Bible League: Living His Word "Once again I will shake the earth, but I will also shake heaven."When the manifest presence of God shows up in this sinful and broken world in which we live things get shaken to the very core. When God met Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai the whole mountain shook, smoke and fire rose off of it like a furnace, there was thunder and lightning, and a trumpet blast that got louder and louder. When God spoke to Moses His voice sounded like thunder (Exodus 19:16-19). Needless to say, the people were very afraid. Even so, they did not listen to God (Hebrews 12:25). In our verse for today, the author of Hebrews quotes the prophet Haggai in order to make the claim that another day is coming when God will descend and shake the earth (Haggai 2:6). God will shake the earth at the time of Christ's second coming. This future shaking will not be limited to a particular location, as was the case at Sinai. Instead, the whole earth will shake. Even the starry heavens above will shake. This future shaking will be a final shaking. Everyone who has not listened to God will be shaken by it. After that, the heavens and the earth will not need to be shaken ever again. The shaking at Sinai was meant as a warning. It was a warning to people that they should listen to God. Every subsequent shaking and natural disaster is also meant to warn the people of earth that they should listen to God. The final shaking, however, is not meant as a warning. It is the fulfillment of every warning in final judgement and destruction. There will be no more warnings and chances. At that time, only that which cannot be shaken will remain (Hebrews 12:27). In between God's shaking at Sinai and His final shaking He has spoken from heaven above (Hebrews 12:25). He has spoken to us through His son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2). We can't come to God and listen at Sinai anymore, but we can come to Jesus and listen. If we listen to Him and obey Him, we will never be shaken again. If we don't listen, it will be worse for us in the great shaking to come than it will be for those who did not listen at Sinai (Hebrews 12:25). Stand firm in Christ, then, so that you will never be shaken. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingProverbs 23, 24 Proverbs 23 -- When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you; NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Proverbs 24 -- Don't be envious of evil men; neither desire to be with them: NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Corinthians 5 2 Corinthians 5 -- Walk by Faith, and Not Sight; Christ's Love Compels us to Ministry NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.Insight Some sins seem bigger than others because their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example, seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than lust. But this does not mean that because we do lesser sins we deserve eternal life. All sin makes us sinners, and all sin cuts us off from our holy God. All sin, therefore, leads to death (because it disqualifies us from living with God), regardless of how great or small it seems. Challenge Don't minimize “little” sins or overrate “big” sins. They all separate us from God, but they all can be forgiven. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Luke 15:2 This man receiveth sinners.Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners--this Man receiveth sinners. This Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces--this Man receiveth sinners. It needs an angel's tongue to describe such a mighty stoop of love. That any of us should be willing to seek after the lost is nothing wonderful--they are of our own race; but that he, the offended God, against whom the transgression has been committed, should take upon himself the form of a servant, and bear the sin of many, and should then be willing to receive the vilest of the vile, this is marvellous. "This Man receiveth sinners;" not, however, that they may remain sinners, but he receives them that he may pardon their sins, justify their persons, cleanse their hearts by his purifying word, preserve their souls by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and enable them to serve him, to show forth his praise, and to have communion with him. Into his heart's love he receives sinners, takes them from the dunghill, and wears them as jewels in his crown; plucks them as brands from the burning, and preserves them as costly monuments of his mercy. None are so precious in Jesus' sight as the sinners for whom he died. When Jesus receives sinners, he has not some out-of-doors reception place, no casual ward where he charitably entertains them as men do passing beggars, but he opens the golden gates of his royal heart, and receives the sinner right into himself--yea, he admits the humble penitent into personal union and makes him a member of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. There was never such a reception as this! This fact is still most sure this evening, he is still receiving sinners: would to God sinners would receive him. Daily Light on the Daily Path Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.1 Peter 3:4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 1:23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, Luke 20:36 for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Romans 5:9-11 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. • For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. • And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; Mark 9:50 "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Ephesians 4:29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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