Hebrews 12 (KJV) - Bible Truth Library

• No mountain in the O.T., stood in such formal contrast with Sinai as Zion. The one was, as just noticed, the never to be forgotten scene of national responsibility to the law; the other the intervention of Jehovah in grace for His king when all was ruin, people and priests alike wicked, the ark taken by the Philistines, Ichabod confessed, Israel's king and his sons slain, and the Jebusite not only in the center and stronghold of Jerusalem but defiant and insulting. Then it was that Jehovah, as He chose David, so also chose the mount Zion which He loved. (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• our epistle simply introduces mount Zion compared with Sinai and its legal associations, as the signal expression of divine grace interposing to establish the kingdom after a scene of grievous sin and long humiliation. (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• If Zion was morally the highest to be descried here below, we now leave earth behind and above behold the city for which Abraham looked, as God prepared it for such as were pilgrims and strangers on earth, a city which hath the foundations, whose maker and builder is God. (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• all God's hosts that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Here they are presented in their fullness of various order. (“Hebrews 12:22-24” by W. Kelly)

• {v.22-24} 1. Sion; {The earthly capital of grace} 2. the heavenly Jerusalem; {The heavenly capital of grace.} 3. the angels and general assembly; {The unseen spirit host together with all redeemed people. Assembly=all the states of Greece} 4. the church of the firstborn, whose names are inscribed in heaven; {The church of God--the special object of grace. Firstborn=the citizens of a particular state of Greece.} 5. God the Judge of all; {The center of the scene.} 6. the spirits of the just made perfect; {The OT saints now in their final state of maturity.} 7. Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant; {God's blessing of a people on earth forever.} 8. and, finally, the blood of sprinkling which speaks better things than that of Abel. {Christ's blood brings peace not vengeance for those who have shed it.} (“Hebrews 12” by J.N. Darby)

• Everything in this world of bliss, the world to come, lies outside the region of sight and sense. Thus, when the apostle says we have come to these great realities, he surely means we have come to them in the apprehension of faith. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• Mount Zion sets forth as a symbol the ground on which all saints, earthly and heavenly, will come into blessing. Two Psalms, 78 and 132, will give us light as to the spiritual significance of Mount Zion. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• The heavenly Jerusalem. This city is symbolic both of the heavenly saints and their dwelling in the world to come. The earthly blessing of millennial days will be administered through this city—the nations will walk in the light of it. In contrast to earthly cities, it is called the city of the living God. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

• This will be the universal gathering of these spiritual beings. Every class and order of these glorious beings will be there. This innumerable company of angels exists already, and in the faith of our souls we have come to the conscious knowledge of their existence. (“God's Means to Keep Us in the Path of Faith: Hebrews 12” by H. Smith)

J. N. Darby Translation

but ye have come to mount Ziona; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels,

JND Translation Notes

The words "and" give the division of the subjects very distinctly here.

W. Kelly Translation

But ye have approached to mount Zion; anda to a living God’s city, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels, a universal assemblageb;

WK Translation Notes

The conjunction "and" used 7 times simply and effectively introduces and connects each of the objects in a remarkable order after the first. This was overlooked in the KJV following other translators, to the ruin of the meaning between the latter clause of verse 22 and beginning of verse 23. They consequently misrepresented the sense of this weighty passage. The myriads of angels are the general assembly, and "church of firstborn ones" are a new and wholly distinct group.

[The phrase "a universal assemblage" properly belongs in verse 22.] The phrase "general assembly" (panēgyrei) is clearly, in my judgment, epexegetic of the preceding words, "the innumerable company of angels," just as, in the clause before, "the heavenly Jerusalem" is a further explanation of "the city of the living God." The conjunction "and" introduces each new clause, which arrangement is destroyed in this particular instance, but observed in all the other parts of the sentence in the English Bible.