HEB 12:18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."

HEB 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

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Dr Tong started by reiterating the lesson last week on the abuse of God's grace. This abuse came about due to our inability to realise that we need to respond to God. This dynamic response is part of Christianity's understanding of how we should understand justice and fairness, in that we need to respond positively to the grace of God.

Plato spoke about justice some 300 years ago, and yet he could not come up with the right answer. All he could say was that one should work in accordance to his talent. Since every single person has a different idea of what his talents are, Plato assumes that we need a God to tell us what to do. So when a person is dissatisfied with his job, the answer would be that God had given him little talent, so he should just bear with a lowly job. But Kiekegaard said that God cannot be an object for our discussion or assumption, but is the object for our worship. The reformed apologist Cornelius Van Til pointed out that throughout history, the God that humanity has been discussing about is but a shadow, and not the actuality. We cannot possible know of justice or what God is all about, unless we understand God to be truth and justice, and when He reveals truth and justice to us.

Christians need to know that God voluntarily grants us His grace and mercy, in accordance to His sovereign will and wisdom. We do not deserve His grace, and as such, we ought to respond to God accordingly. The concept of justice in the Bible is a dynamic one. Christ said that "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48) The revelation of Christ gave us a system that is more just than any system that came about from human reasoning. Therefore, we cannot possibly respond to God's grace with nothing.

After dealing with this issue, the author of Hebrews went on to write about people who had been faithful in response to God's grace. These people no longer gather in the mountain with darkness, terror, gloom and storm. This is a description of God's righteousness, evident throughout the Old Testament. We are afraid of God's wrath simply because we have all sinned, and we see the wrath of God manifested in the Old Testament. We all know that the New Testament spoke of the love of God. The order therefore is that God first revealed His righteousness, and then His love and mercy to humanity.

Dr Tong pointed out that the church is failing today because we kept preaching about the love of God, without the corresponding emphasis on the fear of God. So we have produced many Christians who do not fear God, because they think that God is love. But the Bible says that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). We need to honor God's holiness first, and establish harmonius living upon this sense of respect and fear. This is so that His people would appreciate the grace that they have received. But the order to which God reveals Himself to sinners is reversed, in that love is first shown to sinners. When they reject God, the judgement will surely come. So we need to get our order correct.

The Mt Sinai experience was a horrifying one for the Israelites. The LORD gave Moses the laws written by God's own fingers. The laws judge us and determine what our sins are. Through the laws, we see that God is holy, God is just, and God is good. We understand the laws if we realise that before the laws, we are indeed not holy, unjust, and not good.

Ironically, this was not what the Israelites felt. Rather than recognising their inadequacies, the Israelites became arrogant, so much so that the Bible recorded three times that the LORD searched for righteous man in vain (twice in the Psalms, once in Romans 3:10-12). The laws did not humble them; instead, they became arrogant and treated the gentiles as if they were dogs. So the second tool God used was to raised up prophets. But the prophets were all killed, with Jerusalem as the most important place at which prophets were killed. Religious leaders were the most guilty of such sins, as they plotted against and killed prophets who spoke of the truth. After the death of the prophets, people would start praising them and set up all sorts of monuments for them. This whole circle went on and on in the Old Testament. Even with Christ coming to the world, the situation did not change. Religious leaders would use the name of God to commit murder. Jesus Christ said that the people wanted to kill Him because He spoke of the truth (John 8:40). The salvation of God therefore reaches man in a most paradoxical way. The sinners judging and killing the sinless one.

The Old Testament therefore showed us how God is like when His justice is violated. When Moses witnessed the decadence of his people after he had received the laws written on the stone tablets, he was so angry that he threw the tablets and broke it. But God was not angry with Moses. This was what Dr Tong calls, the 'sanctified emotions'. Moses was angry as God was angry. So we need to love as God loves, hate as God hates, be sorrowful as God is sorrowful, to have the same wrath as God. The problem is that the things that concern us are not the things that concern God; we love that which God does not love; we get angry with things that God is not angry about. Dr Tong said that God used people like Dr John Sung and the apostle Paul mightily because these were men who were angry as God was angry. Martin Luther said that the best work he has done was done when he was inspired by anger. Psalm 76:10 says that the wrath of men completes God's will (English translation is less clear). So when we get angry with the holy anger of God, the LORD will use us as a channel for His will.

The New Testament shows us that we are away from the wrath of God. In the new Jerusalem, the Bible says that we will witness six very important things:

Firstly, we will see thousands upon thousands of angels at Mount Zion. The angels are pure spiritual beings that serve mankind. The apostle Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 6:3 that we are to judge angels, so mankind is higher in status than the angels. Dr Tong also pointed out that angels were not given the opportunity to repent. As spiritual beings, they are not restrained by the physical body, and so cannot produce faith like us; faith that compels us to be fully reliant of God. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18:10 that we are not to look down on the little ones (Dr Tong indicated that these refer to every one in the kingdom of God), for they all have angels. So God sends His angels to take care of us. Jesus also said that angels rejoice when a sinner is saved (Luke 15:10). All these tell us that the scene in the new Jerusalem must surely be one of great joy.

Secondly, we will see the church (or gathering) of the firstborn. Dr Tong related the incident of Jacob, who took the status of the firstborn from Esau, and wrestled with the pre-incarnate Christ. His name was changed to Israel, which means the crown prince of God. So we need to remember that we are not to abandon our status as firstborn and betray God for a bowl of stew from the world.

Dr Tong believes that the gathering of the firstborn consists of outstanding Christians who truly sought after God's will, and are therefore called apart from the others. They are like the gathering of generals who have been called apart from the other soldiers but the field Marshall.

The third thing we see would be God, the judge of all men. Although we will not be judged, it is important to note that God is a judge, and so we are under His grace. John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, meaning that we need to remember that by His justice, we are to be punished, but His grace covers us. Indeed, we need to treasure His grace towards us.

The fourth thing we will see are the spirits of the righteous made perfect. God is both our alpha, and omega. He enables us to be righteous through faith, and then through the sanctification process, makes us perfect. We are saved by grace, and we will be perfected also by His grace. We can never make ourselves perfect, but needs to be made perfect by God, indicating that from the beginning till the end, it is His grace at work.

The fifth thing we will see would be Jesus the mediator. Dr Tong repeated one of his favourite wishes, that is to go to heaven to visit all the great heroes of faith, and the great musicians of sacred music. And of course our LORD Jesus Christ, the lamb of God.

The sixth item would be the sprinkled blood of Christ. The apostle Paul Acts 20:28 said to the Elders of Ephesus that sinners were bought with the blood of God Himself. This means that the blood of Christ is divine, and it has eternal effect, more so than the shed blood of Abel. Although Abel's blood still spoke after his death, it was due to his faith. But this was figurative. The blood of Christ however, has eternal effect in the cleansing of the sinners.

The session ended with Dr Tong encouraging all to ensure that we have a part in that city, and in that gathering in the new Jerusalem.

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.