many years based on fear instilled in them by slave-masters employing force and fear to motivate them that they almost could not conceive that any other way of living might exist.

Because God wanted to move them toward a real relationship with Himself (which is always God's primary purpose for all of us) the only way that He could communicate with them in such a way as they could even comprehend that someone was actually addressing them was to use the only language they could comprehend to some extent. At that point in their existence and with the severe handicaps of thinking and perceiving that they had, it would have had little connection with their minds or hearts to reveal Himself to them primarily as the kind, gentle humble example that Jesus demonstrated when He came to earth. Moses was that example for them as much as possible, but it was also necessary to gain their respect by getting their attention in the only ways they paid attention to in their slave mentality.

It was necessary in some respects to display the superiority of the power and abilities of God to convince them that this God was indeed much more to be respected and honored than any of the other supposed gods of the world around them. All of the other gods were not only powerful in various degrees and specialties but were also generally very selfish and abusive in their exploitation of their power over humans. It was popularly believed by all religions of the time that humans were created to be the slaves of the gods and that humans had to do all sorts of things to appease the capricious, selfish emotions of the gods to keep them happy enough to not abuse their slaves too much.

All of these misconceptions and many more about God were necessary to address if God was to get their attention sufficiently to get them to pay attention to Him as the real God who wanted them to follow Him instead of any other gods. But the problem became that in addressing all of these misconceptions assumed from their beliefs in false gods He also ran the risk of being very much misunderstood, which is exactly what happened.

It was quite necessary for God to display His superior power and authority in order to gain their respect and attention, but He did so with the intent that they would realize their total inability to live up to His high standard of character and would turn to Him in hopelessness and despair and ask what they were to do about it. If they had done that God would have immediately been able to introduce the real plan of salvation and grace in much more fullness and they could have lived in the same kind of relationship to God that Jesus clarified much later.

But instead, they mistakenly believed that what God wanted was perfect obedience above relationship. Now that is not to say that perfect obedience is not extremely important. But the problem is that anyone who jumps onto that issue as their primary emphasis above pursuit of an intimate relationship with Jesus is still caught in the same cycle of thinking and false assumptions that tripped up the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. They are attempting an impossibility and they are headed into a gloomy path of fear-based religion focused on external compliance with rules and standards. They will be sucked into the vortex of the tornado of fear and discouragement, the whirlwind of obsessing with trying to become good enough to please God.

This is the very kind of thinking that is addressed by the book of Hebrews and is coming to a focal point in this passage. It is very clearly not just a problem of the Jews but is just as much the same problem today. It is the problem that I struggle with on a daily basis as I try to unlearn the ways of thinking that I received from the religion of my family and church and culture and try to have my heart and mind retrained to live and perceive and think and feel in completely different ways that are mostly foreign to me. That is not to say that they were completely wrong about everything, but the emphasis was generally on the wrong elements.

I am learning very slowly how to live with more attention to the condition of my spirit and what that tells me about my relationship with God instead of measuring myself by lists of external symptoms. It is not that those externals are meaningless anymore, but I am learning to view them strictly as symptoms to give me clues as to what is really going on at the more important level of my heart relationship with God instead of the other way around.

This transition also involves working to extricate myself from the many habits of my mind based on fear that suffocate my ability to be loved and to love. It also means exposure of more and more of my pride and self-dependence that block me from enjoying the freedom of being influenced and used by God to live and thrive as I was designed to do. My religion for most of my life could be much more accurately explained and aligned with the description in these four verses than in the following ones. But praise God, He is leading me into the exciting reality of living life at Mt. Zion and transforming me into a person in whom He can demonstrate His glory and love.

But right now while I am still in the transition stage I am a strange and many times confusing amalgamation of ideas and practices from both mountains. It is confusing to me as well as to those observing me many times. But I am not in charge of this transformation, Jesus is. And He has promised to bring to completion what He started – He is faithful. That process involves learning a whole new way of thinking and having my paradigms challenged and replaced as I listen with my heart and my mind to what He is showing me from His Word. His Spirit is also busy opening my understanding everyday and taking many things and rearranging them in my thinking and my subconscious belief system. I am definitely a work in progress – be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet.

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