Let’s read Hebrews 12:25-29, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then SHOOK THE EARTH; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO HEAVEN,’  Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicated the removal of THOSE THINGS THAT ARE BEING SHAKEN, AS OF THINGS THAT ARE MADE, THAT THE THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE SHAKEN MAY REMAIN. 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. For our God is a consuming fire” (NKJV).

Earlier in this same chapter we read (in verses 18-21) of the time when God SHOOK MOUNT SINAI when He gave the Law (the Ten Commandments). Verse 18 describes a terrible EARTHQUAKE that the children of Israel saw when they came to the mountain “that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest.” God “shook the earth”; a real tangible mountain. Why did He do this? To show Israel that He was Holy and that the Law that He was giving them, which they said they would obey (see Exodus 19:7-8), would condemn them and bring upon them God’s holy judgment if they disobeyed it. It was a fearful scene where even Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (verse 21). As we read the history of Israel from that point on, we see that they utterly failed to keep the Law and thus the Law became to them a curse; a “ministry of death” and a “ministry of condemnation” (2nd Corinthians 3:7 & 9). The “shaking of Mount Sinai” should have told them that they would indeed be judged for their failure to keep the Law and that “our God is a consuming fire.”

There is a judgment coming that will make the “shaking of Mount Sinai” pale in comparison, for God has promised “Yet once more I SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO HEAVEN.” As one writer has said, “At Sinai God’s voice caused an EARTHQUAKE. But when He speaks in the future His voice will also produce a HEAVENQUAKE.” This will be a literal “shaking of both tangible (material) things on earth and in heaven.” This is a quotation from the prophet Haggai 2:6 and it is written about in more detail in 2nd Peter 3:10-12 which I will now quote: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which THE HEAVENS WILL PASS AWAY with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; BOTH THE EARTH AND THE WORKS THAT ARE IN IT WILL BE BURNED UP. Therefore, since ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE DISSOLVED, what manner of persons out you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which THE HEAVENS WILL BE DISSOLVED, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” This means that ALL MATERIAL THINGS will be consumed by God Who “is a consuming fire.” Everything in heaven and everything on earth will be completely annihilated. This will be God’s final judgment upon those who “turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.” He judged those who refused to obey His Law given at Mount Sinai and He will judge those who refused to obey the gospel of His grace (see Hebrews 2:1-3).

If that were the end of the story it would be total “doom and gloom,” but the Apostle Peter went on to say (in 3:13), “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH in which dwelleth righteousness.” Ah, dear fellow-believer, here we see “the things which cannot be shaken,” for the “New Heavens and the New Earth” will be the eternal home of all those who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. There will be absolute holiness there for we read those blessed words “in which dwelleth righteousness.” Sin will never break out throughout the endless ages of eternity and thus God will never have to shake the heavens and the earth again. It will truly be “a kingdom which cannot be shaken.” Will my reader be there? If you “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation” (Acts 16:31) you will be.  (478.3)  (DO)