Acceptable Worship and a Dreadful Warning

Hebrews 12:28-29
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, September 16, 2007
Copyright © 2007, P. G. Mathew

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.'” – Hebrews 12:28-29

In Hebrews 12:18-29 the author gives his final dreadful warning to the Hebrews. These people were tempted to become apostates by turning their backs on Jesus, and returning to Moses that they may live more normal, comfortable lives without persecution. They were weary of pursuing peace with all men and holiness, without which no one shall see God. They were in danger of becoming like Esau, who despised his rights as firstborn for a cup of soup. They were tempted to give up the Christian race altogether and forget about Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of God.

Are you tired in your service to Christ? Are you tempted by the world to give up the pursuit of holiness for the pursuit of worldly happiness? If so, pay close attention to the voice of God in this passage. The living God speaks to his people to train us in righteousness so that we may do his will delightfully. Let us, therefore, consider the worship at Mount Sinai, which was pure dread; the worship at Mount Zion, which is pure joy; and pay heed to the dreadful warning found in this passage.

The Worship of Mount Sinai

The Hebrews wanted to go back to the old covenant of Judaism. They longed to return to Mount Sinai, where God gave them the Ten Commandments. They wanted to turn their backs on the better, new, eternal covenant whose mediator and guarantor is Jesus, and go back to that which was obsolete, aging, and disappearing. They were tempted to return to the self-righteousness of supposedly keeping the law.

Mount Sinai was designed to frighten and terrify sinners, for it points to the infinite holiness of the living God and the infinite sinfulness of the sons of Adam. This mountain is all holy. There are holy angels on this mountain but not people. We are told that it quakes and burns with fire and volcanic eruptions. There is darkness, gloom, and fiery storm. There is the warning of the trumpet blasts. There is the piercing noise of God’s words. It is a fearsome sight.

Mount Sinai says, “Stay away, you sinners. Do not come here, neither you nor your animals. Do not touch the holy mountain, lest you die. And if an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death. Stay away. You are not holy! If you come, you will die, not live!”

But who can keep the Ten Commandments? Even Moses the mediator was full of fear and trembling when he approached the mountain. How could he help anyone? Moses himself was a sinner who needed a savior.

Sinai is a mountain of judgment, not justification. Therefore, we must stand away from it and cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” He who comes to Mount Sinai is under the law and under a curse. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3 that Sinai stands for the ministry of condemnation and death. There is no comfort and rest for sinners on Mount Sinai.

When Israel came and stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, the people cried out in terror to Moses: “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die, if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal man has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and survived?” (Deut. 5:24-27). Their words were similar to the response of Isaiah when he saw the thrice-holy God high and lifted up: “Woe to me!’ [he] cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty'” (Is. 6:5). The psalmist also writes of such terror: “We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan” (Ps. 90:7-9).

Guilt and sin causes us to tremble with fear. We must have some way to get rid of our human guilt forever that we might approach God. But there is no access to God in Judaism. The people of Israel had to stand far away from the Holy of Holies. The priests also stood far away. Only the high priest could approach the Holy of Holies behind the thick veil, only once a year and only with blood.

Would you want to go back to the law and its ministry of condemnation and death? Paul says concerning the law, “Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. Rather, through the law we come conscious of sin . . . The law brings wrath . . . The law was added so that the trespass might increase . . . The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 5:20; 1 Cor. 15:56).

There is no salvation on Mount Sinai. There is no righteousness, peace, and joy on Mount Sinai. For that we must go to Mount Zion-not to the geographical Mount Zion of Jerusalem where the temple stood, but the heavenly Mount Zion.

The Worship of Mount Zion

Let us then look at worship at Mount Zion. Hebrews 12:22-24 describes seven blessings for the worshipers. Mount Zion stands for the gospel and grace. It is the city of the living God, the spiritual, heavenly Jerusalem to which Jesus Christ ascended and where he is now seated on the right hand of the throne of God.

1. We Have Come to Mount Zion

The Hebrews writer says we have not come to Mount Sinai but to Mount Zion, by faith in Jesus Christ. The Greek text tells us we have come permanently to the city of the living God; we shall never go back to the mountain of death. If a person returns to Judaism, it means he never came to Mount Zion and his name is not written in heaven. No one who is born of God will go back. John says people went out from the church because they were not of it (1 John 2:19). No child of God will become apostate because God will keep him faithful to the end.

Yet there is no difference between God of Mount Sinai and the God of Mount Zion. The God of Mount Zion is infinitely holy. How, then, can we come to Mount Zion? The answer is that God must change us. We have a fit mediator who has solved our sin problem forever. By the grace of God, Jesus Christ tasted death for every believer. By his death he destroyed the devil and our death and made atonement for our sins. We belong to the new covenant of which Jesus is the mediator, and in this new covenant we have been given a new nature. We are new creations in a new relationship with the triune God. All our sins are forgiven and forgotten. Thus, we have been made holy and can enjoy communion with a holy God.

Unlike Mount Sinai, Mount Zion invites us to come to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Mount Zion is the mountain of grace, the mountain of life, peace, righteousness, and joy. We are invited to come to this heavenly feast: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17). The Hebrews writer repeatedly tells us to come, draw near, and approach, saying there is unrestricted access for believers to the Mount Zion that is above. Therefore, we may come as royal priests to worship God. We may come with confidence, with consciences sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus.

In Hebrews 4:16 he tells us, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” And in Hebrews 7:24-25 he says, “But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them.” In Hebrews 10:19-22 he exhorts: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Here, then, in Hebrews 12 we are told that we have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. We have come forever, never to go back to the terror of Mount Sinai. We have come cleansed, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have come to the city where God dwells, to the city with foundations Abraham was looking forward to, whose builder and maker is God. It is an indestructible, sinless city, a harmonious society where God dwells with holy people and holy angels. We have come to it by faith. As the earthly Zion was the meeting point for the tribes of Israel, so the heavenly Zion is the meeting point for the new Israel of God.

John describes it this way: “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Rev. 14:1). Jesus tells us, “Where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them” (Matt. 18:20). Whenever God’s people come together, God is in their midst. Paul writes, “When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present. . . .In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it” (1 Cor. 5:4; 11:18). Elsewhere, Paul writes, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church” (1 Cor. 14:26). When we assemble for worship, we are coming by faith to the heavenly Mount Zion, the city of the living God. What a privilege is ours in Jesus Christ!

2. We Have Come to Angels

We have come to innumerable angels (Heb. 12:22)-millions of holy, elect angels who delight in worshiping and serving God and who rejoice in God’s presence when one sinner repents.

The psalmist writes, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word” (Ps. 103:20). Hebrews 2:2 tells us angels were on Mount Sinai: “For if the message spoken by angels was binding.” They were, however, separated from sinful Israel. Now angels and saints are united in worship of God.

We may think these angels are superior to us, but Hebrews 1:14 tells us that they are servants who minister to believers. Paul indicates they are present in our worship services: “For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head” (1 Cor. 11:10).

We do not worship angels; rather, we worship God together with them. John writes, “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!'” (Rev. 19:10). He also says, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise'” (Rev. 5:11-12).

Worship is not self-adulation or entertainment. It is worshiping God triune. The angels and archangels gather with us to worship God, not in gloom, misery, and depression but with great joy.

3. We Have Come to the Church of the Firstborn

The author says we have come “to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). We have come, in other words, to all the redeemed of the Lord whose names are recorded in the book of life from all eternity. The Greek tells us these names are recorded permanently. What great security!

Jesus Christ is the firstborn (Heb. 1:6). He is the most excellent one, which is what being firstborn means. He is the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29), the firstborn of every creature (Col. 1:15), and the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18). Israel is called God’s firstborn (Ex. 4:22). We are also firstborn ones with rights. We are brothers of Jesus. We are born again, born of the Spirit, born from above (John 3:3, 5).

Jesus the firstborn is also heir of all things (Heb. 1:2), and we are joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Brothers and sisters, we are rich in Christ. Paul says that Jesus became poor that we might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). Who cares for the world’s silver and gold and fame? God is our portion. Unlike Esau, we do not despise our firstborn rights, but value spiritual blessings.

Our names are written in heaven in the Lamb’s book of life; thus, when we come to worship, we are coming to this church of all the firstborn ones. Paul writes, “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2). The church is not just a thousand people here, five hundred there, and twenty somewhere else. When we come together to worship, we are in a sense joining with all who worship Christ in this world and in heaven-a vast multitude of people, brothers and sisters who call upon the name of the Lord in spirit and in truth, with all whose names are in the book of life.

Daniel speaks about God’s people whose names are written in God’s book (Dan. 12:1). Jesus tells us, “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you. But rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). My name is in God’s book and so is yours. It is a permanent record; he who wrote it shall not erase it. Paul writes, “Yes, and I ask, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life” (Phil. 4:3, italics added). In Philippians 3:20 he tells us that our citizenship is in heaven. John speaks much about the book of life (Rev. 3:5, 13:8; 17:8; 20:12,15; 21:27). For example, Revelation 21:27 says, “Nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

4. We Have Come to God the Judge

We have come to the Judge, God of all. God is the judge of all. This means there is only one living God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All who do not believe in Jesus Christ are worshiping false gods. We cannot come to the one true and living God without Jesus Christ.

By faith we have come to this God who is the Judge of all peoples of the world, living and dead. Abraham understood that God is a righteous Judge (Gen. 18:25). Peter also speaks of this (1 Pet. 2:23), as does Paul (2 Tim. 4:8). But thanks be to God, when he judges us, he shall not condemn us, but justify us because we are even now justified: “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). Paul writes, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Our sins, guilt, and punishment are imputed to him and his righteousness is imputed to us: “He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Hebrews 10:10, 14 tells us, “And by that will we have been holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all . . . . Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” In Hebrews 9:28 we read, “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.”

But he shall judge all who refuse to come to him through faith. “For without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). Our God is the Judge of all. He also judges and condemns all false believers. No one can escape his judgment: “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Heb. 4:12-13). Hebrews 10:30-31 tells us: “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Finally, in Hebrews 12:29 we read, “For our ‘God is a consuming fire.'”

5. We Have Come to the Spirits of Just Men Made Perfect

Next, the writer says we have “come to the spirits of righteous men made perfect” (Heb. 12:23). When we come to worship by faith, we are joining with all saints who lived and died in faith in the Messiah as well as with angels in worship of the true and living God. So we are coming to Abel, Abraham, Paul, Luther, Calvin, my parents and others when we come to worship.

Paul says to depart, or die, is to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). He also says to depart is to go home to the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). John writes: “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them'” (Rev. 14:13). These are righteous because they believed in the Messiah: “But my righteous one will live by faith” (Heb. 10:38). At death God perfected them and they are now without sin. They have entered into rest; there is no more pain and sorrow. In God’s presence they await their bodily resurrection. So do not weep for believers who have gone before us in death. They are rejoicing in God’s presence as they worship God together with us.

6. We Have Come to Jesus

The author says that when we come to worship by the Spirit, we are coming “to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb. 12:24). Having accomplished our redemption on the cross, Christ is seated on the right hand of the throne of God: His name is Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins (cf. Matt. 1:21). The Hebrews writer puts emphasis on Jesus and his blood.

Mount Sinai is terrifying to us because we did not have a sinless mediator. Moses himself was terrified. But no such fear is warranted on Mount Zion, for now we have a fit mediator, the sinless Son of God: “Such a high priest meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Though he was a son, he learned obedience by what he suffered. And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all those who obey him” (Heb. 7:26). Jesus Christ tasted death for us all. He is our mediator, atonement, and older brother. He knows us and we know him. He is our sympathizing high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (PGM) He is the mediator of the new, better, eternal covenant that made us new creatures, gave us a new relationship with God, and forgave all our sins, having cast them to the bottom of God’s ocean of forgetfulness. It is this Jesus, on the basis of his death and resurrection, who calls us sinners to come to him and rest.

7. We Have Come to the Sprinkled Blood of Christ

Finally, the author says we have come “to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than that of Abel” (Heb. 12:24). Hebrews 9:22 declares, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” But the blood of the Jewish sacrificial system could not take away sins: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year make perfect those who draw near to worship . . . . It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins . . . . Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins” (Heb. 10:1, 4, 11). Whose blood is effectual? Only the blood of Christ can take away all our sins: “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ who, through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Heb. 9:14).

Paul tells us what the blood of Jesus does for us: “In him we have redemption through his blood . . . But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Eph. 1:7; 2:13). We have been reconciled to God through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Mount Sinai terrifies us. It says, “Do not come near. You are sinners. The wrath of God is upon you.” But, thank God, we have another mountain, Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. There Jesus and his blood speak grace and forgiveness to us.

The dying Stephen saw heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He calls us to come: “Come and live forever. Come and rejoice. Come and rest. Your sin problem has been solved on Calvary’s cross. You are forgiven and justified forever. Come and commune with God.”

Christians can rejoice because God brought us, not to Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion, to Jesus Christ. He shed his blood for us, taking upon himself our sins, guilt, and death, and now we live by grace. We deserved death, but he gave us life. We deserved hell, but he gave us heaven. He says, “Come, let us fellowship,” and we join with holy angels, the church of the firstborn, the spirits of just men made perfect, and all the people on this earth who are calling upon the name of the Lord. We serve and worship our God in godly fear and awe.

A Dreadful Warning

Having spoken about the worship of Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, the author concludes this chapter with a dire warning to his readers (Heb. 12:25-29). Some people think that those living in the gospel age have it easy and that it does not matter how we live; God is now nice. But the greater the light, the greater our responsibility. The writer ends this section on a sober note: “for our ‘God is a consuming fire'” (v. 29).

We are familiar with God’s severe judgments in the Old Testament. When Elijah fled to Horeb, God instructed him to anoint Hazael (1 Kings 19:15). He did so through Elisha (2 Kings 8). Elisha began to weep, and Hazael asked why. “‘Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,’ he answered. ‘You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women” (v. 12). By divine ordination and divine commission God deliberately anointed Hazael and let these things happen to his people who were engaged in Baal worship.

There is no difference, however, between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, because God cannot change. It is foolish to think that the God of the New Testament will do nothing to discipline his children. Modern man has created an image of our heavenly Father as an apathetic, passive father who does not involve himself in the affairs of his children. Such fathers fail utterly in representing God to their families. But this is not the God of the Bible.

Elisha predicted Hazael’s army would rip open pregnant women and dash children to the ground. We see these things happening also in New Testament times when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Jesus predicted it: “They will dash your children on the rocks” (Luke 19:44). Such atrocities happened and will happen again in God’s universe by his divine ordination.

Greater revelation means greater responsibility. God has spoken in the past through the prophets in part, but now he has spoken finally and fully by his Son (Heb. 1:1-3). We must not refuse him who speaks; rather, we must count it a great privilege if God is still speaking to us because a time may come when he stops. How terrible to be in the church but receive nothing because God has stopped speaking to us: “They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven” (Mark 4:12). Not hearing is a divine curse. Therefore, do not refuse or reject him who speaks, because he is God. He has spoken in the past and he speaks again now.

God is speaking continually to us from the Scriptures. It is a great joy to rise early each day and open the Bible. God also speaks to us through daily family worship. Some homes are like the altar in Samaria that was in ruins until Elijah repaired it. But we must regularly read the Scriptures and pray, or our lives will be disorderly. God also speaks to us through his Holy Spirit, and through his appointed ministers, parents and teachers, and other brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Refuse him and be condemned, or believe him and be saved. Jesus said, “My word is spirit and my word is life.” What a privilege it is to hear the word of God by which we can cross from death to life!

God is speaking to us today from Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, inviting us to his great wedding banquet. We must pay attention and realize who is speaking. Do not create excuses for not coming: “I have bought a field. I must go and inspect it”; “I have bought ten oxen and must try them out now”; “I just got married; I cannot come.” Excuse after excuse is given to him who speaks good news to us from heaven. Yet how many people are engrossed in the affairs of this world-planting, harvesting, buying, selling, marrying and giving in marriage-while their altars lie in ruins? All we seek after is fun. Soon we find out that life is not all fun, but it will be too late. ”

God’s wrath shall be poured out upon those who refuse him. No one can escape the Judge and Sovereign Lord of the universe. Therefore, I urge you to repent and be saved now while God is still speaking in grace. At Mount Sinai he spoke and the earth shook. But a day is coming when God will shake both the earth and the heavens. No one will escape God’s final cosmic shaking.

We all have experienced some shaking in our lives. But there is a final shaking coming and who can endure it? Those who are tempted to go back to Judaism and the comforts of this world must pay heed to this dreadful warning. We cannot escape God’s cosmic shaking, which is designed to prove what is unshakable: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet. 3:10-12).

There is a great shaking coming. The Hebrews writer quotes Psalm 102: “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same and your years will never end” (Heb. 1:10-12). John tells us: “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boasting of things will all go away. Paul says, “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). Our world looks so strong, sturdy, and touchable. Some say it is eternal and will remain forever. But the cosmos is a created work of God and made subject to vanity. In time, God will shake it all and then create a new heaven and a new earth, where he will dwell with his people in righteousness.

God will wipe out everything that is marred by sin. Daniel spoke of this to Nebuchadnezzar: “You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue-an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:31-35). Elsewhere he said, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13-14).

In the light of this shaking, consider the teachings of Christ: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt. 7:24-27). Houses built on the sand of human reason and arrogance will fall with a great crash when they are shaken. It happens to families and individuals if they do not build on the principles of the kingdom of God.

Although this created world will be shaken, the kingdom of God will never be shaken. God and his holy people shall inhabit the new heaven and the new earth. Jesus says of those who trust in him, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). We are unshakable because we trust in Jesus Christ. He who trusts in him shall never be dismayed (cf. Is. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:6). Nothing in all the world is able to shake us.

What Must We Do to Be Saved?

Therefore, do not despise the gospel or him who speaks. Do not despise grace. Do not despise Jesus and his blood. Do not avoid holiness, persecution, or chastisement. There is no refuge for us in this world. God will smoke us out of all bushes and caves and holes in the ground that we think will shelter us: “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'” (Rev. 6:15-17).

What must we do to be saved? Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Enter through the narrow gate. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Strive to enter the unshakable kingdom of God, which Jesus says believers are receiving even now: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:32-34). Join with those to whom the King says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). When God shakes all things, the kingdom and those in the kingdom will alone remain. Nothing in all creation shall shake them.

To refuse the gospel brings greater judgment than refusing the Mosaic covenant. Therefore, the Hebrews writer warns his readers several times: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Heb. 2:1-3). Then he writes, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace” (Heb. 6:4-6).

This is a warning to all who confess Jesus Christ and are baptized: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:26-31).

What should we do? Three times the Hebrews writer tells us, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts'” (Heb. 3:7, 15; 4:7). God is speaking from heaven. We must not refuse him, but humble ourselves under his mighty hand. This is the day of grace. Soon he may stop speaking to us. We may be in the church but hear nothing. We may be at our family devotions but receive no understanding. Beyond that, we will soon die and stand before the Judge. What will be our defense? If he has spoken but we have rejected his words, we will hear the shocking and shaking words, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matt. 7:23). Jesus says of such people, “Then they shall go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).

The great shaking is coming. Let us run to Christ, trust in Christ, and be found in Christ. Let us follow Christ and be safe. In Psalm 15 the writer says that the man who lives a holy life “will never be shaken” (v. 5). Elsewhere the psalmist says, “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Ps. 16:8). Let all troubles come; we shall not be shaken.

The Hebrews writer concludes, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe” (Heb. 12:28). We worship God acceptably by doing what pleases him. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Woe unto that person who sees all things under the rubric of fun. The purpose of our lives is to find out the will of God and do it. Paul writes, “So we make it our goal to please him whether we are at home in the body or away from it. . . . And find out what pleases the Lord . . . . I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God” (2 Cor. 5:9; Eph. 5:10; Phil. 4:18). Real pleasure comes to us when we do the will of God. Our goal is to find out what God’s will is and commit ourselves to doing it, that we may enjoy stability when everything is shaking.

The Hebrews writer warns us not refuse him who warns us from heaven, but to be thankful by hearing and serving God all of life in reverence and awe, for “our ‘God is a consuming fire.'” On the Mount of Transfiguration the Father said, “This is my beloved Son; hear ye him.” Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Are you his sheep? Do you hear his voice? I pray that you will, before the day of your shaking comes.