Belonging – is very important. There is a programme on T.V. called “Who do you think you are?” It’s about people who are trying to find their roots – their identity – where they belong. It is very important to identify where we belong in this world. Things like, the family we come from, the job we do, our nationality, these all give us identity. But, for the Christian, our connection to Christ gives us an identity which towers above all other identities we may possess. The verses above, and the wider passage deal with two themes: identity and permanence. I want to explore these in this article.

Identity⤒🔗

The book of Hebrews was written to people who had problems with their identity. Imagine you are a Jew living 2000 years ago. You are intensely proud of your race and your heritage. You have been taught that God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him. From childhood you have learned the Law which God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai. Then, into your first century world comes this prophet, Jesus, preaching and working miracles. Your high priest has condemned him to death and crucified him. But there is something about him. His claims ring true to you. You cannot dismiss him and in the end you put your faith in him. But what have you gained by choosing to follow Jesus? You have joined a group of despised people whose leader is dead. They have no priests or temple or feasts and their form of worship bears no comparison to the great rituals of the temple in Jerusalem. What have you done? Where do you now belong? Your identity is called into question.

The book of Hebrews was written for such people – to show that when the temple and the religious system was shaken, it was in Christ that their identity was to be found. And we too need to be reminded who we are, that Jesus was and is the great permanent High Priest for the people of God – greater than Moses, greater than angels – the Saviour of the world, the final great sacrifice for sin. Our temple is in heaven and the realities of the Christian faith are not to be found in buildings and ceremonies but in our relationship with the Risen Christ who is now interceding for us at the throne of God.

For the Hebrews their new identity involved great changes. We don’t do change well, do we? We love routine. For the Hebrews it involved the great change between the worship of the Old Covenant and that of the New Covenant. (Compare verses 18 and 22) The writer is saying: “Now that you have become Christians, you have changed mountains! You are not still stuck at Mt Sinai. Now your privileges are a hundred times greater.” The contrast is between the worship of Mount Sinai where Moses and the people met with God for the giving of the Law and the worship of heaven, the new Mt Zion where Christ has ascended.

Seven words describe the experience and the scene of the worship at Sinai: fire, darkness, gloom, storm, trumpet, death and fear – a negative forbidding scene. (v 18-21) This form of worship is not welcoming. It is saying ... “Stop! Stay at a distance. You are a sinner and God is holy.” That was Mt Sinai. But now, Jesus has come, and that kind of worship is no longer appropriate. Things have moved on. A great change has happened. The veil of the temple has been torn. A new order has come in. We have come to a new mountain and to a new worship! Look at the worship to which you are now called! Look at the kingdom to which you now belong! This is the only identity or belonging that matters – belonging to an unshakeable kingdom. Our identity theme now gives way to a new theme – permanence.

Permanence←⤒🔗

This unshakeable kingdom is described using a variety of terms all of which are designed to comfort and assure us... (v 22-24)

• the heavenly Jerusalem… v 22, It is not the earthly city that is in view here. Our worship is now centred in heaven where Christ has entered, not in this changing world, but in the city which is permanent.
   
• the city (community) of the living God. This is where God dwells among His people and where there are no changes.
   
• the joyful assembly... where we join with the angels before God’s throne. Let our worship here on earth be joyful. Let us get ready for that great joyful assembly.
   
• the Church of the Firstborn... We are the ones who inherit because of Jesus. Our names are written in heaven permanently whereas at Sinai the Israelites names were merely enrolled on a fragile perishable scroll.
   
• you have come to God the judge of all men... Not just to the God who is Israel’s God, but to the God who rules all the nations. The Judge of all the earth.
   
• to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. We are worshipping with our loved ones in Christ who are already in glory. We are worshipping the same God, with them, at the same time. What a glorious privilege is ours!

Then the writer comes to the climax in v 24.

• you have come to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant. This is the focus of heaven, the Lamb in the midst of the throne.
   
• and to the sprinkled blood... But what is it about Jesus that is the focus? It is the fact that he is slain. We have been permanently redeemed. What a contrast with Abel’s blood that cried out, “Vengeance, retaliation, punish the murderer!” But Jesus cried out. “Father forgive...” even the murderers. That is our hope, our joy, our comfort and our assurance.

Do you belong to this kingdom? Is this what is in your mind when you worship? See the contrast between these two mountains, between the temporary and the permanent. At Mt Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, there is joy and celebration, there is love, mercy and reconciliation. Here is grace amazing, here is a welcome through the blood of Jesus. Doesn’t it make you wish you were in heaven? This is the kingdom that cannot be shaken. This is reality. This is permanence. Down here we only have illusion and transition, but heaven is all the things that cannot and will not change. In the words of Paul “The things which are seen are temporary but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18)

There is a higher throne than all this world has known.
Where faithful ones from every tongue will one day come...
Before the throne we’ll stand
Made faultless through the Lamb.

Nothing else matters when we are part of the kingdom that cannot be shaken.