A Kingdom that Cannot Be Shaken

Introduction

Hebrews 10:34 “For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you had a better possession and an abiding one.”

Heb 11:13 “13 These all died in faith, not having recieved the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. “

Hebrews 11:24-27 24 “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”

Time and time again, the Bible shows that faithfulness in the present depends on our grasp of the future. Christians can joyfully accept their plundered property. Why? Because they have a better possession that abides forever in heaven. They can be strangers and exiles on earth. How? By believing that God has prepared for them a city. Like Moses, they can choose to be mistreated rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. How? By looking to the reward. We endure “as seeing him who is invisible.”

This is a principle we must mark down: we endure by seeing the invisible. That’s what faith is: Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We believe in a God we cannot see, promises we cannot touch, a future that is not here.

On the Tuesday of the election, before we knew anything about the outcome, I decided to jump out of Mark for one week and study a passage that should give us perspective. At the time of my study, I did not know whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden would be elected president. My desire was, and is, to give us a perspective that allows us to weather any political storm - storms that I believe will be coming more frequently and furiously in the coming years. Our text is going to be Hebrews 12:18-29.