Watchman Radio Hour

David Shult: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shult, your announcer. The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker Alex Dodson to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, and we'll begin reading in verse 22. Let us hear the word of God.

"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word, and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, oh Father, as we come to study your word, we pray that you would send forth your Holy Spirit in great convicting power. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

So many of the old hymns talk about Zion. Were they talking about Israel, or were they talking about the church? These old writers were speaking primarily of the church. Such old hymn titles as, "Zion's King Shall Reign Victorious," or "Hail to the Brightness of Zion's Glad Morning," all talk about the church.

The great missionary hymn, "O Zion Haste," talks about the mission of the church. Another old hymn goes like this: "Zion, founded on the mountains, God thy maker loves thee well. He has chosen thee most precious, He delights in thee to dwell. God's own city, God's own city, God's own city, who can all thy glory tell. Heathen lands and hostile peoples soon shall come the Lord to know. Nations born again in Zion, shall the Lord salvation show. God Almighty, God Almighty, God Almighty, shall on Zion strength bestow. When the Lord shall count the nations, sons and daughters he shall see, born to endless life in Zion, and their joyful song shall be. Blessed Zion, blessed Zion, blessed Zion, all our fountains are in thee."

Such great hymns had a high view of the church. Today it seems, among many evangelicals, that the focus is on another Zion, not the church. So many have their eyes on an earthly Zion or an earthly Jerusalem. Now that's not to say that the Lord will not yet do a great work among the Jews as prophesied in Romans 11, and that He will do. Yet it is into the church, the heavenly Zion, the spiritual Zion that they will come. The great work yet to be done on earth is not in an earthly Jerusalem or Zion, but in the spiritual or heavenly Zion.

Our text for today is Hebrews 12 and verses 22 and 23, which say again, "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven."

The church is the spiritual Mount Zion. This was what the old hymn writers so clearly saw. They had a high view of the church. The earthly Jerusalem has its foundation on earth, but the Heavenly Jerusalem is from Heaven, and that's the Jerusalem that we should be seeking. Now let us see, in the first place, Mount Zion of the Old Testament was a specific place in an earthly Jerusalem.

It was where the temple was. Mount Zion in Jerusalem was where the temple was built. It was the place that the people came to worship. God's presence was in that temple. And so the worship centered on an earthly place called Mount Zion. It was in an earthly city in Israel. Jerusalem was an earthly city. It was the place where people went up to or turned toward to worship God. The Jews looked to Mount Zion in an earthly city called Jerusalem. It was there that they focused their worship, for God was there.

Yet Jesus foretold the doing away with this local worship in Jerusalem. It would be replaced by a worship that would cover the earth. In John 4:19-24, where Jesus is having a conversation with the woman at the well, the woman says to Jesus, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and truth."

Jesus was foretelling a time which had come even then with his coming into the world, and would come even more after he ascended into Heaven. It would be a time when people would worship the true God all over the world, wherever they were. No longer would people need to go to an earthly Jerusalem to worship God, but would be connected to a Heavenly Jerusalem and would be able to worship God all over the world.

Isaiah 11:9 talked of a universal Mount Zion or holy mountain, which would include the whole earth where people would go to worship God. It says, "They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Everywhere on the earth, the knowledge and worship of the Lord would be spread even as the waters fill up the oceans. The worship of God would be everywhere.

Now let us see in the second place, the spiritual Mount Zion is a Heavenly City. Verse 22 says, "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven." It's in Heaven. It's the Heavenly Jerusalem. It's the city of the living God. It's a city full of angels. It's the universal church, consisting of believers on earth and those in Heaven.

F.F. Bruce writes, "As the earthly Zion was the meeting point of the tribes of the Old Israel, so the Heavenly Zion is the meeting point of the new Israel. Their heritage, the place of their solemnities is the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem. If the movable tabernacle in the wilderness was constructed according to the pattern of the sanctuary on high, so the temple and city of Jerusalem were material copies of eternal archetypes."

Revelation 14:1, where Mount Zion on which the lamb stands with 144,000 is the Heavenly Zion, since they sing their new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. Bruce goes on to write, "The myriads of angels remind us of the 10,000s of holy ones who attended God at the giving of the law on Sinai, or of the thousand thousands whom Daniel saw serving God and 10,000 times 10,000 who stood before him."

Bruce goes on to write, "How exalted the status of the heirs of salvation is, may be gauged from the fact that the Son of God passed by angels in order to partake of flesh and blood with mankind. When therefore, believers come to the myriads of angels, it is not to worship them, but to worship the God whose servants they are."

Matthew Henry writes, "To a Heavenly society, to an innumerable company of angels who are of the same family with the saints, under the same head, and in a great measure employed in the same work, ministering to believers for their good, keeping them in all their ways, and pitching their tents about them. These for number are innumerable, and for order and union are a company and a glorious one. And those who by faith are joined to the Gospel Church, are joined to the angels and shall at length be like them and equal with them." This Heavenly Jerusalem is in Heaven, but it has a presence upon earth.

So let us see then, that it has members on the earth. The church on earth is connected with the Heavenly Zion. It is a part of it. This Heavenly Jerusalem has members in Heaven and on earth. This is their spiritual union. We as Christians have a spiritual union with the Heavenly Jerusalem. We're connected to it. I recently bought an iPhone and discovered there is also something called iCloud. By being connected to iCloud, I can access wherever I am with my iPhone or computer, anything I have stored in iCloud.

In the same way, the church on earth has a connection with the Heavenly Jerusalem. There is a spiritual union. The church on earth is at one with the Heavenly Jerusalem. F.F. Bruce writes, "The idea of enrollment in the Heavenly Book is regularly associated with men. Rejoice that your names are written in Heaven," said Jesus to his disciples. "And in the Apocalypse, repeated reference is made to those whose names are inscribed in the Lamb's book of life."

Bruce goes on to write, "But Christians have come to no sacred mountain which can be touched physically, but to the Heavenly dwelling place of God, the true and eternal Mount Zion. Ye are come, may denote their conversion to Christianity. The Greek verb is that from which proselyte is derived, and while it is such a common verb that normally no such implication could be read into it, the particular form used in this particular context carries with it overtones of conversion. And so by virtue of their accepting the Gospel, the readers of this epistle had come to that spiritual realm, some of whose realities are detailed in the following clauses."

And so every believer is connected to this Heavenly Jerusalem, this spiritual Mount Zion. Bruce goes on, "In Revelation 21:2, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which has existed eternally in Heaven is seen coming down to earth, so that henceforth the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them as their covenant God. But this is not our author's perspective. The New Jerusalem has not yet come down to men, but in the spiritual realm they already have access to it. They have become fellow citizens with Abraham of that well-founded city for which he looked."

"It is the city or Commonwealth which comprises the whole family of faith, God's true dwelling place. Even now, this city has not been manifested in its fullness. It is still in one sense, the city which is to come. But the privileges of its citizenship are already enjoyed by faith. The people of God are still a pilgrim people, treading the highways to Zion, but by virtue of his sure promise, they have already arrived there in spirit. Our author may retain the symbolism of up there when he speaks of God, but he makes it clear that his people need not climb the heavenly steps to seek him."

"For he is immediately accessible to each believing heart, making his dwelling in the fellowship of the faithful." Bruce goes on to comment on the meaning of the church of the firstborn. "But more probably the reference is to the whole communion of saints, including those who, while militant here on earth, are enrolled as citizens of Heaven. To this community believers have come, not merely into its presence, as they have come into the presence of angels innumerable, but into its membership. All the people of Christ are the firstborn children of God, through their union with him who is the firstborn par excellence. Their birthright is not to be bartered away as was Esau's."

Thomas Hewitt writes, "Under the old Covenant, Israel was God's own chosen religious community. Mount Zion was the place of worship. Jerusalem was looked upon as the place of his presence. A description is now given of a wider communion into which the readers have entered through acceptance of the Christian faith. Yet are come, or ye have come, or you are come, or you have come, being in the perfect tense, does not refer to some communion into which believers enter after death, but to a communion into which they enter when Christianity is embraced."

"Those who have this experience have already come to the celestial, celestial order, to the spiritual Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, in contrast to the material Mount Zion. Believers have not come to terrifying manifestations, but into God's presence, to the very throne of grace, through their mediator Jesus Christ. They have also come to an innumerable company of angels, into God's court consisting of myriads or tens of thousands of angels."

Hewitt goes on to write, "When a man believes, he has no dreadful experience to undergo like the Israelites, but has immediate access into God's presence and becomes an inhabitant of the Heavenly City, which consists of myriads of angels, of the saints on earth, and of the spirits of just men made perfect, of the faithful departed, including the saints of both covenants, who have already been led by the captain of their salvation to the higher state of blessedness."

Matthew Henry writes, "To the general assembly and church of the firstborn that are written in Heaven. That is, to the universal church, however dispersed. By faith we come to them, have communion with them in the same head, by the same Spirit, and in the same blessed hope, and walk in the same way of holiness, grappling with that same spiritual enemy, and hastening to the same rest, victory, and glorious triumph. Believers have union with the departed saints in one and the same head in Spirit, and a title to the same inheritance of which those on earth are heirs and those in Heaven possessors."

This Heavenly Jerusalem, this Mount Zion, has members on earth and in Heaven. She is the church of the firstborn. All believers have a spiritual connection to her. And then let us see in the third place, the church's glorious future. The church is glorious foretold. Isaiah tells of this glorious church that would spread out and envelop the whole world.

In Isaiah 54:1-3, it says, "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child, burst into song, shout for joy. You who were never in labor, because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the Lord. "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back, lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes."

Paul quotes Isaiah 54 when he talks about the Heavenly Jerusalem in Galatians 4:26-27. He says, "But the Jerusalem that is above is free and she is our mother. For it is written, be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children, break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains, because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, who has a husband."

Paul was pointing out that we as believers do not belong to the earthly Jerusalem, but to the Heavenly Jerusalem. She is our mother. A prophecy concerning Zion is given in Isaiah 60:1-3, where it says, "Arise, shine. For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples. But the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

Zion would be a light to the nations. Even kings would come and bring their kingdoms to her. The prophecy in Isaiah paints a glorious future for the church. Nations shall march to Zion. Kings will lead their people through the gates of Zion. Isaiah 60:10-11 says, "Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open. They will never be shut day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations, their kings led in triumph procession." This kind of language foretells the future prosperity of the church.

We need to keep our eyes on the Heavenly Jerusalem. So many have their eyes focused on the earthly Jerusalem today, awaiting the next minute on the prophetic clock. But is that where we should be focused? Should we not be focusing on the church? Paul exhorts us to focus on the Heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly Jerusalem. In Galatians 4:24-26, Paul says, "These things may be taken figuratively. For the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves. This is Hagar."

"Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free and she is our mother." Our fellowship as Christians is not with an earthly Jerusalem, but with the Jerusalem above. She is the Mount Zion we should seek. It is in this Heavenly Jerusalem where we find Jesus the mediator of a new covenant. He is no longer in the earthly Jerusalem. He has passed into the heavens, and it is to there that we must look.

Hebrews 12:23-24 says, "You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel." Come to Zion. Come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. The invitation is to you today. Come to Zion. Come to Jesus Christ.

It is only in Zion that there is salvation. It is only in Jesus, the one who died on the cross, that you can be saved. Come today. Don't wait. Repent of your sins at once and come to Zion. Come to Zion. Come to Zion. Come to Christ.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for the church. We thank you for this Heavenly Jerusalem, for this Mount Zion, the spiritual Mount Zion of which all believers are members. Oh Father, we pray for the furtherance of the gospel all over the world. We pray for the increasing light to shine on Zion. As people come to know Christ all over the world, we pray that the light of Zion will shine and enlighten this whole world, that multitudes will come to know Christ. In his name we pray, Amen.

David Shult: We hope this week's broadcast has been a blessing to you. If you have any questions about Mr. Dodson's message, please write us. You may email us at info@watchmanradio.org. Our mailing address is Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251 Portland, Oregon 97213. That's Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon 97213.

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