A Kingdom That Shall Not Be Shaken
"Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns. The world also is firmly established. It shall not be moved,'" Psalm 96:9-10.
After the fall of Man, the earth became unstable, for Satan wanted to sift the people and move them. "Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat," Luke 22:31. And the people were moved by fear and anxiety, but the Lord established the world and not a grain of wheat fell out. "As grain is sifted in a sieve, yet, not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground," Amos 9:9.
There were times when the whole world, except for a few people, denied the true God. In the time of the flood and the pious Noah, He saved eight souls with the water, by establishing them with the wood of the Ark and the water of the flood, in the likeness of the Cross. In the time of Abraham, the father of the fathers, the Lord established him with the faith and the Covenant. The presence of the Angel saved Daniel. Satan could not shake the children of God, and as God had established the earth on the waters from the start, "To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth forever," Psalm 136:6., He also established the world with the Baptismal Water by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that it was no longer shaken.
"Now this, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:27-29.
The ancient world was going towards annihilation, until the Lord came, reigned with the cross, and opened Paradise; so the world became established and was directed towards eternity. The non-believers are not from the established world. Its old altar was directed towards the West, but its new altar, the Church, is directed towards the East, towards eternity, and the coming of Christ.
The Lord said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up," John 2:19. He spoke of the temple of His body, the Church, "which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all," Ephesians 1:23. When the old temple crumbled and no stone was left, the Lord had established the Temple that was not built by hand, the Church concealed in Christ in the time of His Incarnation, "and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Ephesians 2:6. Then the Church was proclaimed on earth with the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord was concealed in the Church which represents His presence and His descent in the believers. It is the Kingdom of God that cannot be shaken. "The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it," Matthew 16:18. Why is it not shaken? Because the Lord reigns over a true Kingdom and not an apparent false kingdom that is transient and that will disappear with time and change. It is the Kingdom of God where the believers reign with Christ, even those who were killed, "And they lived and reigned with God for a thousand years," Revelation 20:4.
His Holy Temple, the Church, is a living stone. We the believers live by the Holy Spirit who resides in us. The Psalm says, "The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labour and sorrow. For it is soon cut off and we fly away," Psalm 90:10. This is the first Adam, but at the end of the Psalm, the chanter says, "And let the beauty of he Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands," Psalm 90:17.
Thus, we see the world around us tremble because of all the political and economic events and changes, the fears and lusts: "… and on earth, distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring," Luke 21:25. We, the believers must realize that we are the established world that cannot be shaken.
"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet, the inward man is being renewed day by day," II Corinthians 4:16. The outward man is the one that is tied by the outside and the direct senses to deal with the matters of the world; he is extinct because he was crucified: "Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we no longer should be slaves of sin," Romans 6:6. But the inward man is renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Copyright © 2008 Saint Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery, California, U.S.A. The above article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Saint Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery, California, U.S.A. |
