Unshakable

Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. . . . When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. Hebrews 12:25-28

WHEN GOD SPOKE on Mount Sinai, he was literally laying down the law, and the force of it shook the earth. Exodus 19:18 says that “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently” (NIV).

But that was not the last time the earth shook. “When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, [and] the rocks split” (Matthew 27:50-51, NIV). Why did the earth shake? Because the judgment of God was falling to punish sin.

Here in Hebrews 12, the writer reveals there will be yet another shaking in the future, when Christ returns to purge this world of sin for good. “Only unshakable things will remain,” he writes.

Notice the writer says that we are “receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable.” Evidently we cannot create for our children a life that is perfectly secure. It must be received. But we can point them toward the secret to receiving this life, which is eternally and ultimately secure. We can pass along the warning given by the writer of Hebrews: “Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.” We can pray that God would make our children unshakable.

Lord, you are the only one who can provide the security ________ needs. So we thank you for speaking in the past and continuing to speak through your Word, calling ________ to yourself and warning ________ about the shaking that will come in the future. May ________ worship you with holy fear and awe, and thereby be secure in the shaking.