Meditation on Hebrews 12:25-29

I study the Scripture by copying a short text, studying it, then reflecting on it in a journal.

This is the journal entry I used in my recent sermon.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:25-29

These words close the main body of the letter. They remind the readers of the contrast between the temporal systems they inhabit and the eternal Kingdom to which they belong.
The world we live in now is akilter; we know enough about Shalom (the rightness of things) and get enough glimpses of Shalom to know two facts:

• This is not as it should be.
• This is not all there is.

 
  
Jesus’ miracles were not just publicity stunts.

He was pointing forward to a time when all that is corrupt and dying would be (to use the words of the text) “shaken,” and only the unshakeable Kingdom would be left standing. In that Kingdom, there is no more illness or corruption or injustice. All will be finally and eternally Shalom.

For our part, for now, we push back against the infecting evil of the current age, knowing that we cannot vanquish it but knowing also that it will not always remain.

The King is coming. As surely as He rose in triumph over the powers of sin and death at His first coming, He will utterly destroy them at His Second Coming.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Persevere
Paul Pyle
Pastor of Discipleship