The Unshakable Kingdom Shall Remain PM 10-11-26

I.            A reason to not refuse to listen (Hebrews 12:25).

a.     As mentioned, our writer is continuing the analogy of Mt. Sinai to Mt. Zion.

b.     He warns his readers to not refuse, or shun, God who is speaking to them.

          i.      Remember we mentioned that this is the end of the doctrinal aspect of the book of Hebrews.

          ii.      He began Hebrews with a reminder that God now speaks through His Son.

          iii.      He ends the doctrinal section of the book with this reason to not refuse to listen to God’s Son who is speaking from Mt. Zion, heaven.

c.     The reason is that those who refuse to listened to Moses didn’t escape punishment.

d.     And, if those who didn’t escape from Moses, then there is no way that you will escape from Christ if you refuse to listen.

          i.      Numerous times Christ has been shown to be better or superior to Moses.

          ii.      If you can’t escape from the lesser, there is no way you will escape from the greater.

e.      Punishment was swift and severe under the Old Law.

          i.      While punishment is not necessarily swift under Christ, it is definitely more sure and just as severe, if not more so.

         ii.      Punishment under Moses involved the loss of physical life and it depended somewhat on the honesty of the judge.

          iii.      Under Christ, it is loss of spiritual life and there is no questioning the honesty and justness of this Judge.            

f.       You couldn’t escape the earthly voice, you sure won’t escape the heavenly one.

g.     The same holds true for us who are refusing to listen to the gospel message today.

          i.      It may be a refusal to obey.

          ii.      It may be a refusal to remain faithful.

          iii.      Whatever we are doing to refuse the message of Christ, it is at the peril of our souls.

h.      If those who were privileged to hear Moses could not escape, then those who refuse to hear Christ through His word will not escape either.

II.            A reminder of a return (Hebrews 12:26-27).

a.      Our writer turns to an Old Testament prophet to remind us that the Lord is going to return at some point.

b.      He quotes Haggai 2:6.

           i.      Haggai wrote after the Jews returned from Babylonian captivity.

           ii.      The Jews had stopped working on the temple and Haggai was inspired to prophesy to them in order to encourage them to renew their work on the temple.

           iii.      In the 2nd chapter, Haggai is giving another prophecy to encourage the people.

           iv.      This prophecy is one of the church and how nations will come into it with their precious things, which I believe refers to their souls (Haggai 2:6-7).

c.       Our writer is inspired to take this passage a step further and show it has a double meaning.

           i.      Not only will the spreading of the gospel cause an upheaval in the world causing men to bring their souls to the house of God, which is the church.

           ii.      It will be at the return of Christ that the shaking of the world will result in the removal of those things that can be shaken, which are those things that are made.

d.      The New Testament clearly teaches that at the return of Christ, all those things that God has made are going to be destroyed.

           i.      Peter teaches this in his 2nd letter.

           ii.      Paul taught this in his writing.

e.      All the things that shakable will be removed, or changed.

f.        The word translated “of those things that are shaken” and “those things which cannot be shaken” is interesting.

           i.      Those things that can be shaken refers to those things that decay.

           ii.      Those things that cannot be shaken refers to the perfect state of things which will exist after the return of Christ from heaven and will undergo no change according to Thayer.

g.      Our Lord is returning at some point and He is going to remove those things that are decaying and only keep that which is perfect.

h.      In verse 28, the writer tells us the only thing that will remain is the kingdom.

           i.      It is the only thing that is perfect.

           ii.      It will remain because it is going to be delivered up to the Father.

i.        Our Lord is returning one day and we need to be reminded of that and encouraged to be a part of and remain a part of the kingdom that will remain.

j.        Everything else is going to be destroyed.

k.      Only the kingdom of Christ, which is His church, the church of Christ, is going to remain.

           i.      Judaism would not remain, and in fact, had already be done away with by the cross.

           ii.      Today, denominationalism or any other ism devised by man is going to be destroyed.

l.        Let us be a part of the unshakable kingdom.

III.            A reaction to receiving an unshakable kingdom (Hebrews 12:28-29).

a.      They were being encouraged to remain in Christ and the final argument given to remain in Christ is because it is the only thing that will remain at the coming of Christ.

b.      What should the reaction be to such news?

c.      The KJV says, “Let us have grace”.

          i.      I would suggest to you that this is not a good translation of the meaning of this phrase.

          ii.      If we are part of the kingdom it is because of God’s grace that we are such.

          iii.      The idea of the word “receiving” is that we have already received and we continue keeping hold of it.

          iv.      In other passages, the word here for grace is also translated thanks.

          v.      Because of that some newer translations give us a better rendering of it.

          vi.      The ESV has, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom...”.

          vii.      The NIV has, “Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful...”.

d.      Our reaction should be that we are thankful to God for allowing us to have and be a part of a kingdom that cannot and will not be removed.

e.      The phrase “cannot be moved” indicates something that is firm and stable.

           i.      It is such because it is built on the firm foundation of Jesus.

           ii.      It is not going anywhere and there is nothing man can do about that.

           iii.      Judaism is gone, denominationalism is ever changing.

           iv.      The Lord’s church is fixed and stable because it is built on and by Christ.

f.        How do we show our grateful reaction?

g.      The writer does not leave us in the dark about this either.

h.      He tells us that we are to serve God acceptably.

           i.      We do that by showing reverence and awe for God because He is a consuming fire.

           ii.      Reverence and fear are properly shown by true obedience.

i.        We love our God because of what He has done but we ought to have great respect and awe of God because of promise and ability to destroy those that refuse to reverence Him and hold Him in awe.

j.        He is going to consume all those things that can be moved and that should cause us to hold Him in reverential awe.