TWO MOUNTAINS CONTRASTED (Part #1)

Heb. 12:18

Good day to each of you and here we go again with another devotional thought. Even in a casual reading of the scriptures, we can hardly miss the significance of the many mountains mentioned in God’s Word. For example:
1. Mt. Ararat where Noah’s ark rested following its five month journey during the flood.
2. Mt. Carmel where the prophet, Elijah, challenged the prophets of Baal.
3. Mountains Ebal and Gerizim from which Moses announced blessings and cursings on the children of Israel.
4. Mt. Hermon, a 9,100’ mountain about 30 miles southwest of Damascus, possibly the location of the transfiguration.
5. Mt. Hor, Aaron’s burial place.
6. Mt. Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac on the altar; where David made sacrifice for his sin of illegally numbering the people, and where the temple was built.
7. Mt. Nebo from which Moses viewed the Promised Land.
8. Mount of Olives that overlooks Jerusalem from the east across the Kidron Valley and the Pool of Siloam. Also where Jesus would go with His disciples to pray.
9. Mt. Seir where Esau went to live. The area became known as
Edom, and the residents, the descendants of Esau, were
called Edomites.
10. Mt. Sinai where Moses received the law and the ten
commandments.
In our lesson text for this devotion, I want you to notice with me these TWO MOUNTAINS CONTRASTED.
I. MOUNT SINAI vss 18-21 (Exodus 19)

II. MOUNT ZION vss 22-24

These verses are describing salvation. The Hebrew Christians had come to:
1. Zion In the Bible, Zion was referred to as the place of God (Ps. 132:13-14; Rev. 14:1 & Phil 3:20).
2.“the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”. In the Scriptures, Zion and Jerusalem are used to refer to both the capital city of the Jews, but also of heaven. (Heb. 11:10)
3. myriads of angels = innumerable...“myriads of myriads” (Rev. 5:11).
4. the general assembly and church of the first-born. These are both describing the saved. In Col. 1:18, Jesus is called “the first-born from the dead.”... “the church of the first-born” = church of Christ. “All the churches of Christ greet you” (Rom. 16:16).
5. “to God, the judge of all”
6.“to the spirits of righteous men made perfect” only in heaven. This would refer to those departed saints whose spirits were made perfect by the blood of Christ when they were saved.
7. “to Jesus” vs 24 (1Pet. 1:1-2) Just as the blood of the Passover was sprinkled on the lentil and the doorposts in order that those who dwelt therein might be saved from judgment, so is the blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled on your soul when you obey His commands in becoming a Christian so that the Lord will pass over you in judgment. So the children of Israel had come to Mount Sinai, but the Hebrew Christians had come to Mount Zion.

Next week we will see the beginning of these two mountains as they contrast each other. God bless until our next time.