Our preacher now pivots back to exhortation for the last time. He pulls this teaching matter together and spells out the warning it implies.
Hebrews 12:14-29
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled, 16 that no one be an immoral or profane person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit his father’s blessing, he was rejected because he found no opportunity to change his mind, even though he sought the blessing with tears.
18 You have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fire and gloomy darkness and storm 19 and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them, 20 for they could not bear to hear the command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22 No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, 23 and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, 24 and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently[g] than that of Abel.
25 See that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much more in our case if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only earth but heaven.” 27 That phrase, “once more,” points to [the] removal of shaken, created things, so that what is unshaken may remain. 28 Therefore, we who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Reading this passage, we may be sure of this: the preacher knows the Scriptures thoroughly. He knows his hearers must be right behind him in this. In a few sentences he references Genesis (multiple times), Exodus, Deuteronomy (multiple times), and the prophet Haggai. How many of us have re-read Haggai lately?
First, he turns from teaching to exhortation: don’t be like Esau and abandon your birthright and blessing for anything in this world that is passing away. Then he contrasts the coming-close-to-the-Lord experience of the people led by Moses–a fearful one–with the experience of joy, light, festivity, and closeness to God his hearers have received in coming to faith in Christ, “the mediator of a new covenant.” This should fill them with gratitude and joy, reflected in reverent, awe-filled worship. Don’t, he warns, don’t repeat the old, old mistakes of our forebears.
What about that last line “our God is a consuming fire”? This is not a warning about hell fire. He’s thinking of the fire of offering of gifts to God, the fire of a Temple sacrifice. That is a holy fire that both indicates God’s presence and sends the gift/sacrifice to God in the heavens, “consuming” it. It is a thank-filled gift from the worshiper to the Lord. Christ has shown us how to offer our very selves to God through holy living in faithfulness, and our God welcomes us, “consumes” us, takes us unto Himself, in everlasting joy, just as he welcomed and raised up his Son to glory. The rest of the sermon, chapter 13, will flesh that out!