Letter to the Hebrews Volume 173

 Believers, We must Listen to the Heavenly Voice

Hebrews 12:25-29 See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 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.Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.  KJV

Jesus Christ our Lord came down from Heaven to speak to all of humanity. He spoke, of course, by the many Words recorded for us by the writers of the Gospel's and the other letters in the New Testament like this one that we are currently in (the letter to the Hebrews), but He spoke more than just with His Words, He showed all of humanity what a life pleasing to God the Father looked like as He walked among us (John 1:14) living a completely sinless life in word, thought, and deed. Because we now see that complete sinless perfection is the only human life that is acceptable to God the Father, then each and everyone of us should see our total incompetency, insufficiency, and inadequacy to meet the requirements of a Pure, Perfect, and Powerful God in Heaven. This light bulb moment should not make us fret or frown or fear, but it should make us listen to the One that came down from Heaven to speak to us and do for us what we could never ever do for ourselves. On this Easter Sunday, we should rejoice in very solemn gratitude for the love that was poured out of Christ Body through His shed Blood for you and me and for any sinner who will simply, solemnly, and sweetly just call on His Name. The writer of Hebrews is now reminding those new Hebrew converts to Christ back then and to we converts to Christ today and from every era and generation to listen to His Heavenly Voice and not turn from Him who is speaking to us always, as it is written, "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 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. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:25-29) (KJV). The writer of Hebrews has already warned us way back at the very beginning of his letter to not turn away from Christ Jesus our Lord through unbelief, for it is unbelief that keeps us from hearing the truth as it did with many of the people who came out of Egypt during the Exodus, as it is written, "Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." (Hebrews 3:7-19) (KJV). What was the damming sin of those in the wilderness? Answer: Unbelief. The writer of Hebrews declared to the Hebrew converts from Judaism to Christianity back then that those in the wilderness whom God was displeased with during the Exodus were preached the same Gospel as we have been, yet they simply did not believe, as it is written, "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." (Hebrews 4:1-2) (KJV).

Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of Hebrews 12:25-29, "The Apostle, having thus enlarged upon the argument to perseverance taken from the heavenly nature of the Gospel Church state, closes the Chapter by improving the argument in a manner suitable to the weight of it. See then that you refuse not Him that speaketh - that speaketh by His Blood; and not only speaketh after another manner than the blood of Abel spoke from the ground, but than God spoke by the angels, and by Moses spoke on Mount Sinai; then He spoke on earth, now He speaks from heaven. Here observe, 1. When God speaks to men in the most excellent manner He justly expects from them the most strict attention and regard. Now it is in the Gospel that God speaks to men in the most excellent manner. For, (1.) He now speaks from a higher and more glorious seat and throne, not from Mount Sinai, which was on this earth, but from heaven. (2.) He speaks now more immediately by His Inspired Word and by His Spirit, which are His witnesses. He speaks not now any new thing to men, but by His Spirit speaks the same Word home to the conscience. (3.) He speaks now more powerfully and effectually. Then indeed His voice shook the earth, but now, by introducing the Gospel state, He hath shaken not only the earth, but the heavens, - not only shaken the hills and mountains, or the spirits of men, or the civil state of the land of Canaan, to make room for His people, - not only shaken the world, as He then did, but He hath shaken the Church, that is, the Jewish nation, and shaken them in their Church-state, which was in Old Testament times a heaven upon earth; this their heavenly spiritual state He hath now shaken. It is by the Gospel from heaven that God shook to pieces the civil and ecclesiastical state of the Jewish nation, and introduced a new state of the Church, that cannot be removed, shall never be changed for any other on earth, but shall remain till it be made perfect in heaven. 2. When God speaks to men in the most excellent manner, the guilt of those who refuse Him is the greater, and their punishment will be more unavoidable and intolerable; there is no escaping, no bearing it. The different manner of God's dealing with men under the Gospel, in a way of grace, assures us that He will deal with the despisers of the Gospel after a different manner than He does with other men, in a way of judgment. The Glory of the Gospel, which should greatly recommend it to our regard, appears in these three things: - (1.) It was by the sound of the Gospel trumpet that the former dispensation and state of the Church of God were shaken and removed; and shall we despise that Voice of God that pulled down a Church and state of so long standing and of God's own building? (2.) It was by the sound of the Gospel trumpet that a new kingdom was erected for God in the world, which can never be so shaken as to be removed. This was a change made once for all; no other change shall take place till time shall be no more. We have now received a kingdom that cannot be moved, shall never be removed, never give way to any new dispensation. The Canon of Scripture is now perfected, the Spirit of Prophecy has ceased, the Mystery of God is finished, He has put His last hand to it. The Gospel Church may be made more large, more prosperous more purified from contracted pollution, but it shall never be altered for another dispensation; those who perish under the Gospel perish without remedy. And hence the Apostle justly concludes, [1.] How necessary it is for us to obtain grace from God, to serve Him acceptably: if we be not accepted of God under this dispensation, we shall never be accepted at all; and we lose all our labour in religion if we be not accepted of God. [2.] We cannot worship God acceptably, unless we worship Him with godly reverence and fear. As faith, so holy fear, is necessary to acceptable worship. [3.] It is only the grace of God that enables us to worship God in a right manner: nature cannot come up to it; it can produce neither that precious faith nor that holy fear that is necessary to acceptable worship. [4.] God is the same just and righteous God under the Gospel that He appeared to be under the law. Though He be our God in Christ, and now deals with us in a more kind and gracious way, yet He is in Himself a consuming fire; that is, a God of strict justice, who will avenge Himself on all the despisers of His grace, and upon all apostates. Under the Gospel, the Justice of God is displayed in a more awful manner, though not in so sensible a manner as under the law; for here we behold divine justice seizing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and making Him a propitiatory sacrifice, His soul and body an offering for sin, which is a display of justice far beyond what was seen and heard on Mount Sinai when the law was given."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…