This week, Pastor Chris continued our Victorious Jesus series with a powerful message on the stability of God’s Kingdom. In a world that is constantly shifting and uncertain, God reminds us through His Word that there is a kingdom which cannot be shaken. The terrifying scene at Mount Sinai revealed the holiness of God and the instability of everything built on fear and law, but Mount Zion reveals the grace, peace, and permanence found in Jesus Christ. Because we belong to this unshakable kingdom, our response must be one of grateful and reverent worship to the God who is a consuming fire.
Haggai 2:6 (ESV)
6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
1. The Shakable Kingdom: Mount Sanai
Hebrews 12:16–21 (ESV)
16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
Exodus 19:12–13 (ESV)
12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”
Exodus 19:18–21 (ESV)
18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish.
2. The Unshakable Kingdom: Mount Zion
Hebrews 12:22–24 (ESV)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Colossians 1:20 (ESV)
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
| Mount Sinai | Mount Zion |
| Marked by fear and terror | A place of love and forgiveness |
| Located in the desert | The city of the Living God |
| Spoke of earthly things | Speaks of heavenly things |
| Only Moses could draw near to God | An innumerable company, a general assembly, is invited to draw near |
| Characterized by guilty men in fear | Features just men made perfect |
| Moses was the mediator | Jesus is the mediator |
| Old Covenant ratified by the blood of animals | New Covenant ratified by the blood of God’s precious Son |
| About exclusion — keeping people away from the mountain | About invitation — all are welcomed to come |
| Centered on Law | Centered on Grace |
Hebrews 12:25–26 (ESV)
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”
3. Response: Unshakable Worship
Hebrews 12:27 (ESV)
27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
2 Peter 3:7 (ESV)
7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2 Peter 3:10–12 (ESV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
Hebrews 12:28–29 (ESV)
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
“We are constantly and perpetually receiving a Kingdom that is incapable of being shaken.”
– Griffith Thomas
“Glory be to God, our kingdom cannot be moved! Not even dynamite can touch our dominion: no power in the world, and no power in hell, can shake the kingdom which the Lord has given to his saints. With Jesus as our monarch we fear no revolution and no anarchy: for the Lord hath established this kingdom upon a rock, and it cannot be moved or removed.”
–Spurgeon
Discussion Questions:
- What differences stand out to you between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion? (Consider grace vs. law, fear vs. love, exclusion vs. invitation.)
- Hebrews 12:27–29 says that God will remove what can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain. What might God be shaking in your life right now to strengthen your faith?
- What does it practically look like to live with “unshakable faith” in a world filled with instability?
Application Question:
- Where is God inviting you to trust His stability this week?