The passage is showing the contrast between when Israel gathered before Mt Sinai to met their God, and of born again saints coming to Mt Zion to offer to God an acceptable offering of service. Israel came to a mountain that could be seen and touched, though they were forbidden to come so close as to touch the mountain. Paul says, "But you have come to Mt Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven, and to God."

Because we do not actually see these things doesn’t mean that we are not actually there. A shadow is sometimes all we see. But a shadow reveals that there is a reality that we do not see-a reality that is very near. God had long given shadows of the Heavenly. Moses was instructed to carefully build the Tabernacle because it represented a Heavenly reality. Shadows are not the substance but they do reveal that there is a substance. God has used shadows and the observance of them to teach His people the holiness of the Heavenly realities.

Isaiah entered the Temple in Jerusalem many times seeing only the earthly shadow without seeing the heavenly reality. But one day when he stepped into the Temple He saw the Lord high and lifted up. Isaiah’s natural, material eyes were closed and his spiritual eyes were opened to peer into the eternal realm. He didn’t go beyond the veil to see God in the stone Temple, he was transported into the heavenly temple. Isaiah was in the courtyard of the earthly Temple, but suddenly his spiritual eyes were opened to see what was always there, the Temple in Heaven. It changed his life. He saw himself as unclean for the first time. He suddenly understood the value of being cleansed by the Lord. God opened Isaiah’s spiritual eyes as He had opened the eyes of Gehazi, Elisha’s servant. At Mars Hill, Paul said that God does not dwell in temples made with hands, and that God is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17)

Isaiah was not a priest of Levi. Nor was he a son of Aaron, the High Priest. Not being a Priest, Isaiah was not qualified to enter the Holy of Holies under the Sinai Covenant. The Sinai Covenant had an ordained Priesthood of the tribe of Levi to perform the various priestly duties. And from the tribe of Levi, only the sons of Aaron were permitted to enter through the veil into the presence of God. But Isaiah was not merely a member of the Israelite family, but as a part of the great cloud of witnesses, he was born of the Spirit and was also an heir of Abraham’s Covenant of Promise. Because of this he was a member of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, an eternal Priesthood which was greater than Levi and Aaron, and which also preceded them.

When God shut his natural eyes and opened his spiritual eyes Isaiah was able to see past the shadows and experience the reality of what was occurring in the eternal realm. He could see the Lord sitting on His glorious Throne and the Heavenly hosts. For the first time he understood that he was sitting in Heavenly Places with the Lord. Paul understood this truth well, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6)

During a Friday night Praise and Prayer service my middle daughter Sarah was moved by the Spirit to lay on her face in prayer. The congregation was in worship singing "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."

When she was moved to lift up her face and open her eyes it wasn’t her natural eyes that opened, it was her spiritual eyes. As she looked she saw transparent, flesh colored veils and Jesus seated on His Throne beyond. The veils were glistening and were gently being gathered at the sides so as to open up before her. She could see people as far as the eye could see in worship and praise. The angels were also in worship and she could sense that the "great cloud of witnesses" were also there. And they were all singing the Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus song in perfect unison with our congregation. The members of our congregation were singing praise in perfect unison with the "general assembly and Church of the Firstborn" and with the Heavenly Host, though only Sarah knew because her spiritual eyes were opened to see and experience the reality of the eternal realm.

To the rest of us it appeared that our congregation was alone having services in our sanctuary in Russellville. But it seems that in the Spirit we were fulfilling what Jesus had spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well-worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth - and not on an earthly mountain or an earthly city, but in the Jerusalem above on the heavenly Mt. Zion.

There is an interesting story in 2 Kings Chapter 6. The king of Aram was warring against Israel and each time he brought his army to ambush them he found that they were ready and prepared. He was enraged! Believing that one of his trusted servants was a traitor he asked, "Will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?!" One of his servants answered saying "No, lord, O king; but Elisha the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that you speak." (Verses 11-12)

Once the king of Aram discovered that Elisha was in the city of Dothan, he sent his army to surround the city during the night. Early that next morning Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, went out of the house and saw the great army. But when he gave Elisha the alarming news Elisha said, -"Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed that God would open Gehazi’s spiritual eyes that he may see. God answered that prayer and when his servant looked again he saw a mountain full of war horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. They were there before though Gehazi could not see.

On the surface, all of this could be taken as very "nice" sounding stories and inspiring Scriptures that makes us feel pretty special. Though the Scriptures are not written in future tense but present tense, we still automatically receive all of this as mere allegory and referring to the future when all of God’s people will live with Him in Glory. But as we read on we discover something else that just doesn’t quite fit this narrative. The end of verse 23 says that we have also come "to the spirits of the righteous made perfect."

Now this no doubt is referring to the great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us named in Chapter 11. Verse 39 says that they gained their approval through their faith but have not received what was promised in the Covenant of Grace through Faith. Verse 40 says that apart from us, that is, the Church, they would not be made perfect.

So, as we come to the Holy City on Mt. Zion, the angels are there, the Church of the Firstborn assembles there, God and Jesus are there, but only the spirits of the great cloud of witnesses are there. Though there is no thought in the grave as the righteous sleep awaiting their resurrection, the Bible teaches that the spirit of man returns to God when he dies. So, the spirits of the righteous made perfect are held in Heaven until the time of the resurrection when they will rise incorruptible in the glory of the Lord and met Him in the air.

We’ve been called to come beyond the veil. Hebrews 10 talks about entering into the Presence of God through the veil which is the torn flesh of Jesus. Then we receive the exhortation to not forsake the assembling together as some were doing but to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That’s something we can only do when we are together. So the context of Chapter 12 also includes Chapter 11regarding the cloud of witnesses, and Chapter 10 concerning our assembling together for services. This is an important point, because it seems that the reason we have come to assemble at Mt Zion, to the living God and His angels, is to also join with our brethren, "the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn" that together "we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe." So we must ask the question-can we offer an acceptable service to God at the wrong time or in a casual manner? Remember, the last two verses of Chapter 12 warns that since our God is a consuming fire, we should come in service to Him with reverence and awe.

Entering through the veil into the Holy Place "by a new and living way" in Hebrews 10:20 is in the same context as verse 25 "not forsaking our own assembling together." Sabbath observance is not only a day set apart in which we rest from our secular labor, it is also a time when God has commanded a holy convocation, - "For six days work may be done, but on the Seventh Day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation." (Leviticus 23:3) God has a right, appointed time, a right reverent way, and a right appointed place

A holy convocation is a summons from God to gather before Him at a time set apart for a formal assembly-that is the actual definition. With that in mind, it’s easy to see that there are a lot of Churches out there that are not only ignoring the Sabbath, but are going to great lengths to make their services neither reverent nor formal. Not to suggest that we are to aim to impress God with our dress, but we should wear the best that He has blessed us with.

More to the point, we should not make a conscious effort to make the time of our assembly to be ordinary or common in attitude, atmosphere and dress. Before God met Israel at Sinai He instructed them to consecrate themselves for three days first. Consecrate means to purify yourself, wash your clothes, and wholly dedicate yourself. Not to say a congregation should have a dress code. But we are a holy priesthood of the order of Melchizadek, and even the Levitical priesthood had certain garments they were to wear when they ministered before the Lord. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that each should wear their best just as we should be adorned inwardly with our best.