Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping Him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire, (Hebrews 12:28-29 NLT). Knowing that God’s Kingdom will stand when everything else crumbles around it is very reassuring. Is your citizenship in that Kingdom? As the world’s governmental, moral, and economic systems shift and shake dramatically, there are fewer and fewer things to hold on to for security. The one sure anchor we have, as uncertain times and events circle around us, is Jesus Christ and His Unshakable Kingdom.
My husband and his father were in the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964. They rode in a truck to Anchorage that day not realizing that soon they would witness the most devastating earthquake ever to hit the United States. The trip was uneventful until they noticed telephone poles beginning to sway and lean. Next, a woman was trying, with great difficulty, to cross the road in front of them, but she could hardly stand erect as the road beneath her began moving and heaving. Terror and panic seized the people whether they were walking or driving. The earthquake gained strength and momentum until it reached an astounding magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter scale. My husband and his father escaped to safety but not before watching tall buildings like the J.C. Penney’s Store topple to the ground in a heap of rubble and debris during the four-and-a-half-minute quake. The highway split and dropped as giant sinkholes collapsed the pavement. The peaceful town of Anchorage and surrounding areas suffered immeasurable damage totaling $311,000,000 USD, which in today’s monetary values would be far above the billion-dollar mark. Lives were lost and property destroyed beyond recognition. Everything shook. Everything changed.
Man has been trying to build indestructible governments, kingdoms, empires, and countries since Adam took the first bite of the apple. So far, none of them are indestructible and all of them are vulnerable…except the Unshakable Kingdom of God. It is built on the indestructible reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and there is no greater force than that. When we accept Christ and the finished work of the Cross, we move our citizenship into a Kingdom that endures forever and cannot be destroyed. Equally as powerful is our placement in the Body of Christ—the Church—for, as Jesus said in Luke 17:20-21 (NLT), "The Kingdom of God can't be detected by visible signs. You won't be able to say, 'Here it is!' or 'It's over there!' For the Kingdom of God is already among you."
When things start to shake around us and we experience upheavals in relationships, finances, government, health, etc., we do well to cling to the Word of God and stand firmly in the Unshakable Kingdom of God. At such times, Hebrews 12:23 encourages us to see that you do not refuse Him who speaks. Dr. Jack Hayford explains that scripture as follows: “We are called to hear a Voice in the midst of this moment. The “Him who speaks” is Jesus who, through His blood, has brought us to a place of anchor-like strength by faith in Him and into relationship with Father God. Not only does He speak to us from His Word, but also by the whispers of the Holy Spirit to our soul. We know when that happens, but often we say we’re ‘not sure,’ especially when He speaks instructively or correctively. Yet the fact is, we do know—there comes a sense of His specific word to us, and there is a clarity that we recognize as different from our own thoughts. Hearing the Savior assures our abiding in the stabilizing nature of His life, and enables us to reach with an unshakable grip to others. We may be surprised or even stunned by things that happen, but we won’t be shaken by them,” (The Unshakable Kingdom, Jack Hayford).
As I write this One-a-Day, I’m humming an old hymn: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand. Amen!