Hebrews 12:25-29

Summary retelling of Hebrews 12:25-29

We do need to be careful to actually listen, however.  The Hebrew people did not escape judgment when God transmitted His warnings through Moses.  We will be even less likely to escape judgment if we do not heed the voice of God Himself when He calls to us from heaven.  When He gave the Law before, He shook the earth.  He promises that the next time He speaks He will shake both the heavens and the earth.  God will shake the earth and the heavens another time in order to remove everything that does not belong to Him.  Therefore we need to be thankful for and cling to the ability to receive that which cannot be shaken.  We should be careful to worship God in both reverence and awe since He is a consuming fire.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

This passage returns us from the joy we were able to focus on yesterday to a state of reality.  These verses are clearly a warning.  God brought judgment upon the Hebrew people because they wouldn’t listen to Moses (or the other prophets, for the record).  They refused to listen to His Law.  They didn’t have a direct connection to God, and they still received punishment when they disobeyed.  How much more guilty are we who claim to have God’s Holy Spirit within us when we disobey God’s ways!

How does this thought affect you?  Do you think it is fair to hold us more accountable because we have access to Him personally rather than having to go through a prophet as the people of the Old Testament had to do?

Second Thought:

The author also warns us that we need to be careful because there will be another time of shaking to come.  The things that are not truly of God will be shaken loose.  They will be cast out.  In this second shaking, both the earth and the heavens will be shaken.  God will truly discard everything everywhere that is not of Him.

How does this thought affect you?  Is there any nervousness on your part when you think about judgment along these lines?  Where can we turn to find reassurance?

Third Thought:

When we consider all of these thoughts today, we should remember to be thankful that we can find the truth that cannot be shaken.  We should be thankful that we can attach ourselves to the grace of Christ which cannot be taken away.  We should be quick to worship God because He has made the impossible possible.

When you worship God, how often are you genuinely thankful?  Why is it dangerous to have worship simply become part of the “motions?”  What can you do to make sure that worship is truly worship and not just rote behavior in the future?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 13:1-3