[But you have come to Mount Zion]… to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect …

Imagine if you worked your whole life as the second son (or a daughter) and were taken care of, but only the firstborn son received the blessing and birthright inheritance. How would this make you feel? A little like a second rate family member?

This is the way things worked in the Jewish culture. Other cultures had even harsher or more restrictive rules, such as a dowry is paid to a man in order to entice him to marry a woman, or only arranged marriages are allowed. Not saying that any of the customs are by themselves bad, but they definitely can put some at a disadvantage over others.

When the Bible references the church of the firstborn, these are the Christ followers or Christians. This is a status we receive through Jesus Christ, our advocate. Because he paid the price for our sins, we are grafted into an inheritance in heaven, a firstborn blessing, and a birthright. In God’s kingdom we are all seen as righteous through the blood of Christ Jesus. We belong to the church of the firstborn with all of its rights and privileges!

And we come to God, the Judge of all. This is good for true followers because in their hearts they have been working out their salvation with fear and trembling (not taking the glory or becoming proud) and will be perfected in heaven (see Phil. 1:6 & 2:12-13). But this will be bad for the godless and the pretend Christians or CINOs (Christians In Name Only), as I like to call them. Because The Judge will see through the outward facade into their heart and they will be condemned into hell.

And we also, when we come to Zion, will come to the “spirits made righteous”. This is most likely a reference to those who came before Christ who God declares are righteous. Some examples of people we know for sure are included here are: Noah, Abraham, Samuel, and King David. Why? Because the Bible tells us so.

So in summary, the second set of benefits or people we come to are at Mount Zion are: 1) our inheritance together with all the saints whose names are written on the book of life in heaven. These are those of us who believed (and acted upon this belief) upon the name of Jesus Christ or who God declared were righteous. 2) We come to the Judge of all, who will test our works, our minds, and our hearts in the fire of his holiness and purity, to see what of quality remains. 3) We come together with the righteous saints of old who followed God to complete his church.

Oh how glorious it will be when we come to our Mount Zion, our spiritual dwelling place with Jesus Christ and God the Father!

Lord, thank you for helping me to see these descriptions of my inheritance. You love me deeply and you planned for me to be brought together with your other followers of the past and the future. Together we make your church, and together we inherit the goodness of our God!