AN UNSHAKEABLE KINGDOM
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank You for including me.
Read HEBREWS 12:14–29
Warning and Encouragement
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[a] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[b]
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[c] 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”[d]
Footnotes
- Hebrews 12:20 Exodus 19:12,13
- Hebrews 12:21 See Deut. 9:19.
- Hebrews 12:26 Haggai 2:6
- Hebrews 12:29 Deut. 4:24
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
ZION! – ‘where finds the dreamer waking, truth beyond dreaming far, / nor is the heart’s possessing less than the heart’s desire.’ (Peter Abelard, 1079–1142, ‘How mighty are the sabbaths’)
Think Further
Today’s reading shows, as does all of Hebrews, how impossible it is to understand the New Testament without reading the Old. The ‘bitter root’ (15) is from Deuteronomy 29:18; the Esau story (16,17) is in Genesis 25:29–34 and 27:30–40. The burning mountain (18) is in Exodus 19, especially verses 16–19; Moses ‘trembling with fear’ (21) is after the golden calf episode, Deuteronomy 9:19. The shaking of earth and heaven (26) is in Haggai 2:6; and God as a consuming fire (29) in Deuteronomy 4:24. I will not allow scampering through all these passages to prevent my concentration on today’s reading. Esau’s profanity and godlessness are seen in his trading in his patrimony for a bowl of stew! Lord, protect me from falling – perhaps irreversibly into similar practical atheism through obsession with trivialities.
I pray for our imagination to awaken as we read the awe-inspiring paragraphs about Sinai and about the heavenly Jerusalem. Terrifying forest fires it seems are becoming more common around the world; one place where a person may find safety is in an area already burned over. Our burned-over area is Jesus and his sacrifice, absolutely central to the whole of Hebrews and now the last ‘better’ thing in the procession of better things we have been studying (24). Revel in the descriptions here in verses 22–24 as beginning to describe the wonders of Zion – a kingdom not just of the future, but whose joys we have already begun to taste and a kingdom which we are receiving here and now (28). Lord, amidst all the earthquakes and upheavals of this world or my life, thank you for this unshakeable kingdom!
Apply
‘Don’t just describe the joys of heaven, but go there yourself! Don’t be like a person who draws exact maps of countries but never visits them!’ (Adapted from Richard Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, 1650)
Closing prayer
Lord, keep me from descending to the level of Esau. Keep my eyes on heavenly things.
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