HEAVENLY ZION AND FINAL JUDGEMENT (12:18-29)
In 12:18-29 thoughts
about divine judgment merge with finishing the lines of the runner and the
place of “rest” for the moving people of God portrayed in the earlier portion
of the homily (Heb 3-4). The end of the race is met with a festival gathering (πανηγυρις) appropriate for the
end of a competition. The scene in Hebrews is primarily eschatological with the
believers having arrived in Zion, and the heavenly Jerusalem (12:22). The city
is paradoxically yet “to come” (13:14; cf. 11:10). In 12:18-24 our author seems
to be stripping away the curtain that hides the presently unseen reality so
that the audience would get a magnificent glimpse or sneak preview of the
heavenly city awaiting them at the culmination of the race. The scene depicts a
location where the blessings of God’s promises are fully realized: the faithful
enter into a final state of rest and receive their reward of inheritance.
In heavenly zion, God
is the judge, Jesus is enthroned, the firstborn of assembly is registered as
its citizens, and both angels and perfected “spirits” reside there. If our author
is primarily fast-forwarding the recipient community’s race so that they
include the recipients who have persevered. If so, then the “spirits” of the righteous
ones are probably those who had already died by the time the author presented
this homily. This group might be identified as the heroes of faith in chapter
11 (cf. 10:38a) or early Christian leaders and martyrs (cf. 13:7), or both.
11:39-40 claims that the people of faith from bygone eras could not be
perfected “without us,” that is, they could not be completed without believers
who presently live in the new covenant era (cf. 7:19; 10:10, 14). This group,
it seems, will be perfected when Zion is fully realized to all the firstborn at
the end of time.
A final comparison
from lesser to greater is given in 12:18-29. God speaking in the past from Mount
Sinai is compared with God speaking in the present from the heavenly city. At
Sinai when the old covenant was established Moses trembled exceedingly and the
people were terrified at God’s voice. Even beasts were to be destroyed if they touched
the mountain of divine presence (cf. 12:18-21). Fearful as Israel’s past
experience with the divine presence might have been, the future heavenly Zion
is intended to be even more fearful and operates on the new covenant of Jesus
with God as judge (12:22-24). God’s voice shook the earth when his presence was
manifest at Sinai, but now a promise remains that at the end of the age God will
also shake “the heaven” (12:25-26). The shaking of heaven and earth resembles
apocalyptic imagery and destruction that must take place before the end (Rev
6:12-14; 16:18-21; 21:1-2; 2 Pet 3:5-7; Isa 59:3; Joel 2:10-11; cf. Isa 33:20).
Such shaking communicates the fearful presence and intervention of God (cf. Nah
1:5; Joel 3:16; Isa 13:13; Jer 10:10; Ezek 39:20). In Israel’s scriptures, the
shaking motif prevailed in theophanies (Exod 19:19; 1 Kgs 19:11), warrior
imagery (Judg 5:2-31), and eschatological scenes.
An echo from Hag 2:6-7
(cf. 2:21) is felt here which was originally addressed to Zerubbabel of Judah
and “Jesus the high priest.” In the prophetic book the day of the Lord was soon
approaching, and at that time everything would be affected by it. A shaking
would take place horizontally on sea and dry land and vertically on earth and
in the heaven. Then all the nations would surrender their treasures and submit
to Jerusalem and its temple so that the latter house of God would be greater
than the former temple (Hag 2:6-9). Our author in Hebrews relates the shaking
from Haggai to the final eschatological visitation in which the temporal and unholy
things will be removed and only that which is permanent and holy will remain
for the coming kingdom of God.
The implication for
believers seems clear enough. The author essentially warns that if the fearful
presence and voice of God from the heavenly city is greater than the theophany
at Sinai, then how much greater and terrifying will be the judgment of God on
those who reject God’s voice in the new covenant era? The author’s final
warning resembles the first one in Heb 2:1-4. The audience is to take heed (βλεπετε) and not to refuse
God who now speaks form heaven. The author and the community to whom he writes
(“we”) will not be able to escape the final judgement if they turn away (αποστρεφω) from the one who
warns from heaven (12:25, 29). God is viewed as a consuming fire, a thought
that alludes to his judgment against enemies and those who violate his covenant
(cf. Deut 4:23-24; 9:3; Isa 33:14). Our author has in mind a burning judgement
and picture of final destruction akin with early apocalyptic traditions (Isa
66:16, 24; Zeph 1:18; 1 En. 91.9; 4 Ezra 7.38; 2 Bar.
44.15). Put differently, if the malaise Christian community that suffers
from dullness of hearing commit apostasy by rejecting God’s message, then God
will consume them with a fiery punishment at the eschaton.
Given that the
audience is in the process of inheriting an unshakeable kingdom, the
appropriate way to worship God, then, is for all believers to show gratitude
(Heb 12:28), which is the proper response beneficiaries are to show to the
benefactor who gives them a gift. In this case the benefactor is God. They are
also to offer service pleasing to God with “godly fear” (ευλαβεια) and “dread” (δεος). Again the author
uses fear as a strategy in his earning (4:1; 10:27, 31; 12:21; cf. 11:7). The
believers are exhorted to worship God acceptably and not commit apostasy but
inherit instead the promised blessing of rest in heavenly Zion. (B.J. Oropeza, Churches
Under Siege of Persecution and Assimilation: The General Epistles and
Revelation [Apostasy in the New Testament Communities 3; Eugene, Oreg.:
Cascade Books, 2012], 64-67)