THE VICTORY IS WON
Hebrews 12
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
Hebrews chapter 11 maps out the long journey that men and women of faith traveled, often in hardship, pain and suffering. But by the grace of God they journeyed on even though the end was never in sight. The writer then turns his attention to the present day Christians who have inherited that faith and, much more, have come to know the founder and perfecter of our faith (ESV), Jesus Christ. Our leader, who had sacrificed himself for our sakes, is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
The end is at hand and the victory is won.
This is the vision that the writer wants to ingrain into our hearts and minds so that its reality is greater than the reality of the life we now live, greater than the difficulties we may face, greater than the sin that we seek to put away, greater than our tired limbs, the difficult terrain and even the injuries to our body and soul that we may have sustained in life.
We do not need excuses, we will not be hampered by even legitimate issues; we know that when that day comes we will be at that joyful assembly because the blood of Jesus has rescued us from the judgement and wrath of God.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”