Man’s attempts to make immovable or quake-proof structures only show us that there is nothing in this creation that is unshakeable. Those who put their trust in such things will be disappointed. In this passage the author of Hebrews brings to a conclusion his chapter 12 discourse. He wants his readers to realize that earthquakes are not the only thing that shakes the earth. And God, the Creator of all, unlike earthquakes, shakes not only the earth but also the heavens. And he describes the Lord in this way to show us that our ultimate trust is not to be in the temporary works of this world but in that, which is eternal.
The key idea of this passage is that there is a peril for those who reject the Word of God after having heard it. But the response of the believer in Christ is to be one of gratitude for God’s grace because God truly is a consuming fire.
I. A Warning against Rejecting the Word of God
In this summary passage we see first that the author gives us a warning against rejecting the Word of God. We find this in verses 25-27. There is peril in rejecting the Word of God. And he gives us two reasons why there is peril in rejecting the Word of God.
A. Those who refused a lesser voice perished
The first reason there is peril in rejecting the Word of God is that those who refused a lesser voice perished. The author continues his rhetorical device to move from the lesser to the greater. He uses a lesser argument and posits that if this lesser event is true than how much more so this greater event. Look at it in verse 25. “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” Now the lesser event is that of Moses speaking God’s words to the people (through God) at Sinai. But those who rejected Moses’ words were destroyed. Judgment permeates the books of Exodus and Numbers. As the people continued to reject Moses they died without mercy because they refused God’s chosen mediator for the nation of Israel.
The author moves to the greater event. He speaks of Him who now warns from heaven. It is no longer the voice of a mediator speaking from earth but the voice of God Himself with the message of His Son. Those who turn away from the Word of God NOW will experience greater wrath. Those who reject the Savior will experience God’s ultimate wrath. The author was speaking of the real possibility that there would be some in the congregation who had not received the Word of God but rejected it.
How about you? Have you received the Word of God in order to believe it and obey it and love it? Could you be one who refuses to listen to what God has to say? Listen, do not fool yourself like the Israelites who made a pretense of listening to God’s Word but really had their hands upon their ears. Those who refuse to hear Him who speaks from heaven will perish.
There are people, however, who believe they are listening to the Word of God when in actuality they are not. There are voices to which people listen other than the Word of God. Three come to mind quickly.
1. The voice of feeling – if it feels good
The first voice would be the voice of feeling. If it feels good, do it. Many people are run by their emotions. They can’t control their feelings and so they give into them. They say things like, “I feel like doing this all the time so I must be born this way.” Or they may say, “It can’t be wrong because it feels good when I do it.” But Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Someone led by feelings is not being led by the Word of God. They have succumbed to a voice that is often opposed to the Word of God.
Now I say “often” and not “always” because we have been created with emotions. Feelings in themselves are not bad. Think about all the good reasons for emotions, yes even anger or pain. How would know to remove your hand from a hot stove without feeling in your hand? That is part of the emotional network God has given us. Think with me. You are outside on the street and you see some hoodlum robbing an old lady, perhaps even hurting her. What emotion wells up inside? Anger! What might it cause you to do? At least call for help, maybe it would cause you to yell at the assailant to frighten him away. Perhaps it may cause you to kick this young punk’s teeth in if he were injuring the woman. Would any of this be wrong? No, if you can restrain yourself and not let uncontrolled rage take over that loses thought of reason and becomes a murderous and wrong thought. No, emotions are not necessarily wrong except when we allow our feelings To Reason For Us apart from the Word of God.
You know I feel much better when I punch someone who makes me mad or when I fling something against a wall when I am upset (there is a temporary release that makes me feel good) but the Scripture says the fool cannot control his anger. Ask someone who habitually uses illicit drugs. What is their response? “I take them because I feel good” (at least temporarily). The problem with allowing our feelings to rule us instead of the Word of God is “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
2. The voice of the senses – if it looks good
The second voice that people exchange for that of Scripture is the voice of the senses. This says, “If it looks good do it.” Again there is a problem with this. First, without biblical discernment many things look good. Jesus used the Pharisees as a prime example of this. In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” There are people who look righteous outwardly but inwardly are hypocrites. Without discernment even “the religious” can look good.
There are things that look good to the senses but are wrong. Moses noted in Genesis that when Eve looked at the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was a delight to her eyes. It appeared as a good thing. Her visual sense approved of what she saw. But her senses deceived her because God had forbidden it. Eve decided to listen to another voice instead of the Word of God and it brought great peril to her.
Again, it is not wrong to use our senses but we must train (There is the key word) our senses to obey God’s Word. This is what the author of Hebrews noted in chapter 5. In verse 14 he said, “Solid food (of the Word) is for the mature, who because of practice (or discipline) have their senses trained to discern both good and evil. We must train our senses to discern what is good and evil. We must train our children to discern what is good and evil. When I go to the market (I do most of the marketing in the home) and I bring my children, I train them where to direct their eyes when we are in the checkout line. Don’t look at that row of magazines. It is nothing that your eyes should be watching. When we watch some limited TV at home we train them that there are certain things we do not need to watch, like the commercials because of their blatant use of sexuality and sensuality to promote products. And my children are learning to discipline their eyes or their ears to turn away from the TV. Sometimes my son will cry out, “Dad, don’t look, it’s the cheerleaders.” And we train them to have discernment in what they hear. Sometimes if we get a video from the library and the narrator says, “This was formed 50 million years ago by distinct processes involved in tectonic plate movement,” Paul will inevitably say, “Yeah, that’s a lie.”
You need to train your senses to follow the Word of God. You need God-directed senses. If you don’t use discernment and train your senses to determine both good and evil, and if you don’t shun the evil and cling to the good you will be following another voice besides the Word of God. You may actually know that what you are looking at or listening to is not good or profitable but if you don’t remove yourself from it then you are still following another voice. Don’t be like Eve and be deceived by what looks good. It may look good, it may taste sweet but it may very well give you spiritual indigestion.
3. The voice of philosophy – if it sounds good
There is a third voice that people exchange for that of Scripture. It is the voice of philosophy. This voice says if it sounds good, follow it. In Colossians 2:8, the apostle Paul says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” Many people can speak well and present their case for a non Christ-centered philosophy of life. The trouble with this is that it is deadly.
Paul noted in 2 Timothy 4, the time would come when people “will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” Friends, the time is here. People are leaving churches because they don’t want to hear the truth because it calls them to reject their sinful desires and embrace holiness. The country is filled with churches that change their message in order to gain more adherents. If you do this you are listening to the voice of philosophy that merely sounds good. You have blocked your ears to the Word of God. In 2 Corinthians 10 Paul notes that we should be taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. We ought to have a biblical network in our mind through which we run every thought. There should be no stray thoughts. A biblical worldview should pervade our life. To what voice are you listening? If you are listening to these voices then you have stopped your ear to the Word of God.
B. God will remove the temporary to reveal the permanent
The second reason there is peril in rejecting the Word of God is that God will remove the temporary to reveal the permanent. In verses 26-27 the author notes, “And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’ This expression, ‘Yet once more,’ denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” The author is speaking of God’s removal of the created world. Everything will be burned up one day. Everything you own, everything you see, everything you know will be destroyed.
What people often set their hope on is that which they can see and feel instead of trusting what God says in His Word is true. Yet these are the very things that are temporary. When God comes to shake the world that which is temporary will be of no value. Think about it for a moment. If you were seeking to run to higher ground because you saw a Tsunami approaching the shore would you be thinking about going back to your hotel to get your wallet because it had $1,000 in it? Would you go back to get it if it had $10,000 in it? Unless you were an imbecile that really wouldn’t mean much to you at the time. Would you be thinking about strapping your boat down? If you owned a fishing company that had all its assets on the docks would you think about saving the boats and gear? I don’t think so.
When God shakes the heaven and the earth you will not think about the temporary any longer. You will not seek to rescue any of the stuff you thought you had. If you have refused to hear Him who speaks from heaven then you are in a very precarious place. The author is addressing a congregation of people who professed to know Christ but who made decisions in their lives as if He didn’t really mean anything to them. They claimed to go along with Christianity but refused to hear Him who spoke from heaven.
People will say, “What does the Bible say?” but then refuse to obey. These are people who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. Don’t be in that group. The passage calls for those who are on the fence to wake up and live in a manner consistent with what they profess. Are you listening to the Word of God or have you turned a deaf ear to it?
II. An Encouragement for a Christian Response
Secondly, in this passage the author now gives an encouragement for a Christian response. In other words, “What should the believer’s response be, in knowing that we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom?” We note three responses from the believer in verses 28-29.
A. Thanksgiving – We have a secure place
The first response from the believer is thanksgiving. We have a secure place. In verse 28 he says, “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude.” The basis for our gratitude to God is that He has provided for us an enduring kingdom that will never be dissolved. Our gratitude should well out of our hearts because there is no need to fear that we might come to the end of our life and find that somehow God’s promise of an eternal inheritance is not true. The truth is we do not deserve one whit of this kingdom that cannot be shaken. And yet by faith in Christ we have become partakers in it. It ought to produce gratitude in our hearts to the God who gives to us, in Christ, what we do not deserve.
Thanksgiving should be the first language of the believer. We have been given so much in Christ. And we have been delivered from so much. The work of God on our behalf to translate us from the dominion of Satan to the kingdom of His beloved Son is more than we can truly fathom if we only take the time to focus on it. Are you persistently expressing from your heart thankfulness for God’s great work in salvation? From beginning to end He has provided for us this unshakeable kingdom.
B. Continual service – We have work to do
The second response from the believer is continual service. We have work to do. He says in verse 28, “Therefore since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service.” The verb tense suggests that we should be offering continual service. “Let’s keep on offering to God an acceptable service.” This is not a casual commitment of service to God. We are not part-time servants for God. Let’s serve Him continually.
We have work to do. If God has given us a kingdom that cannot be shaken then should we not be about bringing others to find that kingdom? Wouldn’t it terrible if we come to the end of our life as believers but have never brought anyone to enter the kingdom with us? How self-centered would it seem to us then, at the beginning of our lives in heaven, when we think about the thousands upon thousands of people with whom we interacted while on this earth and never shared the Gospel with any of them?
It was the heart of Jesus to see laborers sent out to work in the fields. He said that the fields were ripe but there was a lack of those willing to labor in the harvest. I worked Nick’s garden for him two years ago. I couldn’t get there as often as I should have gone. Sometimes when I went to pick tomatoes, or other items, many were past ripe. I was sorry to see so much wasted. I wonder how our heavenly Father views our faulty service for Him when we have opportunity to go harvest a soul for Him but we neglect to do it and that soul becomes past ripe. Yes, sometimes a soul is past hearing. There was a time when they were ripe to hear but they have gone by. The opportunity for presenting the Gospel sometimes passes us because we neglected to do our father’s work in the field.
The Scripture says that, as believers, we ought to be zealous for good works. Living out our lives for others in good works is a means God has provided for us to lead someone to Christ. Others see that we are living selflessly and it gives us opportunity to tell the Gospel. An example of this is how Matta shared with us last week the opportunity he had to show undue kindness to a customer. This led to an opportunity to share the Gospel.
We have work to do. Let us not neglect the fact that our citizenship in this kingdom that cannot be moved calls for us to work for our King.
C. Humility – We must view ourselves in light of who God is
The third response from the believer is humility. We must view ourselves in light of who God is. The author ends the section in verses 28-29 by saying, “we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” In receiving this eternal kingdom we must recognize the greatness of God in comparison with our insignificance.
Our lives before God must be one of reverence and awe. The author has been describing God as the one who can, at His will, shake all that has been made as if it were His plaything. This should cause us to humbly look at ourselves as nothing. You who are proud about your health or strength or intelligence remember that you have nothing of that at all if God does not give it to you. How should this cause to be in awe of the God who could withhold your very next breath if He should see fit in His own wisdom to do so.
In the evening, Theodore Roosevelt and his friend, the naturalist, William Beebe, would go out and look at the skies, searching for a tiny patch of light near the constellation of Pegasus. “This is the spiral galaxy in Andromeda,” they would chant. “It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would turn to his companion and say, “Now I think we are small enough. Let’s go to bed.” Will you not stand in awe of this God? As believers in Christ we are called to serve Him in reverence and awe.
Think also, as you serve Him, that the fact that you found salvation in Jesus Christ, God chose you to serve Him. Jesus said to His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit.” This should humble your heart to think that God chose you to serve Him. Paul says in Colossians 3 that God’s choice of you should cause you to put on humility. In verse 12, Paul says, “And so, those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of…humility.” We deserved nothing but death and hell yet God gave us life and heaven. Please explain that to me with pride. Such grace that is bestowed on us should cause us to humble ourselves.
And the fact that we are able to serve Him should cause us to humble ourselves before Him. We can’t serve Him in our own strength. In 1 Corinthians 10:12 Paul says that if we think we are standing then we should beware so we do not fall. Progress, victory and growth in the Christian life are all by-products of God’s grace. If we don’t realize this we will fall before we know what is happening.
Ultimately the author is calling us to serve Him in humility for the reason that our God is a consuming fire. Believer, know that this is what the Lord requires of you. In Micah 6:8, the Lord says, “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Our God is a consuming fire. His power and might will shine through us brightly if we will but walk humbly with Him and you will accomplish great things in Him. But if you are not willing to heed His voice then know this, our God is a consuming fire. He will not take second place.
Many years ago, as a new believer, pride dominated an area of my life and God brought circumstances into my life so I might walk humbly with Him. If the Lord has been humbling you because your walk with Him has not been right then learn the lesson quickly, humble yourself so you may serve Him with gratitude in reverence and awe.