Dear Christian Friends,
How many of you know what a “false summit” is? If you have ever been driving or hiking in the mountains you no doubt have experienced it even if you didn’t know it by name. It is that phenomenon when a lesser mountain peak that is closer to you hides the real peak from your sight. If you are hiking you might spend a great deal of time climbing this lesser peak only to find out that you have to descend and then climb the real mountain that was hidden from your view. The lesser peak might have appeared grand and majestic but it was not the summit that you wanted to reach.
For many people when they look at the Bible they have a hard time distinguishing between two mountains too, even though they don’t realize it. The two mountains are Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. These two mountains refer to the teachings of the Law and the Gospel. There are many pastors and religious leaders that get caught up in the “false summit” and focus their preaching and teaching on the Law and then miss the beauty and majesty of the Gospel. As we study these verses today, I urge you, CHOOSE THE RIGHT MOUNTAIN.
1. Mount Sinai is just a stopping place.
2. Mount Zion is our home.
To truly understand these verses we dare not forget the verses that are just before this. We need to go back to verse 12, where the writer urged the readers to “strengthen their weak arms and feeble knees.” In those verses we were reminded to run the entire race of life committed to the Lord and strengthened through Word and Sacrament to fix our eyes on Jesus, even when we are suffering discipline or persecution.
The author begins this sentence with the thought that we did not come to Mount Sinai to stay. Mount Sinai was a stopping point for the Old Testament people of Israel on their way to the Promised Land. The stop at Sinai was to teach God’s people about the reality of sin and its destructive power. At Mount Sinai the Lord gave his people his Law so that they could clearly see their sins and turn from them, while at the same time they could use the Law of God as a guide to show them how the Lord their loving God wanted them to live.
The danger that faces every human being is this: We like to run back to Mount Sinai and instead of using the Law of God as a mirror to show us our sins; we want to find satisfaction in partial obedience to the Law and Commandments. We become like the rich young man who told Jesus, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” The writer of these inspired words of our God says, “Don’t choose that mountain.” Don’t turn back to the Law of God as if you think that will save you. The Law is no message of comfort. The Law of God does not give life. The Law condemns! The Law kills because we are sinners who have opposed God. We hear that the Jewish religion, the Moslem religion and many false religions are religions of laws. Laws condemn. Laws remind us of judgment and condemnation to hell because we cannot keep the laws of God perfectly as he requires.
2. Don’t be mistaken, the Law is important and it is the inspired Word of God, just as the false summit is beautiful in its own right, but the reality is that just as that false summit is not the real summit, so Mount Sinai, the Law of God, is not the right mountain for us to chose. The Law of God shows us our sins and the need for a Savior, but it cannot save us from our sins. We need to choose Mount Zion, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that saves us.
Mount Zion also is used to refer to heaven. It is also the hill on which Jerusalem was built. The way to heaven is Jesus. We don’t want to return to the Law which says do this and don’t do that. We don’t want to be condemned for our failures. Instead we rejoice in the good news of the Gospel. We rejoice that Jesus Christ, the Son of God came into the world and lived the perfect life for us. We rejoice that Jesus, God’s Son, died in our place and suffered hell for us. We rejoice in the beauty of God giving us the righteousness of Jesus so that we are not condemned.
We rejoice because we have a mediator of a new covenant, Jesus Christ. In the old covenant, we had to be perfect or face the condemning wrath of God. Now through Jesus we have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus and are cleansed from sin, death, and hell.
We rejoice that our names are now written in heaven. We have come to the joyful assembly where thousands and thousands of Christians and angels gather before the throne of God. We can say “have come” because with the Lord, it is a sure thing. Your life in heaven with the Lord is sure and certain, and so is mine. Jesus took care of all the details for us.
The glory of the Gospel far outshines the majesty of the Law. The Law condemns but the Gospel gives life. No living thing could come near Mount Sinai or it would die, while Mount Zion is a city full of people and angels. Mount Sinai announced death as the punishment for sin, while Mount Zion announces forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross. On Mount Sinai were written the Ten Commandments, which show us our sins, while on Mount Zion we find our names are written in the book of life.
Choose the right mountain, dear friends. Don’t mistake the law for the gospel. The law cannot and will not save. Only the Gospel can and does save. The person who bases hope for eternal life on a life of good works is climbing a false summit. It only leads to disappointment and despair. Hold on to the Gospel. Find comfort and strength for the weak arms and feeble knees in the good news of Jesus Christ your Savior. Amen.