Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29 page 853
The writer of Hebrews here takes us through three stages of time. The first was 1444 BC when God took Israel to the Promised Land. The Second was circa 33 AD when Jesus became our Savior and initiated a new covenant, a new way of dealing with us. The third is the time of "shaking," when all created things will be destroyed by fire. Let’s consider the contrasts of these three periods.
The Time of Fear when the Law is given on Mt. Sinai
The second time was Mt. Zion.
It was a different approach. It stands in contrast to Mt. Sinai because the heavenly places are opened to us, not just the earthly. This is a new covenant, not the old one.The third time is the time of shaking.
Why does the writer of Hebrews take us through the first two periods to get to the time of shaking? He wants us to have a background of understanding as we prepare for the shaking.
It gets rough. Pressures can be intense. Discouragement is common. But God has a purpose that he is working out.
In 2 Timothy, Paul reminds us that there will be "terrible times."[3] History has been filled with these kinds of times. In the shaking of each generation, God is showing people what is temporary and what lasts forever.
God created this plant and the heavens above it, knowing that one day he would consume it with fire. As humans we have come to rely upon the predictability of the earth. The ebb and flow of the tide, the phases of the moon, the passing of the seasons, and our trips around the sun are all so predictable. It is so predictable that God must occasionally shake the earth to remind us that this earth is not forever. These warm-up shakes are to prepare us for the final shaking.
During the Lenten Season we try to loosen our grip on the things of this world, and strengthen our grip on the next. Do think the Ash Wednesday earthquake was accidental as to its timing at the start of this season? It might be coincidental, but it was certainly a fortuitous coincidence.
The point of this passage is that God has been working out his plan for a very long time, since even before Moses. The earthquake at the giving of the law and the earthquake at the Lord’s crucifixion are small samples and preparations for the third strike at the last days. When things shake in your life, it is meant to prepare you for the unshakeable kingdom that is to come.
How are we to think about the shaking going on?
A year ago everybody was a stock market genius. But there has been a shaking.
Lots of people thought they had the big investment that would make it big. Some even
mortgaged their political campaigns with stock market vapor. It is a metaphor. God
sometimes allows what can be shaken to be shaken so we don’t start thinking too much
about that and not enough about what cannot be shaken. When your investment dreams
don’t come true; when the promises are as good as a tech stock, look up. You have an
investment in heaven. Jesus spoke of almsgiving as laying up for yourselves treasures in
heaven where moth and rust to not destroy and a bear market does not break in and steal.[4]
His key for that was the next phrase, "where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also."
Other people have invested most heavily in a relationship only to be profoundly disappointed. When you said "I do" you thought it meant forever but the other party apparently did not. They were not faithful to their vows and it has shaken you to the core. What do you do? You identify with Jesus and draw near to him. He knows what it is to be forsaken. In the end, your relationship with Jesus Christ is the one enduring relationship. I hope your marriage stays intact. But if it does not, it is a metaphor for everything else on this planet.
Other people have invested their trust in leaders or special friends only to be disappointed. It tells you there is one unshakable thing and that is the kingdom of God.
A sick body is a similar metaphor for eternity. This body has one real destiny. This process of decline and decay is only for this shakable world. This body is headed for the resurrection. It might have to make a pit-stop in the Chapel of the Resurrection, but it is bound for glory.
There is coming a moment when it will only be you and God. There will be nothing between you. None of the things of this earth will be with us in that moment. Such things are all shakable and can be destroyed. They will all melt in the "fervent heat" of the last day.
In my garage I keep a couple of file cabinets where I store old sermons and paper memorabilia. Some years ago a mouse got into the drawers and used my old high schools awards for her nest. In high school I papered my bedroom wall with academic, forensic, and sports award certificates. It took a lot of work and I was proud of them. In the end, my awards were rats nest wadding. In the ongoing insult called life, last year, the mice came back to my garage. I was prepared. I put out those little turquoise pellets and they all disappeared. I was so happy until the smell followed. I could never find the source, but the mice were gone and my stuff was safe. A few weeks later I opened the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. All the way in the back I found the nest. It was well insulated against the cold with shredded sermon notes. The late mouse, now deceased, had also stored up food for the winter. There were little pieces of cat food and a whole pile of little turquoise pellets, otherwise known as my little turquoise bullets. The very thing the mouse thought would keep her alive through the winter was what got her.
I wonder how many times we have spent our lives gathering turquoise pellets, thinking it will keep us going. Like that mouse, we make hundreds of trips back and forth but it is all destined for the shaker.
FOOTNOTES
1. ekklesia (ek-klay-see'-ah); a calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting,
especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members
on earth or saints in heaven or both): KJV-- assembly, church.
2. prototokos (pro-tot-ok'-os); first-born (usually as noun, literally or figuratively):
KJV-- firstbegotten (born).
3. 2 Tim 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will
be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control,
brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to
do with them.
4. Matt 6:20-21 "But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."