25-26 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.”

27 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. 28-29 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 English Standard Version

At the time of writing this post the media was still full of the terrible earthquake disaster in Turkey and Northern Syria. It's difficult to imagine how terrifying it must have been to see the world crumbling all around you. Yet what happened so visually in those countries seems also to be taking place in many ways all over the world. Nations are shaking, the future is looking anything but stable. But what is the wonderful truth the writer of Hebrews urges his readers to be grateful for? (vs 28-29)

People who have believed, and who continue to believe, on the Lord Jesus Christ, have been made citizens of a Kingdom that is unshakable. They have a hope and a future than goes way beyond rock solid. It is built upon the unshakable promise of almighty God.

The writer of Hebrews was someone who knew the Old Testament well. He’d already reminded his readers of the tragic outcome of a previous generation who refused to listen to God when He spoke through Moses at Mount Sinai. He urged them not to do the same with Jesus. In today's reading he takes them to what would appear to be the words spoken by a prophet named Haggai. Haggai lived in days when the Jews had returned to their country after long captivity in Babylon and they began to rebuild Jerusalem’s broken down temple. But their temple didn’t look as grand as the original one had looked, and they were discouraged.

But listen to what Haggai told them. He said: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 2:6-7. And then he added: “I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders.” Haggai 2:21-22

The point Haggai was making was that with the return of the Jews to Israel and the rebuilding of their temple, God was setting about a work of shaking the nations and setting up a Kingdom that would never be shaken, but would endure through all eternity. The writer of Hebrews wanted his readers to realize that this was the Kingdom God had established in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the first messages Jesus preached was when He said to the people:“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

Before he was martyred the apostle Peter also spoke of how this world will one day be terribly shaken and pass away. But he said of believers in Christ that “according to God's promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13) So what ought our response be to the earth shaking events that will one day come to a head? (vs 28-29)

We ought to live with daily gratitude to God for warning us, and for saving us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to be giving Father and Son our heartfelt and reverential praise, through His Spirit, for the mercy that delivers us from a consuming fire. We have a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.