Hebrews Chapter Twelve, A Consuming Fire

 

Hebrews 12:27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. [28] Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. [29] For our God is a consuming fire.

 

God warns through Haggai the prophet that He will shake the earth once more, and this time the heavens (the terrestrial heavens and space) will be shaken as well. Material creation will be dissolved, leaving only that which cannot be shaken, or that which is eternal behind.

Verse 28 tells the readership that the coming kingdom cannot be shaken; it is not a part of the time/space/matter existence of which we are currently partakers. Peter addresses this dissolution of material existence when he writes, “the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat,” 2 Peter 3:12. He continues, stating, “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells,” 2 Peter 3:13. What promise does Peter refer to? Well, the promise God gave through Haggai, accentuated further by the author of Hebrews, for a start. The prophet Isaiah, writing on the same topic, says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind…For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain,” Isaiah 65:17, 66:22. God promised the Jewish people that, as His chosen people, they would endure as surely as the promise of His new heaven and earth: eternally. Further, in Revelation, we read, “Now I (John) saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,” Revelation 21:1. The former earth, representative of this current existence, will pass away. Paul explains that this current creation moans in the pains of bondage due to Adam’s sin, Romans 8:20-22.

 

The things that remain are those sons made in God’s image, free from the curse of sin, glorified by the transformative power of God’s Holy Spirit to conform us into the image of God’s dear Son. The new creation will be a habitation for a race of humanity that by choice believed in the Lord, and by believing had their guilt and sin expunged. It was taken from us and given to the Savior, who died to sin, and with sin. His death absolved those who believe from the debt sin incurs, because He paid it for us. We are justified, that is, saved from the penalty of sin because of Jesus . We are sanctified, that is, saved from the power of sin by walking in the Spirit or submitting to the Holy Spirit’s leadership. We are saved from the presence of sin, or glorified, which will occur for us when we enter into the Lord’s presence personally; it will happen likewise on a universal scale when the former heaven and earth pass away, replaced by a creation wherein righteousness dwells, again 2 Peter 3:13.

 

To summarize, the present creation in toto will be shaken, and this shaking will remove all temporal things. Do not confuse created things with temporal things. People have souls that are not temporal; since mankind is made in God’s image, we are not temporal. Part of being made in God’s image means that we do not simply fade away and vanish; we are spiritual beings, and thus endure forever now. However, the condition in which we endure is determinant on what we think of the person of Jesus Christ. We know from Scripture that, saved or unsaved, both camps survive (so to speak) the dissolution of creation. The righteous are gathered to God’s side; the wicked are gathered to the Great White Throne before being cast into the Lake of Fire with Satan for choosing his rebel ways rather than reconciliation, Isaiah 66:24, Revelation 20:11-15.

 

The coming kingdom, of which God’s saints will be co-inheritors, is unshakable, verse 28. The notion is that the city is made to endure eternally, to be inhabited by those conformed into the Son’s image, who likewise cannot suffer death again. The laws of thermodynamics, which talk about energy reduction and the breakdown of any closed system no longer apply to a universe that does not labor under the curse of sin. The wicked go to a place where sin reigns, but the curse is manifestly worse. It decays those imprisoned, intimated by the language of the undying worm and unquenchable fire, Mark 9:44, etc. And again, it will do so forever because humanity is made in God’s image and will not expire. We do not suffer soul sleep or annihilation; we enter consciously into a state of bliss or torment, and we do so for eternity. Peter described the destruction of this creation as a fiery conflagration. When atoms are split, it is called nuclear fission. If Christ, who sustains all things by the word of His power, released His hold on creation, a universe full of atoms coming apart would certainly result in what Peter described, with the elements themselves melting with “fervent heat.”

 

This realization should embolden us and sober us to serve God. The descriptors employed suggest reverence and godly fear. Reverence can be translated into “admiration, worship, or veneration.” The NASB and the HCSB simply render “godly fear,” as “awe.” Awe can be translated “wonder, amazement, or astonishment.” Yes God is our Father, but He is “our Father in heaven,” Matthew 6:9, HCSB. The author further (and first) commends grace, by which we may then serve God acceptably. Part of this acceptation is our spiritual state while serving, which should exude reverence and godly fear. We are to glorify the Lord first and foremost, and not make God a mundane or common thing, so that when we speak of Him we may speak with love and intimacy, but not with the contempt of common familiarity. Why? “For our God is a consuming fire,” verse 29.

 

We must love God above all things, which is the essence of worship. Worship for a person is that one thing that holds the seat of our affection more than anything else in our lives. Its importance to us cannot be overstated. We become fanatic when this thing is named. We scrutinize it intensely to understand more, to draw closer, to more intimately possess it. Does this sound strange? Jesus our Lord, quoting from Deuteronomy 10:12, said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” Matthew 22:37. This is a passionate, fervent love that longs chiefly for the object of the heart’s affection. God, the consuming fire, love us in a like manner. His love is consuming and sacrificial. His love compels Him to seek the lost, to seek His enemies for their welfare, to offer His own Son in their stead, and to open Heaven’s doors for the repentant rebel. His love vanquished sin’s curse through the instrumentality of faith, and by faith we may be born again by virtue of God’s unmerited favor: a fair definition of biblical grace. His intense, amazing love manifests to us in grace, His condescending favor. Man’s love for God, kindled by divine grace, goes upward in what we call worship. That is why idolatry is so wicked. It sets up a false god in man’s heart, and the veneration we lavish our idols with becomes sin, because such love belongs only to one Being in creation. God’s love is consuming; it will devour with fire that which offends in us until we are entirely purified of the old man and come forth like gold tried in the furnace. Polished gold reflects light brilliantly. The saints are to be this gold, reflecting the virtues and beauty of the risen Savior, loving Him first and foremost, and let His consuming fire kindle in us a light that calls to the lost, for their good and God’s glory for all eternity. Amen.