Free Bible Commentary
“Hebrews 12:25-29”
Categories: Hebrews“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’ This expression, ‘Yet once more, denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”
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God “is speaking” to us “from heaven” through His Son Jesus (Hebrews 1:2), and His living, sharp, powerful word (Hebrews 4:12). The word “Gospel” means “glad tidings” or “good news,” but it is also loaded with warnings for those who refuse to hear it and obey it, and for those who turn away “from Him who warns from heaven” (verse 25). If God’s chosen people of His previous, earthly kingdom suffered the penalty for disobedience, we are foolish to think that will escape the notice and the wrath of God if we reject His superior, spiritual, eternal kingdom.
Friend, when God “shakes the earth” one final time, all that will remain is the “kingdom which cannot be shaken” (verse 28). Jesus is God’s best and final offer to draw mankind close to Him, and the church of Christ is the only safe place for a person to be when the Lord returns to destroy the physical universe and judge all the people He created. When the Lord returns for the final time, it will be to deliver up the kingdom to God the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24). If you do not “receive” the kingdom which cannot be shaken, you will be destroyed along with everything that can.
The proper response to God’s gracious offer of salvation through His Son and His church kingdom is to “show gratitude” for His unparalleled gift (verse 28). How aggravated and offended does it make you feel when you give someone a very generous gift from the kindness of your heart, and then they just show no appreciation for it whatsoever? Friend, God is offering you the most generous gift that is worth more than the whole world and all that is contained within it. He is extending the gift of eternal life, in heaven, with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. This should fill your heart “with reverence and awe” and motivate you to dedicate your life to Him in “acceptable service” (verse 28). If you refuse, all you have to look forward to is the “consuming fire” of His wrath and indignation for having such an ungrateful heart.
Please read Hebrews 13:1-4 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
- Louie Taylor
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