dancing angels

I once preached a sermon I called “A Tale of Two Mountains” that was based on a passage I revisited this morning, Hebrews 12:18-24:

“You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.’ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear.”’

“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.”

The first few verses are a reminder of the time when Moses went up Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments. That spectacle terrified the people. By contrast, the second part of this passage describes the joyous afterlife I can expect on Mount Zion.

What catches my attention this morning is the participation of the angels. At Mount Sinai there were angels too, with a specific job: to keep the people from God. You can read about it in Exodus and Deuteronomy – God set limits and warned that the people would be struck down if they ventured beyond them.

In Zion, though, when I’m singing and dancing in the streets, there will be angels right there with me, “thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly” right there with the church of Jesus the firstborn. And Jesus himself will be there; his is the sprinkled blood that finally did what no other man’s could.

As I consider this season what makes Christmas so special, I imagine dancing with angels in the streets of the new Jerusalem. That seems like a big deal!