but ye have come to mount Zion; and to [the] city of [the] living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels,
The verse turns away from Sinai, where Israel trembled at a law given in fire, and names what believers have already come to. Against that mountain stands a whole list of blessings — and notice the tense: you have come.
Zion is the counterpart to Sinai, and its history explains why. It became God's chosen place only after everything in Israel had collapsed.
No mountain in the Old Testament stood in such formal contrast with Sinai as Zion. The one was the scene, never to be forgotten, where the nation took on responsibility to the law. The other was the Lord stepping in with grace for His king when everything lay in ruin. People and priests were alike wicked. The Philistines had taken the ark. Israel's king and his sons had been killed. The Jebusite was not only in the centre and stronghold of Jerusalem, but defiant and insulting. That was when the Lord chose Mount Zion, the mountain He loved, just as He had chosen David.
Even the name carries the change of atmosphere, and the place still has a future attached to it.
Mount Zion means 'sunny' rather than dark. It is the earthly centre of blessing in Jerusalem, promised by God for the coming day of Israel's glory — a state of settled blessing for the nation. Faith rests in that hope even now, because it believes that God's purposes cannot be shaken.
Israel's arrival at Sinai was something they could see. Ours is not. Is it any less real?
We have come to all this by faith, and we are waiting for the hour when it will all be seen — an hour that is surely drawing near. Israel came to Sinai in a way they could see, and they were terrified. Our coming by faith to Zion, and to everything tied to it, is just as real, and in coming we are greatly comforted and steadied.
A Jewish reader hearing "Zion" would picture the city he knew on that hill. The verse points him somewhere else.
When Mount Zion was mentioned, a Jew would naturally think of the earthly city around that famous mountain. But the Holy Spirit says, this is not your portion. You have come to the heavenly Jerusalem; not to the city of dying David, but to the city of the living God.
That city is not kept for one group only.
The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, gives us the certainty of future heavenly blessing for all those for whom God has prepared that city. Though it is no doubt the Bridal city, named for the Bride, the church, it still includes all the saints of past ages, and the martyrs of the tribulation period too.
The list is not one blessing described three ways. One small word keeps the items apart, and quoting the verse without it runs them together.
"And" is left out after "Zion," and before "the city." But it is essential for marking each new object. Zion is the highest point, as it were, on earth; then follows what is above it, "a living God's city, heavenly Jerusalem." This was Abraham's hope, the seat on high of the saints who shared his faith.
At Sinai one angel came with a law of fire. Here the contrast could hardly be sharper.
There are angels beyond counting — not one angel with a fiery law, but a company of angels no man could number. They all attend the Son of Man. They are all there as worshippers of the Son of Man... Angels beyond counting attend Him in the day of His coronation, to do homage to Him in the sight of the whole universe. All the mighty angels in the whole of God's dominions will gather to do homage to the One who is to take the throne on Mount Zion.
- Grace, not law. Sinai stands for what man owed and failed to pay. Zion stands for God stepping in after the nation, its priests and its king had all broken down.
- Chosen after ruin. God chose Zion at the lowest point of Israel's history. Its name means sunny, and it is the centre of blessing God promised for a coming day.
- Higher than Zion. The next item lifts the eye off earth: not the city of dying David, but the city of the living God. Abraham waited for that city.
- Counted separately. The small word "and" keeps each object distinct. The city of the living God is not another name for the mountain below it.
- Already, not merely ahead. Israel came to Sinai and were terrified. Believers come to Zion by faith. That coming is just as real, and it brings comfort and steadiness while we wait for the day it is all seen.
the universal gathering; and to [the] assembly of the firstborn [who are] registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to [the] spirits of just [men] made perfect;
Hebrews 12 sets two mountains side by side: Sinai, which the people shrank from, and the scene of grace that faith has already reached. Verse 23 sits in the middle of that second list. It raises three questions: who the "firstborn" are, why God is called Judge here, and who the perfected spirits are.
The older English wording joins "general assembly" to "church of the firstborn," as if one crowd were meant. Writers on this passage read it differently, tying the phrase back to the angels of the previous verse.
In Hebrews 12:23 the words "GENERAL ASSEMBLY" should be joined to verse 22, reading "and to the innumerable company of angels, the general assembly:" the word "and" dividing the subjects.
Each "and" marks off a fresh object, so the verse names distinct companies rather than blending them.
Each one is marked off from the one before it by the connecting word "and." That clears away the confusion of "general assembly, and church etc." … "General assembly," or "universal gathering," is a further description of "myriads of angels."
"Firstborn" here is plural — firstborn ones. It is a word about rank, and the assembly holds that rank because of its link to Christ.
The Firstborn is a designation of rank and dignity. Our blessed Lord, as Firstborn, takes the chief place over all creation. In the same way His Assembly takes the chief place of blessing and glory among all the companies of saints from the different periods of God's dealings.
Some have taken "church of the firstborn" as a special inner class ahead of others. One writer answers that the phrase is the widest description of the church anywhere in Scripture.
"The general assembly and church of the firstborn who are written in heaven" — this is the fullest, largest expression about the church in Scripture. The word translated general assembly means the "assembly of a whole nation," especially for a public festival, or the like. To treat "firstborn" as marking off a special class who come in ahead of others is a mere delusion.
Their names stand on record in heaven. Angels belong there by nature; this company belongs by God's choice.
It is the assembly of the firstborn whose names are inscribed in heaven. They were not born there, not indigenous like the angels, whom God preserved from falling. They are the objects of the counsels of God. It is not just that they reach heaven. They are the glorious heirs and firstborn of God, according to His eternal counsels. In line with those counsels, He registers their names in heaven… They have the anticipation of no other country or citizenship than heaven. God Himself prepares heaven for them. It is the highest place in heaven, above His dealings on earth in government, promise, and law.
At Sinai the people drew back from God. Here the same God is called Judge — yet He is someone believers have come to, not fled from.
We are brought to Him, the One who will judge the ungodly, but who will never condemn His people, though He judges their ways. We have come to Him; we no longer shrink from Him, as Israel at Sinai did.
A judge does more than sentence the guilty. He also clears the wronged. So this title works for the believer, not against him.
The Lord, even in judgment, is for us, because one part of a judge's work is to vindicate the oppressed.
This company comes last, after God Himself. One writer calls that placement striking, and reads the group as believers of earlier ages, still spirits apart from their bodies.
If it had been up to us, we might well have set them first. But the aim was to correct the Jewish leanings of those addressed here, and to give prominence to what was heavenly… They are, I think, clearly the Old Testament saints… For they, and not the church, are a class that could be most fittingly described as the spirits of just men made perfect. They were then separate from their bodies, and they still are.
"Made perfect" does not mean everything is finished for them.
The spirits of all the saints who lived before the church are truly blessed. They now enjoy the benefit of Christ's finished work. The work of redemption is done. They know their blessing rests on righteousness, and they trace it to the death of Christ. Yet they still await the full completion of blessing. Perfect in their spirits, the just men wait for the moment when the power of God's salvation will touch their bodies. That will be at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Come — Faith has already reached this scene. Each company named is one believers have come to, not run from.
- Counted — Each "and" marks a new company: the angels with their universal gathering, the firstborn ones, God, then the perfected spirits. Read them as one crowd and the picture is lost.
- Chosen — The firstborn are not natives of heaven like angels. God's eternal counsels enrolled them there, and their rank flows from Christ the Firstborn.
- Cleared — God appears as Judge of all, yet believers come to Him instead of drawing back. He judges His people's ways but never condemns them.
- Completed — The just men of old are perfect in spirit and blessed now. Their bodies still wait for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.