Introduction
Are you trying to endure the Christian life without a clear vision of where God is taking you, and do you feel your circumstances starting to overwhelm your faith? The central teaching of Hebrews 12:18–24 is that God strengthens our endurance by giving us a vivid, heart-shaping contrast between two mountains: Sinai (the terrifying holiness of God under a law-centered approach) and Zion (the joyful welcome of God through Jesus Christ), so we will not go backward but press on toward our true home. Hebrews 12 has been calling us to “run with endurance” (Heb. 12:1). But endurance doesn’t come from grit alone, it grows when you can see what God is doing and where He is leading you. I learned again how important vision is in a very ordinary way. My wife and I are building a house on the property where I grew up. It’s a blessing, and a stretching one. As we got near the finish, I brought my kids to walk through it. They ran through the rooms imagining their future, until my son said, “I’m not moving.” When I asked why, he said, “This place has no toys.”
He needed vision in both directions. He needed to remember why we’re leaving the old situation, and he needed a picture of what the new place will become. In the same way, Hebrews speaks to believers standing at a fork in the road: Is it worth continuing with Jesus? And God answers by giving us a vision of two mountains, one we must not return to, and one we must run toward.
Main Points
Are you trying to endure the Christian life without a clear vision of where God is taking you, and do you feel your circumstances starting to overwhelm your faith? The central teaching of Hebrews 12:18–24 is that God strengthens our endurance by giving us a vivid, heart-shaping contrast between two mountains: Sinai (the terrifying holiness of God under a law-centered approach) and Zion (the joyful welcome of God through Jesus Christ), so we will not go backward but press on toward our true home.
Hebrews 12 has been calling us to “run with endurance” (Heb. 12:1). But endurance doesn’t come from grit alone, it grows when you can see what God is doing and where He is leading you.
I learned again how important vision is in a very ordinary way. My wife and I are building a house on the property where I grew up. It’s a blessing, and a stretching one. As we got near the finish, I brought my kids to walk through it. They ran through the rooms imagining their future, until my son said, “I’m not moving.” When I asked why, he said, “This place has no toys.”
He needed vision in both directions. He needed to remember why we’re leaving the old situation, and he needed a picture of what the new place will become. In the same way, Hebrews speaks to believers standing at a fork in the road: Is it worth continuing with Jesus? And God answers by giving us a vision of two mountains, one we must not return to, and one we must run toward.
Sinai Reminds Us God Is Holy
Hebrews begins with a strong reminder: “You have not come to the mountain that may be touched” (Heb. 12:18). That’s Sinai, a real, physical mountain (Ex. 19), where God established His covenant law and appointed Moses as mediator.
The vision is intense: fire, darkness, tempest, trumpet blast, and a voice so terrifying the people begged God to stop speaking (Heb. 12:18–19). The command was so strict that even an animal crossing the boundary would be killed (Heb. 12:20). Even Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (Heb. 12:21).
I want you to feel what Scripture wants you to feel here: God’s holiness is not casual. He is not safe in the sense that sin can stroll into His presence without consequence. He is a consuming fire. And if we shrink Sinai into something manageable, we will also shrink grace into something forgettable.
Practical discipleship step: Read Exodus 19 slowly. Let it restore your “fear of the Lord” in a healthy, worshipful way. You cannot understand the gospel clearly if you don’t understand the holiness it answers.
Going Back Means Returning To Fear
The author’s pastoral burden is clear: some were tempted to leave Christ and return to the old system, the rituals, the temple, the law-based approach to God. Hebrews says, in effect: Do you realize what you are returning to?
And even if you’re not tempted to return to a synagogue or Old Covenant rituals, you may be tempted toward a Sinai-style religion, a version of faith built on your ability to “do good” and “not do bad,” hoping God will accept you because you worked the system.
But hear me gently: if you try to approach a holy God on the basis of your own goodness, you are returning to the terror of Sinai. You’re going back to a relationship where judgment hangs over you because you cannot endure what God’s holiness requires.
Practical discipleship step: Identify where you’ve created “mini-laws” to feel in control spiritually. Repent of the mindset that says, “If I perform, God loves me.” That is not the gospel, and it is not durable enough to carry you through suffering.
Zion Gives Us A Better Vision
Then Hebrews turns the corner: “But you have come to Mount Zion” (Heb. 12:22). This is not a mountain you can touch; it’s a heavenly reality, a spiritual destination God wants you to live toward with hope and endurance.
Zion is “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22). Like Israel traveling through wilderness toward a prepared land, we also live in a “now and not yet” tension. We are still in the wilderness of this world in many ways, temporary dwellings, temporary strength, daily dependence. But we are heading to a permanent city not built with human hands.
Philippians says it plainly: “Our citizenship is in heaven… and [we] eagerly wait for the Savior” (Phil. 3:20–21). And Revelation paints the destination: God dwelling with His people, every tear wiped away, sorrow and death gone (Rev. 21:2–4).
You need this vision, because without it you will interpret your trials as random and pointless. With it, you can endure because you know where the road ends.
Practical discipleship step: When life feels heavy, practice naming your hope out loud: “My citizenship is in heaven. God is taking me somewhere real.” Don’t settle for a weekly motivational boost; you need a lifelong horizon.
Heaven’s Citizens Are Welcomed Joyfully
Hebrews also says Zion includes “an innumerable company of angels” (Heb. 12:22). Angels appear at both mountains, but their posture is radically different.
At Sinai, the picture is boundary and warning, holiness defended. Even in Genesis 3, cherubim guarded the way to the tree of life with a flaming sword (Gen. 3:24). The message was: sinners cannot enter God’s presence on their own terms.
But at Zion, the angels are in joyful gathering. They are not stationed to keep you out; they are assembled to welcome you in. Jesus taught this spirit in Luke 15: there is joy in heaven, and among the angels, over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7, 10).
That means when you come to God through Christ, you are not arriving at a guarded boundary, you are arriving at a celebration of grace.
Practical discipleship step: When shame tells you God is bracing Himself against you, answer it with the gospel: In Christ, heaven welcomes repentant sinners. Come boldly, not arrogantly, but confidently, because Jesus is your mediator.
The Church Of The Firstborn Belongs
Hebrews continues: “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). Zion isn’t just a place; it’s a people. You are not merely surviving until death, you are being gathered into a real kingdom community with real membership: “registered in heaven.”
Christ is the Firstborn in the supreme sense, and when you are born again by faith, you are joined to Him and counted among His people. You belong to a congregation that stretches beyond any local church building, God is assembling a global family that will one day be fully revealed.
And notice the direction: this vision strengthens endurance. You’re not running alone. You’re part of an assembly that God Himself is forming and securing.
Practical discipleship step: Stop treating church as optional support and start treating it as kingdom identity. Commit, belong, serve, and worship with the people whose names are written in heaven.
Conclusion
Hebrews 12 gives you a needed contrast: Sinai shows the terrifying holiness of God and the danger of trying to approach Him through law or self-made morality. Zion shows the gospel, God bringing you into His heavenly city through a better mediator, welcoming you with joy, giving you citizenship, and securing your place among His people.
So I’m calling you, in love: don’t go backward. Don’t trade the narrow way of following Jesus for a manageable religion where you stay near the boundary and hope you’ve done enough. Lift your eyes to Zion. Let the vision of heaven strengthen your endurance on earth. When circumstances press in, remember: God is taking you somewhere better than where you’ve been, and He will finish what He started.
Father, thank You for Your holiness that Sinai reveals and for the mercy and welcome that Zion promises through Jesus. Forgive me for the times I have tried to approach You through my own performance, as if I could manage sin and still stand in Your presence. Give me a clear vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, my true citizenship, so I can endure with hope. Strengthen my faith to keep running, to keep repenting, to keep trusting Christ as my mediator. Teach me to live today as someone registered in heaven, welcomed by grace, and headed home. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Hebrews 12 gives you a needed contrast: Sinai shows the terrifying holiness of God and the danger of trying to approach Him through law or self-made morality. Zion shows the gospel, God bringing you into His heavenly city through a better mediator, welcoming you with joy, giving you citizenship, and securing your place among His people.
So I’m calling you, in love: don’t go backward. Don’t trade the narrow way of following Jesus for a manageable religion where you stay near the boundary and hope you’ve done enough. Lift your eyes to Zion. Let the vision of heaven strengthen your endurance on earth. When circumstances press in, remember: God is taking you somewhere better than where you’ve been, and He will finish what He started.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your holiness that Sinai reveals and for the mercy and welcome that Zion promises through Jesus. Forgive me for the times I have tried to approach You through my own performance, as if I could manage sin and still stand in Your presence. Give me a clear vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, my true citizenship, so I can endure with hope. Strengthen my faith to keep running, to keep repenting, to keep trusting Christ as my mediator. Teach me to live today as someone registered in heaven, welcomed by grace, and headed home. In Jesus’ name, amen.