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Consuming Fire
Text: Hebrews 12:28-29
Dr Alex Tang
Hebrews 12: 28-29
28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot
be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence
and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Sermon statement
In our busy life, especially in
difficult times, there is a tendency for us to ignore God and all that God
has given us. We need to re-examine ourselves and make sure we are being
obedience to God. Then all the good things that God has given us will be
meaningful.
Introduction
The Book to the Hebrews
- more than any books perplexes
scholars as to its authorship than more other book in the Bible
- produces the greatest
information on Scripture on several doctrines: the Melchizedek
Priesthood, the High Priest of Christ, the New Covenant, and the
typology of the offerings and feasts in Leviticus
- Greek is considered to be the
most elegant in the New Testament. At least 157 words are used in this
epistle which are not found elsewhere in the New Testament
- OT quotes abound in the book.
There are 86 direct quotes and altogether more than 100 references from
the 21 OT books
- Often called the fifth Gospel.
The four Gospels relate what Christ did while on earth, Hebrews
supplement by explaining his role in heaven now
- Main message: Despite the
perceived advantages, never let difficulties convince you to return to
the religion you embraced before you were saved.
Outline of Hebrews
Rick Griffith, New Testament
Survey (2), Singapore Bible College, 254
Today’s Text (Heb 12: 28-29) in
Context (Hebrews 12:14-29)
14
Make every effort to live in peace
with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter
root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no
one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold
his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you
know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could
bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
18 You have not come to a mountain that
can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm;19
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, 20
because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches
the mountain, it must be stoned.” a
21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling
with fear.” b
22 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, 23 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,
24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled
blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 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? 26 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.” 27
The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that
is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God
acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a
consuming fire.”
Structure of Hebrews 12: 14-29
v.28a
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that
cannot be shaken
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v. 22-24 22 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, 23 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, 24
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood
that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
|
v.28b
let us be thankful
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v.14-17 14 Make every effort to
live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one
will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the
grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and
defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or
is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance
rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know,
when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could
bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with
tears.
|
v.28c
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and
awe
|
v.18-21 18 You have not come to
a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to
darkness, gloom and storm; 19 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, 20 because they could
not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the
mountain, it must be stoned.”
21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am
trembling with fear.”
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v.29
for our “God is a consuming fire.”
|
v.25-27
25 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? 26 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.” c
27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what
can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken
may remain.
|
In Heb 12:28-29, the author of
Hebrews reminds us of who we are as Christians. The recipients of the
letters are like us in many ways:
- Jewish Christian
- They live in difficult times
- Roman rules. Advantage to
citizens, disadvantage to others. Social injustice
- Impending destruction of
Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70 (Hebrews may be written in 67-68AD).
Political unrest and terrorists. The Zealots had
the leading role in the Jewish Revolt of 66. They succeeded in taking
over Jerusalem, and held it until 70, when the son of Roman Emperor
Vespasian, Titus, retook the city and destroyed Herod's Temple during
the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Zealots objected to Roman
rule and sought violently to eradicate it; Zealots engaged in violence were
called the Sicarii. They raided Jewish habitations and killed Jews they
considered collaborators, while also urging Jews to fight Romans and other
Jews for the cause. Josephus paints a very bleak picture of their activities
as they instituted what he characterized as a murderous "reign of terror"
prior to the Jewish Temple's destruction.
- Religious persecution beginning
- Economic instability
- Temptation to go back to our
old ways
- Illness, cancer, family conflict, relationship
problems
- Our inheritance
v.28a Therefore, since we are
receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken
And such is the character of the
kingdom which we are receiving.
Kingdoms of the world
·
USA economic crisis
·
China faltering economy
·
Roman empire
·
Alexander’s empire
·
Mongol’s empire
v. 22-24
- 22
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,
- 23
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,
- 24
to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and
- to the sprinkled blood that
speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
- Our gratitude
v.28b let us be thankful
The words let us be thankful
may be rendered “let us have [or, obtain¯] grace” (echōmen
charin) and are likely a final reference to the
resources of grace available from the great High Priest (cf.
4:14-16).[1]
v.14-17
- 14
Make every effort to live in peace with all men
and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
- 15
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and
- that no bitter root grows
up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one
is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal
sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17
Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he
was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he
sought the blessing with tears.
- Our worship
v.28c and so worship God
acceptably with reverence and awe
This is confirmed by the words
and so (lit., “through which,”di’ ēs)
which remind the readers that this grace is required in order to worship
(better, “serve,”
latreuōmen,
also used in 8:5; 9:9; 10:2; 13:10) God acceptably
within the New-Covenant community.[2]
v.18-21
- 18
You have not come to a mountain that can be
touched and that is burning with fire;
- to darkness, gloom and
storm;
- 19
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, 20 because they could not bear what was
commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be
stoned.”
- 21
The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I
am trembling with fear.”
- Our obedience
v.29 for our “God is a consuming
fire.”
Failure to do so should be deterred
by the concluding solemn thought that our God is a consuming fire (cf.
10:26-27).
v.25-27
25
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? 26
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.” c
27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be
shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
He is the white heat of purity that
consumes everything unworthy of Himself. He will burn up all that is
temporal, false, and sinful.
- True Christians do not lose
their salvation
- Calvinism
- Teaching of John
Calvin, Reformed and Presbyterian churches, Charles Hodge,
Arthur Pink
- God’s sovereignty
elects to salvation and helps believers preserves in faith until
death
- Eternally secure in
their salvation
- Arminian
- Teaching of Jacob
Arminus, John Wesley, Methodists, Pentecostals
- God elects those whose
free will accepts Christ and preserves them unless they lose
faith
- Not secure in their
salvation because no one knows if he or she will preserve
- Christians will suffer the
consequences of disobedience to God
- Consequence of sinful
actions
- God’s discipline (Heb
12:1-13)
- Realisation that we are
God’s children from enduring God’s discipline (12:4-9)
- Righteousness results
form enduring God’s discipline (12:10-11)
- Reassurance and
spiritual strength results from enduring God’s discipline
(12:12-13)
- God is a ‘jealous’ God
Deu 4: 23-34
23
Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your
God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of
anything the LORD your God has forbidden. 24 For the LORD your
God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Like a consuming fire (4:24)
He would purify what is precious (just as fire purifies precious metals) and
destroy what is worthless. As a jealous God (cf.
5:9; 32:16, 21) Israel needed to be extremely
careful to remember the covenant
- Types of idolatry
- Worship of Money (Mammoth)
- Worship of our own strength
- Worship of God’s gift
rather than God himself
- Worship of false teachers
and teachings
Conclusion
This passage has an encouragement
and a warning. In our busy life, especially in difficult times, there is a
tendency for us to ignore God and all that God has given us. We need to
re-examine ourselves and make sure we are being obedience to God. Then all
the good things that God has given us will be meaningful.
The writer of Hebrews gives us two
mountains representing two covenants to remind us who we are and to resist
the temptations to turn back.
|
Mt. Sinai |
Mt. Zion |
Reality |
“You have not
come to…”(v.18a) |
“You have
come to…”(v.22a) as if heaven is a present reality |
Nature |
Mountain of
fire and darkness (v.18b) |
City of
perfection (v.22b) |
Mood |
Gloom (v.18) |
Joy (v.22) |
Privileges |
Fear even
touching Sinai (v.20) |
Names
recorded in heaven(firstborn) (v.23) |
Location |
Earth
(v.25-26) |
Heaven
(v.22,25) |
Covenant |
Old/Mosaic
(v.21) |
New (v.24) |
Atoning blood |
None was yet
shed (v.20) |
Perfect
atonement (v.24) |
Participants |
Jews under
the law (v.25) |
God
(v.21,23b)
Angels (v.22)
Church
(v.23a)
OT saints
(v.23c)
Jesus (v.24) |
Listening |
Ask not to
hear God (v.19b) |
Should listen
to God speaking (v.25) |
Application |
Never turn
back to your past religion (v.25) |
Press on to
your future reward with thanks and worship (v.28b-29) |
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|
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adapted Rick Griffith, New
Testament Survey (2), Singapore Bible College, 266cc
Move on, don’t look back
This is an important message for us.
If you are a mountain climber, moving up a steep cliff, the best advise
anyone can give you is to keeping moving upwards and don’t look back. If you
look back, you are likely to fall. The only way you can make it to the top
is to keep climbing until you have reached the peak.
- Make up your mid to be happy.
Learn to find pleasure in simple things.
- Make the best of your
circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of
sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the
laughter outweighs the tears.
- Don’t take yourself too
seriously. Don’t think that somehow you should be protected from
misfortunes that befall other people.
- You can’t please everybody.
Don’t let criticism worry you.
- Don’t let your neighbours set
your standard. Be yourself.
- Do the things you enjoy doing
but stay out of debt.
- Never borrow trouble. Imaginary
things are harder to bear than the real ones.
- Since hate poisons the soul, do
not cherish jealousy. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
- Have many interests. If you
can’t travel, read about new places.
- Don’t hold post-mortems. Don’t
spend your time brooding over sorrows or mistakes.
- Do what you can for those less
fortunate than yourself.
- Keep busy at something. A busy
person never has time to be unhappy.
Sermon statement
In our busy life, especially in
difficult times, there is a tendency for us to ignore God and all that God
has given us. We need to re-examine ourselves and make sure we are being
obedience to God. Then all the good things that God has given us will be
meaningful.
Soli Deo Gloria
[1]John F. Walvoord,
Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge
Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL:
Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 811.
[2]John F. Walvoord,
Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge
Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL:
Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 811.
|posted 11 January 2009|
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