Holiness in a World on Fire

Hebrews 12:14-29

Hebrews is not being helpful when it tells you to “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). It is not making a suggestion. It is making the terms of spiritual survival clear to you in a world that is shaking apart. God is not inviting us to a casual faith. He is inviting us to a holy pursuit. Peace and holiness are not garnishes or side dishes. They are evidence. Evidence that you belong to the kingdom that will still be standing when everything else collapses.

Imagine walking into a house that looks structurally sound but has termites eating it from the inside. On the outside everything seems fine, but inside the decay is spreading. That is how sin works. That is why verse 15 warns us to “make sure that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble.” A little root can split a concrete foundation if you let it. A little sin can break a whole life if you excuse it. Scripture calls it a root because it grows underground before it rises in public. God says deal with it early. Dig it out before it rips your heart apart.

The writer then points to Esau and says do not be like him. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. In today’s vernacular he sold the eternal for the temporary. The holy for the convenient. The blessing of God for the appetite of the moment. Hebrews says he later begged for repentance with tears, yet found no chance to reverse what he had done. God is telling us that some decisions have permanent consequences. Today’s compromise can become tomorrow’s regret. Jesus said it this way, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul” (Mark 8:36).

Hebrews then shifts scenes. It takes us from the kitchen with Esau to the mountain with God. Israel trembled at Mount Sinai. The mountain burned with fire, and the voice of God thundered so powerfully that even Moses said, “I tremble with fear” (Hebrews 12:21). The scene was a reminder that God is not a soft pillow to stroke and pat. He is a consuming fire. Yet the writer says we have not come to Sinai, we have come to Mount Zion. We come to the presence of Jesus, the mediator of a better covenant. His blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood cried out for justice, but Jesus’ blood cries for mercy. Abel’s blood spoke from the ground, but Jesus’ blood speaks from heaven.

Mercy does not cancel reverence, it deepens it. Verse 25 says, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.” If the people who ignored God at Sinai faced God’s judgment, how much more serious is it to ignore the Lord who now speaks through His Son? When God shakes the earth things that can be shaken fall away. When God shakes a life whatever is built on the world collapses and whatever is built on His Word stands firm. This world is shaking right now. Morality is shaking. Culture is shaking. Institutions are shaking. But God says, “We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28).

What does God expect from us today? He tells us plainly. “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28). Not casual worship. Not convenience driven worship. Worship that flows from a heart that remembers who God is. Worship that honors Him as holy. Worship that reflects a life set apart. God is love, but verse 29 reminds us that “our God is a consuming fire.” His fire purifies His people and judges all that stands against Him.

Right now He is shaking everything so the only things left standing are the things built on His truth. The question is simple. Are you standing on the unshakable kingdom or on the sinking sand of the world? If something in your life is falling apart make sure you are losing what is temporary while holding on to what is eternal. God shakes what is fragile in order to reveal what is firm.

Run after peace. Run after holiness. Deal with sin at the root. Listen to the God who speaks. Stand firm in the kingdom that cannot be shaken. And remember with godly fear and trembling that the God who saved you is the same God who will refine you.

He is a consuming fire, and He is worthy of your awe.

Ezekiel 31:1-32:32
Hebrews 12:14-29
Psalm 113:1-114:8
Proverbs 27:18-20

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New Testament: Hebrews 12:14-29

Summary: A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

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