An Unshakable Kingdom

A proper reading of verses 22 and 23 requires that we interpret them through the lens of the already-not yet tension we find throughout the New Testament. The kingdom of God is inaugurated (already) though not consummated (not yet). In other words Christians can experience, in part, the fulfillment of God’s promises even as they await the complete experience of those promises in the new creation. This is the tension we feel between this age and the age to come.

We have already seen the author speaking in terms of the already-not yet in Hebrews 2:8. The writer speaks in similar terms here in Hebrews 12:22-23. Coming to Zion hasn’t been fully actualized in our experience, but it is a certain and promised reality. We’ve already come to the city of the living God in one sense, but that reality is not yet fully consummated. In other words, we’ve already come to Zion, but we’re still waiting to get there.

Thinking in eschatological terms also helps us understand the word city. The word city is significant because it reveals an important point about God’s kingdom. God reigns in his kingdom, but he doesn’t just reign from any old place; he reigns from “the city of the living God.” Speaking of the city reminds us that it will be the seat of the kingdom. Even as Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, so the heavenly Jerusalem will be the capital of God’s kingdom. In coming to Zion, we have come to the chief city of God’s kingdom and reign.

Whom will we join there? We will join innumerable angels in festal gathering. This is something we can’t possibly imagine. The city of the living God is filled with countless angels shining in the glory of God. Such a picture is indescribable, but it is nonetheless a picture of what awaits those who endure until the end.

Remember how Hebrews began. It opened with the author identifying Christ as the One superior to angels and the One with a name more excellent than theirs (1:4). But this doesn’t mean that angels should be considered worthless in light of Christ. Angels are still superlative creatures in that they radiate the glory of God and testify to God’s saving acts in Christ. In the heavenly Jerusalem, myriads of angels will joyfully gather to celebrate and worship the Lord. We’ve come to a city populated with tens of thousands of angels in festal gathering. We will join them in eternal citizenship and in the eternal worship of God.

Who are “the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven”? In one sense, the author is referring to those he held up as examples of faith in Hebrews 11, those who trusted Christ even before his incarnation. But in another sense the assembly of the firstborn is much more than that. In Hebrews 12:1 the writer tells his readers that a great cloud of witnesses surrounds them. As we have already seen, those who were faithful to God and his promises even before Christ came make up this great cloud of witnesses. As we also saw, the author tells his people then—and believers today—that they are united in faith with those who have gone before them, with the firstborn enrolled in heaven. Because we are a part of the heavenly Jerusalem, we are a part of this congregation. We have already joined in eternal membership with the congregation of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. This is the church eternal and the church universal, and it is the church to which we have come.

Verse 23 also tells us that we have come to God himself, the Judge of all. Just imagine the day in which all human beings in the history of humanity will be judged. For those who are righteously judged on account of their sin and never knew salvation in Christ, the day of judgment will be a day of unmitigated horror. Eternal hell stands on the other side of that day. But for those who have turned to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance and trust in his condemnation in their place, the day of judgment will be a day of unmitigated glory. Eternity with the only infinitely righteous, gracious, and merciful God stands on the other side of that day. The author of Hebrews talks about this day as if we’re already there. We’re already standing before God, the Judge of all. We’re already standing before his throne.

Finally, the writer says that his readers have come to “the spirits of righteous people made perfect.” This is speaking of all who come to Zion. There will be no one who is imperfect in heaven. No unrighteous or imperfect person will be in the heavenly assembly. We will not be righteous or perfect by our own accord. Our righteousness and perfection depends entirely on the imputed righteousness of Christ. His perfection is our perfection. His righteousness is our righteousness. There is no human righteousness in Zion. There is only Christ’s righteousness.

The author’s list of things to which we’ve come climaxes with Jesus Christ. Now we’ve come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that says better things than the blood of Abel. Jesus’s priestly work is the foundation of this city, so it is fitting that the writer caps this list by drawing our attention back to the blood of Jesus.

As we have already seen, the triumphant list of the faithful in Hebrews 11 begins with Abel (v. 4). God evidently ordered Abel’s sacrifice of blood, and Abel obeyed. His obedience testified to his faith in God and his word, but his sacrifice of blood could not save him. The blood spilled through the animal sacrifices restrained the wrath of God for a time, but those sacrifices did not satisfy the wrath of God forever. The blood of Christ, however, accomplished what the animal sacrifices never could. His blood is sufficient to forgive sin and to save us from the judgment that sin deserves. Therefore, Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant. By his sacrifice and his sacrifice alone, we come to Zion and to the sprinkled blood that says better things than the blood of Abel. Christ’s sprinkled blood says better things than Abel’s because Jesus’s blood saves. It completely washes away our sin and satisfies God’s wrath once and for all.

This paragraph is the crescendo of the book of Hebrews. It reminds us in both poetic and prosaic terms that we are not going to that old mountain ever again. Sinai has been displaced and the old covenant has been fulfilled. We’ve come to a new mountain and a better covenant. We’ve come to Zion. God does not call us to a mountain we’re not allowed to touch. He calls us to a Savior, the same Savior who told Thomas to place his finger in the holes of his hands and to place his hand on the wound in his side (John 20:27). In Christ, the old law has been annulled and a new one has been ratified. This new law does not condemn or judge us. Rather, by Christ’s better blood, it guarantees for us an eternal inheritance and secures final forgiveness of sins. His blood brings us to Zion and into the glorious presence of the living God. These are better things indeed.