People Shouldn't Judge Us, But God Will (In Search Of Truth, Hebrews 12:25-29)

(Hebrews 12:25-29, ESV) 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.


I'm breaking from my usual format of saving "Geek Application" for the end, because I felt like this passage in particular could benefit from that application coming more "along the way" as we go through it verse by verse.


In previous verses the author of Hebrews provided positive motivation for committing ourselves to a "race of faith" throughout our lives. Now he turns and adds some negative motivation in the form of a warning.

v. 25

The author refers back to verses 18-21, which describe the fear and danger that Israel experienced in their relationship with Yahweh that began at Sinai. Under the terms of that relationship, Israel would be blessed greatly if they were true to their promise and suffer greatly if they turned away from their promised commitment to Yahweh (Exodus 19-24). As we see throughout the Old Testament/Tanakh, Israel chose disobedience much of the time and suffered as a result.

"Him who warned them on earth" may refer to God's visible presence at Sinai, Moses his spokesman, or both. By contrast, Jesus was a much more direct and full representation of Yahweh and his Kingdom. So the author is pointing out that if Israel, God's chosen people group, did not escape consequences and suffering when they refused Yahweh's covenant from Sinai, we as believers in Jesus will escape consequences even less.

So what are those consequences? We've established already that this letter was written to believers, not unbelievers. And we've also established that believers cannot lose the gift of eternal life (John 5:24, Romans 6:23, Romans 11:29, 2 Timothy 2:13). So what consequences remain? The consequences of God's judgment.

v. 26-27

The author quotes Haggai 2:6, which refers to a final time when Yahweh will "shake" the whole world. This will happen literally, but Yahweh also says he will "shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house [the Temple] with glory". (Haggai 2:7)

The author of Hebrews emphasizes the finality of this event by bringing out the phrase "yet once more". In this event, everything that CAN be removed WILL be removed. Only God's unshakable kingdom will remain. This current creation will be discarded and then remade to last forever, the way it was meant to be before sin corrupted everything. This seems to refer to God's final judgment of all things before ushering in the eternal kingdom. (2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 20:11-15)

v.28

In light of the unshakable kingdom we've been given and promised, an eternal kingdom that can't be thwarted or defeated by dysfunctional or evil people, by disease or tragic circumstances, we're called to respond with emotions, thoughts, and day-to-day lives that worship (give highest priority to) Yahweh. As we spend time pondering and truly absorbing the reality of God's promises and the sureness of their fulfillment, we should arrive at feelings of genuine gratitude for his undeserved favor toward us, and genuine awe and reverence toward God.

For a lot of geeks, myself included, it comes more naturally to study and learn from the Bible than to actually absorb it to the point that it genuinely effects how we feel about people and life situations. In my experience, those feelings don't come genuinely simply by an intellectual acknowledgment of the truths regarding God, his kingdom and his promises. My mind, perspective and feelings change as I forcefully carve out time to sit and quietly consider these truths and the ramifications they have for what I'm experiencing on that day.

v.29

This final phrase provides one more reason for seeing reality as it is and pursuing Yahweh increasingly with all we have. He is a "consuming fire".

This comes from Deuteronomy 4:24- "For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
The author of Hebrews already referred to Yahweh's final judgment, and made a point of saying that we will not escape it. He comes back to the subject and warning of judgment with the phrase "consuming fire".

Because I think geeks especially need to hear it, I've made a point of bringing out the reality of God's tireless love, compassion and forgiveness toward us. And I don't believe I've done that to a fault, because the Bible itself speaks of those things and emphasizes them so much. But sometimes we need to be reminded of God's anger as well.

The phrase "consuming fire" is associated with God's judgment in scripture. (Deuteronomy 9:3, Isaiah 33:14, Lamentations 2:3) And while we are forever free from any condemnation that would ordinarily result from God's judgment (Romans 8:1), his judgment itself (his evaluation of thoughts, priorities and actions) is still every bit as focused on us as believers. And there are consequences for rejecting pursuit of God's will.

Those consequences can take effect in this life (1 Corinthians 11:28-30 being just one example). But the contextual focus here seems to be on God's final judgment and its effect on our eternal lives. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15) Once again, we're not talking about a loss of eternal life, but loss, to some degree, of our eternal rewards.

This doesn't mean that eternity with Yahweh and his perfected people won't still be wonderful beyond what we can imagine if we reject living daily for him right now. It doesn't mean we'll take regret with us into eternity, at least not in any way that leaves us unhappy. But it does mean we can miss out on having something wonderful on top of eternal life in paradise. Something we can't get back.

We might feel like it's not very loving of God to be angry with us when we simply decide to live life for our own pleasure for awhile. But it's actually a strong indication of God's passionate love for us. Like a husband feels appropriate jealousy when his wife has an affair, God, as the groom of the church, has a passionate and unwavering commitment to us that results in an appropriate anger when we neglect him in favor of something or someone else.

This is the part where I want to say a "yes, but".

"Yes, he's angry. BUT, he still loves us unconditionally!"

That's true. The problem is that I will sometimes insert a "yes, but" so I don't have to fully ponder the hard-to-hear reality in front of me. And I need to be reminded of God's anger at my unfaithfulness. I need to sit in that awhile, just like I need to sit in the reality of his grace for awhile at other times.

Unlike us, God is outside of time, not limited to having successive thoughts one after another. He can fully and completely feel both affection and anger toward us at the same time to uncompromising degrees. He doesn't fall into the exclusive extremes of wrath or grace that we so easily assign to him. It's important that we remember both, and also realize that while his affection for us never changes, we play a role in triggering God's appropriately manifested  anger, and the consequences that come with rejecting his direction.

So if you and I can take a hard look at ourselves and see where we've been coasting on God's grace and taking his love for granted, this should be our wake-up call. A reminder that there are eternal things at stake that we don't want to miss out on.