Coromandel Baptist Church

Sunday 5^th October 2008 Hebrews 12:14-29

“A Kingdom That Cannot be Shaken”

The latter part if Hebrews 12 is jam packed with Old Testament images, allusions and theological reference points. The passage repays very careful reading and study with the companionship of a good commentary, where all the detailed points are discussed. Our focus this week is the overall theme and pattern of this portion of Hebrews.

Throughout Hebrews 12 the writer recapitulates both his method of argumentation and the content of his message. In regard to method, the writer intersperses his biblical/theological teaching with exhortations (12:1ff; 12:12-15; 12:28) and warnings (12:16-17; 12:25). These reflect the exhortations (e.g. 3:1; 3:12ff; 4:14ff; 6:1ff; 10:19-25; 10:32ff.) and warnings (e.g. 2:1-3; 4:1ff; 4:11; 6:4ff; 10:26-31) we have seen in other places. Characteristically, the writer moves from biblical exposition to exhortation to warning, and this pattern is seen in chapter 12 also.

In terms of content, the writer brings to a head many of the themes that he has developed throughout the book. Behind everything that is being said in this chapter is the fact that there are two worshipping communities, related to two different covenants, who are operating out of two different principles (of faith and unbelief). Through the contrast between the two mountains (Sinai and Zion) in the latter part of Hebrews 12, the writer emphasises the superiority of the new covenant and all that believers have received in and through the blood of Christ. This picture in some ways runs parallel to Paul’s approach in Galatians 4:21-31. The purpose is to contrast the transient, incomplete and limited nature of the covenant sealed at Sinai with the eternal, perfect and unshakeable kingdom sealed in the covenant established at Calvary.

In addition, throughout Hebrews 12 (and not least its second half) the writer keeps the eyes of his readers fixed on the great and coming appearing of the Son. The theme of inheritance is intimately related to the fact that the Father disciplines those whom he loves. Its importance for true faith is negatively illustrated in the case of Esau, who despised his birthright. The trademark of those who are unbelieving is that they live entirely in light of the tangible and seen things (of which Esau stands as a prime example). They come to (and live in) the realm of ‘a mountain that can be touched’ (12:18). By contrast (and consistent with Hebrews 11:1ff.) believers look by faith to the enduring and eternal hope of things not seen. This faith orientated living is the hallmark of all who seek God and his kingdom.

The eternal kingdom of the Father is that of grace, righteousness, holiness and peace. These things have been recurring themes throughout the letter (just think, for example, of the prominence of these themes in the discussion about Melchizedek and the exposition of Jesus’ work in terms of the events of the day of atonement). Here, in Hebrews 12, the writer emphasises that believers receive these things from the Father who graciously disciplines them so that his peace, holiness and righteousness may be borne in their lives; and at the same time believers are exhorted to act in line with the grace, righteousness and peace which God desires for them. They are urged to strive for peace and to live in holiness and so on, not because they are waiting for God to be gracious to them (or in some way to earn God’s favour), but because God has been gracious to them and his favour is really upon them. How do we know this? God has already sealed his favour to us in the blood of the new covenant, by which the kingdom is secured.

In view of these things, the tense used in Hebrews 12:28 is significant. Here the writer speaks of us receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. The ‘receiving’ is present tense: i.e. now—in our current experience of God’s discipline and the way in which it weans us off the kingdoms of this world and their attachment to all that is seen—we are receiving this kingdom. It is shown to us, now in our experience, to be unshakeable. Yes, it will most certainly be so then, when the Son appears from the most holy place to receive us to himself, but it is so now, already. But the only way we know that the kingdom we are already receiving is unshakable is to see everything else shaken! When all visible things dissolve, the reality of the eternal things is revealed. The ‘shaking’ reflects the way in which earthquakes and related images are used theologically. When God appears the transient things of this creation shake before him. The shaking of the earth at Mt Sinai (e.g. Ex. 19;18; Pss. 68:8; 77;18) is a symbol and forerunner of the eschatological ‘shaking’ of the end of all things (e.g. Matt. 24:7 cf. Rev. 6:12; 11:13; 16:18). At the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of the Son there was a shaking so great that it brought about a foretaste of the resurrection (Marr. 27:51ff. cf. 28:2)!

The quotation that is at the head of this article comes from Hebrews 12:28. It reflects the background of the prophecy of Haggai, to which the writer of Hebrews alludes in Hebrews 12:26-27. The use of Haggai’s words in this passage of Hebrews is significant. The prophet’s words had their fulfilment in his own time (at the return of the exiles from Babylon), but the complete fulfilment of what this event presaged is now upon us in the blood of the new covenant.

In the time of Haggai and Zechariah the work of Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel was ultimately accomplished through the words of the Lord’s prophets, which is to say, it was accomplished by the Spirit of God himself (Ezra 5:1-2 cf. 6:14; Hag. 1:12-14; 2:2; Zech. 4:6; etc.). Moreover, this movement of God to accomplish his work took place in the context of the tumultuous rise and fall of nations. Israel in the north had been overrun by Assyria as the Lord’s judgement (see Isaiah 10), and about 150 years later Judah in the south had been defeated by the Babylonians (see, for example the prophecy of Habakkuk), who themselves had been raised up by God in part to punish the Assyrians for their pride and viciousness in warfare. Later, Babylon had been overtaken by the Medes under Darius and then Cyrus had been raised up as the Lord’s anointed king (Is. 45:1) to take over from him, as the Great King of the Medio-Persian Empire. The purpose of the rise and fall of nations had to do (as it always does) with the establishment of the kingdom of God and judgement of the kingdoms of this world.