Hebrews 12:22

(22) Unto mount Sion.—Literally (and in these difficult verses it is unusually important to follow the literal rendering of the Greek), Ye are come unto Zion (the) mountain and city of a Living God, a heavenly Jerusalem. The thought of a celestial city which should be the exact counterpart of the earthly Jerusalem is often dwelt upon in Jewish writings: hence the writer is using familiar words, but with a new and spiritual meaning. The same imagery has been employed in Heb_11:10; Heb_11:13-16, for this is the city “that hath the foundations, whose Architect and Maker is God.” (See also Rev_21:2, et seq.; Gal_4:26.) This “heavenly Jerusalem” is “Zion, mountain and city of a Living God.” Mount Zion is mentioned first, because the contrast with Mount Sinai is throughout present in thought. The name recalls many passages of the Old Testament, especially of the Psalter, as far back as the time when David chose the place for the Ark of the Covenant. Here God desired to dwell (Psa_68:16); in this holy hill He set His anointed King (Psa_2:6). (See also Psa_48:2; Psa_48:11; Psa_78:68; Psa_110:2; Psa_132:13.) Zion is not only the mount of God, His dwelling place; it is also “the city of God,” whose gates the Lord loveth (Psa_87:2). (See Psa_48:12-13, et al.) In Heb_8:2 we find associated the place of the special manifestation of the glory of God and the resort of His worshipping people; so here the heavenly sanctuary and the city inhabited by “the ransomed of the Lord” (Isa_35:10). In Horeb Israel intreated that they might not hear the voice of “the living God” (Deu_5:26). In this spiritual commonwealth we all “have drawn nigh” to Him.

In the first member of these three verses (Heb_12:22-24), therefore, there is very little that is open to question; the difficulties lie in the words which follow, “and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven.” Four or five different arrangements of these words are allowed by the Greek, and every one of these has been adopted and defended by writers of eminence. Here the discussion must be very brief. On a careful examination of the whole passage, it seems in the highest degree probable that the writer introduces by” and” each successive member of the sentence, and that groups of words not so introduced serve as appositions, explaining what precedes them. If this be so, the arrangement of the Authorised version is not tenable. We believe that the choice must lie between two renderings: (1) “And to myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congregation of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.” (2) “And to myriads, a festal assembly of angels and a congregation of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.” In the first of these renderings angels are the subject throughout; in the second, “the myriads” to whom we have come nigh are divided into two companies—the festal host of angels, the church of the firstborn. Let us look at the latter interpretation first. By it the “firstborn” are sought amongst. men; either those who are already inhabitants of the heavenly world, or men still living upon earth, though enrolled as citizens of heaven (Luk_10:20). Some have understood the words to relate to those who hold precedency, either in rank or in time, among men to whom God has given the name of sons; as, saints of preeminent piety, “the noble army of martyrs,” the faithful under the Old Covenant, Enoch and Elijah, the Apostles, the first generations of Christians, or the believers of the later as distinguished from those of the earlier dispensation. A far more probable explanation is that which makes the word here “equivalent to heirs of the kingdom, all faithful Christians being ipso facto ‘firstborn,’ because all are kings” (Dr. Lightfoot on Col_1:15). See Heb_1:6; also, “as instances of the figurative use of firstborn in the Old Testament, where the idea of priority of birth is overshadowed by and lost in the idea of pre-eminence,” Job_18:13; Isa_14:30. If this be the true interpretation, 1Pe_2:9 unites the two thoughts which this figure suggests, “Ye are . . . a royal priesthood” (see above, Heb_12:16); and the whole of that verse. especially as compared with Exo_4:22, well illustrates the position here assigned to the company of the faithful upon earth. The word which we have here rendered congregation, moreover, is that which is regularly applied to the Church of Christ. There is, therefore, very much to be said on behalf of this interpretation, which is in every way attractive. And yet, full of interest as is such an explanation of the special words, it seems certainly unsuitable to the passage as a whole. It is not easy to believe that the words “and to myriads” are to be taken by themselves. It is still more difficult to explain the introduction of the living Church on earth in this position—between angels and the “God of all,” whilst “the spirits of just men made perfect” are mentioned later, in an association from which the Church on earth cannot be severed—with “Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant and the blood of sprinkling.” For these reasons especially it seems necessary to adopt the first-mentioned arrangement of the words: “ye have come near . . . to myriads of angels, a festal assembly and congregation of the firstborn enrolled in heaven.” Two passages of the Old Testament seem to have been chiefly in the writer’s mind (Deu_33:2, and Dan_7:10); in each of these the Lord appears attended by “myriads of angels,” who stand before Him and minister to Him (Psa_103:20). We who by means of the “better hope draw near to God” (Heb_7:19) are led to this “holy hill” and city, and through the hosts of “ministering spirits” into the very presence of the “God of all.” The descriptive words which follow are borrowed from the history of Israel. The first (Eze_46:11; Hos_2:11; Hos_9:5; Amo_5:21; Isa_66:10) is the general and joyous gathering for the feasts of the Lord; the second is the word used throughout for the “church in the wilderness,” the “congregation” of Israel. The latter points to the united body of the servants of God, the former to the joyful gathering for His service. The second word is so commonly used of Israel and of the Christian Church that it has been denied that any other application is ever made; but there is certainly an exception in Psa_89:7 (a Psalm which, as we have seen, was much in the writer’s thoughts), “God is greatly to be feared in the congregation of the saints.” How fitly angels—who in Job_1:6; Job_2:1; Job_38:7 (comp. Psa_29:1, et al.), are called “sons of God,” are here spoken of as “firstborn,” needs no explanation; they are the enrolled citizens of heaven, whose assembly we are permitted to join (Rev_5:11; comp. Luk_20:36).

(22-24) “What it was to which Israel in the time of the Old Covenant drew nigh, we have now heard. Their drawing nigh was at the same time a standing afar off; the mount of the revelation might not be approached by them; the voice of God was too terrible to be borne; and yet it was only tangible material nature in which God at once manifested and concealed Himself. The true and inner communion with God had not yet been revealed: first must the Law lead to the painful consciousness that sin prevents such communion, and intensify the longing that sin may be taken out of the way. Under the New Covenant, no longer is a tangible mountain the place of a divine revelation made from afar; but heaven is thrown open, and a new super-sensuous world in which God is enthroned is opened to admit us, opened through the Mediator of the New Covenant, accessible in virtue of His atoning blood” (Delitzsch).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But ye are come unto Mount Sion - You who are Christians; all who are under the new dispensation. The design is to “contrast” the Christian dispensation with the Jewish. and to show that its excellencies and advantages were far superior to the religion of their fathers. It had more to win the affections; more to elevate the soul; more to inspire with hope. It had less that was terrific and alarming; it appealed less to the fears and more to the tropes of mankind; but still apostasy from this religion could not be less terrible in its consequences than apostasy from the religion of Moses. In the passage before us, the apostle evidently contrasts Sinai with Mount Zion, and means to say that there was more about the latter that was adapted to win the heart and to preserve allegiance than there was about the former. Mount Zion literally denoted the Southern hill in Jerusalem, on which a part of the city was built.

That part of the city was made by David and his successors the residence of the court, and soon the name Zion, was given familiarly to the whole city. Jerusalem was the center of religion in the land; the place where the temple stood, and where the worship of God was celebrated, and where God dwelt by a visible symbol, and it became the type and emblem of the holy abode where He dwells in heaven. It cannot be literally meant here that they had come to the Mount Zion in Jerusalem, for that was as true of the whole Jewish people as of those whom the apostle addressed, but it must mean that they had come to the Mount Zion of which the holy city was an emblem; to the glorious mount which is revealed as the dwelling-place of God, of angels, of saints. That is, they had “come” to this by the revelations and hopes of the gospel. They were not indeed literally in heaven, nor was that glorious city literally on earth, but the dispensation to which they had been brought was what conducted them directly up to the city of the living God, and to the holy mount where he dwelt above. The view was not confined to an earthly mountain enveloped in smoke and flame, but opened at once on the holy place where God abides. By the phrase, “ye are come,” the apostle means that this was the characteristic of the new dispensation that it conducted them there, and that they were already in fact inhabitants of that glorious city. They were citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem (compare note, Phi 3:20), and were entitled to its privileges.

And unto the city of the living God - The city where the living God dwells - the heavenly Jerusalem; compare notes on Heb 11:10. God dwelt by a visible symbol in the temple at Jerusalem - and to that his people came under the old dispensation. In a more literal and glorious sense his abode is in heaven, and to that his people have now come.

The heavenly Jerusalem - Heaven is not unfrequently represented as a magnificent city where God and angels dwelt; and the Christian revelation discloses this to Christians as certainly their final home. They should regard themselves already as dwellers in that city, and live and act as if they saw its splendor and partook of its joy. In regard to this representation of heaven as a city where God dwells, the following places may be consulted: Heb 11:10, Heb 11:14-16; Heb 12:28; Heb 13:14; Gal 4:26; Rev 3:12; Rev 21:2, 10-27. It is true that Christians have not yet seen that city by the physical eye, but they look to it with the eye of faith. It is revealed to them; they are permitted by anticipation to contemplate its glories, and to feel that it is to be their eternal home. They are permitted to live and act as if they saw the glorious God whose dwelling is there, and were already surrounded by the angels and the redeemed. The apostle does not represent them as if they were expecting that it would be visibly set up on the earth, but as being now actually dwellers in that city, and bound to live and act as if they were amidst its splendors.

And to an innumerable company of angels - The Greek here is, “to myriads (or ten thousands) of angels in an assembly or joyful convocation.” The phrase “tens of thousands” is often used to denote a great and indefinite number. The word rendered “general assembly,” Heb 12:22 - πανήγυρις panēguris - refers properly to an “assembly, or convocation of the whole people in order to celebrate any public festival or solemnity, as the public games or sacrifices; Robinson’s Lexicon. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and refers here to the angels viewed as assembled around the throne of God and celebrating his praises. It should be regarded as connected with the word “angels,” referring to “their” convocation in heaven, and not to the church of the first-born. This construction is demanded by the Greek. Our common translation renders it as if it were to be united with the church - “to the general assembly and church of the first-born;” but the Greek will not admit of this construction.

The interpretation which unites it with the angels is adopted now by almost all critics, and in almost all the editions of the New Testament. On the convocation of angels, see the notes on Job 1:6. The writer intends, doubtless, to contrast that joyful assemblage of the angels in heaven with those who appeared in the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. God is always represented as surrounded by hosts of angels in heaven; see Deu 33:2; 1Ki 22:19; Dan 7:10; Psa 68:17; compare notes, Heb 12:1; see also Rev 5:11; Mat 26:53; Luk 2:13. The meaning is, that under the Christian dispensation Christians in their feelings and worship become united to this vast host of holy angelic beings. it is, of course, not meant that they are “visible,” but they are seen by the eye of faith. The “argument” here is, that as, in virtue of the Christian revelation, we become associated with those pure and happy spirits, we should not apostatize from such a religion, for we should regard it as honorable and glorious to be identified with them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Spirit now adds the privilege of Christians in the better state to which they have access by the gospel dispensation, Heb 12:22-24; Ye have left those hinderances and disadvantages instanced in before, but are come to these helps for yonr furtherance in holiness; ye have an access to all those most excellent, though invisible, things, by faith, and by it attain them, and are incorporated into them, as they follow.

But ye are come unto mount Sion: this is not literally to be understood for the mount on which the city of David was built, for that was as visible and touchable as Mount Sinai, to which it is opposed; but that mount which is higher than the highest, as high as heaven itself, Heb 12:25; 9:24; Joh 3:13; where is the most orderly government of God for holiness, Mic 4:7; whence all good gifts and gospel blessings are conveyed to the church, of which these believers were members, Isa 8:18; 28:16; 59:20; Rev 14:1.

And unto the city of the living God; of which the living God is the Builder and Maker, and wherein he dwelleth, where nothing but life is, and whence Christ’s voice giveth life to dead souls, enabling them to live a life of holiness to God, as Psa 46:4,5; 48:1,8; 87:3; Isa 40:14; Joh 5:25. To distinguish this from any earthly city or corporation, it is said to be

the heavenly Jerusalem, its original, nature, and end being all heavenly; a fruitful place, whence believers are made partakers of the most spiritual influences for holiness; where there is nothing carnal, terrible, deadly, barren, but all causal and productive of holiness issueth thence, Isa 42:1-25; 65:17-19; 66:10; Joh 17:24 Gal 4:26; Rev 3:12; 21:2,10.

And to an innumerable company of angels; in which city are many excellent inhabitants with whom believers are incorporated, and to whom they have relation, as myriads of angels, who are ministering spirits under the gospel, as under the law, full of holiness, power, agility, and endowments, fit for their work and end; who, though for number are thousands and millions of them, Psa 68:17; 103:20; 104:4; Act 7:53; Gal 3:19; Rev 5:11, yet are all fulfilling their Lord’s pleasure in every place, as ordered by him. Their ministration of the law was terrible in flaming fire, but of the gospel, most sweet and gracious, Luk 2:13,14. At Sinai they ministered externally and sensibly, affecting senses; but from Sion they minister spiritually, to hearts, Mat 4:11; Luk 22:43; Psa 91:11, resisting evil spirits ministering wickedly. Their ministry little effectual under the law; but under the gospel, saving, Act 7:53; Heb 1:14; Rev 19:10. Their former ministration temporary and ceasing, but this everlasting, till they bring all their trust into Abraham’s bosom, Luk 16:22. They are promoting holiness by God’s sending things to us by them, and by their observing the goings and doings of Christians, whether holy or not, 1Co 11:10, and giving an account of the success of their ministry towards them, as to this end, Mat 18:10. And the neglect of this means to help our pursuing holiness, will God require, Heb 2:2.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Heb 12:22. But ye — Who believe in Christ, by your embracing Christianity; are come unto mount Sion — Are admitted to the communion of the church of Christ, with its privileges and blessings. Or, ye are come to a dispensation the reverse of all these terrors, even to the mild and gentle discoveries which God makes of himself in the new covenant. For what the apostle intends is evidently to describe that state whereunto believers are called by the gospel: and it is that alone which he opposes to the state of the church under the Old Testament. For to suppose that it is the heavenly future state which he intends, is, as Dr. Owen justly observes, “utterly to destroy the force of his argument and exhortation. For they are built solely on the pre-eminence of the gospel state to that under the law,” and not on the pre-eminence of heaven above the state of the church on earth, whether Jewish or Christian, which none could question. Unto the city of the living God — That holy and happy society or community, of which true believers are citizens, Eph 2:19; Php 3:20; in which God himself dwells, and which is governed by him; the heavenly Jerusalem — Termed, (Gal 4:26,) the Jerusalem above; so called because it has its original from heaven, and the members thereof have their conversation in heaven, and tend thither, and its most perfect state will be there. All these glorious titles belong to the New Testament church. To an innumerable company of angels — To join with them in the service of God, typified by the cherubs in the temple. The Greek is, to myriads of angels. A myriad is ten thousand; and when it is used in the plural number, it signifies an innumerable company, as we here render it. Possibly he speaks with an allusion to the angels that attended the presence of God in the giving of the law, whereof the psalmist says, The chariots of God are twenty thousand, &c.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. Are come unto—In your historic progress you have attained to. Note, Heb_12:18. A scene infinitely more joyful opens before them than saluted and appalled the trembling Israel. As Sinai represents the terrors of the law, Zion stands for the glories of the gospel. The old mountain is basis-symbol of the pitiless decalogue; the new, is the basis of all the conceptions of mercy and glory contained in the blessed gospel. Concretely, the old is the basis of the Jewish Church; the new, is basis of the New Testament Church.

Mount Zion—Delitzsch asks with much persistence, what and where is this mount Zion? Bengel had said it is “the seat of the new covenant;” which Delitzsch condemns as presenting no idea at all. He thence maintains that this mount Zion is in the highest heaven, (note on 2Co_12:2,) and is the abode celestial of God himself. So that the antithesis here is, mount Sinai in the desert and mount Zion in the third heaven! Of course, such an antithesis is utterly incongruous. To his question, Where is this mount Zion? we answer by asking, Where is this mount Sinai? And our reply to both questions is, that the literal, material mount Sinai is in the Arabian desert, and the literal mount Zion is in Jerusalem. But these two literal mountains are the representative bases of two systems of conception and truth, the one forming the doctrines and institutes of the old Church, and the other of the new. In the peculiar style of our author the first of these two systems is described, or, rather, merely implied, under a description of the physical scene at the Sinaitic lawgiving. The second of the two systems is described by first giving the physical symbolical base, namely, the mountain and city, and then a glowing series of holy idealities which are also divine realities, the clear revealing of which, is the glory of the new dispensation, the unity of which constitutes the doctrine of Christianity, and the faithful believers of which are the new Church. This bringing the significance of the two mountains into congruous relations saves us from mounting in Delitzsch’s exegetical balloon to the third heavens.

The same in principle, though varying in details, is the Jerusalem of Gal_4:25-26, where see our notes. There we distinguish,

1. The physical Jerusalem of walls and houses.

2. The old mystical Jerusalem; namely, the old covenant dispensation and Church.

3. The heavenly Jerusalem; our new theocracy, or dispensation, identical with the “beloved city” of Rev_20:9.

4. The glorified Jerusalem of Rev. xxi, which, after the advent, descends from heaven to earth.

We propose, however, to modify Bengel’s sevenfold gospel symbols given above, and we suggest the following scheme; (giving of the first term, Heb_12:22, of the seven a literal translation of the Greek, which is without the article:) 1. Zion, mountain and city of living God, heavenly Jerusalem, which is the symbolic locality of the universal Church, into full communion with which we have come by faith in Christ. 2. Myriads, a festal assembly of angels, who conceptually hover over the Church, visible by faith. 3. The historic Church of the firstborn, (Heb_12:23,) through all ages, in the body and on earth, yet whose names are written in heaven, anticipatively associated thereby with angels. 4. God, under whom all are as judge, in both the kingly and judicial sense of the Hebrew word. And as thus far, under God, we have had four universals, so next we have rather three specialties belonging to the new dispensation, namely: 5. Disembodied spirits of the thus far saved and made perfect. 6. Jesus the mediator, (Heb_12:24,) by whom they have been thus perfected. 7. The blood through which he has wrought their perfecting. And it is this advance from the old to the new which is attained by substituting our scheme for Bengel’s.

In this our sevenfold scheme the words city of the living God… heavenly Jerusalem, are simply an expanding identification of mount Zion, and so designate, unlike Bengel’s scheme, a single object. As Sinai was conceptual seat of the old covenant, this magnificent series of epithets is name of the conceptual seat of the new, which forms term 1 of the above seven.

And now, approaching this mystic Jerusalem, we descry a twofold glorious company, namely, term 2, the angels, and, 3, the firstborn.

To an innumerable—Literally, to myriads of angels, who are a general assembly; in the Greek, πανηγυρει, the classic name of a general assemblage of a whole people to celebrate any public festivity, as public games, sacrifices, etc. Hence a festal assembly. The collection of holy angels are here so called as being a joyous body ever celebrating the glories of God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Heb_12:22. Mount Sion.—The spiritual or heavenly mount. Not Jerusalem, but what is represented by Jerusalem. “The mountain and city of a living God.” Innumerable company.—Lit. “myriads, the joyful company of angels.”

Heb_12:23. Church of the firstborn.—The saints from the older dispensation. Some regard it as meaning the Christian saints who had gone to glory; but the spiritual association of spiritual Christian Jews with spiritual Jews of all the ages is prominently before the writer’s mind.

Heb_12:24. Blood of sprinkling.—A figure taken from the blood-sprinklings of the old covenant (Exo_24:8 : see 1Pe_1:2). That is done spiritually by Jesus which was materially represented in the old blood-sprinklings. See Heb_9:14.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Heb_12:22-24

Emblems of the Spiritual Dispensation.—These verses give the antithesis to all this scene of terror which accompanied the introduction of the ancient law. Worshippers, under the new dispensation, approach a scene of a very different nature. There should not be sought anything material to answer to these emblems; the suggestion of them, and explanation of them, lie wholly in the spiritual range. Dr. Moulton quotes a valuable and helpful passage from Delitzsch: “What it was to which Israel in the time of the old covenant drew nigh we have now heard. Their drawing nigh was at the same time a standing afar off; the mount of the revelation might not be approached by them; the voice of God was too terrible to be borne; and yet it was only tangible material nature in which God at once manifested and concealed Himself. The true and inner communion with God had not yet been revealed; first must the law lead to the painful consciousness that sin prevents such communion, and intensify the longing that sin may be taken out of the way. Under the new covenant, no longer is a tangible mountain the place of a Divine revelation made from afar; but heaven is thrown open, and a new super-sensuous world, in which God is enthroned, is opened to admit us—opened through the Mediator of the new covenant, accessible in virtue of His atoning blood.” Sinai and Zion are contrasted in six particulars, as emblems of the respective dispensations.

I. An immaterial mountain.—A mountain still, because Zion as truly conserves the impressions of the eternity, stability, and sublimity of God. Zion is not the familiar mount at Jerusalem. It is the name for the heavenly abode, the spiritual abode of God.

II. An intangible city.—The heavenly or spiritual Jerusalem. Jerusalem which is above. The city which in his vision St. John saw descending from God. The place where are gathered all who are spiritually quickened, whether they be alive or, as we say, dead.

III. A company of angels.—Conceived of as spiritual beings, and therefore kin with men when men are spiritually quickened.

IV. A Church of firstborn souls.—“To myriads of angels, and to a festal assembly and Church of the firstborn.” The reference is meant to appeal directly to personal feeling. The firstborn are those who first received Christ, and eternal life in Him. They had passed from the mortal sphere; but they formed a festal, happy company in the spiritual spheres. “Spirits of the just made perfect.”

V. A satisfying relation with God.—“And to God the Judge of all.” Intimating the absence of all fear of the Judge, seeing that the Judge is their Saviour. They can come unhesitatingly to Him.

VI. A living and spiritual Redeemer, whose work is a spiritual work in souls. There is no intended reference to the Church, or to any Church on earth. “It is to the living, the universal Church that the words are from age to age addressed. They describe the blessed, heavenly fellowship to which each servant of Christ now toiling on earth is joined; when he has run the race set before him, he will, through the blood of sprinkling and through Jesus the Mediator, reach the company of the just made perfect, and stand before the God of all.” So constantly and so seriously are spiritual men being enticed back to material conceptions, material relations, and material religion—as Christian Jews were to formal Judaism—that it needs to be ever freshly impressed upon us that, though the material will ever seem to be the real so long as we continue imprisoned by the senses, the spiritual is the real; and this we shall fully apprehend when we are free to be the spirits that we are, and free to exercise the spiritual powers that we have.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Heb_12:22-24. Privileges of the Christian.—Remember the great tenacity with which the Jews held fast to their historical faith; how, over and above pride and worldliness, there was what I might almost call a relentless tenacity in their religious convictions. Therefore apostles urged that, in accepting Christ, the Jew really gave up nothing. You do not abandon the Jewish law, the Mosaic economy, when you accept Christ. You fulfil it more perfectly than when you leave Christ out, and attempt to follow Moses. And, still better, you lose nothing. Under the old dispensation you were constrained, you were under bondage. We ask you not to abandon that in any such sense as to be recreant to its real spirit, but to accept it in the larger presentation which it has in the Lord Jesus Christ, so that you shall have a thousand times more. You lose nothing, you gain everything. Do not fear to accept Christ, for it gives you all that you had before, and a thousand times more. It advances you out of the twilight, and out of the storm-clad horizon of your past faith, into the glorious illumination of a more spiritual worship, where all forms of fear and ghastly motives of terror cease, and where companionship and Divine guidance and infinite blessings await you. And ye are actually come to these things. It is a part of the privilege which belongs to the earthly ministration of your faith. What, then, is the privilege of the Christian? Christians are heirs of a wonderful inheritance, which is already so far dispensed, portions of which are ministered in advance, in such a way that, if they but knew it, they would be transcendently happy.

1. “Ye are come unto … the heavenly Jerusalem”—God’s home. God takes us to His own home. We are surrounded by it. We touch it, or are touched by it. We are brought into such intimate relations, if we be true Christians, with Christ or with God, that, whether we know it or not, the kingdom of God is within us or around us.

2. “To an innumerable company of angels.” It is not that when we die we shall go where angels live, but that when we come into the new dispensation, by the true spirit of faith, we then come to the “general assembly.” Angelic ministration is a part, not of the heavenly state, but of the universal condition of men. Moreover, we come into junction and relationship with everything that has been on earth worthy of remembrance, of enunciation, of celebration. All the great natures of the world are ours, if they have been saved. “The spirits,” they are called, “of just men.” But they are the spirits made perfect in their beatified condition.

3. “To Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant.” This to the Jew meant nothing, but to the disciple meant everything. What are fitting applications of this passage?

I. We are come by virtue of our Christian life, not to self-denial, and to pain, and to repentance, and to sorrow, and to limitation.—A man who has been going in wrong courses must needs pass through the gate of repentance and the baptism of sorrow. But the popular impression, that to be a religious man is to enter upon a life of gloom, is a false impression. If a man becomes a Christian, he is simply a man that has been in an abnormal state, an out-of-joint state; and becoming a Christian, is merely getting back into joint with God, with his own spiritual being, with the universe. He comes into nature again—for a man that is living in a sinful way is out of nature—his higher and truer nature. Ye are not come to tears or to sorrow. Ye are come to triumph, to an illustrious company, to glorious heraldings. Ye are come to convoys and felicities, and radiant hopes and blessed fruitions. “May I not cry then?” Yes, just as the night does—and in the morning it is dew. True tears make men beautiful.

II. It is a great comfort, in the light of this truth, that nothing on earth has ever been lost that was worth keeping.—Everything has been gathered and garnered, and that for you and me. All the holy men that have lived in every age of the world are mine—every one of them. All the apostles, all the martyrs, all the confessors, all pure and true preachers of the word, all kings that deserved to be kings, all nobles that were nobles of heart as well as of name, all holy mothers and fathers, all great artists, all great benefactors, all the persecuted and despised, and crucified almost, all that have suffered for a principle, all that the dungeons had, and all that the hospitals had, and all that the sea has swallowed, and all that the earth has covered—all of them, though they have passed through so many and such various pains, although they are apparently destroyed, are no more destroyed than the seed that the farmer covers under the clod, that it may rise again in more glorious luxuriance. God has saved everything that was worth saving in this world.

III. No Christian on earth need be lonely.—If these truths are not poetical truths; if they are real truths; if the air is full of administering spirits; if time itself is but the Lord’s chariot, and He rides with those who ride therein; if everywhere, above us, beneath us, and on every side, and all through the world, good men are substantially united, who has had to do more than lift himself up into the consciousness of this essential union of noble natures, to feel that he is not without company?

IV. They also who put themselves into the way of Christ, and who sow in tears, who perform obscure duties, and duties that to others are disagreeable, who will not be reduced by ease from tasks of usefulness, who feel in themselves called to follow Christ in doing, in labouring, who are considered singular and remarked—are they not by these very things joined to this exceeding great company?—H. Ward Beecher.

Heb_12:23. The General Assembly.—When the florist gathers his seeds in the best way he can, and winnows them, giving them the best sifting he can, the poorest seeds are carried away by the wind with the chaff, and he loses them, unless he is a very acute seedsman, and goes after these poor seeds to bring them back again, that they may swell the bulk and quantity of his saleable material. But when the great Gardener shall save His seeds, the poorest seed of the whole, the most shrunken, if it only has a germ no bigger than a needle’s point in it, shall not be lost. Not the great, beauteous, plump seeds alone, but the little infinitesimal seeds—all these God has saved, and He will save them all.—H. Ward Beecher.

Heaven a State of Perfection.—“And to the spirits of just men made perfect.” The text expresses what the Christian Israelites were come, and were tending, to, the representation whereof hath a double reference: intermediate—to the state and constitution of the Christian Church; and final—to the heavenly state; the former being both a resemblance, and some degree, of the latter.

I. The perfection the spirits of the just do finally arrive to in their future state.—Being “made perfect” is an agonistical phrase. To it the idea of “running a race” plainly leads us. But it is a real, inward, subjective perfection, by which they all become most excellent creatures, that must be chiefly meant. Perfection, in a moral sense, doth contain a threefold gradation:

1. At the lowest, sincerity. The man is a resolved and thorough Christian.

2. An eminent improvement, greater maturity in Divine knowledge, and all other Christian virtues.

3. The consummate state of the Christian, when he is come “to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” The felicity of the future state depends upon such perfection of the subject of it. Concerning the object of felicity, we are agreed it can be no other than the blessed God Himself, the all-comprehending God, fully adequate to the highest and most enlarged reasonable desires. But the contemporation of our faculties to the holy, blissful object is so necessary to our satisfying fruition, that without that we are no more capable thereof, than a brute of the festivities of a quaint oration, or a stone of the relishes of the most pleasant meats and drinks. We are too apt to fill our minds with ideas of a heaven made up of external, outside glories, forgetting we must have the “kingdom of God within us,” hereafter in its perfect, as well as here in its initial, state. The internal perfection of the spirits of just men is thus indicated—“We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is”; it includes likeness to God, and the vision of Him. This likeness to God may be considered as preparative for the vision of Him; or the vision of Him may be considered as an argument for our seeking to grow like Him. Ultimate perfection is virtually contained and summed up in knowledge.

1. The true and proper object of knowledge must be whatever is requisite to their duty and felicity—all that lies within their compass, but especially the blessed God Himself.

2. The manner of knowing is not that slight, ineffectual, merely notional, insipid knowledge, which unregenerate minds are now wont to have of the most evident truths, but a knowledge, or vision, that is most deeply and inwardly penetrative, efficacious, and transforming; admits a light which spreads and transfuses itself through the whole soul. Accordingly, the whole, even of practical religion and godliness, is in the Holy Scripture expressed by the knowledge of God. Likeness to God certainly ensues upon suitable preceding knowledge of Him; for the kind and nature of that knowledge being, as it ought to be, powerful, vigorous, transforming of the whole soul, and the will ductile and compliant, agreeable impressions do most certainly take place. But this likeness to God must be understood with exception to the Divine peculiarities.

II. In what sense may sincere Christians be said to have already come to the spirits of the just made perfect?—

1. In a relative sense, as belonging to the “general assembly,” of which the spirits of the just form part.

2. In a real sense; by a gradual, but true participation of the primordia, the first and most constituent principles and perfections of the heavenly state.

The following reflections conclude the discourse:

1. It ought to be most remote from us to confine, in our narrow thoughts, sincere religion and godliness to a party, distinguished by little things, and most extra-essential thereto.

2. The spirits of the just on earth are in a great propinquity, and have a near alliance to heaven.

3. The just in this world are of the Church in heaven.

4. Angels must have kind propensions towards men, especially good men, in this world.

5. When we find any excellent persons in our world attain far and high towards the perfection of the heavenly state, it ought to be a great encouragement to us, and is an obligation, to aspire to some like pitch.—John Howe.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12

Heb_12:23. The Church Triumphant.—The πανήγυρις (pançguris) was a solemn assembly for purposes of festal rejoicing … the word having given us “panegyric,” which is properly a set discourse pronounced at one of these great and festal gatherings. Business might grow out of the fact that such multitudes were assembled, since many, and for various reasons, would be glad to avail themselves of the circumstance; but only in the same way as a “fair” grew out of a “feria” or “holy-day.” Strabo notices the business-like aspect which the πανήγυρεις commonly assumed, which was indeed to such an extent their prominent feature that the Romans translated πανήγνρις by the Latin mercatus, and this even when the Olympic games were intended. These, with the other solemn games, were eminently, though not exclusively, the πανἡγυρεις of the Greek nation. If we keep this festal character of the πανήγυρις in mind, we shall find a peculiar fitness in the employment of this word at Heb_12:23, where only in the New Testament it occurs. The apostle is there setting forth the communion of the Church militant on earth with the Church triumphant in heaven—of the Church toiling and suffering here, with that Church from which all weariness and toil have for ever passed away (Rev_21:4); and how could he better describe this last than as a πανήγυρις, than as the glad and festal assembly of heaven?—Trench.

Heb_12:24. Blood better than Abel’s.—Abel stands forth before us as the first in a cloud of witnesses, bearing brave testimony, and prepared to seal it with their lives. He died a martyr for the truth, the grandly God-like truth that God accepteth men according to their faith. All honour to the martyr’s blood which speaks so effectually for precious truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being also a testifier and witness for the faith of God, spake better things than Abel, because He had more to speak, and spake from more intimate acquaintance with God. He was a fuller witness of Divine truth than Abel could be, for He brought life and immortality to light, and told His people clearly of the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ had been in the bosom of the Father, and knew the Divine secret; this secret He revealed to the sons of men in His ministry, and then He sealed it by His blood.—C. H. Spurgeon.

Blood crying for Vengeance.—To us it seems a slight, and therefore a strange, commendation of the blood of the great sacrifice to say it speaks better things than vengeance. But to Hebrews who had shed their brother’s blood the case was widely different. Of the men who in the madness of their persecuting zeal had said concerning Jesus, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” imagine some brought afterwards to feel what they had done; what more natural apprehension in their awakened conscience than that their brother’s blood should cry for vengeance against them, as Abel’s blood cried against his murderer? It has been so. The Hebrew nation is a living Cain. Their brother’s blood crieth against them.… To the penitent believer, therefore, how needful, and how suitable, and how satisfactory, was the apostle’s assurance! His death in their hands was indeed the murder, but by the hand of God it had been turned into a mercy.—Hugh McNeile, D.D.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrews

WITH WHOM FAITH LIVES

Heb 12:22-23

The magnificent passage of which these words are part sums up the contrast between Judaism and Christianity which this whole Epistle has been illustrating and enforcing. The writer takes the scene on Sinai as expressive of the genius of the former revelation, whose centre was a law which evoked the consciousness of sin, and kindled terror; and which was embodied in sensible and material symbols. Far other and better are the characteristics of the latter revelation. That excites no dread; is given from no flashing mountain with accompaniments of darkness and trumpet blasts and terrible words; and it brings us into contact with no mere material and therefore perishable symbols, but with realities none the less real because they are above sense, and not remote from us though they be.

For, says my text, ‘Ye are come,’ not ‘Ye shall come.’ The humblest life may be in touch with the grandest realities in the universe, and need not wait for death to draw aside the separating curtain in order to be in the presence of God and in the heavenly Jerusalem.

How are these things brought to us? By the revelation of God in Christ. How are we brought to them? By faith in that revelation. So every believing life, howsoever encompassed by flesh and sense, can thrust, as it were, a hand through the veil, and grasp the realities beyond. The scene described in the first words of my text may verily be the platform on which our lives are lived, howsoever in outward form they may be passed on this low earth; and the companions, which the second part of our text discloses, may verily be our companions, though we ‘wander lonely as a cloud,’ or seem to be surrounded by far less noble society. By faith we are come to the unseen realities which are come to us by the revelation of God in Christ. ‘Ye are come unto Mount Zion.’

Now, looking generally at these words, they give us just two things - the scene and the companions of the Christian life. The remainder of the passage will occupy us on future occasions, but for the present I confine myself to the words which I have read. And I shall best deal with them, I think, if I simply follow that division into which they naturally fall, and ask you to note, first, where faith lives, and, second, with whom faith lives.

I. First, then, where faith lives.

‘Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.’ There are two points here which carry us back to the topography of the ancient sacred city. In the literal Jerusalem, Zion was the lofty Acropolis, at once fortress and site of the king’s palace, and round it clustered the dwellings of the city.

The two symbols are thus closely connected, and present substantially the same idea, and perhaps it is pressing a figure too far to find a diversity of meaning in the separate parts of this closely connected whole. But still it seems to me that there is a substantial difference of aspect in the two clauses.

The first thought, therefore, that I would suggest to you is this, that the life of a man who has truly laid hold of Jesus Christ, and so is living by faith, is on its inward side - that is, in deepest reality - a life passed in the dwelling of the great King. All through this letter, the writer is recurring to the thought of access to God, unimpeded and continual, as being the great gift which Jesus Christ has brought to us. And here he gathers it into the noblest symbol. There, lifted high above all the humbler roofs, flash the golden pinnacles of the great palace in which God Himself dwells. And we, toiling and moiling down here, surrounded by squalid circumstances, and annoyed by many cares, and limited by many narrownesses which we often find to be painful, and fighting with many sorrows, and seeming to ourselves to be, sometimes, homeless wanderers in a wilderness, may yet ever more ‘dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold His beauty and to inquire in His temple.’

The privilege has for its other side a duty; the duty has for its foundation a privilege. For if it be true that the real life of every believing soul is a life that never moves from the temple-palace where God is, and that its inmost secret and the spring of its vitality is communion with God, what shall we say of the sort of lives that most of us most often live? Is there any truth in such exalted metaphors as this in reference to us? Does it not sound far liker irony than truth to say of people whose days are so shuttlecocked about by trifling cares, and absorbed in fleeting objects, and wasted in the chase after perishable delights, that they ‘are come unto Mount Zion,’ and dwell in the presence of God? Is my ‘life hid with Christ in God’? There is no possibility of Death being your usher, to introduce you into the house of God not made with hands, unless faith has introduced you into it even whilst you tarry here, and unless your habitual direction of heart and mind towards Him keeps you ever more at least a waiter at His threshold, if you do not pass beyond. ‘I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness.’

My brother! do we so knit ourselves to Him, by heartfelt acceptance of the good news of His loving proximity to us which Jesus Christ .brings, as that indeed we have left earth and care and sin at the foot of the mount, with the asses and the servants, and have our faces set to the lofty sweetnesses of our ‘Father’s house’? ‘Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house,’ and no less blessed are they ‘in whose hearts are the ways’ that lead to it.

Then let me remind you how Zion contrasts with Sinai, and thus suggests the thought that a true Christian life, based upon faith, has a communion with God which is darkened by no dread, nor disturbed by consciousness of unforgiven sin. We have set against each other the terrors of that theophany on Mount Sinai, attendant on, or rather precedent to, the giving of the law - the mountain wrapped in smoke; in the heart of the wreathing blackness the flashing fire; from out of the midst of it the long-drawn trumpet blasts, the proclamation of the coming of the King; and then. the voice which, divine as it was, froze the marrow of the hearers’ bones, that they entreated that no words like these should any more fall on their trembling ears.

That is the one picture. The other shows us the mount where the King dwells, serene and peaceful, the clouds far below the horizon; the flashing fire changed into lambent light; the blast of the trumpet stilled; the dread voice changed into a voice ‘that speaketh better things’ than were heard amidst the granite cliffs of the wilderness.

And so in vivid, picturesque form the writer gathers up the one great contrast between the revelation of which the message was law and its highest result the consciousness of sin and the shrinking that ensued, and the other of which the inmost heart is love, and the issue the attraction of hearts by the magnetism of its grace. The old fable of a mountain of loadstone which drew ships at sea to its cliffs is true of this Mount Zion, which is exalted above the mountains that it may draw hearts tossing on the restless sea of life to the’ fair havens’ beneath its sheltering height, There is no dread, though there is reverence, and no fear, though there is awe, in the approach of those who come through Jesus Christ, and live beneath the smile of their reconciled God and Father. ‘Ye are come unto Mount Zion,’ the dwelling-place of the living God, from whose lips there will steal into the ears and the hearts of those who keep near Him, gracious words of consolation, so thrilling, so soothing, so enlightening, so searching, so encouraging, that they which hear them shall say, ‘Speak yet again, that I may be blessed.’

And then there is the other aspect of this scene where faith lives. ‘Ye are come unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.’ I need not remind you of how much we hear in this Epistle in reference to that city. It is generally set forth as being yet to come, as being the object of seeking rather than of possession. But the fact is that there are two aspects of it. In one it is future, in the other it is present, The general idea to be attached to it is simply that of the order and social state of those who love and serve God. Here, in this part of my text, we have to deal with the city rather than with its inhabitants. They follow thereafter, but, so far as we can separate between the two, we have just this idea enforced in the words that I am now commenting upon - viz., that the lowliest life, knit, as it seems to be, by so many bonds to the perishable associations and affinities of earth, yet, if it be a life of faith in Jesus Christ, has its true affinities and relationships beyond, and not here. ‘We have our citizenship in heaven,’ says the Apostle, ‘from whence also we look for the Saviour.’ And every Christian man and woman is therefore hound to two or three very plain duties.

If you are living by faith, you do not belong to this order in the midst of which you find yourself. See that you keep vivid the consciousness that you do not. Cultivate the sense of detachment from the present, of not being absorbed by, or belonging to, things which are not coeval with yourself, and from all of which you will have to pass. Cultivate the sense of having your true home beyond the seas; and look to it as emigrants’ and colonists in a far-off land do to the old country, as being home. Live by the laws of your own city, and not by those that run in the community in which you dwell. You are under another jurisdiction. The examples, the maxims of low earthly prudence, or even of a somewhat higher earthly morality, are not your laws. You are not bound to do as the people round about you do.

‘I appeal unto Caesar.’ I take my orders from him. I send my despatches home, and report to headquarters, and if I get approbation thence, it does not matter what the people amongst whom I dwell think about me. Make your investments at home. The Jews invented banking and letters of credit in order that they might the more easily shift their wealth from one land to another as exigencies required. We are strangers where we are. Do not put your property into the country in which you live as an alien, and lock it up there; but remit, as you can do, to the land where you are going, and to which you belong. Home securities are a good deal better than foreign ones. ‘ Ye are come to the city of the living God.’ ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.’

II. And now let me turn to the other thought herewith whom does faith live.

I need not trouble you with merely expository remarks upon the diversity of arrangements which is possible in the second half of my text. Suffice it to say that just as the scene of the life of faith has been represented in a twofold and yet closely connected form as Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem, so the companions of that life are also represented in a twofold and yet closely connected form.

A slight alteration in the punctuation and order of the words in our text brings out, as it seems to me, the writer’s idea. Suppose you put a comma after ‘innumerable company,’ and substitute for that phrase the original Greek word, so reading ‘and to myriads’ and then pause there. That is the general definition, on which follows the division of the ‘myriads’ into two parts; one of which is ‘the general assembly of angels,’ and the other is the ‘Church of the firstborn which are written in heaven.’ So then, of companions for us, in our lonely earthly life, there he two sorts, and as to both of them the condition of recognising and enjoying their society is the same - via, the exercise of faith,

Now the word rendered ‘general assembly’ has a grander idea in it than that. It is the technical word employed in classic Greek for the festal meetings of a nation at their great games or other solemn occasions, and always carries in it the idea of joy as well as of society. And so here the writer would have us think of one part of that great city, the heavenly Jerusalem, as, if I may So say, the dwelling-place of a loftier race of creatures whose life is immortal and pure joy; and that we, even we, have some connection with them. In an earlier part of this letter we read that they are all ‘ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation.’ But here the ministration is not referred to, simply the fact of union and communion.

I am not going to enter at any length upon that subject, concerning which we know but very little. But still it seems to me that our ordinary type of Christian belief loses a great deal because it gives so little heed to the numerous teachings of the New Testament in regard to the reality of the existence of such beings, and of the tie that unites them with lowly believers here. All the servants of the King are friends of one another. And howsoever many they may be, and howsoever high above us in present stature any may tower; and howsoever impossible it be for us to see the glancing and hear the winnowing of their silver wings, as they flash upon errands of obedience to Him, and rejoice to hearken to the voice of His word, there is joy in the true belief that the else waste places of the universe are filled with those who, in their loftiness, rejoice to bend to us, saying, ‘I am thy fellow servant, and of them which worship God.’ Brethren, we have a better face brightening the unseen than any angel face. But just because Jesus Christ fills the unseen for us, in Him we are united to all those of whom He is the Lord, and He is Lord of men as well as angels. So if the eyes of our hearts are opened, we, too, may see ‘the mountain full of chariots of fire and horses of fire round about’ the believing soul. And we, too, may come to the joyful assembly of the angels, whose joy is all the more poignant and deep when they, the elder brethren, see the prodigals return.

But the second group of companions is probably the more important for us. ‘Ye are come,’ says the text, not only to the angelic beings that cluster round His throne in joyful harmony, but also ‘to the Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.’ And, seeing that the names are in heaven, that means, evidently, men who themselves are here upon earth.

I have not time to dwell upon the great ideas which are here contained in the designation of the community of believing souls; I only remind you that probably the word ‘church’ is not so much employed here in its distinct ecclesiastical sense {for there are no ecclesiastical phrases in the Epistle to the Hebrews}, as with allusion to the assembly of the Israelites beneath Mount Sinai, the contrast with which colours the whole of the context. It means, therefore, in general, simply the assembly of the firstborn. Can there be more than one firstborn in a family? Yes! In this family there can, for it is a name here not pointing to a temporary order, but to dignity and prerogative. The firstborn had the right of inheritance; the firstborn was sanctified to the Lord; the firstborn, by his ‘primogeniture, was destined in the old system to be priest and king. All Israel collectively was regarded as the firstborn of the Lord. We, if our hearts are knit to Him who is preeminently firstborn amongst many brethren, obtain, by virtue of our union with Him, the rights and privileges, the obligations and responsibilities, of the eldest sons of the family of God. We inherit; we ought to be sanctified. It is for us, as the ‘first fruits of His creatures,’ to bring other men to Him, that through the Church the world may reach its goal, and creation may become that which God intended it to be.

These firstborn have their names written in heaven - inscribed on the register of the great city. And to that great community, invisible like the other realities in my text, and not conterminous with any visible society such as the existing visible Church, all those belong and come who are knit together by faith in the one Lord.

So, dear friends, it is for us to realise, in the midst, perhaps, of loneliness, the tie that knits us to every heart that finds in Jesus Christ what we do. In times when we seem to stand in a minority; in times when we are tormented by uncongenial surroundings; when we are tempted by lower society; when we are disposed to say, ‘I am alone, with none to lean upon,’ it does us good to think that, not only are there angels in heaven who may have charge concerning us, but that, all over the world, there are scattered brethren whose existence is a comfort, though we have never clasped their hands.

Such, then, is the scene, and such is the society, in which we may all dwell. Christian men and women, do you make conscience of realizing all this by faith, by contemplation, by direct endeavors to pierce beyond the surface and shows of things to the realities that are unseen? See to it that you avail yourself of all the power, the peace, the blessing which will be yours in the degree in which your faith makes these the home and companions of your lives.

How noble the lowest life may become, like some poor, rough sea-shell with a gnarled and dimly coloured, exterior, tossed about in the surge of a stormy sea, or anchored to a rock, but when opened all iridescent with rainbow sheen within, and bearing a pearl of great price! So, to outward seeming, my life may be rough and solitary and inconspicuous and sad, but, in inner reality, it may have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, and have angels for its guardians, and all the firstborn for its brethren and companions.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:22 No: There is a strong contrast between the old and the new covenant. Believers have now come to wonderful Mount Zion, which is closely associated with Jerusalem and represents God’s dwelling place. • heavenly Jerusalem: See study note on 8:5. • The new covenant constitutes a relationship with God by which we experience his presence with joy, peace, and fellowship.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Heb 12:22. Ἀλλὰ, but) A sevenfold opposition. Let us see the several points:

I. The mountain which was touched:

Mount Zion.

II. The fire that burned:

The city of the living GOD.

III. Blackness or mist:

Ten thousands (an innumerable company) of angels and of the first-born.

IV. Darkness:

GOD, the Judge of all.

V. Tempest:

The spirits of just men made perfect.

VI. The sound of a trumpet:

Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament

VII. The voice of words:

The blood of sprinkling speaking what is very good.

In Articles I. and VII. there is an obvious opposition; there is no doubt but that there is an opposition also in the intermediate points, the number of which also the apostle adapts to one another. Access, in the Old Testament, was of that kind, that the people was kept back; in the access of the New Testament, all things are laid open [to all, people and ministers alike].—προσεληλύθατε, ye have come, ye have access to) having received the faith of the New Testament. And from this beginning, they who partake of Christ more and more reap the benefit of this access, till their perfection at death, and till the judgment, and unto eternal life. For this is not spoken of the coming (access) to the church militant, since others came (added themselves) rather to Israel, than the Israelites to others; but there is described here the highly exalted state of believers under the New Testament, in consequence of communion with the Church made perfect, and with Christ and GOD Himself. This access, too, not less than the former, Heb 12:18-19, was joined with the faculty of hearing, and that too in this life, Heb 12:24, etc., although our approach is much more obvious to heavenly eyes than to ours, that are still veiled; and brings along with it the best hopes for the future. The apostle here brings forward an excellent knowledge of the heavenly economy, worthy of what Paul heard and saw, when he was blessed by being caught up into the third heaven; 2Co 12:2; 2Co 12:4.—Σιὼν ὄρει, Mount Zion) This is the seat of the dispensation of Christ; [and therefore comprehends the spirits of just men made perfect.—V. g.] Rev 14:1; Joh 12:15; 1Pe 2:6.—καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος, and to the city of the living GOD) The seat of the dispensation of GOD, Heb 12:23, [comprehending ten thousands of angels and of the first-born.—V. g.] For it is a Chiasmus: 1. Zion. 2. The city of God. 3. God the Judges 4. Jesus the Mediator. The first and fourth, the second and third agree.—Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, the heavenly Jerusalem) Rev 21:2.—Μυριάσιν, ten thousands) These are spoken of absolutely, as in the prophecy of Enoch, Jud 1:14: comp. Deu 33:2; Dan 7:10.—ἀγγέλων, of angels) We cannot construe καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων, πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ, κ.τ.λ.: for both the polysyndeton must be retained, and the general assembly no doubt belongs to one party; the church to another; for who would join the synonyms, general assembly and Church? The church consists of the first-born; the general assembly, therefore, of angels. But the ten thousands consist not only of the general assembly of angels, but also of the church of the first-born. For the expression, ten thousands, is applicable to both, and the dative μυριάσιν is suited to both. The things which are presently about to be mentioned, may be added. In the meantime we must here observe the Chiasmus of the genitive and dative [the genitives being first and fourth; the datives, second and third], ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει and ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων.—πανηγύρει, general assembly) This word, and presently afterwards, church and Judge, indicate solemnity; which is even now in heaven, and will be at its height at the revelation of Jesus from heaven. Consider the expression—all angels, all nations, Mat 25:31-32.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_12:22-24. Contrast to Heb_12:18-19. Positive characterization of the communion into which the readers have entered by the reception of Christianity. The description, Heb_12:22-24, corresponds not in detail to the particulars enumerated, Heb_12:18-19 (against Bengel, who ingeniously constructs a sevenfold antithesis; as likewise against Delitzsch, Kluge, and Ewald, who have followed the same), although we should be led to expect this from the corresponding words of commencement, Heb_12:18; Heb_12:22. Moreover, the succession of clauses contained in Heb_12:22-24 is no strictly logical one, since at least καὶ πνεύμασιν δικαίων τετελειωμένων would have been more appropriately placed before than after καὶ κριτῇ θεῷ πάντων.

ἀλλὰ προσεληλύθατε Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει θεοῦ ζῶντος, Ἱερουσαλὴν ἐπουρανίῳ] but drawn near have ye to the mountain Zion and the city of the living God, namely, the heavenly Jerusalem. The three substantive-appellations contain a single idea, in that to the closely connected twofold expression: Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει θεοῦ ζῶντος, the following Ἱερουσαλὴν ἐπουρανίῳ forms an explanatory apposition. As Mount Zion (in opposition to the Mount Sinai, Heb_12:18) the heavenly Jerusalem is designated, because in the O. T. the Mount Zion is very frequently described as the dwelling-place of God, and the place whence the future salvation of the people is to be looked for. Comp. Psa_48:3 [2], Psa_50:2, Psa_78:68, Psa_110:2, Psa_132:13 ff.; Isa_2:2-3; Joe_3:5 [Joe_2:32]; Mic_4:1-2; Oba_1:17, al. Likewise also is the heavenly Jerusalem called the city of the living God (comp. too in relation to the earthly Jerusalem: πόλις ἐστὶν τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως, Mat_5:35), not so much because the living and acting God is its architect (Heb_11:10), as because He has His throne there.

καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων] and to myriads of angels, the servants, and as it were the court of God. καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων belongs together (Beza, Schlichting, Jac. Cappellus, Calov, Braun, Kypke, Carpzov, Cramer, Baumgarten, Storr, Dindorf, Tholuck, Kurtz, Hofmann, and others), without, however, our having, with Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Luther, Clarius, Vatablus, Calvin, Corn. a Lapide, Piscator, Grotius, Tischendorf (ed. 2), Bloomfield, Conybeare, Ewald, and others, to refer likewise πανηγύρει, Heb_12:23, to the same as an apposition. For such apposition, consisting of a bare individual word, would be out of keeping with the euphonious fulness of the whole description; and, if this construction had been intended, καὶ μυριάδων ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει would have been written. But just as little must we with others (also Bleek and de Wette) take καὶ μυριάσιν alone, as standing independently; whether, as Seb. Schmidt, Wolf, Rambach, Griesbach, Knapp, Böhme, Kuinoel, Stengel, Bisping, Maier, Moll, we regard as apposition thereto merely ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει, or, as Bengel, Chr. Fr. Schmid, Ernesti, Schulz, Lachmann, Bleek, Tischendorf (ed. 1), Ebrard, Delitzsch, Riehm (Lehrbegr. des Hebräerbr. p. 117), Alford, Kluge, Woerner, both the following members: ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖςin connection with which latter supposition, however, the more nearly connecting τε καί, of frequent use with the author (Heb_2:4; Heb_2:11, Heb_4:12, al.), would have been more naturally expected than the bare καί before ἐκκλησίᾳ. For μυριάσιν is a very indefinite notion, which, where its reference is not self-evident from the connection, requires a genitival addition; besides, the accentuation of the idea of plurality alone would here be meaningless. Further, the reasons advanced against our mode of explanation, that in such case we ought, after the analogy of the following members, to expect a καί before πανηγύρει (Seb. Schmidt, Bleek, Ebrard); that πανηγύρει and that which follows would become in the highest degree dragging (Bleek); that πανηγύρει would be superfluous (de Wette),are without weight. For καί was omitted by reason of the euphonious πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ, into which a καί placed also before πανηγύρει would have introduced a discordant note; the charge of dragging would have been justified, only if a καί had really been added before πανηγύρει; nor, again, is πανηγύρει, superfluous, since it contains a very significant notion, and one different from that of ἐκκλησίᾳ.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 12:22 . The Christian standing and attainment are now described in contrast with the Jewish. Ye are brought into the fellowship of eternal realities. ἀλλά προσεληλύθατε , “but ye have drawn near” (already you have entered into your eternal relation to the unseen) to Σιὼν ὄρει , “in the twenty-three passages in the LXX where the two words are combined the order is uniformly ὄρος Σιὼν and not Σιὼν ὄρος . Evidently here the ‘ Zion mountain ’ is mentally contrasted with another, the ‘ Sinai mountain ’. And thus the omission of ὄρει in the revised text of Heb 12:18 is virtually supplied” (Vaughan). The ideal Zion is the place of God’s manifestation of His presence (Psa 9:11 ; Psa 76:2 ) but also of His people’s abode (Psa 146:10 ; Isa 1:27 and passim ). It is therefore impossible to find another particular of the enumeration in πόλει θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ , as if the former were “the transcendent sphere of God’s existence where He is manifested only to Himself,” and the latter “the place where His people gather and where He is manifested to them”. ( Cf. Isa 60:14 , κληθήσῃ πόλις Κυρίου , Σιών ); the mount and the city are viewed together as the meeting-place of God and His people, where the “living God” manifests fully His eternal fulness and sufficiency. It is “the heavenly Jerusalem” ( cf. Gal 4:26 , ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ and Rev 21:2 , ἡ πόλις ἡ μέλλουσα [ καὶ μένουσα ], Heb 13:14 ) as being not the earthly and made with hands but the ultimate reality [ cf. the beautiful description in Philo, De Som. , ii. 38, and the Republic , ix. p. 592, where after declaring that no such city as he has been describing exists on earth Plato goes on to say, Ἀλλʼ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἴσως παράδειγμα ἀνάκειται τῷ βουλομένῳ ὁρᾶν καὶ ὁρῶντι ἑαυτὸν κατοικίζειν . Also the fine passage in Seneca, De Otio , chap. 31, on the two Republics.] καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων , and to myriads of angels, the usual accompaniment of God’s glory and ministers of His will, as in Deu 32:2 ; Rev 5:11 ; and Dan 7:10 , μύριαι μυριάδες παρειστήκεισαν αὐτῷ . The construction of the following words is much debated. (1) πανηγύρει καὶ ἐκκλησ . may be construed in apposition with μυρ . ἀγγέλων , to myriads of angels, a festal gathering and assembly of the first-born enrolled in heaven; or, (2) a new particular may be introduced with καὶ ἐκκλησ .; or, (3) a new particular may be introduced with πανηγύρει , “to myriads of angels, to a festal gathernig and assembly of the first-born.” On the whole, the first seems preferable. For although angels are not elsewhere called the “first-born” of God, they are called “sons of God” (Job 1:6 ; Job 2:1 ; Job 38:7 ; Gen 6:2 ; Gen 6:4 ; Psa 89:6 ) and the designation is here appropriate to denote those who are the pristine inhabitants of heaven. Cf. the first choir of Angelicals in the “Dream of Gerontius,” who sing:

“To us His elder race He gave

To battle and to win,

Without the chastisement of pain,

Without the soil of sin”;

and Augustine in De Civ. Dei , x. 7, “cum angelis sumus una civitas Dei … cujus pars in nobis peregrinatur, pars in illis opitulatur”. πανήγυρις , meaning a festal gathering of the whole people, and ἐκκλησία meaning the assembly of all enrolled citizens, seem much more applicable to angels. They are enrolled as citizens ( ἀπογεγ . see the Fayûm and Oxyrhynchus Papyri, passim ) in heaven, and welcome the younger sons now introduced. The myriads of angels which on Sinai had made their presence known in thunders and smoke and tempest, terrifying the people, appear now in the familiar form of a well-ordered community in the peaceable guise of citizens rejoicing over additions to their ranks (Luk 15:10 ). καὶ κριτῇ θεῷ πάντων , “and to a Judge who is God of all,” and by whose judgment you must therefore stand or fall ( cf. Heb 10:27 ; Heb 10:30-31 ). Among the realities to which they had been introduced this could not be omitted. He who is God of all living is the ultimate reality, and the Hebrews have been brought near not only to His city with its original inhabitants, but to Himself; and to Himself as allotting without appeal each soul to its destiny. καὶ πνεύμασι … “and to spirits of just men made perfect,” “spirits,” as in 1Pe 3:19 , of those who have departed this life and not yet been clothed with their resurrection body. δικαίων τετελειωμένων is largely illustrated by Wetstein who quotes many examples of “justi perfecti” from the Talmud. It is perhaps more relevant to refer to Heb 11:4 and to the whole strain of the Epistle whose aim it is to perfect the righteousness of the Hebrews, see chap. 6. Of course O.T. and N.T. saints are referred to. But as without us, i.e. , without sharing in our advantages, they could not be perfected, Heb 11:40 , there is at once introduced the recent covenant ( νέας “new in time,” not, as usual, καίνης “fresh in quality,”) because the idea first in the writer’s mind is not the opposition to the old but the recent origin of the new. (But cf. Col 3:9 ; 1Co 5:7 ). It is remarkable that the Mediator of this covenant is here called by his human name “Jesus”. The reason probably is that already there is in the writer’s mind the great instrument of mediation, αἵματι ῥαντισμοῦ , “blood of sprinkling”. In mediating the old covenant Moses, λαβὼν τὸ αἶμα κατεσκέδασε τοῦ λαοῦ , Exo 24:8 . [ αἷμα ῥαντισμοῦ , however, does not occur in LXX, though ὕδωρ ῥαντισμοῦ is found four times in Numbers ]. But in Heb 9:19 this writer replaces κατεσκέδασε with the more significant ἐράντισεν ; cf. Heb 9:13 . In 1Pe 1:2 we have ῥαντισμὸν αἵματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ . The “blood of sprinkling” is therefore the blood by which the new covenant is established, see Heb 13:20 , αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου , this blood having the power to cleanse the conscience, Heb 9:14 , Heb 10:22 . It cleanses because it speaks better than Abel’s, κρεῖττον λαλοῦντι παρὰ τὸν Ἄβελ for while that of Abel cried for vengeance [Gen 4:10 , φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς ] that of Jesus is a message of salvation, the κρεῖττόν τι of Heb 11:40 . But it may be adverbial. “Ille flagitabat ultionem, hic impetrat remissionem” (Erasmus).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

are come--Greek, "have come near unto" (compare Deu 4:11). Not merely, ye shall come, but, ye have already come.

Mount Sion--antitypical Sion, the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the spiritual invisible Church (of which the first foundation was laid in literal Zion, Joh 12:15; Pe1 2:6) is now the earnest; and of which the restored literal Jerusalem hereafter shall be the earthly representative, to be succeeded by the everlasting and "new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven" (Rev. 21:2-27; compare Heb 11:10).

to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church--The city of God having been mentioned, the mention of its citizens follows. Believers being like the angels (Job 1:6; Job 38:7), "sons of God," are so their "equals" (Luk 20:36); and being reconciled through Christ, are adopted into God's great and blessed family. For the full completion of this we pray (Mat 6:10). English Version arrangement is opposed: (1) by "and" always beginning each new member of the whole sentence; (2) "general assembly and Church," form a kind of tautology; (3) "general assembly," or rather, "festal full assembly," "the jubilant full company" (such as were the Olympic games, celebrated with joyous singing, dancing, &c.), applies better to the angels above, ever hymning God's praises, than to the Church, of which a considerable part is now militant on earth. Translate therefore, "to myriads (ten thousands, compare Deu 33:2; Psa 68:17; Dan 7:10; Jde 1:14; namely), the full festal assembly of angels, and the Church of the first-born." Angels and saints together constitute the ten thousands. Compare "all angels, all nations" Mat 25:31-32. Messiah is pre-eminently "the First-born," or "First-begotten" (Heb 1:6), and all believers become so by adoption. Compare the type, Num 3:12, Num 3:45, Num 3:50; Pe1 1:18. As the kingly and priestly succession was in the first-born, and as Israel was God's "first-born" (Exo 4:22; compare Exo 13:2), and a "kingdom of priests" to God (Exo 19:6), so believers (Rev 1:6).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. But ye are come unto mount Sion] In order to enter fully into the apostle's meaning, we must observe,

1. That the Church, which is called here the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and mount Sion, is represented under the notion of a CITY.

2. That the great assembly of believers in Christ is here opposed to the congregation of the Israelites assembled at Mount Sinai.

3. That the innumerable company of angels is here opposed to, those angels by whom the law was ushered in, Ac 7:53; Ga 3:19.

4. That the Gospel first-born, whose names are written in heaven, are here opposed to the enrolled first-born among the Israelites, Ex 24:5; Ex 19:22.

5. That the mediator of the new covenant, the Lord Jesus, is here opposed to Moses, the mediator of the old.

6. And that the blood of sprinkling, of Christ, our High Priest, refers to the act of Moses, Ex 24:8: "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words."

1. The description in these verses does not refer to a heavenly state; for the terrible nature of the Mosaic dispensation is never opposed to heaven or life eternal, but to the economy of the New Testament.

2. In heaven there is no need of a mediator, or sprinkling of blood; but these are mentioned in the state which the apostle describes.

The heavenly Jerusalem] This phrase means the Church of the New Testament, as Schoettgen has amply proved in his dissertation on this subject.

To an innumerable company of angels] μυριασιν αγγελων. To myriads, tens of thousands, of angels. These are represented as the attendants upon God, when he manifests himself in any external manner to mankind. When he gave the law at Mount Sinai, it is intimated that myriads of these holy beings attended him. "The chariots of the Lord are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels; the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place;" Ps 68:17. And when he shall come to judge the world, he will be attended with a similar company. "Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;" Da 7:10. In both these cases, as in several others, these seem to be, speaking after the manner of men, the body guard of the Almighty. Though angels make a part of the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, yet they belong also to the Church below. Christ has in some sort incorporated them with his followers, for "they are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation," and they are all ever considered as making a part of God's subjects.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

22. Unto mount Sion, etc. He alludes to those prophecies in which God had formerly promised that his Gospel should thence go forth, as in Isaiah 2:1-4, and in other places. Then he contrasts mount Sion with mount Sinai; and he further adds, the heavenly Jerusalem, and he expressly calls it heavenly, that the Jews might not cleave to that which was earthly, and which had flourished under the Law; for when they sought perversely to continue under the slavish yoke of the Law, mount Sion was turned into mount Sinai as Paul teaches us in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. Then by the heavenly Jerusalem he understood that which was to be built throughout the whole world, even as the angel, mentioned by Zechariah, extended his line from the east even to the west.

To an innumerable company of angels, etc. He means that we are associated with angels, chosen into the ranks of patriarchs, and placed in heaven among all the spirits of the blessed, when Christ by the Gospel calls us to himself. But it is an incalculable honor, conferred upon us by our heavenly Father, that he should enroll us among angels and the holy fathers. The expression, myriads of angels, in taken from the book of Daniel, though I have followed Erasmus, and rendered it innumerable company of angels.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

22. unto mount Sion …] The true Sion is the anti-type of all the promises with which the name had been connected (Psa_2:6; Psa_48:2; Psa_78:68-69; Psa_125:1; Joe_2:32; Mic_4:7). Hence the names of Sion and “the heavenly Jerusalem” are given to “the city of the living God” (Gal_4:26; Rev_21:2). Sinai and Mount Sion are contrasted with each other in six particulars. Bengel and others make out an elaborate sevenfold antithesis here.

to an innumerable company of angels …] This punctuation is suggested by the word “myriads,” which is often applied to angels (Deu_33:2; Psa_68:17; Dan_7:10). But under the New Covenant the Angels are surrounded with attributes, not of terror but of beauty and goodness (Heb_1:14; Rev_5:11-12).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To the general assembly,.... A "panegyris", the word here used, was a public and solemn assembly of the Greeks, either at their games, or feasts, or fairs, or on religious accounts; and signifies a large collection and convention of men; and sometimes the place where they met togethers (i); and is here used, by the apostle, for the church of God, consisting of all his elect, both Jews and Gentiles, and the meeting of them together: they met together, in the infinite mind of God, from all eternity; and in Christ, their head and representative, both then and in time; and at the last day, when they are all gathered in, they will meet together personally; and a joyful meeting it will be; and a very general one, more so than the assembly of the Jews, at any of their solemn feasts, to which the apostle may have some respect; since this will consist of some of all nations, that have lived in all places, and in all ages of time:

and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven; by the "church", is not meant any particular, or congregational church, nor any national one; but the church catholic, or universal, which consists only of God's elect, and of all of them, in all times and places; and reaches even to the saints in heaven: this church is invisible at present, and will never fail; of which Christ is the head, and for which he has given himself: now the persons, that belong to this church, are styled the "firstborn"; who are not the apostles only, who received the first fruits of the Spirit; nor the first converts among the Jews, who first trusted in Christ; but also the chosen of God, who are equally the sons of God, and born of him; are equally loved by him, and equally united to Christ, and interested in him: they have the same privileges, honours, and dignity, and shall enjoy the same inheritance; they are all firstborn, and are so called, with respect to the angels, the sons of God, as Christ is with respect to the saints, the many brethren of his: and these are said to be "written in heaven"; not in the earth, Jer 17:13, such writing abides not; nor in the book of the Scriptures, for the names of all are not written there; nor in the general book of God's decrees, which relate to all mankind; but in the Lamb's book of life, kept in heaven; and is no other than their election of God: and this way of speaking, concerning it, shows it to be personal and particular; that it is firm, sure, and constant; that it is out of the reach of men and devils to erase it; it denotes the exact knowledge God has of them, and expresses their right to heaven, and the certainty of their coming there: now all such, who are truly come to Sion, are openly come to this assembly and church, and appear to be a part thereof, and are among the firstborn, and have their names written in heaven:

and to God the Judge of all: the Ethiopic version reads, "the Judge of righteousness", or the righteous Judge: some think that Christ is here meant; who is truly and properly God, and is the Judge: all judgment is committed to him; he is Judge of all; he is ordained Judge of quick and dead; for which he would not have been fit, had he not been God: true believers come to him by faith, and that, as their Judge, King, and Governor; and it is their privilege, that Christ is and will be the Judge of all at the last day and hence is his coming to judgment desirable to them. But since Christ is spoken of in the next verse, as a distinct person, to whom the saints come, God the Father seems rather to be designed here: and it is one of the privileges of the saints, in the present life, that they have access to God: all men are at a distance from him, in a state of nature; and they naturally run further and further from him, and have no desire after him; and, when they are made sensible of sin, they are afraid and ashamed to come to him; nor is there any coming to God, but through Christ; and this is a fruit of God's everlasting love, what follows upon electing grace, is an effect of Christ's death, and owing to the quickening grace of the Spirit; it is performed in a spiritual way, and is by faith; it is a coming to the throne of God, even to his seat, to communion with him, and to a participation of his grace: and it is their privilege that they have access to him as the Judge of all; not only as a Father, and as the God of all grace, but as a Judge, and a righteous one, to whom they can come without terror; for though he is just, yet he is a Saviour, and the justifier of his people, on account of the righteousness of his Son; whose sins he pardons in a way of justice, through the blood of Christ; and is their patron, protector, and defender, who will right their wrongs, and avenge their cause:

and to the spirits of just men made perfect; which may be understood of the saints on earth, who are "just men"; not naturally, for so no man is, but the reverse; nor in opinion only, or merely externally, as the Scribes and Pharisees were; nor by the deeds of the law; nor by obedience to the Gospel; nor by faith, either as wrought in them, or done by them, though by the object of it; nor by an infusion of righteousness into them; but by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto them: and these are "made perfect"; not as to sanctification, unless in Christ, or in a comparative sense, and with respect to the parts of the new man, but not as to degrees; for no man is without sin, and the best stand in need of fresh supplies of grace; but as to justification, Christ has perfectly fulfilled the law for them, and has perfectly expiated their sins, and perfectly redeemed them from all sin, and has procured a full pardon of them; and they are completely righteous through his righteousness; and the "spirits", or souls of these are only mentioned, because the communion of saints in a Gospel church state lies chiefly in the souls and spirits of each other, or in spiritual things relating to their souls; and their souls are greatly affected, and knit to each other: though the saints in heaven may be here intended, at least included; whose spirits or soul's are separate from their bodies; and they are the souls of just men, for none but such enter into the kingdom of heaven; where they are made perfect in knowledge and holiness, in peace and joy; though they have not their bodies, nor as yet all the saints with them. Now, believers, in the present state of things, may be said to be come to them, being come to the Church below, which is a part of that above; as also in hope, expectation, and desire. The apostle seems to have respect to some distinctions among the Jews: they divide mankind into three sorts; some are perfectly wicked; and some are perfectly righteous; and there are others that are between both (k): they often speak of , "just men perfect" (l); and distinguish between a just man perfect, and a just man that is not perfect (m); as they do also between penitents and just men perfect; See Gill on Luk 15:7.

(i) Vid. Philostrat. Vita Apollen. l. 8. c. 7. (k) T. Hieros. Roshhashanah, fol. 57. 1. & T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 16. 2. Derech Eretz, fol. 19. 4. (l) Zohar in Gen. fol. 28. 2. & 29. 1. & 39. 3. T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 18. 2. & Roshbahanah, fol. 4. 1. Pesachim, fol. 8. 1. 2. (m) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 6. 2. & Avoda Zora, fol. 4. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Ver. 22. But ye are come to Mount] And the blessings that come out of Sion (grace and peace that come by Jesus Christ) are better than all other blessings of heaven and earth, Psa 134:3.

The heavenly Jerusalem] As Jerusalem was distinguished into two cities, the superior and the inferior; so is the Church into triumphant and militant; yet both make up but one city of the living God.

To an innumerable company] Gr. To myriads, or many ten thousands of angels. Some have said that they are 99 to one, in comparison of the saints; grounding their conceit upon the parable of the lost sheep, Luk 15:4-7.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But you are come to Mount Sion, where not a law of fear, like that of Moses, but a new law of love and mercy hath been given you, preached by our Saviour himself, and by his apostles, testified by the coming of the Holy Ghost, and by the effusion of God’s spirit upon the believers. Here you are called to the city of the living God, (to the Christian Church on earth) and even to the celestial Jerusalem, there to be for ever happy in the company of may millions of Angels; to the church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, (ver. 23.) to be happy with those who have been chosen by a special mercy of God, and blessed with an endless happiness; to be there in the presence of God, the judge of all men, with all the celestial spirits and souls of the just and perfect in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is the mediator of this new testament, the redeemer of mankind by his death on the cross, by the sprinkling and effusion of his blood, which speaketh better than that of Abel: the blood of Abel cried to heaven for vengeance, and the blood of Christ for mercy and pardon. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

But ye - Who believe in Christ. Are come - The apostle does not here speak of their coming to the church militant, but of that glorious privilege of New Testament believers, their communion with the church triumphant. But this is far more apparent to the eyes of celestial spirits than to ours which are yet veiled. St. Paul here shows an excellent knowledge of the heavenly economy, worthy of him who had been caught up into the third heaven. To Mount Zion--A spiritual mountain. To the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem - All these glorious titles belong to the New Testament church. And to an innumerable company - Including all that are afterwards mentioned.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

angels

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle having given an account, in the foregoing verses, of the state of the Jewish church under the law, comes now to declare that most excellent state whereinto believers are called in and by the gospel. The privileges here summed up partly respect the church militant, and and partly the church triumphant.

Observe then, The glorious privilege of the gospel-state, and what believers are said to come to, whilst militant here on earth.

1. They are said to come unto Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the new Jerusalem; not to mount Sinai, which was full of terror and discomfort, but to mount Sion, full of all spiritual blessings.

Where note, The gospel church is called the city of the living God. A city is a place of safety and a place of honour, a place of peace and rest. The souls of sinners can find no place of rest or safety under the law, but we have all these things by the gospel; rest in Christ, peace with God, safety in divine protection, &. And as a king dwells in his city, so God dwells in the church of believers; "This as my rest for ever, here will I dwell says God, for I have a delight therein."

O what manner of persons ought they to be, who are the denizens of the city of God! Alas! the great number who pretend highly to the church, and its privileges, are citizens of this world only, and altogether unfit for this holy society.

2. Believers are next said to come to an innumerable company of angels. To come to these, is to be of their society; they and we are one in Christ; the angels above, and believers below, make up but one corporation or family; they are our fellow-citizens, and our fellow-subjects. True, they are above us, and at a mighty distance from us, yet upon occasion very near us; and though we do not see them, nor speak unto them, nor familiarly converse with them, yet they love us, have a special care of us, and are ministering to us, as heirs of the same salvation with themselves.

3. They are come to the general assembly or church of the first-born; that is, they are of the number of God’s regenerated and adopted ones, those that are born again, whose names are registered in heaven. As the first-born under the law had a right to the inheritance, to a double part of the inheritance; so they who are interested really in the gospel-church, have a right to all that God has provided, and Christ hath purchased, even to the whole inheritance of grace and glory. O glorious privilege, to be brought unto this blessed society, this general assembly of the first-born; especially if we consider what company, what society, what assembly we belong unto, without it, which is no other than that of devils, and the seed of the wicked serpent.

4. They are come to God the judge of all; that is, they have access to God by Jesus Christ, access to his favour by justification, and access into his presence by prayer and supplication, yea, access to him as a judge, without terror or consternation.

Blessed privilege! believers have a comfortable access to God as the judge of all; with all their causes and complaints, he will hear them, plead their cause, and judge for them, and make their oppressions unsafe to the greatest of the sons of men.

5. Believers are said to come to the spirits of just men made perfect. Come to them, though not in the same place with them, though not in the same place with them till death; yet we and they have the same God and Sovereign, the same Head and Saviour, the same expectation of a glorious resurrection.

Note here, 1. There are spirits of men in a seperate state and condition, capable of communion with God and the church.

2. That all the spirits of just men departed, are made perfect: their race is consummated, perfect deliverance from all sin and sorrow is completed, and a full reward enjoyed; their faith is heightened into sight, and all their graces elevated into glory.

3. That yet are they spirits still, and no more but spirits; and though perfected spirits, yet there is wanting the last finishing stroke from the hand of God to render the bodies as well as the spirits of just men for ever perfect in the morning of the resurrecton.

4. Believers are here said to come to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant; as if the apostle had said, "Your fathers came to a mount of fire and smoke, of darkness, terror, and death, where there was no Mediator to make their peace with God, no blood to cry for mercy, and to cleanse them from sin, but you, by forsaking Judaism, and coming over to Christianity fully, are come into that society where Christ is Mediator and Priest; where the blood of Christ sprinkled upon your souls, cries aloud for mercy, and cleanses from all sin.

And to the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. Intimating, that Christ’s blood solicits God with stronger cries for mercy, than did ever Abel’s for revenge.

Question. But what are those better things which the blood of Christ speaks above and beyond that blood of Abel!?

Answer. 1. It speaks better things from God unto us, namely, that his justice is satisfied, his wrath appeased, the condemning guilt of sin expiated, and the majesty of God fully reconciled to all believers.

2. It speaks better things to God for us, namely, to be at peace with us, to rest in his love toward us, to furnish us with all grace here, and to fit us for glory here after.

O blessed Jesus! Thy blood never cried as Abel’s did, for vengeance on them by whom it was shed, but pleaded for pardon, and obtained pardon on the behalf of many of them. Happy they who by faith are made partakers of this typical blood of sprinkling, which speaks better things than the blood of Abel.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22–24. Ye are come unto Mount Zion. The law was given at Sinai; the Gospel was to go forth from Mount Zion; that is, from Jerusalem. See Ps. 2:6; Joel 2:32; Rev. 21:2. It is used as a type or symbol of the kingdom of heaven. The heavenly Jerusalem. This heavenly city is where our Lord dwells and is our eternal home. In coming to Christ we have come into the covenant which gives us the right to a place in that city. An innumerable company of angels. The angels of heaven.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

The man Abel was the son of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Cain, also their son, murdered Abel.

Mount Zion

The writer speaks of Mount Zion, the temple mount in Jerusalem, as if it were heaven itself, the residence of God. (See: Metaphor)

tens of thousands of angels

"an uncountable number of angels"

the firstborn

This speaks of believers in Christ as if they were firstborn sons. This emphasizes their special place and privilege as God's people. (See: Metaphor)

registered in heaven

"whose names are written in heaven." This can be stated in active form. AT: "whose names God has written in heaven" (See: Active or Passive)

the mediator of a new covenant

This means Jesus caused the new covenant between God and humans to exist. See how you translated this phrase in Hebrews 9:15.

who have been made perfect

This can be stated in active form. AT: "whom God has made perfect" (See: Active or Passive)

the sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel's blood

The blood of Jesus and the blood of Abel are spoken of as if they were people calling out. AT: "the sprinkled blood of Jesus that says better things than the blood of Abel" (See: Personification and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

blood

Here "blood" stands for Jesus' death, as Abel's blood stands for his death. (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

Zion

life

heaven

Jerusalem

angel

firstborn

judge, judges

spirit

righteous

perfect

mediator

covenant

Abel

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

22. Σιὼν ὄρει … The true Sion is the antitype of all the promises with which the name had been connected (Psa 2:6; Psa 48:2; Psa 78:68-69; Psa 125:1; Joe 2:32; Mic 4:7). Hence the names of Sion and “the heavenly Jerusalem” are given to “the city of the living God” (Gal 4:26; Rev 21:2). Sinai and Mount Sion are contrasted with each other in six particulars. Bengel and others make out an elaborate sevenfold antithesis here.

μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων … This punctuation is suggested by the word “myriads,” which is often applied to angels (Deu 33:2; Psa 68:17; Dan 7:10). But under the New Covenant the Angels are surrounded with attributes, not of terror but of beauty and goodness (Heb 1:14; Rev 5:11-12).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22-24.] Contrast to the above negation, in setting forth that to which they are come. There is apparently no studied logical order in the following clauses: and Bl. supposes there must have been some ancient inversion of them in our copies, seeing that πνεύμασι δικαίων τετελειωμένων would most naturally follow after μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων. But see on the several clauses, and the general concluding note.

22.] but ye have drawn near (both congregations drew near, cf. Deu 4:11, καὶ προσήλθετε καὶ ἔστητε ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος: the difference is in that, to which. So that Chrys. misses the mark, when he says, ἐκεῖνοι οὐ προσῆλθον, ἀλλὰ πόῤῥωθεν εἱστήκεισαν, καὶ ὁ Μωυσῆς· ὑμεῖς δὲ προσεληλύθατε: and Thl., when he adds, ὁρᾷς τὴν ὑπεροχήν) to Mount Sion (here at length ὄρει is expressed: see above. Böhme and Kuinoel would take the following ἐπουρανίῳ as an epithet belonging to all three, ὄρει, πόλει, and Ἱερουσαλήμ: and so apparently did Œc.: ἀντὶ τοῦ Σινᾶ ὄρους, φησί, ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν, ὁ οὐρανός· τοῦτον γὰρ καλεῖ Σιὼν ὄρος καὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ. ὅθεν ἐπάγει ἐπουρανίῳ. But the form of the sentence will not allow this. Mount Sion, the abode of God which He loved and where He will abide continually, is used to signify, not its mere representative, which men know by that name, but the reality, God’s own abode in heaven. See Psa 78:68; Psa 110:2; Psa 132:13 ff.: Isa 2:2 f.; Isa 28:16: Joe 2:32: Mic 4:1 f.: Oba 1:17 al. And so Thl., ἀντὶ τοῦ Σινᾶ ἔχομεν Σιὼν ὄρος νοητὸν καὶ πόλιν νοητὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ, τουτέστιν αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν. See Delitzsch’s long note) and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (as the earthly Jerusalem, situate on Mount Sion, was the πόλις τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως, Mat 5:35, so in a more blessed sense is that heavenly city the city of the living God. He is its maker and builder, ch. 11:10: nor only so, but also evermore dwells in it with the light of His presence, cf. Rev 21:22-24):

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The heavenly Jerusalem. See on Gal 4:26. The spiritual mountain and city where God dwells and reigns. Comp. Dante Inf 1:128 : "Quivi e la sua cittade, e l'alto seggio." 242 Comp. Psa 2:6; Psa 48:2, 3; Psa 50:2; Psa 78:68; Psa 110:2; Isa 18:7; Joe 2:32; Mic 4:1, 2; Amo 1:2.

To an innumerable company of angels (muriasin ajggelwn). On this whole passage (22 - 24) it is to be observed that it is arranged in a series of clauses connected by kai. Accordingly muriasin to myriads or tens of thousands stands by itself, and panhgurei festal assembly goes with ajggelwn angels. Muriav (see Luk 12:1; Act 19:19; Rev 5:11; quite often in LXX) is strictly the number ten thousand. In the plural, an innumerable multitude. So A. V. here. Rend. "to an innumerable multitude," placing a comma after muriasin, and connecting of angels with the next clause. This use of muriasin without a qualifying genitive is justified by numerous examples. See Gen 24:60; Deu 32:30; Deu 33:2; 1Sa 18:7, 8; Psa 90:7; Son 5:10; Dan 7:10; Dan 11:12; Sir. 47 6; 2 Macc. 8 20; Jude 1:14. Ciliadev thousands is used in the same way. See IsaLXX 22; Dan 7:10

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.