Hebrews 12:18-29
There’s something deeply unsettling about the ground beneath your feet moving. In 1989, just minutes before Game Three of the World Series in San Francisco, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck. One reporter captured the experience perfectly: “Everything I thought was solid suddenly started moving.”
That disorienting moment—when what we assumed was permanent proves temporary—is more than a physical phenomenon. It’s a spiritual reality we all face.
The Unshakeable Kingdom
The book of Hebrews presents us with a remarkable contrast. On one hand, there’s Mount Sinai—a place of terror, fire, darkness, and tempest. A mountain so holy that even animals who touched it had to be killed. A place where God’s holiness was so overwhelming that Moses himself said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.”
But then there’s Mount Zion—the heavenly Jerusalem. A place of celebration, innumerable angels, and the presence of God made accessible through Jesus Christ. The difference between these two mountains isn’t about two different Gods. It’s about one sacrifice that changed everything.
The Seriousness of Sin
We live in a culture that treats sin casually. Movies celebrate it. Songs romanticize it. Social media normalizes it. But with God, sin has never been casual. His holiness is absolute, and sin cannot exist in His presence.
Think of it like a parent sending children outside to play in the dirt, then requiring them to clean up before coming back inside. It’s not cruelty—it’s the natural consequence of wanting to preserve what is clean. God’s holiness isn’t arbitrary; it’s who He is.
Standing on the moon, Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin gained perspective: “Standing on the moon made me realize how small man is and how great God is.” When we truly grasp God’s greatness and holiness, we understand why sin is such serious business.
The Blood That Speaks
The Bible tells us that Abel’s blood cried out from the ground after Cain murdered him. What did it cry for? Justice. When innocent blood is shed, when wrongs are committed, something in the universe demands that accounts be settled.
But Jesus’ blood speaks better things than Abel’s blood. While Abel’s blood cries for justice, Jesus’ blood cries for mercy. It doesn’t demand payment from us—it offers payment for us.
This is the stunning reversal of the gospel. The same holy God who cannot tolerate sin has provided the sacrifice that cleanses us from all sin. Not because He changed, but because Jesus paid the price.
In 2015, when a murderer entered a Bible study in a small South Carolina church and killed nine people, the world expected riots and rage. Instead, family members stood up publicly and said, “We forgive.” People who have been forgiven know how to forgive. The blood of Jesus not only secures our forgiveness from God but transforms our hearts to extend forgiveness to others.
Empires Rise and Fall
History is littered with kingdoms that seemed permanent. The Roman Empire lasted over a thousand years—yet it’s gone. The British Empire once spanned the globe, with the saying that “the sun never sets on the British Empire.” It does now.
The Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, the great dynasties of China—all have crumbled. Even in our personal lives, things we thought were secure prove temporary. A phone call announces a divorce. A diagnosis changes everything. A job loss upends our plans.
Consider China in 1949. Communist forces expelled foreign missionaries and began systematically destroying Christianity. With about one million believers at the time, many feared the gospel was finished in China. For decades, nothing got in or out. The church seemed dead.
But when the doors cracked open years later, the truth emerged: tens of millions of Christians existed in China. The persecution hadn’t destroyed the church—it had caused it to depend more fully on God. Underground, beyond government control, God’s kingdom had flourished.
As one Chinese pastor reflected, “When the government destroyed the church, it only made us depend on God more.”
This is the pattern throughout history. Human kingdoms shake and fall. God’s kingdom cannot be moved.
The Cost of Following
The song “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” emerged from a tragic but powerful story in northern India. A man converted to Christianity, and the village chief demanded he deny Jesus. When he refused, they killed his two children. Still he would not deny Christ. They killed his wife. Finally, they told him he had one last chance.
His response: “I’ve decided to follow Jesus. The world behind me, the cross before me. No turning back.”
They killed him.
But something remarkable happened. Today, while India as a whole is about 2-3% Christian, northern India is 75% Christian, with some areas reaching 95%. One man’s faithfulness became a movement because he understood that God’s kingdom is worth everything.
Living in Light of the Unshakeable
So how do we live when everything around us shakes?
Live with gratitude every day. Even when life treats us harshly, God has been good. The gift of salvation through Jesus Christ is reason enough for daily thanksgiving.
Worship God with reverence. Yes, God is close to us through Jesus, but He is still the holy God of the universe. Casual Christianity misses the wonder of who we’re approaching.
Build your life on eternal things. Careers, possessions, health—these can all be taken away in a heartbeat. Only what’s built on Jesus will last.
Hold loosely to temporary things. God gives us good gifts to enjoy—homes, relationships, experiences. Appreciate them, but don’t cling to them. One phone call can change everything.
The Question Before Us
The earth will be shaken. Heaven itself will be shaken. Everything that can be removed will be removed, so that what cannot be shaken will remain.
The question isn’t whether shaking will come. It will. The question is: what kingdom are you building your life on?
The kingdoms of this world are impressive. They seem permanent. They promise security. But they’re all built on sand.
There is only one kingdom that cannot be moved. Only one foundation that will stand when everything else crumbles.
Everything I thought was solid suddenly started moving—that’s the testimony of everyone who lives long enough. But for those who have built their lives on Jesus Christ, when everything else shakes, they discover what truly cannot be moved.
And that makes all the difference.