The Beauty of God’s Kingdom – Part 3

 An Acceptable Kingdom. The beauty of God’s Kingdom is that it deserves your worship with reverence and that it leaves the believer of the gospel in nothing else but awe.

 Speaking about the unshakable kingdom, we now look at how the believer lives in the kingdom. The writer of Hebrews says in verse 28, “and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” The privileges that the believer has, living in the gospel kingdom, are of the very highest regard. No believer can say, “well, I think I could do better” or “I wish this was different.” There is nothing whatsoever more satisfying than living under the gospel! We live under this gospel which is endless – it is for now and forevermore, as Christ sits on His throne above and is our Ruler.

We must look at what this means for the believer. Think back to when your heart was not part of the kingdom of God. And then think of where you are now – an heir with Christ and having part of God’s eternal inheritance. What more could we ask for? What more needs to be said or done that would cause us to live in reverence and awe? Nothing! This is of incomparable worth. This is why we, as believers, must keep our eye on Mount Zion; keep our eye on Christ, the mediator of the new covenant. This means that we live a life in two very important ways. They are:

1. Reverence – that we bow in humble adoration, in the highest respect, every day to Christ for what he has done for us.

2. Awe – that we live in holy fear, showing our Savior that we live in absolute wonder and amazement of what He has done.

Do you live your Christianity like this?

One may think of this and ask, “why is this so important?” or “why must I do this?”… Which I will easily answer. Being a part of the kingdom that will remain forever and that is unmovable should call you to live in zeal and with a passion for living in reverence and awe continually throughout your days. How can any believer sit under the words here in Hebrews 12 and not be struck with awe? When we hear of this inheritance and understand how unworthy we are to receive it, and yet know that it is bestowed upon us so graciously, how can we not feel that love bursting forth from our heart in thankfulness for this great gift Christ has given? How can we not want to give thanks for the kingdom that will forever reign? What makes this so incredible to the believer is that we did no work for it – if it had been our own work, we would be across the valley hanging out on Mount Sinai. But it’s not of our own work, and therefore we look towards Zion, look towards Christ, and see that it was His work alone through which we inherit this kingdom. In light of this, serving Christ must be done gratefully – or as the writer of Hebrews said, to be serving in reverence and awe. If it’s not, what is the real heart of our service? If the true heart of our service is focused on Christ, it will be done in reverence and awe. Everything we do – our worship, service, life, parenting, being a spouse, a teacher, or working on studies… everything from our waking up until our laying down at night is done for the kingdom of the gospel, and is done in reverence and awe to Christ alone.

Why “reverence and awe”? We’ll look at that in this third and last point later this week.