But the writer says, "look, this is already like real."
«You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering.»
Ok, there's your cloud of witnesses right there.
Say a little bit about Hebrews 2 here. If you want more detail on this,
we just did an episode of this on my podcast, Episode 340, on the cloud of witnesses' passage.
But if you think about what's going on in the cloud of witnesses passage,
let's go to Hebrews 12. That's Hebrews 2, let's go to Hebrews 12 first.
In case the passage is not familiar to you. The writer says,
«therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,
the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.»
And what we typically get, you know, if you hear sermons on this is;
sermons about the sin that's weighing us down, and that's appropriate, it's a problem.
But the cloud of witnesses is a big deal. I'm going to suggest something to you.
And again, if you want more detail, you go listen to the podcast episode.
This is Hebrews 12. I'm going to suggest that you understand and interpret
Hebrews 12:1 (the cloud of witnesses) in light of a few verses later in Hebrews 12.
Let's read them. Hebrews 12:22 and 23. Which says,
«But you have come to Mount Zion».
Ok, he's writing to Hebrew scattered around the world.
They're not at Mount Zion. Again, this is theological. Okay.
«You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.»
That's certainly not there yet. But Paul says, you've come, you've come to this place.
If we click on the verb, we see that it's perfect. In greek a perfect tense verb
is something that has happened in the past with ongoing results.
Paul or... not Paul, if you think Paul wrote this, it's fine. A lot of people do,
but we don't know for sure. But the writer says, "look, this is already like, real."
«You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to innumerable angels in festal gathering.»
Ok, there's your cloud of witnesses right there.
Yes, it includes the people of Hebrews 11. Why?
Because in the family of God at the end of days, it includes both;
supernatural beings, members of the heavenly hosts who are loyal to God,
and glorified humans who are made like the angels, they're the holy ones,
In other words, it's gonna look like it was supposed to look all the way back in Eden.
There's both groups there. So we're not excluding Hebrews 11,
but we're including Hebrews 12:22, and 23 in the way we read Hebrews 12:1.
«To the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven»,
the assembly, that language sounds familiar, the assembly, the assembly.
If we click on that, it's Ekklesia. It's the word for church.
It's also the word back in Hebrews 2; when Jesus introduces us to God
and God to us, in Hebrews 2, «I will tell of your name»,
Jesus says to God, «I will tell of your name to my brothers.»
Okay, brothers and sisters, I mean, brother is a neutral term,
«in the midst of the congregation», in the midst of the council.
And by the way, it's Ekklesia.
What's Paul thinking of here? Or the writer of Hebrews, whoever that is.
In the Septuagint, let's go to, see if I can remember this, pluck this out of my head.
In Psalm 88:6,
now the numbering of the Septuagint is different than the Hebrew Bible.
You'll notice here on the right hand side, I have these two linked:
I have the Septuagint linked with the traditional Hebrew text in the ESV.
This is the famous Divine Council passage in Psalm 89, about
«let the heavens praise your wonders... your faithfulness in the assembly
of the holy ones», there's that holy ones word again.
«For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings
[the Bene Elim] is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones.»
Well, guess what? If you look it up in the Greek Septuagint, look at what we get:
«The heavens will confess your wondrous things, O Lord, and your truth in the assembly
[the ekklesia] of the holy ones. For who in the clouds will be likened to the Lord?
And who will be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?»
What I'm suggesting to you is the cloud of witnesses is another way of expressing
the heavenly realm.
Read Hebrews 12:1 in light of Hebrews 12:22 and 23, and Hebrews 2,
and you'll see the picture.
This is us being members of the family counsel of God, both now and...
it's "already-and-not-yet", now and in the future.
Again, the setting for all of it is the throne room.
The link, let me see here. I basically summarized all that.
So, one more idea here. Believers in the Divine Council in the New Testament,
Revelation 4 and 5, I often get asked this question about, "hey, you know,
that really sounds like a heavenly throne room meeting.
It sounds like a Divine Council meeting." And it is.
And it's not just Mike saying it. This is the Word Biblical Commentary, written by Aune.
It's a very well known famous commentary. He writes this of Revelation 4 and 5, which,
underneath the altar, who's there?
It's the spirits of believers who are martyred. Okay,
they're members. Okay, they're in the throne room, they're in the same place.
«The focus of the throne vision is God enthronedin his heavenly court
surrounded by a variety of angelic beings or lesser deities…
who function as courtiers.
All such descriptions of God enthroned in the midst of his heavenly court are based
on the ancient conception of the divine council or assembly
found in Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and Phoenicia as well as in Israel.»
And the rest of it you know by virtue of taking this course. I just want you to see
that there are other scholars who pick up on this,
they pick up on the connections, they pick up on the context.