If I could give you a little homework assignment, I know it will be a busy time, with a number of speakers and many meetings. But if, between now and tomorrow night, you can read Hebrews 12, this will be the chapter I will be concentrating on for my two times of sharing.
So, why do not we turn to Hebrews 12? We will read part of the chapter as we begin tonight. We will begin in verse 14.
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness, springing up, causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.
For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
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 ye are come to Mount Zion.
That will be our topic for tonight: “But ye are 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.
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 has promised, saying, “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, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken—
That will be the second message.
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.
And then we want to go to 1 Thessalonians and read our theme verse, in chapter 2, verse 12.
So that you might walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Let us pray.
Our Father, it has been prayed, and we are so thankful to be here together at this time. We believe that You have drawn us to this place. And we have come with hungry hearts, or broken, or mystified, or worried, or rejoicing.
But in whatsoever condition we find ourselves, we come before the Lord Jesus, our great High Priest, for His ministration to us. Lord, You alone know the need of everyone in this room. And we ask, Lord, by Your Spirit, that You administer to us individually and build us up together corporately in the Word of God as it is proclaimed throughout this weekend.
Lord, do help us. We do come with a sense of weakness, a sense of need, a desire for Your help more than ever before. Lord, lead us in that new and living way, through the shed blood of Jesus and into the Holy of Holies.
We thank You for this time, and now we pray that You will refresh us by the Spirit. Refresh our bodies, our minds, and our hearts, that we might receive the things of God with thanksgiving, because we gather in the name of our mighty Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” What tremendous words these are, and what a wonderful realization: these saints in Thessalonica actually had this desire. They had understanding, and they wanted to walk worthy of their God.
Our brothers and sisters had never seen Jesus in the flesh. But indeed, they must have seen Him as their Lord and Savior, because the Scriptures tell us that these Thessalonians, although they were young Christians, already had a reputation throughout Greece and Macedonia for faith, hope, and love.
They had turned from idols to serve the living God, and they were waiting for the return of their Lord Jesus, whom, not having seen, they loved. And they realized that their kingdom and glory were waiting for them.
Every chapter in Thessalonians talks about the coming back of the Lord Jesus. Every assembly has some unique reality of the Lord Jesus that they have laid hold of, and, for some reason, the Thessalonians had laid hold of this fact: that Jesus was Savior and King and was soon coming back.
So much of 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians deals with these matters of the second coming. Is it not wonderful that they knew about this and that they desired it? It is remarkable when you think of the fact that Paul probably only spent three weeks—less than a month—ministering to these people the gospel of salvation, speaking with them and praying with them day and night, undoubtedly.
And after leaving, after only three weeks or less than a month, these young Christians were so grounded in the gospel of the kingdom that they were pursuing their kingdom and glory. Now, is that not wonderful?
Somehow, the gospel of the kingdom that Paul preached did not paralyze them with fear, but motivated them not only to rejoice in their salvation, but to pursue the highest goals of the kingdom and the glory. Paul simply had to admonish them concerning things he had obviously spoken to them about: that they walk in a manner worthy of the God who called them into this kingdom and glory.
These young Christians, perhaps in first love for sure, had decided to press on—to go for the maximum—even as they saw in the apostle Paul, who was always pressing onward.
You remember Philippians 3: “Forgetting the things that lie behind, I press on for the prize.” He is talking kingdom stuff here: the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
So Paul, of course, wherever he went, you saw this man pressing on and upward. And so the Thessalonians, as young Christians, were pressing on and upward. How wonderful to see these young Christians even gaining a reputation for such faith, such love, and such a blessed hope as they waited for the Lord Jesus to come back.
It seems like a great contrast to the church today, many of whom do not even understand this privilege of the kingdom. And many have an attitude not of going for the maximum, but of trying to find out the minimum.
“How much of the world, exactly, do I need to give up before I can be saved? I do not want to give up too much. What is the minimum?” That seems to be the question Christians today like to ask.
And when it comes to the kingdom and to these rewards—walking worthy of the One who called you into His kingdom and glory—today’s attitude, at least I know in the United States, seems to be, “You know, it should be democratic. I think everybody should get the same rewards. Because God loves all of His children, all Christians should attain to the same prize, no matter whether they are lazy or whether they are pressing on or not.”
Perhaps the most popular parable that Jesus spoke today is, “Count the cost.” Many Christians are counting the cost.
Now, I wonder if you have ever looked at that parable and realized that what Jesus is really saying is, “Do not count the cost.” Because the bottom line at the end of that parable is that any man who would follow after Him and does not give up everything that he owns cannot be His disciple.
So basically, there is a point where you count the cost, and that is before you become a disciple. Once a disciple, you are all in. You do not count the cost, because if your Lord says, “Build the tower,” then you build. It is His leading, it is His kingdom, and you are His servant.
So when we say, “Well, I am counting the cost,” what we are really saying is, “I am wondering if it is really worth it for me to invest in this.” How different from the attitude of the Thessalonians: “We are all in. Let us go. Let us be worthy.”
In 2 Thessalonians 1, I am sure these things will be covered in more depth. We see in verse 5, as Paul is talking and acknowledging the fact that these Thessalonians were going through quite intense persecution, he makes this statement:
This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
Now, I would like us all to be Thessalonians—all in for the Lord, realizing the worth of our God and of His high calling in Christ Jesus.
The Thessalonians had three weeks of Paul the apostle laying that foundation of the gospel in their lives, and Paul had to leave. But they had the Holy Spirit to continue to deepen their conviction and enable them to grow.
They also had another ingredient, which was persecution. Paul, in several places in his letters to them, tells them that this persecution is part of that approving of our worthiness to be part of the kingdom. And so our brothers and sisters accepted that, rejoiced in it, and remained faithful even in persecution.
What a wonderful testimony they have. I would like to talk about this matter because, obviously, they were seeing the kingdom before them with all of its privilege, all of its glory, and all of its beauty in their King, the Lord Jesus.
I wonder if we do not need to see that a little more clearly tonight, as we gather and begin our weekend. That is why I want us to go back over to Hebrews 12 and reflect on this whole chapter that the writer brings before us.
The Thessalonians saw clearly three things.
First, they saw their gracious entry into the kingdom. Now, what does it take to enter the kingdom? You need to be saved by grace, born again into the kingdom of God. Is that not wonderful? How gracious. For us, it is free; for His price, it was the cross.
What a gracious entry. These Thessalonians turned from their idols, were saved by grace, and realized that they were now part of the kingdom.
But they not only realized their gracious entry; they also realized the high privilege of their kingdom calling. Somehow, to whatever degree, they realized their calling was to be found in Christ Jesus the King and to be found reigning with Him in the kingdom.
They saw the value of it. That is this word: that you may be worthy of the God who called you into His kingdom and glory. Somehow they caught the great privilege of the kingdom that they had been brought into.
Third, they also recognized the cost of this calling: the very cross that would be the way for them to glory. They were willing to accept its persecutions and its sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, in order that they might enter into that high calling that Paul had spoken to them about.
Now, the brothers and sisters to whom Hebrews was written had been Christians for a longer time, and they also were experiencing great persecution. But they were losing sight of that kingdom and glory as they were just trying to survive day by day the very difficult time they were in.
So the writer of Hebrews is trying to present Jesus to them and show the all-sufficiency of Jesus, and the highest place that Jesus has, in such a way as to bring into focus again this tremendous privilege that was theirs in the kingdom of God.
As he is writing these things, we come to Hebrews 12, where he is sort of summarizing all that has gone before in the letter. He basically sums it up—or tries to bring them all to a focus together—recognizing the worth of Jesus and His kingdom by saying, “Ye are come to Mount Zion.”
This is a summary statement, as we will look tonight. If you look there, you will see Hebrews 12:22–24, all part of that mountain described with phrase upon phrase of our high privilege. That is what we want to look at as we are together in this introductory time.
First, he reminds them of those who had gone on before—their Jewish relatives—and the fact that they had come to a place of great privilege, namely Mount Sinai. Now he says to them, “You have not come to Mount Sinai.”
But that was a place of great grace and privilege too. You remember when the Jews came out of the Red Sea and were gathered together before Mount Sinai. You remember what God said to them. He wanted to present to them what He had planned.
He said, “Do you know how I bore you up on eagles’ wings? By grace, I lifted you up over the Red Sea, as it were. By the Passover lamb, I spared the firstborn of every family. And I have brought you to Mount Sinai, to this place.”
But more importantly, He says, “I have brought you to Myself.” Now, that is the grace of God.
Think about it. These Hebrew children had no possessions. They had no inheritance. They were slaves. But God bore them up on eagles’ wings and brought them to Himself.
They gathered below Mount Sinai, and God sent Moses up and began to talk to Moses about what His purpose was in His heart. What did He say? He said, “If My people will obey My voice and keep My commandments, they will be a special people among the nations—My people. They will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
Now just think about that. That is old covenant. Think about the high privilege of what God was saying. First of all, “You are going to be Mine.” Second, “You are going to be My special people among the nations,” privileged to know Him and His ways and the life that comes through Him.
“I am going to make you a kingdom of priests so that you can minister to the whole world. I am going to make you a holy nation, set apart, unique, distinct.” What a tremendous privilege this was.
But the words, “If you obey My voice, if you keep My commandments,” caused the mountain to shake. These children, newly saved as it were, stood at the base of Mount Sinai, and the place shook. There was fire, there was smoke, and there was a voice so loud that people cupped their ears.
They said, “Oh, please, Moses, you talk to Him. We cannot take this.” And God said, “If any animal dares to touch My holy mountain, you must stone that animal.” That is too scary. “Oh, this is so scary.” The writer of Hebrews even says Moses was trembling.
There is no doubt that there was a high privilege there, would you not say? There is no doubt there was a God who really meant business. But what a scary prospect. The people were so afraid of God that they said, “Moses, you are going to have to do it. We cannot possibly do it. The requirements are too great, too strong.”
But the writer says, “Now, you Christians, you have not come to Mount Sinai. Ye are come to Mount Zion.”
Calvary stands between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. You cannot get to Mount Zion except through Calvary. But these Christians were believers. They had been saved through Jesus Christ, and He is telling them, “Ye are come to Mount Zion.”
Now listen. What is he talking about? Are you a spectator looking up at Mount Zion? Are you a visitor? No. When he says, “You are come to Mount Zion,” this is the very reason that you and I are here this weekend.
He says, “You have come to fully participate in all the blessedness of the kingdom of God.” You are now a participant. It is too late. You are come to Mount Zion. You are here—not as a spectator, but as a participant.
What a wonderful thought that is. Have you come to Mount Zion? Is that why you are here this weekend? “Ye are come to Mount Zion.”
Well now, what does that mean exactly? We know that when David captured Mount Zion, it was a Jebusite stronghold. It was a hill, one of the hills of Jerusalem, and it was a particularly sharp hill, with a valley below it, which made it a stronghold—almost unconquerable.
You could not scale the hill. It was a very safe place. David took it over—you remember the story—when he became king. It was the first thing he did.
When he took it over, he put a fortress there. He eventually built his palace there. He eventually brought the ark there. Zion became known as the City of David.
But David called it the city of the great King—and that was not him. You know Psalm 48. Actually, it is not David’s psalm, but you know that psalm: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.” Is Mount Zion the city of the great King? That was not talking about David. It was a greater King pictured in Zion.
From being merely a stronghold on one of the hills of Jerusalem, Zion began to take on a deeper and more transcendent meaning. The saints found out that the Lord had chosen Zion and desired it for His rest and His habitation.
As one psalm says, “God loves the gates of Zion more than all the tents of Jacob.” Now, what does that mean? Of course, God loves all the children of Jacob and all the towns they dwell in, but there is some reason He loves the gates of Zion more. It means something.
In Psalm 133, which was just up on the board, “The dew of Hermon comes down on Zion, for there the Lord commands the blessing.” Another psalm says salvation comes out of Zion.
So Zion began to have more and more spiritual significance even to Israel. Zion took on a larger meaning to include all of Jerusalem, as it were. But Zion really meant two things: Zion was the throne of the King, and Zion was the house of God.
The Jews understood that. At times of danger, they were exhorted to get up on Mount Zion and pray and intercede. To stand up on Zion, as it says in Isaiah 40, on the walls of Zion, and say, “Here is your God.”
Zion was a center of testimony. It was the epicenter of the kingdom of Israel. That is the Old Testament meaning.
Now, when the writer of Hebrews says, “Ye are come to Mount Zion,” it is no longer a mountain that can be touched. He is now talking about something spiritual and something heavenly.
But still, as it were, he is talking about the very epicenter of the kingdom of God. He tries to picture for us: “You have come to this highest mountain of privilege as a child of God. Realize your privilege.”
In a sense, when he talks about coming to Mount Zion in Hebrews 12, he is summing up many things he has been saying along the way. Of course, what he is saying is, “You have come to Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the all-sufficient One, the absolute High Priest, the One who can save you to the uttermost. You have come to Jesus Christ.”
All the things that Jesus is, and all the things related to what Jesus has done, are included. I will just mention three.
What is Mount Zion? Mount Zion is the place where we are brought into rest.
What is Mount Zion, spiritually speaking? Mount Zion is the place where there is the throne of grace that we can come to in times of need.
What is Mount Zion? Mount Zion is the better covenant that you have entered into. You see, these kinds of things he is sort of summing up all together.
What is Mount Zion? It is that Holy of Holies that we have entered into by that new and living way. So now, as he summarizes it, he says, “Ye are come to Mount Zion.”
Oh, saints, we must begin by seeing the worthiness of the One who has brought us there, and the worthiness of the kingdom and the glory.
Do you want to be in the kingdom? Do you want the rule and reign from Mount Zion? Do you want to be there, reigning with your Lord Jesus for a thousand years? And then do you want to be part of the glory, part of the eternal, part of the heavenly Mount Zion forever and ever? Do you want to be there?
This is the high, wonderful privilege that is brought before us. So let us do what Psalm 48 says, if we might, and walk about Zion. Let us look at her gates. Let us briefly look at her towers. Let us look at her palaces. Is that not a wonderful psalm? Let us spend time in Zion and realize how wonderful it is.
Now, as I present Mount Zion tonight, I would like to start at the bottom and work my way up to the top, which is Mount Zion. So we need actually to start in Hebrews 12:24. I am going to start at the very bottom of the hill, where we see the very basis for this wonderful calling and privilege to the kingdom.
In verse 24, we simply see two things:
To Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
There is the first thing at the very base of Mount Zion. You cannot approach the mountain without being killed except because of the precious blood. There, at the very basis of our privilege, is Jesus’ shed blood for us. Because His blood was shed for us, we are dear children of God, and we are welcome to the mountain.
The picture, in contrast to Mount Sinai that was just mentioned previously, is that the Passover lamb was the basis of the children now standing at Mount Sinai to receive their high calling. So for us, the writer of Hebrews spent a number of passages talking about that precious blood that Jesus, the spotless, pure Lamb, took into the heavenly temple and offered once for all to atone for our sins.
There is no coming into the kingdom except through the precious blood. That is the very base of the mountain. It is all of grace. It has been supplied. And ye are come to Mount Zion.
It is not only our basis for initial salvation, but, of course, John so wonderfully points out in 1 John 1:7, it is also the basis of our continuing fellowship. We walk in the light, we fellowship in the light, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
That is our life on Mount Zion: knowing the efficacy of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. There is the very basis of things.
Then, right above, if we could say we are climbing up, there is this wonderful statement: “We have come to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant.”
What a wonderful covenant. Again, the writer in Hebrews 8 is summarizing in a simple statement something for which he took a chapter to lay the groundwork. What is this covenant we have come to? What a better covenant, entered into by the blood of Jesus.
He speaks about many things, but two things I think he emphasizes. First, in this covenant, through Jesus our Mediator, God remembers our sins no more. None of us can climb far unless we know that our Lord has removed our sins and forgotten them.
Second—and this has to do with why we say Jesus, the Mediator of the covenant—the new covenant brings us to know God. You do not have to say to your neighbor, “Know God,” because you know Him, because He is within you, because you have become His people and He has become our God.
This privilege in this better covenant enables us to climb toward Mount Zion. Now, how are any of you going to make it to the top? How high is Mount Zion? Do you want to do it in meters or feet? How high is it?
It is a high calling. It is an upward call of God in Christ Jesus. How tall is it? It is tall enough that we can be assured of this: if Jesus, our Mediator, does not intercede for us, that we may be saved to the uttermost, there is no way anybody here can make it. Right?
We may be saved, but if we try on our own to gain all that privilege standing before us—only through Jesus, who intercedes for us and can save us to the uttermost—that is the One we are trusting in, is it not?
From the very base of the mountain, it is the Lord Jesus who brings us higher. Some people here, I know, have been Christians for a number of years. Some are pretty new Christians. It does not make any difference how long we have been Christians: without Jesus the Mediator, there is no getting up on top of the mountain.
We want the highest privilege, but it only comes as He is interceding for us. So there we go. We are going up the mountain.
Now we go to Hebrews 12:23:
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.
Let us take those one at a time and see if we can figure out what kind of kingdom privilege is being talked about here.
“To the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” Here is a great privilege we have because we have entered the kingdom of God. We are part of a great company of the faithful.
Probably most Bible teachers think this is talking about faithful saints who have gone on and died before us: the Old Testament saints—Abraham, Jacob, Moses, however you want to count them—and many unnamed ones who were faithful to the Lord.
Spirits of the righteous made perfect. Perhaps saints who have gone on before us. These ones are now before the presence of God, but they are waiting for what Revelation 20 calls the first resurrection.
In Revelation 20, I guess we should turn there. I see people saying, “Huh?” So let us look. Revelation 20, verse 5:
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Now, you and I may not always be aware of this, but the writer of Hebrews says that there is a great host of witnesses, of faithful saints who have gone on before us. We are standing before them as we run our own race.
These dear saints are waiting for that glorious resurrection and the coming of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, where they can reign for a thousand years. They are waiting for their resurrection bodies.
What a wonderful company we are part of. We cannot say much for ourselves, but we will fellowship with Moses. I think that is pretty good. We will fellowship with David, and we will fellowship with Ruth. Well, you carry on—whoever you want to talk about—because they are all waiting for this moment: that kingdom to come and that first resurrection.
They are spirits now, justified. They will have a body and reign in that kingdom. What a wonderful privilege this is, and what a wonderful thing to be part of such a company. You and I, just think of that, are part of this great assembly of the righteous—spirits of the righteous made perfect.
Now then, we look at this: “And to God, the Judge of all.” We have come to God, the Judge of all.
Now, that may strike fear in your heart because you think this is talking about judgment. But more likely, it is not talking about judgment. It is talking about us participating in God’s judgments in the world to come.
When the Lord comes with His kingdom, He will judge with righteousness. We are promised—do you remember how the disciples were promised in Luke 22—that when Jesus came in His kingdom, they would sit on twelve thrones over the twelve tribes of Israel?
This promise of kingdom judgment and ruling not only applies to the twelve apostles, but to all those who are faithful, to whom the Scriptures say in Revelation that they will reign with the Lord.
This is a wonderful privilege. Here we are not talking about the God who is going to judge—that is to say, the great white throne of judgment, or even the judgment seat—but the fact that we will be part of His judging.
Some Greek scholars say it should be translated, “And to a Judge, the God of all.” However you want to interpret it, we see that it is a great privilege that we have to be in this place where we are with this God who rules, and we rule as well with the Lord.
Then we come to myriads of angels—oh, sorry—and to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. The church of the firstborn that are enrolled in heaven. Now, what is this talking about?
The firstborn does not mean you have been born again. The firstborn has to do with your inheritance. Firstborn speaks of inheritance.
You know, in the Old Testament, when you were the firstborn in your family, they enrolled your name in the temple of Jerusalem. Because when it came down to an inheritance battle or decision, they had the name of the firstborn registered.
Here it says, “To the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.” There are those who, through faithfulness, will attain to an inheritance.
Now, what was the firstborn’s inheritance? Well, you got twice as much. That sounds pretty good. But more importantly, he ruled in the family. He was a priest in the family, and he was an executor of the wealth of the family.
To be the firstborn, as we will see tomorrow night, was something that Esau had. It is a privilege. We cannot earn it. We cannot buy it. But it is ours by grace to keep, to value.
The firstborn, those who are enrolled in heaven. Well, praise God that we are part of the church, and our high calling is that we would gain the inheritance that is ours.
Then we have this phrase, which I will put together: “To myriads of angels and to the general assembly.” In my translation, it puts the general assembly and the church of the firstborn together in its phrase.
But I think, as you study this, you will see that many people who know Greek better than us feel that what this is talking about is that we have come to myriads of angels assembled. We have come to myriads of angels assembled.
This is part of the kingdom. The kingdom is full of ministering angels. Several times in Scripture, it talks about when our Lord Jesus comes back to take His kingdom on earth, He comes with a host of angels.
Why have those angels come? To help administer the kingdom.
In Hebrews 1:14, we have this specific definition of angels:
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Here again, our inheritance is in view. When the kingdom comes, and we come along with it, the angels are this great administrative host. In other words, we rule and reign and have these angels administering at the disposal of those who have inherited salvation.
There is a great administration of His kingdom, which is soon to come to pass. It includes these thousands of angels and us as well.
You remember that statement Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 6, assuming that we all understand this. He is rebuking the saints because they have a dispute with each other, and they are taking it to the public courts to sue each other.
What does Paul say to them? “Shame on you. Do you not know that you are going to judge the world? Can you not settle this matter among yourselves? Do you not know that you will judge angels?”
Now, did you know you will be judging angels? When we get to this kind of talking about the inheritance of the kingdom, I see a lot of Christian faces going blank, as if we never heard of these things.
But all I am trying to do is look at this Mount Zion that our brother is talking about, and this high privilege. This is not talking about you doing some kind of sweeping of the city streets of gold—a sanitation department in the kingdom of God.
This is talking about inheritance. This is talking about ruling and reigning. This is talking about being part of a glorious administration.
There is our Lord Jesus upon His throne, ruling with a rod of iron. There are saints, and there are angels, going about doing His will, bringing justice and righteousness in the earth. That is going to be part of our destiny. That is our calling. That is our privilege. It is wonderful.
Then we go a little higher, and we see in verse 22:
You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Of course, for us, as soon as we see that—especially this phrase, “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”—we realize that, in the end, this high privilege involves being part of the Bride.
When the book of Revelation describes this heavenly Jerusalem, this city of the living God coming down, it is the Bride prepared for her husband. This is part of our destiny. This is part of our privilege. This is no time to slack off.
“Ye are come to Mount Zion,” which is the highest and the summary of the whole thing.
Now, brothers and sisters, I know I took you through a kind of race course there and just touched on some of these phrases.
Do we walk worthy of the God who has called us into His kingdom and glory? Do we understand these matters of sonship, inheritance, sharing in His throne, and being the Bride? Are we seeing that great privilege?
Of course, there is a great cost, which the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica were willing to undertake. Why? Because they saw the privilege.
How wonderful it will be when we come and see Jesus all in all. Jesus is Head. Jesus is King. Wait until we see how He ministers righteousness. Wait until we see His glory and His love. Wait until we see how powerful He is. And wait until we see that we are part of Him and of all that He is doing.
This is a high privilege. This is so much more than just being saved and kind of hanging out until the kingdom comes. This means laying aside our idols, pursuing the living God, and reaching for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.
Now, I just want to offer that to you tonight and say, thank God: “Ye are come to Mount Zion.”
We gather here tonight in all kinds of different places, and the Lord desires all of us to come to the same place: to rule and reign with Him, to understand and to have learned and gone through whatever sanctification and whatever trials are necessary to make us sons, so that we can reign with His Son.
God has a high purpose for us. We have come to Mount Zion. Now we need to start to realize the privilege and pay the cost to be all that He wants us to be.
Thank God, because of His precious blood, we have all come to Mount Zion. Now what are we going to do? Look up, see the privilege, embrace it through thick and thin, through the shaking.
Tomorrow night, Lord willing, I want to share on receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. That is what is going on right now. Whether it is our economic situation, whether it is our political situation, what is really going on?
Everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken, because we are receiving an unshakable kingdom.
So may the Lord help us, as we start tonight, to think about this matter: what it means to be in Mount Zion.
Let us pray.
Oh Lord, when we come to You, we know that You are all in all. There are so many different ways of saying these things, but we realize that we are called by a worthy God, who has sent His worthy Son, and whose worthy Spirit is even now bringing us into this kingdom calling and glory.
Lord, as we gather here tonight with many different needs and concerns and problems, we ask that by Your grace we might catch a glimpse of the glorious things that You are doing and find ourselves, in our hearts, with first love, rising to the prize, running for the goal, taking hold of Your grace, and finding all that You have in store for us.
Lord, we know that we have a great and wonderful destiny in Christ Jesus. Oh, may we find, as we have come to Mount Zion, the way upward as we are gathered together. We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Before we end, I would like us to sing an old song, which our sister fortunately found. How many of you know that song? An old, old song.
Well, let us try to sing it together, and you will see how it goes. Yeah, okay, I will not sing, but you will see how it goes. It goes like this:
Let’s go up to Zion,
Let’s go up to Zion,
Let’s go up to Zion, the city of our God.There’s oil and wine in Zion,
There’s oil and wine in Zion,
There’s oil and wine in Zion, the city of our God.Sing hallelujah,
Sing hallelujah,
Sing hallelujah,
There’s joy in the Lord.We’ll sing and dance in Zion,
We’ll sing and dance in Zion,
We’ll sing and dance in Zion,
The city of our God.There is a King in Zion,
There is a King in Zion,
There is a King in Zion, the city of our God.Sing hallelujah,
Sing hallelujah,
Sing hallelujah,
There’s joy in the Lord.