Welcome to Day 27 of The Challenge!

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“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”

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Have you ever been reading through the Bible and come across a verse, and thought,  “What does THIS mean?” At first glance that is what came to my mind as I read Heb 12:27. But after some study it was encouraging to see what the Lord showed me. I pray that it will be a blessing to you as well.

It is interesting how this verse starts. It begins with the word “and” which indicates that it is connected to a previous thought or verse.  So as we read verse 27, it is important to have an understanding of the context in which it was written.  Starting in verse 18, the writer of Hebrews is comparing God’s relationship with His people on Mount Sinai when He gave them the law, to His relationship with us as New Testament believers.

While looking at this verse,  the phrase “signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken” stood out to me. The word “removing”  when I looked it up,  means change, translation, or the disestablishment of a law. This last meaning caught my attention because the word disestablishment means, to take away something that was previously established or put into place.  That is exactly  what Christ did! For a believer in Christ as the Messiah Jesus fulfilled the law, so it no longer has authority over us or the power to condemn us!

Matthew  5:17: ”Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Romans 8:2-3: ”For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [new covenant] hath made me free from the law of sin and death [old covenant]. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

Galatians 3:24-25: ”Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” God is showing us how the law was temporary and that it was given to prove our inability to reach God’s mark of perfection on our own. So He sent His son Jesus  to fulfill the law and provide a way for us to walk in that fulfillment without fear of being “shaken.”

Hebrews  9:15:  ”And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”

I am thankful that as Christians we have a new law, the law of love.  John 15: 12-13 says, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this,  that a man lay down his life for his friends.”   The question that we need to regularly be asking ourselves is,  “Am I living my life in a way that demonstrates the change that Jesus has accomplished for me on the cross? Or, does my Christian walk show that I am still trying to obey the law to earn something.

The beginning of verse 28 confirms these ideas when it says, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved….”  WOW! That is powerful.  May we desire to build our lives on the solid and unshakable finished work of Jesus Christ – the Rock!!

~ Eric Barth

    This entry was posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 1:00 am and is filed under Memorization Challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.