Not Sinai but Zion: The Better Covenant Assembly

Hebrews contrasts two covenantal scenes. The readers have not come to the terrifying, touchable mountain of fire, darkness, tempest, trumpet, and fearful voice associated with Sinai. They have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, innumerable angels, the festive assembly, the church of the firstborn, God the judge, the perfected righteous, Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel’s. The contrast does not make Sinai evil; it contrasts mediated distance and terror with the astonishing access secured through Jesus while retaining God’s holiness and judgment.