Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,

who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

¹⁶ who exult in your name all the day

and in your righteousness are exalted.

(Psalm 89:15-16)

On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

² the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

³ Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah

⁴ Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—

“This one was born there,” they say.

⁵ And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her.

⁶ The Lord records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

² Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

(Psalm 90:1-2)

¹⁸ For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 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, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.(Hebrews 12:18-24)

The author of Hebrews allegorizes Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion so that they represent two contrasting covenants: the Mosaic covenant (associated with Sinai) and the Davidic covenant (associated with Zion). Though both covenants are fulfilled in Christ, the Davidic covenant reaches a special climax in Jesus’ resurrection and ascension as these constitute the coronation and enthronement of the Davidic descendent who will finally make good on God’s promise to have a descendent of David reign forever. Heb 12:22-24 proceeds to describe a royal courtroom scene with all of the royal attendants celebrating Jesus’ accession to the throne.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” (Lev 19:9-10)

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

⁴ In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56)

“For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? ²⁰ For you are our glory and joy.”

Paul’s words to his beloved brothers and sisters in 1 Thess 2:19-20 are striking. Elsewhere Paul suggests that nothing other than Christ is his hope, his glory, his cause for boasting (Col 1:27; Gal 6:14). Yet here Paul dares to suggest that he boasts in those whom he converted to Christ in Thessalonica. They, he asserts, are his glory and joy. How can both be true? Is Paul here stooping to counting heads, to tallying up the number of baptisms under his belt? This seems unlikely given his apparent lack of concern for such matters, a lack of concern underscored by his apparent forgetfulness of whom or how many he baptized in Corinth (1 Cor 1:14).