When Do We Go To Heaven? — Hebrews 12:18-29 | Video Devotion With Dave Miers | Good News Unlimited
When Do We Go to Heaven? — Hebrews 12:18-29 | Video Devotion with Dave Miers
May 19, 2026 23630
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Have you ever noticed how your behaviour changes depending on where you are?
Walk into a library… you lower your voice. Walk into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre with 10,000 other people… you get loud. A wedding is different from a funeral. Knowing your location shapes how you act.
If you know your location is church, how does that shape what you do?
This week, we’re in the second half of Hebrews. And the writer wants us to know exactly where we are when we assemble as the people of God. Because once you see it, everything changes.
There are three movements I want you to notice in this passage.
Assembled to Christ and celebration
Movement one: We are ASSEMBLED TO CHRIST AND CELEBRATION.
The writer sets up a contrast between two mountains. On one side, Mount Sinai. Verses 18 to 21 describe it. Blazing fire. Darkness. Gloom. Tempest. The sound of a trumpet so terrifying that even Moses says, “I tremble with fear.” This is the mountain where God gave the law to his rescued people. And it was a place no unholy person could touch and live.
But notice the contrast in verse 22. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering”
Did you catch that? Innumerable angels in permanent feast mode. Christmas lunch all day, every day, without ever feeling sick. That’s the picture.
And it’s not just angels. Verse 23 tells us the assembly of the firstborn is there too. That’s you, if you’re in Christ. Heirs with the highest privilege. The spirits of the righteous made perfect are there. That’s the Old Testament saints, perfected together with us through the sacrifice of Jesus. God himself is there, the judge of all.
And at the centre of it all, verse 24 says, “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
Abel’s blood cried out for avenging justice. Jesus’ blood cries out for mercy and forgiveness. Both matter. But Jesus’ blood is better. Because at the cross, justice was done and mercy was made possible. The penalty was paid. Once and for all.
Quick question: when do we go to heaven?
I used to answer that the way a lot of people do. We go to heaven when we die. But that’s not quite right. If you’re in Christ, you’re already there. Spiritually. Right now. You’ve already come to Mount Zion. You’re already part of the heavenly assembly. We long to be there physically, and one day, in resurrection bodies, we will be. But spiritually, today, you are around the throne of Christ.
Mount Sinai induces fear. Mount Zion induces freedom. That’s why our gatherings, however ordinary they look, should feel a little like a feast.
Assembled to hear and heed
Movement two: we are ASSEMBLED TO HEAR AND HEED.
Verse 25 says, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.” Jesus is speaking. From heaven. To his church. And the warning is sharp. If Israel didn’t escape when they refused God’s voice on earth, how much more serious is it to refuse him now that he speaks from heaven?
Verse 26 tells us his voice once shook the earth at Sinai. But there’s a greater shaking coming. Verse 27 says that shaking will remove everything that can be shaken. Created things. Physical things. They won’t last.
What remains? The kingdom that cannot be shaken. And the people who belong to it.
So be careful what you cling to. Don’t grip the things that are passing away. Grip Christ. Grip his word. We are to be a people of the word. Hearing it. And heeding it.
Assembled to wonder and worship
Movement three: we are ASSEMBLED TO WONDER AND WORSHIP.
Verses 28 and 29 say, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
We don’t bring sacrifices for sin. Jesus has done that. What we bring is worship in response to all that God has done for us in Christ Jesus – gathering us to himself by his grace. We respond with wonder. With gratitude. With reverence. With awe.
The Good News is…
The good news is that Jesus’ blood speaks a better word. You have not come to a mountain you cannot touch. You have come to a city you cannot lose. You have come to the assembly of angels and saints and to Jesus himself. You are not striving for acceptance. You are worshipping from it.
So know where you are. When you gather with other believers in a local church community, you are not just in the physical room at your church building. If your trust is in Christ, you are right now assembled in heaven around the throne. So let’s give ourselves to Christ. Let’s hear and heed his word. And let’s gather in wonder and worship of a God who is a consuming fire and a Saviour who is better.
Reflection
Heavenly Father, thank you that in Christ we have already come to Mount Zion. Give us eyes to see where we really are. And shape our gatherings, our listening, and our worship by the joy of belonging to a kingdom that cannot be shaken. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
