Hebrews 12.end
December 7th 2014
Meat
Welcome to December.
Time flies in these days of rapid living.
We hope you can sit back and relax with us today.
This is the Meat Gathering of CAMPUS which meets here in the studio church in Salt Lake City Utah and we are streaming live out to any and all who tune in from other parts of the world.
If you haven’t been with us before we believe that Christianity is a wholly subjective experience as every individual will stand alone before God for the faith they embraced and love they expressed.
Here we pray
Hear the word of God set to music
Sit in silent reflection for a few minutes and when we come back today we will continue our verse by verse discussion of
Last week I presented a concept that suggests, with the advent of Christ’s coming that the physical elements of God’s economy – laws written in stone, brick and mortar church, elders boards, dress codes, and laws of health were completed . . . and that all things in Christ’s Kingdom – from Constantine until this present day – are completely spiritual.
I suggested that men have erroneously assumed that because Christ called apostles to build His earthly church men were supposed to try and perpetuate the same – even though the apostles had been killed off and Jesus had returned with judgment or reward on the house of Israel.
I also mentioned that I had little support for this idea except for the fact that
1 nowhere in the Bible does it supply direction for “the church” once the apostles were gone
2 nor does it ever say that the Bible was written as a manual for a physical church for future generations, and
3 once “the end of the age” was complete there would naturally be no reason for a physical church to continue but a spiritual for sure.
Additionally, I mentioned that our verses in Hebrews 12 were the first indication I could really sink my teeth in that suggests the physical is done and has been replaced by a spiritual body.
The reason I suggested the verses we studied last week endorse this position is because the writer of Hebrews made a point in verses 18–22 to show that all things in the Old Covenant were based on “fearful physical elements” and he compared them to the benefits of being a Christian now which, in verse 23-24, he proved were all located in heaven – or a non-physical realm.
Add in that in four different places the New Testament tells us that in the last dispensation of Grace God will write His laws on the minds and hearts of people and that nobody will need to teach his neighbor that there is a God for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest, and I thought we had a fairly good support for the idea.
That was until I really read the rest of chapter 12 of Hebrews. And now that I have I would suggest that there is some really good, strong support for this idea that in our day everything is spiritual and we ought to downplay the material/physical approach to Christianity as a result.
See, last week the writer compared life under the material, physical law to life under the elements of the heavenly, the spiritual.
In the face of this he now admonishes the reader saying in our text today:
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
27 And this word, “Yet once more,” signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
There’s a lot there but its pretty good stuff. So let’s wrap up chapter 12 today.
Back to 25 where the writer says:
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
“In the face of this comparison see, my fellow believers that you don’t disregard “Him that speaketh.” Meaning Jesus, who is the one who spoke in the New dispensation and reigns from heaven.
Do not turn away from him who has addressed you in this new dispensation who has called you to obey and serve him.
The parallel is to the previous verses where the writer described God speaking thundering words from Sinai but now He is speaking in tender tones which are much easier to hear.
Before He spoke in lightnings, smoke, thunder and the clouds, but now He speaks messages of mercy through His Son.
This was the message of the first verses we studied in this book where the writer said:
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son”
So the writer says, “See to it that you don’t neglect the one who is speaking to you now,” and he justifies this by saying:
“For if they (the children of Israel) escaped not who refused him that spake on earth (Moses)”
“If they who heard God through Moses and refused to obey him were cut off . . . “
In other words “if those who heard a man on earth speak but rejected Him and were cut off,
“(how) much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven?”
We have more than adequately proven that in the case of the Jewish converts the possibility for them to “turn away” from their faith in Christ and back to the law was entirely possible (hence the warnings and admonitions).
We have to conclude that if they could have turned back physically to the law (and then found themselves unable to escape the destruction headed toward them at Jerusalem’s demise) then we cannot help but believe converts to Christ today are also able to “turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven” – only to face a similar at death.
Speaking of the one who speaks from heaven the writer continues and says:
26 Whose voice “then” shook the earth (meaning, on Sinai): but now he hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
Now, this passage and the way the writer of Hebrews applies it is admittedly open to debate.
First, what we know surrounding the passage. At Sinai the voice of God shook the earth, terrifying those who felt it, “but now,” the writer says, “God has promised, saying: “Yet ONCE more I shake not the earth only, but heaven also.”
What promise is the writer talking about? It’s found in Haggai 2:6-7.
There are three thoughts about its meaning one of which is agreed upon by all parties and the other two are in conflict with each other.
What is agreed upon is that the words are prophetic. This is what they say:
“For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.”
What is debated is whether Haggai was speaking about the coming of Jesus to the earth as an infant (or what we call His first advent) or whether he was speaking of the effects of the totality of what Jesus brought to earth by means of a Kingdom including His second coming.
When the law was given on Mount Sinai, there was an earthquake that shook the whole mountain, (Exodus 19:18.) So we know the writer of Hebrews, who has been talking about the giving of the Law at Sinai was referring to this when he wrote:
“Whose voice “then” shook the earth”
The question is what does he mean when he writes:
“but now he hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
Obviously this was a type for another day when God would shake the earth again. Because the writer was speaking to believers AFTER the first advent I would strongly suggest that when he admonishes his readers with:
“but now he hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven,”
That he was warning them about the second advent of Christ that was at hand – an advent that they had to be prepared for, that they had to hold on for.
I believe this is the way the writer of Hebrews is applying the words of Haggai for several reasons.
First, the use of the phrase, BUT NOW he HAS PROMISED . . .
The only promise those Saints were hanging onto was His return to I believe the shaking of earth AND heaven spoken of here by the writer is directly tied to His eminent return to earth in the clouds.
Another reason I believe the writer is speaking of the second advent is because of the words of Joel 3:14 which also appeal to shaking and say:
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
To me, this is an obvious description of Jesus return. Because the writer uses the phrase that at this time “the heavens and the earth shall shake” I think we have a strong second witness that these passages are all speaking of Jesus second Coming.
Finally, by appealing to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:29 we find yet another use of this familiar phraseology when He was describing to the apostles the end of the age and His second coming when He said:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.”
The writer of Hebrews, having compared the elements of the Old Testament to the New admits that at Sinai God once shook the earth then citing Haggai says to the Saints at that time:
“but now he hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
AT the time of Moses the voice of God shook the physical earth but what is about to happen – which will only occur once, mind you – will shake heaven too, the writer says.
Shaking is an allusion to changing things up. In the Old Covenant the shaking was literal and physical at Sinai.
Now the shaking, while possibly containing some physical shaking at His coming was more an allusion to all the radical changes that were going to happen as a result of the finished work of the Messiah returning and completing what He started with the House of Israel.
In other words there was going to be “great revolutions” by His coming (which the apostles maintain was at hand) and the revolutions, relative to spiritual and religious matters, would be as if the universe were shaken to its center.
We have a common phrase when things are changed that comes from scripture – “shaking things up.”
In our world we assign varying degrees to such shaking. For example, to get people moving we will say, “Let’s shake things up a bit,” right?
But if things are radically altered well say something like, “Boy, you really shook things up, didn’t you?”
In this sense there is the added imagery of emotional upset, destruction of the established order, and everything sort up being up-ended.
The Greek for shake and shaken support this latter definition.
And according to Haggai, Joel, Ezekiel, Jesus, and now the writer of Hebrews, the shaking to take place would be both on earth AND in the heavens.
Once again there is a physical application to such promised shaking and there is a spiritual application too.
What I mean by this is on earth things will physically and spiritually be shaken and in heaven there will also be physical and spiritual “shakings” too.
So, at the coming of Christ the earth shook, Kingdoms fell, the temple tumbled. People keeled over dead. Physical shaking.
But the world of spiritual matter was also spiritually shaken with the destruction of physical Jersusalem signifying a mighty spiritual change in the things of God on earth.
No more Old Covenant. No more judgment. All people – male, female, black and white, Jew and Gentile – are baptized of the same spirit into one and everything that divided and was physically based was done away with as God now writes His laws upon the minds and hearts of all who believe.
In the heavens we then had physical manifestations of shaking as the cosmos rebelled and presented itself in chaos, or as Jesus promised there was
“a sun that was darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.”
We can only guess how the heavens would be spiritually shaken but I have some thoughts.
First, with Jesus descending out of the Holy of Holies on high and back to earth we have proof that God approved of His offering.
This means total ultimate completion of all things in heaven and on earth spiritually.
Then with Jesus bringing both reward and justice on the House of Israel for whom He came all that was established to point to Him was done. Over.
Now the Kingdom was in place and we have the words of Paul in 1st Corinthians 15 made perfect, where, first speaking of resurrection in general says:
1st Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
When Paul says back in verse 24 of 1st Corinthians 15
“Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.”
I cannot help but believe that this is a description of the heavens being utterly shaken up, and Satan (also known as the Prince of the Power of the Air) being put down completely – which would happen at His second advent.
Because the phrase, “the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of heaven” are synonymously used and applied in the New Testament, we find Jesus words in Luke 17:20-21 also having meaning when we ask about heaven being shaken.
These passages say:
Luke 17:20 And when Jesus was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, “the kingdom of God is within you.”
From this we have an even wilder application of the heavens being shaken as we might infer that heaven itself was shaken down, due to the finished work of Jesus, all the way into the hearts of individual believers!
So, in my opinion, the meaning of the whole thing might be
Starting at Sinai we have a very physical religion revealed from heaven.
The communication of that religion from God on high was terrifying to people – He was on high and manifested Himself with a voice that shook the earth, sent lightening, smoke and black and death to any who got too close.
It was a fearful faith and based almost solely on outward physical manifestations – both from God and from Man in what He ate, wore, and did.
In the coming of the Messiah a new heaven and a new earth was introduced, with a completely New Jerusalem (established in the Heavens and filled with believers from the heart) rather than with people who are genetically qualified.
The completion and total abolishment of the Old occurred when Christ returned with judgment on the House of Israel for rejecting Him and reward for those who received Him.
Then came the end.
Of that age.
Of death having victory.
Of judgment.
Of sin.
Satan, the prince of the power of the air was bound (in terms of His power over death) and the earth and the heavens were utterly shaken – to the point that nothing anywhere can ever be shaken again.
Now, stay with me. The only way “nothing can ever be shaken again” and we have absolute total eternal security in this mortal life is when our entire faith is appropriately placed on things that CANNOT be shaken.
Things which are immoveable.
Now, we might say, this is obviously on Jesus the Rock.
Let me ask you a question – when could the Apostles say, without ANY equivocation that they could rely on Jesus the Rock?
We know looking back that they could always rely upon Him but when did they know they could rely on Him?
Was it when He walked with them in ministry? Not in the least. He could still be shaken in their eyes. And quite frankly He was shaken in their eyes when He was taken a crucified.
Was it when He ascended into heaven? Not really. They stood there looking up and wondering when He was coming back.
Was it even when the Holy Spirit fell and they were filled with the Holy Spirit?
Pretty much but not entirely. They were still establishing a brick and mortar church for converts from the Old Covenant and having to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. I mean Peter blew it as an apostle in relation to the Jew/Gentile debate that Paul confronted Him face to face, saying in scripture “that he was to be blamed.”
Additionally they (at least the believers) were anything but secure and unshaken as difficulties mounted all around them while they waited for Jesus to return and save them, right?
I would suggest that the ONLY time the early church believers were unshakable in their walk and in their faith, was upon His return when He
Proved, like the high priest of Old, that God had accepted His offering,
When He poured judgment on those who mocked and tortured them and simultaneously saved them from the wrath that fell
When the completion of all promises occurred – all prophesies and promises were complete, and
(perhaps related most to our discussion today) when EVERYTHING else was shaken up by God to the point that whatever remained standing would last forever.
And I gotta tell you, that ain’t anything material or physical or earthly.
This is the writers point. And so in verse 27 he says
27 And this word, “Yet once more,” signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
For clarity let me read from a few other translations. The New King James Version says it this way:
Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
The Revised has the writer say:
“This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain.”
In other words everything which was temporary in human institutions; everything which was wrong in earthly customs and morals; everything in the ancient system of religion which was merely of a preparatory and typical character, would be removed.
And what was of permanent value would be retained, and a kingdom would be established in which nothing could move.
Do we see how radical this is? Will we allow ourselves to fully embrace this teaching or will we continue to justify surrounding ourselves in beggarly elements of baked earth, cement, and molten sand, in approved clothing, eating blessed breads and wines, reciting rote prayers, and demanding conformity to written rules as a means to appear holy in the flesh when all that remains viable exists in the heart?
Another way to explore this idea is to honestly ask ourselves –
Is there ANYTHING on this earth that we can see, hear, taste, touch, read, wear, stand in, stand upon, sit on, eat, support, or rely upon that CANNOT be shaken?
Nothing.
No building, that’s for sure.
No law or rule –they will be broken and will prove themselves shakable.
No other person – including ourselves, our spouses, are parents or our children.
No institution – they crack and crumble often quickest.
Science – not in the least.
Governments – come on.
Churches? Ministries? Pleasures? Education?
All shakable. All temporal. All reduced to nothing when tested.
I would suggest then that the ONLY thing that withstood the shaking of God at the advent of His coming are things of the Spirit.
Heavenly things.
Spiritual matters.
Invisible things (to us here).
Matters taken on faith.
Spiritual knowledge.
Love in all of its forms.
Heaven.
God.
Anything else must be seen for what it is – a product of Man, maybe a necessary evil, possibly a requirement for physical health – but having zero eternal import and being utterly susceptible to “shaking.”
In the face of all the physical turmoil and shaking these early Jewish converts faced the writer is trying to get them to realize what they possess – not an earthly church to protect, not a system of living according to laws written in stone or on paper, but “a Kingdom that cannot be moved.”
Consider the next verses, which serve as a summary for the writer and his point:
28 “Wherefore” (in light of all I have presented to you, in the case of this tremendous evidence) “we” (those of us who have come to faith in Christ who has promised to return and save us) We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
The RSV makes it a bit more clear, saying:
Hebrew 12:28 (RSV) “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.”
I praise God for receiving a kingdom (in me) that cannot be moved, cannot be shaken.
It is a faith not founded on man or men or their ideal and demands. That kingdom was shaken to the dust long ago.
My citizenship in this kingdom is utterly spiritual with all the covenants and ordinances and laws and demands being founded on unconditional love – both the unconditional love I receive from on High from the King of the Kingdom and the unconditional love whereby I am allowed to receive others.
This kingdom – unlike ALL others – cannot be moved.
It is established in realms that are impervious to all form of earthquake, all bombs, all human fracture and failure, disease, crime, sin, and death.
It is utterly permanent and unchanging.
Unlike all kingdoms and bad religions on this earth this kingdom will never to pass away for there is no power in heaven or earth that can move it even a fraction of an inch.
To date it has existed, accepting new citizens every day, for one-thousand nine hundred and fifty six years and it will continue to exist, without end, forever.
As a result of these factors the writer encourages his reader – as we are encouraged today – saying, “Let us have grace whereby we may serve God.”
Remember, these believers were tempted to go back to the Law. In the face of being recipients of this amazing unshaken Kingdom, he says, “let us hold fast.”
The Greek is, literally, “let us have grace” but the meaning seems to be, “let us hold fast the grace or favor which we have received in being admitted to the privileges of that kingdom.”
Because there is no danger in the Kingdom we serve ever being overthrown, let’s remember the grace bestowed upon us by God that granted us entrance to such a place “and serve God with “reverence and godly fear.”
The word for fear here in the Greek is YOOLABIA and it is only used one other time in the entire Bible – here in Hebrews 5 and in reference to Jesus when He was on earth it says,
(Hebrews 5:7) Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared (yoolabia)
It means to truly venerate and revere – to be in awe and so to fear in the sense that we are aware of His incomprehensible love, power, and person.
In the face of this command the writer adds a little reminder at the end of all this saying:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
(beat)
I want to deliberate on this last point or line the writer makes and come back to it next week before we proceed into our last, short chapter of the great book of Hebrews.
Q and A
Prayer
