The Nobility of the Christian Life
A. Maclaren, D. D. Hebrews 12:18-24 For you are not come to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,… How noble the lowest life may become, like some poor, rough sea-shell with a gnarled and dimly-coloured exterior, tossed about in the surge of a stormy sea, or anchored to a rock, but when opened all iridescent with rainbow sheen within, and bearing a pearl of great price! So, to outward seeming, my life may be rough and solitary, and inconspicuous and sad, but, in inner reality, it may have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living. God, and have angels for its guardians, and all the first-born for its brethren and companions. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, WEB: For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,