Hebrews 12:18-29

The umbrella question of Hebrews 12 - How do we worship, walk, work and witness better in 2026?

We’ve been learning we indeed have a run the race that is set before us, we need to look to Jesus, cherish the refinement of our life, guard the contents of our character and look for the majesty and glory of Jesus to be revealed.

These last verses of Hebrews 12 visit two hills, call the reader into a response, and give a warning against rejecting all of it. In February, chapter 13 will teach appropriate actions that are significantly greater than reserving adjectives for Jesus, singing a song, reading your Bible or attending a church service. However, we ought not neglect the base layers either.

When I was an executive pastor, I led 90% of the church’s meetings; staff, elders, council, congregation, etc. There would be places in the our conversations that I would interrupt and ask if that hill was worth permanently planting the flag of your life on. We only get a certain amount of flags in life and we need to have hard conversations with ourselves about when and where we’re willing to stick those flags in the ground.

The first hill that we see is the hill of obligation. I can’t imagine this hill is worth a permanent flag, but Christians do it. I grew up in a church that I believed planted flags on the hill of obligation. Dress a certain way. Carry a certain Bible version. Attend a certain Christian school. Embrace the look of the role.

The hill of obligation

Hebrews 12:18–21 ESV

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”

Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians. Jewish people that would have memorized the Torah (Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) at a young age. Every year they would celebrate the Passover and remember the exodus from Egypt. Every year, they would scroll through ancient history and memorialize the important highlights. Mount Sinai was one of those places. On top of Mount Sinai is where God met with Moses and wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger. It’s also the place that Israel released its rebellion as a nation and formed a golden calf to worship.

The original reader would have stopped at these verses, remembered Exodus 19 and said - Thank you. Thank you that I’m not bound by a system like my ancestors were. Thank you that you have redeemed me with something better and more powerful. Thank you that I’m not fearful when you bring a message.

Let’s go to Exodus 19:10–20 - “the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.” On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Israel devoted three days to get ready for church. We might know people that aren’t sure they’re coming to church 30 minutes before Israel service begins. Israel wasn’t allowed to go where God was without death being the result. “Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.” I hope the dogs were on a leash. I imagine Mount Sinai having this volcanic look to it that might be nice to see from a distance, but became more ferocious as you walked closer. To be near God’s presence meant they witnessed weather patterns that would make most people run the other direction to seek shelter. The sounds grew louder and louder and louder. There was no possible way they could meet the standard.

There was so much fear throughout Israel, they (Exodus 20:19) said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

Eventually, Israel got tired of waiting. Exodus 32 tells us they convinced Aaron to form a golden calf and create their own god. Moses came down from Sinai, broke the Ten Commandments and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Deuteronomy 9:19 says Moses was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against Israel, so that he was ready to destroy them.

Why would anybody want to be on that hill? Rules, judgment, fear and death were all part of the hill of obligation. We’re going to get more rules today. I’m so excited that God is going to give us more things we can’t do. We really need to stay on God’s good side and I really like living. We’re going to follow those obligation, but we never truly feel God’s love. The hill of obligation is not the ideal way to run the race that is set before us.

There are people in our church that have been released from drug and alcohol addictions. I’m grateful those things are not part of my past, but viewing God with a ‘hill of obligation’ perspective is just as torturous. Just as it took years for some of you to leave your sin behind, it took years for the Lord to re-program what I thought it meant to follow Jesus and why I should invite others to become a Christian. The readers of Hebrews should be encouraged with verse 18 - you have not come. Follower of Jesus, fellow believer, your spiritual identity is NOT found at the hill of obligation. That’s not the story the Lord is writing upon your life. The enemy strives to make all of us view God from the lens of obligation, judgment, fear and death.

Instead, we should view God from the lens of grace, mercy, love and redemption. Let’s look at the second hill, the hill of adoration.

The hill of adoration

Hebrews 12:22–24 ESV

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Mount Zion was a real place in the Old Testament. Prior to Israel conquering Jerusalem, it was the home of the Jebusites. 2 Samuel 6 tells us after David acquired Jerusalem, “they brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.” From that time forward, Zion had been considered the earthly dwelling place of God.

Psalm 132:13–14 - “For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.””

Isaiah 46:13 - “I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.””

Revelation 14:1 - “Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”

For the reader of Hebrews, as much as Mount Sinai represents the Law, Mount Zion represent a new covenant of salvation through grace. The hill of adoration brings to us a rich experience with the Father. Fellow believer, Mount Zion allows us to freely come into the God’s presence without the trepidation of Mount Sinai.

The hill of adoration isn’t just about experiencing God’s presence on earth, it’s all about spending eternity in heaven with Him.

It’s about experiencing Revelation 5:11–12 - “Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!””

It’s about experiencing Jesus, who intercedes on our behalf. It’s about experiencing the fullness of the sprinkled blood that brought us grace, mercy, redemption, faith, love, hope and all rest of God’s attributes that he pours into our lives daily.

The response of obedience

Hebrews 12:25–29 ESV

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

An entire generation of hard-hearted, rebellious adults had to die before Israel could reach the Promised Land. We should expect consequences when we casually or rebelliously reject the Word of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, especially if we are living at the hill of obligation.

The cultivated heart that lives at the hill of adoration receives and applies verse 28.

We acknowledge that God has spoken all things into existence and God will speak all things out of existence.

Created things can be shaken, eternal things cannot.

Out of gratitude, created beings should offer undelayed worship that is reverent and awe-filled.