Tuesday, December 15, 2020

B.J. Oropeza on Hebrews 12:18-29

 

 

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)

 

Further Reading


Ryan P. Juza on Hebrews 12:28