Hebrews 12:18

Hebrews 12:18 says, For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,  This is a further comparison between the law and grace.  When the law of God was given to Moses, it was on a mountain that could be touched, but people had limited access to that mountain.  Moses went alone to receive the law.  Verse nineteen adds, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:  There was a certain fear of the voice of God.  Since they were unable to live up to God's law, they feared His voice.  Verse twenty continues, (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:  The reason they feared God was because they could not endure what was commanded.  If we had to justify ourselves through the law of God, we would be just as fearful.  The limited access was so great that if an animal touched the mountain, it was to be destroyed.  Verse twenty-one declares, And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)  Moses himself quaked at being in the presence of God.  Verse twenty-two adds, 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,  There is good news for those of us who are under the new covenant of God.  We have come to mount Sion, or Zion, and into new Jerusalem, the heavenly city that cannot be touched by hands.  There is no one one place that we must go to in order to worship God.  Verse twenty-three continues, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,  We, as followers of Christ, are part of the assembly and church of the firstborn.  We do not become a part of this assembly from our birth into a particular family, but by a rebirth into the family of God through faith in Christ.  Verse twenty-four concludes, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.  We not only come to a new place to worship God, but we come through a new way, and that is the blood of Christ.  Christ is the only sacrifice that can restore us to a right relationship with God.