Hebrews 12:26

26 whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying, "Yet once [more] I will shake not only the earth but also heaven."

Hebrews 12:26 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 12:26

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 ) ( Psalms 68:8 )

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, ( Matthew 2:2 Matthew 2:3 ) but the heaven also; by prodigies in it, as the appearance of a wonderful star, which guided the wise men from the east; and by the motions of the heavenly inhabitants, the angels, who descended in great numbers, and made the heavens resound with their songs of praise, on account of Christ's incarnation, ( Matthew 2:2 ) ( Luke 2:10 Luke 2:13 Luke 2:14 ) . How the apostle explains and applies this, may be seen in the next verse.

Hebrews 12:26 In-Context

24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and {to the sprinkled blood} that speaks better than Abel's [does].
25 Watch out that you do not refuse the one who is speaking! For if those did not escape [when they] refused the one who warned [them] on earth, much less [will] we [escape], [if we] reject the [one who warns] from heaven,
26 whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying, "Yet once [more] I will shake not only the earth but also heaven."
27 Now the [phrase] "yet once [more]" indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, [since we] are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.