◄ What Does Hebrews 12:26 Mean? ►

We have been saved in the same way as that great cloud of witnesses who were listed earlier in the book of Hebrews; saved by grace through faith. They believed the Word of God as they looked forward to the arrival of the promised Seed of Abraham, man's Kinsman-Redeemer Who was the greater Son of David. We also believe the Word of God as we look back to the Cross of Christ to Jesus, our God and Saviour, our risen, ascended, and glorified Lord.

No matter where we are placed in the history of the world, we receive God's gracious gift of salvation by believing His Word. The Israelite slaves were saved from Egyptian bondage by faith. They believed and acted on God's Word, smearing the lintels of their homes with the shed blood of the innocent passover lambs as directed. And because they trusted God, they escaped bondage. They were covered by the blood of the passover lambs temporarily, until the saving blood of Jesus Christ, God's true Passover Lamb, would take away their sin and the sin of the whole world forever through His own blood, shed at Calvary.

It was shortly after their miraculous redemption from Egypt, that the children of Israel heard the audible Voice of God Almighty as it thundered on the top of Mount Sinai. All the people witnessed the cracks of thunder, the lightning flashes, the sound of a great trumpet, and the smoking of the mountain as together they watched this awesome display of God's almighty power. And they trembled and stood afar off for fear of the Lord.

The reverberating Voice of God at Sinai to His covenant people caused a mighty earth-quake, but the writer to the Hebrews identifies a future terrifying event, which will not not only shake the entire earth to its foundations, but will cause a universal heaven-quake. This will cause stars to fall to the earth as the whole of nature contorts and convulses, as the wrath of God is poured out on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, unrepentant, sinful world.

Raging waters, terrific volcanoes, and mighty earthquakes, together with blood, fire, and pillars of smoke, will enshroud the earth. The sun and the moon will both be darkened as the stars fall from their heavenly orbit to a devastated earth, entombed in deep darkness. The awesome Voice of the Lord shook the earth so many years ago at the top of Sinai, but now God has declared and decreed, saying: "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven."

This future shaking of the earth and heaven of which Haggai and other prophetic voices foretold, will take place during the time that follows the Rapture of the Church and Christ's return in the clouds to set up His earthly kingdom. However, it will be fully and finally completed at the end of Christ's Millennial rule on earth, when everything that can be shaken will once again be shaken as heaven and earth are destroyed by a fervent heat, before God makes a new heaven and a new earth, when the first sin-infested creation will be done away.

Heavenly Father, what a great and Almighty God You are and yet I have sinned against You as an individual and as a member of Your beautiful creation. It is terrifying to understand what is going to happen to heaven and earth in the future. Thank You for Your promise that although You will cause heaven and earth to pass away, Your Word will never pass away. I look forward to the glorious day, yet future, when You will create a new heaven and a new earth. As for me, Father, I know that without the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, I could never stand before Your awesome majesty and yet by grace through faith in Jesus, I can address You as Abba. May I live to Your praise and glory. In Jesus' name, AMEN.