An Unshakeable Hope

Maybe for you the start of a new year has opened fresh wounds concerning the loss of your dear child. It seems unimaginable to live through another year without your baby in your arms. How can everyone around you be dreaming of new beginnings and fresh starts, when all you can see are the endings? The ceasing of a tiny heartbeat. The abrupt end of a pregnancy. The death of your dreams for the future. The ground beneath your feet feels unstable. Will you ever stand on solid ground again?

Last week we began a journey through the book of Hebrews to discover how Jesus is the better encouragement. Today, we continue on that path to find out how we can take hold of a hope that will never end.

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This 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. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:22-29

Verse 22 starts off by saying, “But you have come to Mount Zion.” Mount Zion was the hill that the city of Jerusalem was built upon and where the temple was. But although it is an actual, physical location, Mount Zion was also symbolic of the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of God. There, instead of the darkness and gloom of Mount Sinai, there will be a myriad of angels and a festive gathering.

But the best news about this mountain is found in verse 24. Christ is there. This is the climax of the entire book of Hebrews. Jesus is there on Mount Zion mediating a new and better covenant on your behalf. He came to earth to bring us hope. He is standing in your place. The reason we can come to Mount Zion as the righteous who are being made perfect instead of trembling in fear at the foot of Mount Sinai is because Christ has satisfied the wrath of our holy God, and His shed blood covers us in mercy.

Now we come to the warning of the passage.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.
Hebrews 12:25

In the very first verses of Hebrews 1, we are told that, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. Sisters, we cannot ignore this warning. If the Israelites did not escape destruction when they ignored the warnings of God’s earthly, human prophets, how can we, who have heard from God through His very own Son, expect to escape from eternal destruction if we choose not to head His words? After all, Hebrews presents us with the sobering reminder that our holy God is a consuming fire.

Our great God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, has been speaking to you personally through His Son. He has revealed Himself to you, offered Himself to you, and is inviting you, even now, to draw near to Him. See to it that you do not reject the One who speaks.

Verse 26 goes on to tell us that God’s voice shook the earth at that time. This is another reference to Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19:17-20 we are told, “Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. As the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.”

God was laying down the Law, establishing a covenant with His people, and the force of it literally shook the earth. The mountain trembled. God’s people trembled too.

Now fast forward several hundred years to the day when our Savior hung on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Matthew 27:50-51 tells us that “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit. Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook, and the rocks split.” As the wrath of God for the sins of the world fell on Christ—as our heavenly Father was establishing His new covenant with us, the earth shook.

And yet once more God will shake the earth. But Hebrews 12 tells us that it won’t just be the earth that shakes, heaven will also. When this future shaking takes place, all that is temporal will fall away, and only the unshakeable will remain. When Christ returns to shake the whole world, the things that have been made—the created things, the things that we chase after  and turn to again and again—will be removed. Only what is eternal, that which was done for the sake of God and His kingdom, will still be standing.

Through Christ we have been given a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be thankful that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe. Let us worship God with thankful hearts for all that He has done for us. We do this by turning away from the temporary pleasures of this world. By fixing our eyes on Christ. By choosing to live for Him and Him alone.

Yes, our holy God is a consuming fire. But we have come to Mount Zion, to Christ, who has made provision for us to draw near. Is there any better reason to hope than this?