Hebrews 12:26

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. THEN SHOOK - when He gave the law. NOW - under the Gospel. PROMISED. His coming to break up the present order of things is to the ungodly a terror, to the godly a PROMISED. His coming to break up the present order of things is to the ungodly a terror, to the godly a promise, the fulfillment of which they look for with joyful hope. YET ONCE MORE - Notes, ; Haggai 2:21, both which passages are condensed into one here. The shaking began at His first coming: it will be completed at His second coming, prodigies in nature accompanying the overthrow of all kingdo...

26._Whose voice then shook the earth, etc. _Though God shook the earth when he published his Law, yet he shows that he now speaks more gloriously, for he shakes both earth and heaven. He quotes on the subject the testimony of the Prophet Haggai, though he gives not the words literally; but as the Prophet foretells a future shaking of the earth and the heaven, the Apostle borrows the idea in order to teach us that the voice of the Gospel not only thunders through the earth, but also penetrates above the heavens. But that the Prophet speaks of Christ’s kingdom, is beyond any dispute, for it immediately follows in the same passage, “I will shake all nations; and come shall the desire of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory.” It is however certain that neither all nations have been gathered into one body, except under the banner of Christ, nor has there been any desire in which...

18-29 Mount Sinai, on which the Jewish church state was formed, was a mount such as might be touched, though forbidden to be so, a place that could be felt; so the Mosaic dispensation was much in outward and earthly things. The gospel state is kind and condescending, suited to our weak frame. Under the gospel all may come with boldness to God's presence. But the most holy must despair, if judged by the holy law given from Sinai, without a Saviour. The gospel church is called Mount Zion; there believers have clearer views of heaven, and more heavenly tempers of soul. All the children of God are heirs, and every one has the privileges of the first-born. Let a soul be supposed to join that glorious assembly and church above, that is yet unacquainted with God, still carnally-minded, loving this present world and state of things, looking back to it with a lingering eye, full of pride and gui...

Verse 26. _WHOSE VOICE THEN SHOOK THE EARTH_] Namely, at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; and from this it seems that it was the voice of _Jesus_ that then shook the earth, and that it was he who came down on the mount. But others refer this simply to God the Father giving the law. _NOT THE EARTH ONLY, BUT ALSO HEAVEN._] Probably referring to the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and the total abolition of the political and ecclesiastical constitution of the Jews; the one being signified by the _earth_, the other by _heaven_; for the Jewish state and worship are frequently thus termed in the prophetic writings. And this seems to be the apostle's meaning, as he evidently refers to Haggai 2:6, where this event is predicted. It may also remotely refer to the final dissolution of all things....

WHOSE VOICE THEN SHOOK THE EARTH - When he spake at Mount Sinai. The meaning is, that the mountain and the region around quaked; Exodus 19:18. The “voice” here referred to is that of God speaking from the holy mount. BUT NOW HATH HE PROMISED, SAYING - The words here quoted are taken from Haggai 2:6, where they refer to the changes which would take place under the Messiah. The meaning is, that there would be great revolutions in his coming, “as if” the universe were shaken to its center. The apostle evidently applies this passage as it is done in Haggai, to the first advent of the Redeemer. I SHAKE NOT THE EARTH ONLY - This is not quoted literally from the Hebrew, but the sense is retained. In Hagga

EXPOSITION The exhortation, begun at Hebrews 10:19, but interrupted at Hebrews 11:1. I by the chapter on faith, is now taken up again with increased force from the array of examples that have been adduced to support it. Observable in the Greek is the fine roll of the majestic and well-ordered phrases with which this chapter begins, as if the writer had felt the dignity of his subject, and the commanding power with which he can now approach it. Even the initiatory word τοιγαροῦν,_ _rather than the usual ὅθεν,_ _or οὖν, or διό,_ adds _to the effect. HEBREWS 12:1 WHEREFORE LET US TOO ("we also," in the A.V.,_ is _wrongly placed

WHOSE VOICE THEN SHOOK THE EARTH,.... That is, at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai: Christ was then present; his voice was then heard; which was either the voice of thunder, or the voice of the trumpet, or rather the voice of words: this shook the earth, Sinai, and the land about it, and the people on it; which made them quake and tremble, even Moses himself; see Exodus 19:18 BUT NOW HE HATH PROMISED, SAYING in Haggai 2:6 YET ONCE MORE I SHAKE NOT THE EARTH ONLY, BUT ALSO HEAVEN; not only the land of Judea, and particularly Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it, who were all shaken, and moved, and troubled at the news of the birth of the Messiah, the desire of all nations, the prophet Haggai speaks of,...

The apostle, having deserted the heroes of the faith, represents them as witnesses of the great race which Christians in all ages have to run. All through the chapter he keeps up the idea of the great Olympic games, and represents the saints as occupied with spiritual athletics in the presence of God, the angels, and glorified men. Hebrews 12:1. _Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,_ In those games, those who ran and wrestled wore very little clothing, or often nothing at all. A runner might lose the race through being entangled by his scarf, so he laid aside everything that might hinder or hamper him. Oh, for that blessed consecration to our heavenly calling, by which everything that would hi

CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Looking away unto Jesus (Hebrews 12:1)_ 2. The Contradiction of sinners (Hebrews 12:3) 3. Chastened as sons (Hebrews 12:5) 4. Exhortations (Hebrews 12:12) 5. The end of faith (Hebrews 12:18) 6. The final warning (Hebrews 12:25) Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so grea

The theme of the epistle has been the contrast of the old and the new covenants, and this contrast is now summed up in a splendid closing passage. The first covenant was established on a mount that might be touched an earthly, material mountain [E. C. Selwyn, in JThS, xii. 134, suggests _pephepsalmenô,_ calcined. A. J. G.] which was encircled with terrible manifestations of fire and darkness and storm. The voice in which the Law was proclaimed struck terror into the people, and even Moses was so filled with awe at the nearness of the unapproachable God that he trembled (Hebrews 12:18). But in receiving the new covenant we have the vision before us of the heavenly Zion. the holy city above, of which Jerusalem with its Temple is nothing but the symbol. Drawing near to this holy city we are brought into fellowship with its inhabitants, who are myriad hosts of angels, and the whole company o...