Unshakeable Kingdom

 

Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

—Hebrews 12:28

I am not particularly fond of heights. At the same time, many years ago I served as the Training Officer for the newly acquired 75-foot Ward LaFrance Hi-Ranger aerial platform that the Houghton Volunteer Fire Department had acquired. I also had no difficulty climbing the iron rungs of the concrete-embedded ladder in the back corner of the stage in the John and Charles Wesley Memorial Chapel-Auditorium at Houghton College, where, as a student, I served as Director of Chapel Operations.

If I didn’t particularly like heights, how was I able to relatively easily ascend quite high in the air in the bucket of the aerial platform fire truck, or climb the back-stage ladder in the Chapel-Auditorium? The answer is quite simple. In both cases, the foundation for the mechanism used to overcome the downward pull of gravity was extremely secure.

In the case of the aerial platform fire truck, four large outriggers extended from the body of the chassis of the truck and firmly secured the vehicle to the earth. In fact, those outriggers were designed to lift the truck so that the tires of the vehicle hovered an inch or so above the terrain. Even in a brisk wind, the vehicle never moved when one had extended the basket of the aerial platform to its full 75-foot height.

Similarly, in the case of the back-stage ladder in the Chapel-Auditorium, the steel treads were actually embedded in the concrete walls of the structure to a depth of several feet. The steps were wide and comfortable to climb. The shaft leading up to the space above the stage was narrow enough that at any point a climber needed to rest, he or she simply had to lean slightly backwards and rest his or her back against the wall of the shaft. It was nearly impossible to fall.

In each of these cases, the key to my ability to ascend to the heights was facilitated by the design of the environment. It was literally unshakeable. This is exactly the condition in which we find ourselves as followers of Jesus.

As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews declares in the verse at the beginning of this blog post:

Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

Through the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of the living Lord Jesus Christ, God has given those of us who follow Him an unshakeable Kingdom. Nothing can move it. Nothing can harm it. Nothing can destroy it. Nothing can keep it from accomplishing whatever it intends to accomplish. And, all the more so, we are protected by the very unshakeable nature of God”s Kingdom.

As a result, the writer to the Hebrews urges us to be thankful and worship God acceptably with reverence—reverence that is due God because of who He is and because of what He has done. So, dear ones, let us do exactly that.

 

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