Hebrews 12:25–27

Do not question that the Lord is still speaking from the same heavenly glory. This is the teaching of Hebrews 12:25… As truly as He once spoke on earth at Sinai, the same One is now speaking from heaven. In whose person did God speak on earth? It was in the Son. Now He speaks in His Son emphatically, as Hebrews 1 declares. When the gospel goes out to your ears, it is God speaking to you from heaven in His Son.

How does Christ speak from heaven? Is it that there is a day of judgment, and you must prepare yourself for it? He comes and speaks to man, and deals with man on the ground of His being a Man in heaven. If He speaks from heaven, He speaks not merely of mercy, but of grace, on the ground of an accomplished work. He appeals to our hearts on the ground of what He is and what He has done. Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, because He has nothing more to do in making out a righteousness for us… He does not reproach you. He comes and tells you: Do you think I do not know what sin is? I bore it. He knows what the consequence is as no one else can know it.

When God spoke on earth, He required righteousness from man. The one who disobeyed that voice found no escape from judgment. Much less will there be any escape from judgment for those who refuse the voice of God now, when He speaks from heaven in grace that brings blessing to man. As Samuel Rutherford said, "The vengeance of the Gospel is heavier than the vengeance of the law."

So if you refuse Him who speaks, you have nothing but your sins now and the wrath to come. In their earthly sacrifices the Jews had no forgiveness, only a reminder of sins… Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. He will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those who look for Him, for salvation… That second time He will appear to His people for salvation. Then their bodies will be saved, as their souls are saved now. But if you refuse Him, destruction awaits you.

Here is the contrast: Christ speaking now from heaven, and before that on earth… The word spoken says, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only but also heaven; and this word, Yet once more, means the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made." And those things, dear friends, are what the saint is in now — not of them, but in them. So, surrounded by them, he is warned not to turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. There is nothing else to rest on but the word of Jesus, and that word is perfectly stable. It cannot be shaken; everything not tied to it will be removed.

The gospel speaks of all these things, and calls us to them. Now we get the call, "See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking." The word is the revelation of God in Christ. By this word God forms us for the place He intends to give us, and it is a very blessed place… That voice is to sound louder and sweeter in our hearts than all the voices of the world. May we not be found turning a deaf ear to it.

The people insisted they would never disobey. But they could not deceive Him who knew the evil and treachery of the human heart. He knew there was nothing but ruin ahead for that age. It seemed to open with the people gladly agreeing to the terms the Lawgiver laid down. So as He spoke those terms, the mountain shook so hard that the people drew back and stood far off. The shaking showed that nothing set up that day would last.

It was wicked to refuse the divine warning of the law; it is far worse to turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. For He does not speak of the yoke that neither the fathers nor the children could bear, nor of their rebellious struggling under it. He speaks of redemption through His own blood. He was wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities. He speaks of peace already made through the blood of His cross, by Him who sits at God's right hand as the proof that all who believe are fully accepted. To turn away from His voice is the most serious sin and the surest ruin.

Here the writer of Hebrews gave a free rendering of a prediction first spoken by the prophet Haggai. He quoted it to put the stress on the word "once." Let us mark it well! "Once more" — then, since no further shaking will take place, it will be the final thing. It will be an act of God. That is why the next verse explains that the 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." So we know how everything that sin has undermined will end. And we need not be surprised if there are shakings today.

The heavens are the seat of Satan's power. He is called "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), and under him there are "rulers" and "authorities," "the cosmic powers over this present darkness," and "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). Satan's seat of power in the heavens directs much of the evil that fills the earth. God is going to judge the sin and the evils that fill the earth below. He will also judge the satanic powers above, which direct it all.

Yet such is the power of His work that for those who believe it is a "promise." … So what is a dreadful threat to unbelievers is a promise to faith. Even the quaking of the universe "He has promised." It is no threat to us. His love will rest on us then as much as ever, and we shall enter in peace into all that is for His glory.

Everything not founded on the word will be shaken. Terrible as that is to flesh and blood, it is a positive promise to us … How far can you take this as a promise? If your heart is resting here, you cannot. You can test it easily: how far is your heart attached to Christ in heaven, unseen except to the eye of faith?

He reminds us that the visible things, so impressive in the world today, can be shaken and so will be removed. But God's people belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken … If we work and serve God in line with His purpose, our work will last when the whole earth is moved away, however weak it looks.

In these words the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews gave a free version of a prediction first spoken by the prophet Haggai. He quoted them to stress the word "once." Let us mark it well! "Once more" — then of course, since no further shaking will take place, it will be the final thing.

Hebrews 12:27 bases its statement on a phrase, "Yet once more." John 10:35 bases its statement on a word — "gods." This is surely verbal inspiration.

Things not established by the grace of Christ will surely be shaken and removed when His power is revealed. "Things that have been made" must be displaced. The expression covers a great deal. At its fullest it reaches to the eventual dismissal of the first creation... It also has a nearer application. It concerns the way this world is arranged, where Satan is allowed to reign — until the One whose right it is comes to take the kingdom.

This shaking of all things clearly goes beyond Judaism, but has a special application to it. Judaism was the system and framework of God's relationships with people on earth. It ran on the principle that people were responsible to Him. All this was of the first creation, but its springs were poisoned... God will shake and change all things. The result will be a new creation in which righteousness shall dwell. Meanwhile God was forming the first fruits of this new creation. In Christianity He was forming the heavenly part of the kingdom that cannot be moved, while Judaism — the centre of the earthly system and of human responsibility — was passing away.

It is only creation that passes away under His rebuke, so that the new creation may alone stand... But here is the wonder for the Christian: in principle this is true of him even now. It is not just a promise but a fact. It is spiritual, no doubt, but for that very reason it is more real, more lasting and more unchangeable. For if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.

Everything not founded on the word will be shaken. This is terrible to flesh and blood, yet to us it is a positive promise... How far can you take this as a promise? If your hearts are resting here, you cannot. You can easily know this by one test: how far are your hearts attached to Christ in heaven, unseen except to the eye of faith?

Kingdoms have been shaken in the political sense. The earth has often been shaken too, physically and in other ways. But this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled... This settles the question of whether this prophecy is future.

Here is an instance. He speaks of things being shaken, and then of those which cannot be shaken, so that they "remain" or "abide." Then he adds, "Let brotherly love abide."

But brotherly love belongs to that immovable kingdom. It is the nature of God, which He has imparted to us, finding its expression in how we deal with one another.