RPG Adults
THE OLD PATH AND THE NEW ONE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23
Hebrews 12:14-29
Psalm 68:17-19
“The chariots of God are twenty
thousand, even thousands of angels …”
THE OLD PATH AND THE NEW ONE
Mount Sinai was the first place that God communed with Moses in giving the Law. It became a symbol of the presence of the Lord in Israel. The writer reviewed the events that accompanied the delivery of the Law and the reaction of Israel then. This Law had its complications and did not bring believers to full perfection. This spells out the insufficiency of that Law and now something more was needed to make it meaningful. The obstacles had to be overcome.
The understanding of this passage is made clear in Galatians 4:24-26: “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” This clarifies the comparison.
The new path is gracious: Mount Sion, the city of the living God (also called the heavenly Jerusalem) where there are innumerable company of angels (Heb 12:22). Under the new covenant the conditions are different from that of the old one. The writer also stated the position of believers in their relationship with Christ when He said, “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb 12:23).
It is evident here that there is a relationship between the church as it is on earth and the church that shall appear in heaven. This assembly made perfect is the invisible church. However, members of the visible church will be part of this invisible church, but not all, for according to Christ, many professing Christians (who are not genuine) will be rejected.
THOUGHT: Heaven is a place for genuine believers only.
PRAYER: Father, lift up a standard to stand against the tide of deception in the visible church today.