Jerry Lee Lewis was one of the early greats in Rock and Roll music. One of the songs that made him famous was titled “A Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On.” The writer of Hebrews could have used this song title to explain this part of the book. As the book comes to the end, this is the final warning to those who will not believe in Jesus and those who are thinking about leaving the faith (do you remember the three groups that this book is written to?).
The warning is that God is going to do a whole lot of shakin, and when that day comes, we had better be ready. God has spoken through His Word to us. Now it is time for a response. He has shown us through this book that Jesus Christ is better than the Old Covenant. He has shown us that we cannot get to God through religion or our own efforts. The only access to God is by faith in Jesus Christ. God has spoken, but now what are you going to do?
But before we make our decision, Hebrews wants to make sure we understand the magnitude of the decision to follow Christ. God is love, but He is also just. At some point in time, God is going to bring the shaking of His judgement. He is going to shake the earth and everything in it. And when the shaking of God happens, only that which is eternal will stay.
When we are cleaning house, my wife will ask me to go out and shake the rugs to clean them out. We have a few small rugs usually around doors, and these rugs will get sucked into the vacuum cleaner. So I will take these rugs outside one at a time, and violently shake them. It is fun to watch all of the dust and junk that gathers in the rug. As I shake the rug, this smoke-like substance appears as the dust falls off the rug. I keep shaking until the dust stops coming. At that time, I will know that my rug is clean and ready to go back in the house.
God is going to shake us, like a rug. He is going to take us to His heavenly cleaning place and begin the shaking. When He shakes, all the dust of the things of this world will fall off. All the things we think are important like money, popularity, religion, fame, power, and stuff will disappear. The only things that will remain will be the things that are eternal, our faith in Christ, our time in His Word, our witness to others, and our ministry in His church. The things done by Christ in our lives and for Christ will last. All other stuff will be shaken away.
Sadly, many of the people reading Hebrews will come to the time of God’s shaking and will loose everything. When the shaking is complete, there will be nothing left, because they didn’t trust Jesus Christ. They will come to this point and realize that everything they built their life on was meaningless, but it will be too late. The last statement in this chapter says that God is a consuming fire. A fire will only burn that which is burnable. Everything in this world is burnable, the eternal is not. God is speaking. Don’t refuse Him who speaks!