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 istorian
William H. Prescott gave the following account
of an incident in the career of General Francisco Pizarro, Spanish
invader of Peru. At a crisis moment Pizarro drew his sword and
traced a line with it on the sand from East to West. Then, turning
toward the South, “Friends and comrades,” he said,
“on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching
storm, desertion, and death; on this side ease and pleasure.
There lies Peru with its riches; here, Panama and its poverty.
Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my
part, I go to the South. Most decisions in life are easy to
make.” Pizarro called them to both glory and poverty. Decisions
between life and discomfort, pain or poverty are often hard
to make.
Not
Mt. Sinai.
The call of Hebrews has been to go “South.” Go straight
to Jesus! Hebrews was sent to some men and women who were disappointed,
discouraged, and disillusioned with Jesus because of their suffering.
We are no different than they were. It is easy to lose perspective
when the pain of suffering is strong. So God explained the reason
why they were suffering and called them to endure their trials.
God was working so that they might “share in” His
holiness (Heb. 12:10). They needed to be willing to suffer,
to not seek to escape, and if they were not Christians to come
all the way and to believe or depend on only Jesus.
Coming
to Jesus would not be a mistake. But going back to Judaism would
be a huge mistake. So the Holy Spirit encourages them with.
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For
you have not come to a mountain that may be touched
and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and
whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound
of words which sound was such that those who heard begged
that no further word should be spoken to them. For they
could not bear the command, “IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES
THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED.” And so terrible
was the sight, that Moses said, “I AM FULL OF FEAR
AND TREMBLING.” (NASB) Heb. 12:18-21 |
ò
These verses are reminders to them of the time Moses was given
the Ten Commandments. As we have seen many times already in
Hebrews, this would have had special meaning to a Jew in Jesus’
time. Their ancestors were fearful of Mt. Sinai for several
reasons, including having been warned not to touch it. They
had the choice to touch the mountain and die or not to touch
it and live - to go North or South. The Greek word for “touch"
means “to grope after” or ‘feeling for.”
The mountain was so dark they would have had to grope for it
in order to touch it. God is reminding them of this fearful
time. Here is the event in Moses’ words.
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No
hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned
or shot through; whether beast or man, he shall not
live . . . So it came about on the third day, when it
was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes
and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud
trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the
camp trembled . . . Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke
because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its
smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the
whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the
trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God
answered him with thunder . (NASB) Exodus 19:13, 16,
18-19 |
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