Access to Heaven

Mountain-top experiences: We’ve all had them. They are majestic and they come in many forms. It might be a conference we attend where we are overwhelmed with the love of God. It might be from actually being on a mountain. I know the Christensens just return from a family vacation to Montana and Wyoming, where they visited Bear-Tooth Mountain and saw the Grand Tetons. Jodi Johnson, one of our school teachers, as her husband, just return from the Grand Canyon. That may not be a mountain, but standing on the edge of the Canyon to look around for miles, one is able to glimpse the awe inspiring grandeur of God’s creation. For many years, Tanya and I lived in Central California where Yosemite National Park was one hour to the north of us, and Sequoia / Kings Canyon National Parks were to the east. Going there, just for a drive, was a real treat. I remember one time we were on the top of El Capitan and saw the breath-taking views of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Just amazing. One didn’t really want to leave.

And that is the problem with these mountain-top experiences: they come to an end. We have to return home to the ordinary grind of daily life. When I think of the contrast between the mountain-top and coming home to ordinary life I’m reminded of the Psalmist who talked about the “valley of the shadow of death.”

This valley is where we live, and we’ve become accustomed to the trials and tribulations found here. Maybe that’s why we love to get away for a weekend of camping and fishing, just to find a break from the pitfalls of our Monday through Friday grind. But, dear friends in Christ, our Lord God has something even better than our attempts for happiness and relief. It is His mountain-top experience that will never end. Our Hebrews passage and Gospel reading today point to this reality.

To help us grasp what this entails we are going to look at three mountains and what they tell us about our relationship with God and everyday life: Mount Sinai, Mount Calvary, and Mount Zion. The key for us is

The Cross of Christ Gives us Access to Heaven: God’s Never-ending Mountain-top Experience.

Let us pray: “Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditation of each heart, be acceptable in Your sight, for You are our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

I). Sinai — The Mountain That Signifies What Our Relationship with God Would be if it Had Not Been for Jesus.

Mount Sinai was unapproachable because of it’s fire and darkness (), so our holy God, who “is a consuming fire” (v. 29), is unapproachable because of our sins.

Hebrews 12:18–19 NASB95

For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.

Even touching Mount Sinai led to dire consequences (), so our sin, our disobedience of God, results in death, both temporal and eternal.

Hebrews 12:20 NASB95

For they could not bear the command, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.”

Even the prohibitions at Mount Sinai involved both man and animals — the highest and lowest of God’s creation — terrorizing them; so sin and God’s condemnation of sin affects us all — there are no exceptions — resulting in the bondage of the fear of death ().

Hebrews 2:15 NASB95

and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

We experience the affects of sin every day of our lives. In our day-to-day lives we never measure up, and we are constantly falling short of the glory of God. As a result, our lives are never complete. We live here in a wonderful community, but because of sin we realize we never fully belong. But there’s another mountain,

II) Calvary — The Mountain That Makes the Difference in our Relationship with God.

The Person on that mountain make the difference.

He is better than Able ().

Hebrews 12:24 NASB95

and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

Able was a good man

But Christ — God in the flesh — is perfect, sinless.

He is the Mediator between God and us ().

Hebrews 12:24 NASB95

and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

And it’s The EVENT on that mountain makes the difference.

Christ experienced death and damnation in our place.

His sacrifice is better than Able’s (v. 24).

Able’s blood called for vengeance.

Christ’s blood calls for forgiveness.

And it’s this blood of forgiveness that give us Access to another mountain:

III). Zion — The Mountain That Signifies What Our Relationship with God Now Is, Thanks to Jesus!

All who look to Jesus in faith are citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem — Your Access to Heaven.

Already you enjoy the citizenship to a considerable degree (“You have come to Mount Zion,” v. 22).

After death your Access to Heaven — your citizenship — will be enjoyed even more fully (; ).

1 Corinthians 13:12 NASB95

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

Revelation 7:13–17 NASB95

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

You are united with a distinguished company — the great cloud of witnesses — as discussed last week.

You are connected with the Church Triumphant (), those who are no longer part of this “valley of the shadow of death” ().

Hebrews 12:23 NASB95

to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

Hebrews 12:23 NASB95

to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

You are linked with “an innumerable company of angels” (v. 22).

You are in fellowship with God Himself, even the God who is “the Judge of all” (v. 23).

Jesus IS that narrow door our Gospel reading spoke of. Faith in Christ — the Door — is your Access to Heaven, and because of Jesus, you have peace with God.

Thank God, there is a door: Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.

Thank God, Jesus is the doorkeeper too — that very Jesus who went to Calvary to suffer and die and be raised again for our salvation.

Thank God, our salvation depends upon His knowing us and not upon our feeble claims of knowing Him.

Thank God, there is a table in the kingdom of God at which we, by grace, may be privileged to eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Thank God, people from every tribe and nation — from every direction — shall sit down in the kingdom of God.

Thank God, those who never measure up in this world, who never feel complete, who never feel like they belong have a home with Christ Jesus. His door is open wide to all who are weary and in need of rest; to those who mourn and long for comfort; to all who fail and desire strength; and to all who sin and need a Savior.

Mountain-top experiences here in this life are fleeting, despite our best efforts to hold on to them. But because of Jesus — The Door — Access to Heaven is assured; the mountain-top experience that will never end.