Remove or Remain

This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. (Hebrews 12:27-28)

The English translation of verse 27 leaves me scratching my head just a little bit. If it were to be taken extremely literally as it reads here it might imply that everything that God has created everywhere would be eliminated and only God would be left since He is not created. I don't think anyone holds that view so I went looking for the original words and compared other translations to see what insights might help me understand this better.

What emerges is best conveyed, at least from all the translations I have on my computer, by Young's Literal Translation that reads:

and this--`Yet once' --doth make evident the removal of the things shaken, as of things having been made, that the things not shaken may remain; wherefore, a kingdom that cannot be shaken receiving, may we have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly, with reverence and religious fear. (Hebrews 12:27-28)

What I am beginning to see is that likely this is talking about things made or created artificially and under the influence of the enemy of God who has worked so long to develop and establish a viable counterfeit to God's system of creation and government. Because the counterfeit is so very unstable and vulnerable to collapse if exposed to the truth about reality, God's voice of truth is enough to cause the collapse of that deceptive system, expose it for what it is and cause a shaking that will result in its total demise.

The previous time that God spoke fundamental truths in this way it was very restricted and limited to a local situation at Mount Sinai and a relatively small group of people. It still had immense impact on the history of the world but it did not have the devastating, annihilating effect on Satan's kingdom that the final display of God's glory and truth are going to have. This great war is essentially the comparing of two very different models of rulership and only one is going to survive. Satan's kingdom rules beings with fear, force and fakeness. God's kingdom is based on faith, hope and love. The pitched battle that we find ourselves all caught up in is for the decision of our hearts as to which influence we are going to allow to be the dominate belief of our hearts.

We are born under the model and influence of the control and deceptions of sin. But God has provided a way of escape and gives every single individual chances and opportunities and motivations to believe in His goodness and His provisions for them to accept and believe the redemption that Jesus has secured for everyone. Evil forces are constantly working to infect our hearts with lies about God and His plans and desires to save us from this mess. The direction of our life is determined by the trend of the choices that we make in reference to what we are going to believe about God. That is the core issue of the whole controversy and is the main choice that we are faced with every day – what do we choose to really believe about God and His attitude toward us. Each decision about this question in turn strongly influences every other choice in life that we make whether we realize it or not. It affects every area of our existence and is the guiding factor for the way we not only relate to Him but to everyone else and ourself as well.

Every lie that Satan promotes about God is fabricated through the mixture of truth and subtle deception. If it does not have enough truth to make it appealing or compelling then it becomes ineffective. If it does not contain at least a tiny seed of deception it does not serve the kingdom of darkness. But the discernment needed to unmask these proliferous beliefs designed to distort the image of God in us can only come with the presence of the Holy Spirit of God sent to guide us into all truth. And the truth that He has been sent to guide us into is an intimate relationship with the One who declared that He was the essence of truth. It is not intellectual truth or factual truth that is so vital to helping us escape from the massive system of deception assembled by the enemy, it is primarily heart truth that will make the real difference in whether we will choose life or stay in the shadows of death that hold so much allure for pride, for pleasure and self-satisfaction.

These verses make it very plain that the future holds a very definite shift in reality as we know it. Everything that has been artificially assembled and created by man and by demonic inspiration will soon collapse in the revelation of real reality – and that is pretty much everything that we are familiar with. If we choose to align ourselves with the truth about reality as revealed by the Creator of all true reality, then we receive the true Kingdom which cannot be shaken because it is reality itself. Our natural response to becoming aware of our safety and security within this real kingdom is gratitude springing from a heart freed from the deceptions of the false kingdom that we have lived under all of our lives. It will be spontaneous gratitude directed primarily toward God who has done everything possible to attract us to Himself who only can rescue us from evil of all kinds.

The more clearly we understand and appreciate the awesome truths about reality and the glorious nature of God's feelings toward every one of us, the more awe and reverence and joy we will feel about the privileges we have been entrusted with in this new kingdom. There are also extremely important warnings that we need to be aware of – warnings about the terrible consequences of being synchronized in any way with the false ideas and methods of the enemy. Our hearts and minds must go through a process of cleansing and renewing so that we can be completely and fully transformed into the image of God for which we were originally created. Any resistance to God and His Spirit's convictions in our hearts that is not released during our time of preparation will be a lethal incendiary buried within our souls that will ignite into fatal fire within us when exposed to the pure and holy presence of our awesome God.

Again, it is never God's desire in any way for us to suffer the pain and loss that comes from our resistance to the reality of Creation. But it is important that we are warned of the consequences of any choice that fails to receive the grace provided for us and be freed from everything that will be shaken and removed in the final day of revelation. It will be far too late at that time to make any more choices about the content of our characters. When the testing and shaking time comes for the whole earth it will simply be a time of revealing what is really on the inside of every person and the results of the choices they have chosen to exercise in the past. Everyone will be exposed fully in the judgment, not primarily about what they have done externally, although that is a strong indicator of what was developed inside of them, but the revealing of the spirit which they cultivated within their heart toward God and toward others. It is the spirit of man that determines his character and personality over time and it is our spirit that God is most keen to transform by the presence of His own Spirit.