Ye Are Come unto Mount Zion While we wait upon Thee [on Thee, Lord, we wait] and while we do need Thee to bless us and ask Thee to bless us while we wait on Thee, we would rise even higher and say, Lord, satisfy Thyself. Get to Thyself the reward of Thy sufferings, the travail of Thy soul. Lord, find Thine Own Satisfaction. Ours will, we know, follow. We shall not lose anything if the Lord gets what He wants. And so, may we find our blessing in Thy Blessing, for Thy Name’s Sake, Amen. And we are coming to the concentration of the whole letter in one section. In chapter twelve, you will note that this concentration of the whole letter in this section is governed by the two words, “NOT—BUT.” The Letter to the Hebrews Chapter 12 18–25: 12:18 For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, tempest, 12:19 The sound of a shofar, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, 12:20 For they could not stand that which was enjoined, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;" 12:21 And so fearful was the appearance, that Moshe said, "I am terrified and trembling." 12:22 But you have come to Mount Tziyon, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Yerushalayim, and to innumerable hosts of angels, 12:23 To the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 12:24 To Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Hevel. 12:25 See that you don't refuse him who speaks. For if they didn't escape when they refused him who warned on the Eretz, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, Now I want to be very implicit and careful. Did they really come to Sinai? You see the description? The Holy Spirit through the writer is making it very, very definite and positive and emphatic that this was something very real—so real that even Moses, who had such access to God, such fellowship with God, with whom God did speak Face to face as a man to his friend, this man said: “I exceedingly fear and quake.” Was that real? Was that imaginary? Was that just abstract? No, this thing was very real. People cried out, “Stop, we cannot bear this. We cannot endure this.” Very real! That is what they came to. If you had been there, no doubt, you would have said, “There is no imaginary thing here. This is something terrific.” “But we are come,” and do you mean to say that the “but” is less real than the “not”? Do you mean to say that this that we are come to is abstract, while that was concrete? Oh, no, I am sure that this is even more real, after its own kind, in its own realm; and, dear friends, that is the point upon which we must focus everything, the reality of what we are come to. AUSTIN SPARKS FOUNDATION 2020