Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Hebrews 12:28
A friend of mine posted on Facebook a quotation from someone named Chris Hedges, who said, ‘We now live in a world where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and banks destroy the economy.’ I am sure we can all think of ways in which each of Mr. Hedges’ observations is true. And we can add to his list the churches that destroy the truth and the preachers who destroy the Gospel. As we consider all of the ways in which so called rights of minorities and the nonsense of political correctness have turned our world upside down, we shake our heads in disbelief. But amid the transformation of our world into a moral, social, economic, and political mess, we find that we can still rely on some absolutes. The Bible, for example, has not, will not, and cannot ever change. Neither can any of God’s rich promises for His people. Neither can the Gospel of the grace of God, Neither can any of the principles of right and wrong as defined in the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Scriptures. And neither can the kingdom into which God’s salvation brings us.
The reality of a kingdom that cannot be moved is important to us as we live in a world in which everything around us is moving and churning ceaselessly. Our text tells us that we are receiving this kingdom now; it is not a kingdom that we must wait for in eternity. We read about this in Colossians 1:12-13: ‘Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son’. This kingdom into which we are translated is the same one that we will occupy forever. Our citizenship in this kingdom is irrevocable. Our joys in this kingdom are eternal. Our blessings in this kingdom will never cease to increase and multiply.
There is a good reason why the kingdom cannot be moved: the King cannot be moved. The love that the Lord Jesus has for us will never diminish. The promises that the Lord Jesus has made to us can never fail. The prospects of eternal glory that have been presented to us can never disappoint. The rewards for faithful service to our Lord can never be revoked. The appreciation that we will have for the riches of the grace of the Lord Jesus will never stop increasing.
Don’t worry about the turmoil and the destruction of all that is good around us, because we are part of a kingdom that will never change and that cannot be moved. -Jim MacIntosh