Two years ago we spent an extended number of Sundays working through our liturgy. We asked and answered most of the W questions about worship. We hit the Why? (to praise God and be transformed, united, oriented, and batter the walls of unbelief), the Who? (we are God’s temple and priests and sacrifices), the What? (elements and order of worship including the Old Testament offerings that provide a pattern for the gospel), When? (on the Lord’s day), and the How? (explaining how each piece of our service serves the overall end). Absent from the list is the Where?

On one hand, Where? might be the least relevant question because the hour Jesus spoke about has come. He told the Samaritan woman in John 4:23, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23, ESV). Mountains and temple addresses no longer matter. Where do we worship? Anywhere and, as the Lord’s name spreads, everywhere. Worship cannot be confined to any county, country, or continent.

Yet the question of where we worship is not exhausted by responding that it can and does happen any place. When God’s people gather to worship Him we all go somewhere. We go to heaven.

I have been thinking about this for a while because it’s not what I was taught growing up. Nowhere does the New Testament describe what we mean by a church service or a worship service, nor does it provide the one-and-only inspired order of service. Since we desire to be driven by God’s revelation we are careful to determine what are prescriptive practices and mindsets. Especially we Bible people are suspicious of too much more than some singing and a sermon sprinkled with supplications. Additionally, when it comes to gospel worship, we should recognize a good deal of liberty. If anything shouldn’t be forced, it shouldn’t be our celebration of being free in Christ.

But if God blesses and strengthens and sanctifies those who glorify Him, if He transforms those who behold His glory, then we have great reason to examine and consider what we’re doing in worship and where we do it. A better understanding of where we come on the Lord’s day can’t help but give us a greater appreciation for what we have as well as motivation not to neglect to meet together (Hebrews 10:25).

Speaking of Hebrews, this is a deep letter. It has some confusing details especially to us who have so little familiarity with the Old Testament sacrificial system. What Hebrews does well is 1) contrast the type with the antitype, or show how Jesus is superior to every shadow that pointed to His substance and 2) warn those who have the superior revelation in Jesus not to reject it. Hebrews 12:18-29 does both of those things.

After the well known faith stories in chapter 11, the author exhorts his readers to run the faith race with endurance (Hebrews 12:1-2). He encourages them to embrace the discipline of the Lord that helps them to run in righteousness (Hebrews 12:3-11). Then he exhorts them to pursue peace and holiness so that they don’t become like Esau who rejected his entire inheritance for a single meal (Hebrews 12:12-17). Esau had no faith, he couldn’t bother to wait, and he quit his whole race in a moment of hunger.

Why should they not be like Esau? “Because” or “for” in verse 18 and following. Christians will behave differently and run with endurance because of where we worship. Knowing where we are going when we meet God changes everything.

I believe that Hebrews 12:18-29 should be understood in the context of corporate worship because:

• The summary in verse 28. “Let us offer to God acceptable worship,” a word (λατρεύω) usually connected to corporate rather than individual service.
• The contrast between verses 18-21 and 22-24 starts with the place where the people of God came to meet God and receive His revelation. Sinai was a place of corporate worship and Zion also referred to the place of God’s manifest glory.
• The groups referred to in verses 22-23 are worshipping groups and they are groups in heaven. These are not labor unions, connected by similar vocation or hobbies or interests, but rather worship unions.

So see if these observations survive a closer look at the paragraph. We will see the contrasts between two motivations for coming to worship (verse 18, “you have not come” and verse 22, “but you have come”).

Coming to Worship in Alarm and Fear (verses 18-21)

The motivation of the law and of fear could not deter a man like Esau. It couldn’t, and doesn’t, motivate us either.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” (Hebrews 12:18–21, ESV)

These verses mix together a few events from the giving of the law, the Mosaic covenant, at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:12-25; 20:18-21) as well as the theophany at Horeb (Deuteronomy 4:10-24, especially verse 11). The effect of mixing separate events made one overall impression that we could summarize in three ways.

First, worship under the Old Covenant emphasized the tangible. What may be touched , and the NAS adds “a mountain that may be touched” because later manuscripts include it based on verse 20. The geographical site was a big deal, as were the physical sights: blazing fire , *darkness, gloom , a tempest , all signs of severe judgment. Even Israelite animals, let alone the people, were prohibited from touching the mountain. If they did, the penalty was death by stoning (Exodus 19:12-13).

Second, worship under the Old Covenant was terrifying. The weather, the sights and the sounds, caused alarm, not relief. When the people heard God speak they pleaded not to be spoken to directly again (Exodus 20:19; Deuteronomy 5:25-27). They wanted Moses to mediate so that they could keep their distance. They couldn’t handle or endure the voice of God. Even Moses himself, who was close with God (see Exodus 33:11), said, “I tremble with fear” . This quote comes from Deuteronomy 9:19 when Moses feared for the people worshipping the golden calf.

Third, worship under the Old Covenant was temporal. It was not meant to be tangible or terrible forever. The first 11 chapters of Hebrews celebrate the superiority of Jesus and His sacrifice. As we’ll see in verses 22-24 things are different now.

So while there was a prescribed time and a definite place and dedicated things for worshipping God, and while fear does motivate, fear cannot, does not, and will not drive worship that changes us for good. Neither will physical trappings by themselves, whether terrifying or disarming (a point that many contemporary churches fail to perceive). We need something better.

Coming to Worship in Awe and Forgiveness (verses 22-24)

Since law and fear can’t keep us from becoming Esau, what will? Now we’re going somewhere.

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, 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, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22–24, ESV)

When we worship we come to a place and gather with the people of that place.

Instead of Mt. Sinai we have come to Mount Zion . This is past (perfect) tense, “have come,” a realized and remaining state. Hebrews is like one extended sermon, so the people had gathered and they had come to the place of God’s presence. The next two titles offer synonymous names for the same place: the city of the living God and the heavenly Jerusalem . Both of these are more than spatial and yet they do refer to the place of God’s presence.

Who do we meet when we come? First: to innumerable angels in festal gathering . They are dressed for a party of praise. Second: to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven . The first “firstborn” was Jesus, but this firstborn is plural. All believers get an inheritance as if they were firstborn sons, and their names are recorded in heaven’s membership book. Third: to God, the judge of all . We meet the Chief Justice of the universe. Fourth: to the spirits of the righteous made perfect . This refers to the dead in Christ who have gone ahead and are waiting for their glorified bodies. Jesus came to perfect His people (Hebrews 10:14) and we commune with previous generations.

The climax of the contrast, of the paragraph, and maybe of the entire letter crests in verse 24. Finally we come: to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant . When we come, we come through Jesus to the place where Jesus is. This is not a future meeting, though it affects the future since we will be with Him in body then. We have come to Jesus. He gets us there and there is where He is in heaven.

Along with Him is the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel . It may seem an odd place to bring up Abel. But Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance (Genesis 4:10-11). Jesus’ blood cries out forgiveness. Both were murdered. Abel was killed by Cain because Cain envied his better sacrifice to God. Jesus was killed so that He could be the better sacrifice for God. His blood purchased our salvation: forgiveness through transformation to perfection. When we come to worship, the blood reminds us how we got here.

In Jesus is rest, so gospel worship is rest. In Jesus is peace, so gospel worship is peace. In Jesus is eternal life. Each week, as we meet Him in worship each Lord’s day, we are tasting what the end of our life on earth will be like. We are participating in a pre-release of heaven’s eternal rest.

Unlike the old worship that was earthly, tangible, terrible, and temporal, our worship now is heavenly, spiritual, comforting, and eternal.

Conclusion

We dare not take our advantages or God’s mercy for granted. Next Lord’s day we’ll consider verses 25-29 which warn us not to refuse or reject this good news. Salvation is to be celebrated but not willy-nilly.

How can worship be joyful, emboldening, transforming so that we’re not like Esau and yet not frivolous or silly? Much of that answer depends on recognizing where we are in worship. We worship in the heavenly places, places that we can’t touch but are absolutely real.

Remember Elisha’s servant when the king of Syria sent horses and chariots and a great army and surrounded the city to seize Elisha?

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:15–17, ESV)

Our inability to see doesn’t change the truth.

What are some of the consequences of heavenly worship?

Worship emboldens us as we assemble with our people, not just the faces here under this roof. The heavenly army meets: angels, all believers, including the previous generations (the cloud of witnesses), God and His Son. We gather to fellowship with our people, past and present. There are more who are with us than who are with them.

Worship motivates by forgiveness not by fear. We fear in the sense of awe but not in the sense of terror. God drives us to holiness from grace inside not from threats outside. Warnings urge us not to wander from the gospel, from His love and mercy, from the sacrifice of Jesus. He motivates us not by demanding blood from us but by the Son’s shed blood for us. Rebuke, warning, exhortation and even confession, repentance, and renewed commitment belong with the promises of life not the danger of death.

This time together is special because of the place and company. There is no place on earth that gets us closer to God than another, and yet when we worship together on earth we enter heavenly places. We have not come to what may be touched, but we have come to where we are transformed. We have not come to worship based on the law of Sinai but because of heaven. We do not come in fear, we come in joy. God be praised through Jesus Christ His Son and the eternal Spirit.

What priority will you place on getting to heavenly worship every week? When you realize where you’re at and who you’re with, will that affect your singing? Your participation?