The Unshakable Kingdom

We live in a time of shaking. We have recently had two massive earthquakes, one in Haiti and one in Chile that have claimed the lives of thousands or people, destroyed billions of dollars of property and left millions homeless and without jobs. Though these disasters are unimaginable, they pale in the light of the moral, social, political and economic shaking happening in our world today that is devastating our world and affects every one of us in one measure or another.

The author of Hebrews addresses this shaking in Hebrews 12:25-29:
“Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.” NLT

The warning that he gives is to “be careful that we do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.” This is not a warning to the world but to us, the church. Just as God spoke to the children of Israel in the midst of the shaking at Mount Sinai, God is endeavoring to speak to and through His church in the midst of the shaking our world is going through today. It is crucial that in the midst of the time that we live, that we hear the voice of God like we have never heard the voice of God before. God is trying to speak to us to give us the way to respond to the ever-changing world in which we live.

It may not be that we are refusing to hear the voice of “the One who is speaking.” He is speaking but we often fail to hear him because of the business of life, the pressures we are under, the noisy demands of those around us, and even the noisy demands from within ourselves. We are so inundated with information that the voice of God cannot be heard or clearly distinguished. Jesus said in John 10 that “his sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:3NKJV

Abraham heard and responded to God’s voice and brought blessings to the nations. Moses heard God’s voice and delivered a people group. Peter heard God’s voice on the roof of his home and brought salvation to Cornelius’s house. Paul heard the voice of Jesus and impacted his world in a time of political, social and moral decay. Hearing and obeying the voice of God is not very convenient. Each of these men’s lives was radically impacted by the voice of God. It shook their world, their theology and way of life. The voice of God takes us out of our comfort zone into the faith zone where God operates.

The unshakable kingdom is built on the word of the King. “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.” May God’s voice sustain you and empower you today to walk out His will.

Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsusa.org