HEB 12:26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain.Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."

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Dr Tong started by revising the last passage, where the author of Hebrews tells us that we have not come to an earthly Mt Zion, but a heavenly one. Zion is a place where God is, and the place where God will establish His king. Zion represents the covenant of God with man, a covenant that the LORD has established by His own faithfulness and immutability. In the Hebrew language, the word covenant includes a two-sided agreement, and a one-sided promise. So the LORD's covenant is not built upon our responses, but on His faithfulness and grace alone.

The earthly Zion cannot be compared to the heavenly one. We don't even know where the ark is, and the temple had been destroyed. Our covenant therefore, was never built on physical objects, but on the blood sprinkled in heaven as Hebrews pointed out. In the Old Testament, the mark of the covenant was blood from the sacrificial animals, while in the New Testament, the mark of the covenant was the blood of Jesus Christ. This covenant is better than the old one because it is an eternal covenant, never to change or fade away. All of us who have been saved partake in this eternity out of the grace of God, and join in His mystery.

Since we have a part of this eternal grace, the Bible warns us against rejecting it. Rejecting the words of Jesus Christ would result in judgement, because He is God incarnate, bringing to us God's will through His WORD. Therefore, we need to be able to tell what is from God, and what is not in the midst of all the voices of the world. If a church is built upon God's WORD, the church is blessed. If a preacher's only intent is to preach the WORD, the preacher is blessed. If we have a humble heart willing to receive the WORD, our ears are blessed. Dr Tong said that the seeds of the WORD of God can be found all over the world via God's general revelation, and we need to be able to identify that. A positive response to God's general revelation produces culture and value systems, and religiosity within men's heart. This is why we can find great wisdom in most faith, and they contain the shadow of the wisdom of God. But these are mere shadows.

Dr Tong said that while we can see God's shadows in other cultures and faith, we cannot consider these as the general revelation of God. These wisdoms are from great religious leaders and moral leaders, who responded positively to the general revelation of God. They are their responses, not God's revelation. These responses therefore contain the possibility of error, while God's general revelation cannot be wrong. Therefore, reformed theology looks only at the positive aspects of these responses and understood them to be mere responses, and will not be satisfied with culture and values of the world. We need the special revelation of God, a revelation by God Himself directly to man. This is why we consider the Bible to be superior to anything else in the world, because the Bible is the special revelation of God through the prophets and apostles.

When we focus further, the personification of the WORD is in our LORD Jesus Christ, the WORD incarnate. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the WORD (John 1). The sharpest focal point for us to listen to God's WORD would be to listen to the words and teaching of Jesus Christ. He spoke the eternal WORD of God through human words, and passed on the eternal Word of life to us. Jesus Christ defined His own words as Spirit, as Life ( John 6:63). So when we receive His WORD, we have receive the Spirit and Life as well. The warning therefore is dire, because a rejection of the Word of Christ would be a rejection of Spirit and Life, and the judgement would then naturally be very severe.

The author of Hebews brought the warning by pointing out that there are things that can be moved, and things that cannot. Jesus Christ said twice, first in Matthre 5:18 "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." and again in Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." When Christ proclaimed these words, we know that the words of Christ contain divinity and eternity. So we know that the world is contingent and will pass away, but the WORD of God is incontingent and eternal.

The author of Hebrews wrote about shaking even the heavens. Does this mean that the heavenly Jerusalem would be shaken? The answer is no, becuase the Bible tells us that there is three levels of heaven (2 Cor 12:2). The first would be our atmospher, the second the cosmos, the third where God is. Solomon said that 'heaven and the highest heaven" is not enough to contain God (1 King 8:27). This means that God will shake down everything on earth and heaven that we know, and His own kingdom will never be shaken. Thus we can have the full confidence that our hope is secure and firm, and is placed upon that which cannot be shaken forever and ever.

In the midst of this shakable world, we have inherited the un-shakable kingdom of God. So we certainly do not belong to the world, but belong to the eternal kingdom. While we are on earth, we in fact belong to heaven. Our physical bodies may be here, but our spirits are already there, and this status will never change. So we must not fix our gaze on the world, but our eyes must be fixed on our LORD and His grace. Our LORD said, "Give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways" (Proverbs 23:26) and "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23). The apostle Paul admonished us not to think about things of the earth for we are citizens of heaven (Phil 3:19,20) The apostle John tells us that everything in this world will pass away, except the person who does the will of God will live forever (1 John 2:17).Christians are passing through this world, and do not belong to this world. Jesus Christ knew this even when He was only 12, when He asked, "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49) Jesus Christ also said that His food is not of the world, but to do the will of God (John 4:34). We ought to be people who consider the will of God as the sustaining factor of our life, and live a heavenly life while we are on earth.

Since we have inherited this heaven that cannot be shaken, Dr Tong said that Hebrews tells us to remember to do 5 things:

1. Thankfulness - A person who lives a heavenly life on earth would be a person filled with thanksgiving. Since we have received an unshakable kingdom, we need to give thanks, give thanks, give thanks; or as Paul said, in everything give thanks (1 Th 5:18). Dr Tong said that when you are giving thanks to someone, not only would you use different words, your very facial expression would be different, one filled with joy. But when you are asking people for help, your entire face would look terrible and pitiful. This is the secret of joy - always being thankful. When we close our eyes in prayer, do we give thanks endlessly, or are we bitter and sad, asking for endless things from God. Dr Tong said that when we give thanks from our heart, we are immediately enjoying the peace and joy of God's presence. But when we grumble and complain, we are repeating our bitterness, dissatisfaction and sadness over and over again.

2. Be acceptable to God - Our service, our thoughts and deeds must all be acceptable to God and be pleasing to Him. Our very existence is not of ourselves, but we exist by the image of God. Just as the tabernacle on earth was built based on the design in heaven (Moses had to stay on Mt Sinai for 40 days for that), we are not to use our own intelligence to do what we please. Dr Tong said that we fail in ministry because we kept doing things our own way instead of God's way. We can have true peace if we are obedient to God. Many people seems not to realise that the will of God will prevail anyway. So many people have to be chastised by the LORD and come back to the LORD with all the scars of chastisement in submission to the LORD. This is so silly, and many people walked many more miles than they should. Dr Tong said that in heaven in the future, everyone will see all the scars you have from the LORD's chastisement, and you will be so embarassed. Out of the class of seminary students Dr Tong was in, only 3 graduated. 1 died and the other one has made a mess of his ministry. So Dr Tong said that there is a big difference in the outcome of the ministry when one is obedient, and another is not.

3. Reverence - To be reverent means that we are to be God's servant genuinely and sincerely, to serve Him and to bear witness for Him. To say "Amen" means to sincerely and honestly pray. When a person is reverent, the LORD is pleased with Him. This person lives completely for God.

4. Awe - To have a heart that fears God. We should not be afraid of anything except grieving God. A person who fears God is not simply afraid of Him, but is in awe of Him because He is awesome and great. A person who fears God is not a person who is afraid He will get angry, but afraid that God is sad for him. We should love God deeply, and be afraid that we will grieve the Holy Spirit. While we are close and intimate with God, we need to maintain the right distance and know our place as well, and not take Him for granted.

5. Worship and serve Him - We are to worship and serve Him, and Him alone. We do not serve money or powers of the world, we serve the LORD who loves us so much that He died and was resurrected for us, and will love us till the end. We will not be moved by money, or power, or the happiness of the world. There is no one in heaven or on earth that can take the LORD's place in our heart. When God is glad, we will be joyous. When God is saddened, we will be grieved. We are to serve Him and Him only till the end.

Dr Tong ended by repeating one of his earlier illustration, one of the best I have heard. There was a child prodigy who was playing the piano for a whole hall filled with people. He played a wonderful piece of music, and the audience were very appreciative and applauded loudly. But the child looked sad. He played the second piece of music, and he played better than the first. Again the audience applauded wildly. But the child still looked sad. He was not looking at the audience, but at an old man sitting way back at the second floor. Every time he finished playing, all the people were applauding, but the old man simply shook his head in disapproval, and the child was only interested in him. For the last time, the child concentrated, and played his very best. This time, the audience stood up and cheered loudly. But the child could not be bothered with the people, and looked only at the old man, waiting for his response. This time, the old man slowly nodded his head, and finally, the child broke into a smile, for the old man was the child's music professor. The child knows that he has received the approval from the only person that mattered, and he can go home in peace.

Dr Tong said that today, we are so very pleased by people who applaud us. But we don't realise that these are the people who know nothing about music. The more they applaud, the more disgraceful it actually is. We need to please only God, for only He matters. Dr Tong challenged all to make a determination this year to lead a life that is thankful, acceptable to God, in reverence and awe, and to serve Him only.

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.