Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”[1]
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.[2]
Why here is the most radical proposal ever presented to the man of man: the proposal to replace the present world order with God's order of the Kingdom of God.[3]
If we have learned anything from the last two years, it is this: Everything that can be shaken will be shaken.[4] COVID-19 confusion has shaken our confidence in science and medicine. Political unrest has only served to further rupture the fault lines between people groups, political parties, and prayer meetings. Racial tension (no matter how necessary the conversation) has probably left us more divided. Globally, we have witnessed nations falling in a matter of days amidst wars and rumors of wars. Now, more than ever, we need to locate and latch onto something eternal, fixed, solid, unmoving, unbending, immense, transcendent, faithful, unbreakable, and unshakable. So here’s a basic principle of the Kingdom of God: The Kingdom is unshakable. So is its King. This Unshakable Kingdom governed by this Unchanging King seated on this immutable throne is the source of our confidence. And our perseverance. And our hope. And our joy.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.[5]
One of the heroes of my faith, E. Stanley Jones, wrote a book titled The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person. It is easily one of my favorite books. Jones wrote this book at 87 years old after a year of specifically studying the Kingdom of God. He was encouraged to write this book by a friend who noted of Jones, “You possess the Kingdom and the Kingdom possesses you.”[6] Much of what I have to offer in this article is gleaned from Dr. Jones’ deep love for the Kingdom of God. In his introduction, Jones celebrates his motivation for writing the book:
So I’m excited with a divine excitement. As a possible last fling, I’d like to fling my blazing torch of the Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person amid the burned out heap of extinguished or dying enthusiasms, to set them ablaze again with the relevant—the really relevant, the fact of the Kingdom of God on earth exemplified in Jesus. I find myself with an inner compulsion, bolstered with confidence by the fact that the best and most influential Man who ever lived, Jesus Christ, made the Kingdom of God His central emphasis. I can’t go very wrong if I stick close to Him. If I fail, I fail in the right direction. I would rather fail with Him than succeed with anyone else.[7]
It seems to me that Jones’ rationale is similar to that of the author of the book of Hebrews. Throughout Hebrews, the Holy Spirit takes us on a beautiful, poetic twelve-chapter journey exploring the superiority of Jesus. Then, toward the end of the letter, all ambiguity is stripped away, and we are introduced to these two extraordinary absolute-absolutes: the Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person. I write “absolute-absolutes” because this Kingdom and this King are not relative absolutes like “your truth.” In the wake of these life-saving, end of the age absolutes, “your truth” is compelled to run home to its momma. You can build your whole life on the foundation that is the Unshakable Kingdom. Your truth is sinking sand. You can navigate the best and the worst of your life by fixing your eyes on Jesus. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. He will be the same perfect North Star, God-Man 100 trillion years from now. Your truth...it is a broken GPS. Your fluid opinions on pandemics, politics, and people shift like a weather vane in a swirling storm.
I am totally obsessed with the King and His Kingdom. Remarkably, the anchor-line of my simple Sunday school faith has remained strong and taut in comparison to headline news. Namely this: Jesus remains the answer to every question. And believe me, people are asking questions. The questions should not threaten us. In fact, we should love the questions almost as much as the questioners. As believers, we must be a well-anchored people in the midst of this shaky, answer-seeking world. Our ministry to those swept away in the flood of mounting crisis or lost in the wilderness of overwhelming doubt is to stand firm in the face of the complete chaos that came to be known as 2020.
And then its evil cousin named 2021 came to visit, bringing with it insurmountable pain and seemingly unanswerable questions. But the unchanging nature of Jesus provides us with a quiver of true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy answers. We have to set up outposts in the wilderness where Jesus is presented as the Guide and the Way. We do this simply because we can—because we know Him and He loves befriending our friends. We have the privilege of unlimited access to Jesus because we are card-carrying citizens. We have renounced all lesser entitlements in order to be received, by grace, into the preeminent Kingdom of God.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we are not the first to travel this path. We have a whole cloud of spiritual family who have shown us the way by running the race marked out for them. He says the world was not worthy of them. We need to be more like them. And there are many others whose lives are exemplary:
Like Joseph, whose confidence in the perpetual presence of God allowed him to view an entire life of experiential evil as a simple ingredient in the recipe of God’s ultimate goodness.[8]
Like tongue-tied Moses, releasing his grip on his comfortable, privileged life to take hold of his true identity as prophetic deliverer and persevering “because he saw Him who is invisible.”[9]
Like lunch-toting, adolescent David, facing a giant problem with absolute bewilderment that a heathen Philistine would dare to defy the armies of the living God.[10]
Like King Jehoshaphat, employing the unconventional military strategy of setting the praise and worship team at the head of the army to scatter the enemies of God.[11]
Like Esther, confidently facing a genocidal enemy because she knew she was set in place by the providential hand of God.[12]
Like Daniel, trusting his everlasting King to govern idolatrous rulers and shut the mouths of lions.[13]
Like Daniel’s three Hebrew buddies, strolling about in the fire, with complete trust that the fourth Man would save them—or not. Either way, they were good to go.[14]
Like Peter, deep in a faith-filled sleep on the night before he was supposed to be sentenced to death.[15]
Like Paul and Silas, leading an evangelistic, night-watch worship set amidst an earthquake replete with rattling chains and crumbling walls.[16]
Most of all, we are called to be like our Unchanging Lord who “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”[17]
In fact, we are commanded to deeply consider, to weigh, and to deeply investigate the life of Christ, who endured sinful harassment so that we won’t quit the race when we face our own trials and become tired and scared.[18]
So, why do so many of us respond to this unbelievable offer (King and Kingdom) with ambivalence or nonchalance…or even rejection? I think maybe our lukewarmness is rooted in fear.
Namely, we fear losing ourselves in this whole Jesus thing. If I decrease so that He can increase...what becomes of me? What happens to my sense of self? What happens to MY needs? Knowing that our self-concern could be our undoing, Jesus offers a simple solution:
But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.[19]
And so we have to release our stranglehold on self-concern. We present our needs to the Lord with open hands. The basic idea of the Kingdom of God is this: the only way to truly access the benefits of citizenship is to renounce your right to self-rule. It is sad, but when I think back over my ministry, I cannot remember even one self-centered happy person. When you center yourself on yourself, you won't like yourself, and nobody else will like you.
So you have to choose. You can be the king of your own kingdom, or you can surrender yourself to His Unshakable Kingdom. Those are the only options. We set ourselves as the god of our own lives so that we can do whatever we like. And then we don't like what we do. We can have our own way, but then we don't like the results. We can express ourselves however we want, but then we don't really like the self that we are expressing.
We were never intended to be the center of any universe, let alone our own lives. Nothing works right that way. We were made to bear the King’s Image and to belong to His Kingdom. So, when we make the Kingdom of God our first priority, all that we need is added to us. But when we prioritize self, nothing will be added to us. In fact, we will experience subtraction. We will become something less than who we were created by God to be.
This subtraction problem also coincides with other “self-” issues. When we prioritize the Kingdom of God, many of the problems of self shrink until they are nothing. Self-loathing and self-rejection dissipate because when you submit yourself to the Kingdom, you cannot hate what He loves. You can't reject what He accepts. When we submit ourselves to His kingdom, we experience the ultimate in acceptance and validation as a basic right of our citizenship. This is the beauty of God’s consuming fire; He burns away the self-destroying garbage from our lives.[20] It might seem like a negative, but it is actually a manifestation of His kindness that He would rid us of our “spiritual fat” and “parasitic sins.”[21] In fact, He has no problem reducing the self-glorifying mansion we call our life to a smoking pile of ash left cooling on the flawless and unscathed foundation that is Jesus Christ.[22] This may look like arson—but it’s actually mercy, and it is the direct result of His real presence in our lives. He doesn’t bring fire. He is the fire! He consumes everything that is not fit for the Kingdom! Amen. Maranatha.
Ultimately this Unshakable Kingdom will advance to its perfect, beautiful conclusion with or without us (I would greatly prefer “with us”). But it’s worth noting that something so ultimately comprehensive demands our total obedience. I know the question that rises up within you as you read that last sentence: “Is that really fair? He demands everything from me?” My answer: God’s will is always in your highest and best interest.
Truth be told, the most freeing thing you will ever do is shed the burden of self from your sagging shoulders. And, it’s not really a demand. It’s an offer. All of you in exchange for all of Him. I like that deal. This surrender is the same surrender the paint must make to the artist, or the instrument to the musician.
Finally, if all of that is not enough, then consider this one last truth: Jesus will not demand anything from us that He is not doing himself. E. Stanley Jones writes:
A maharaja in India made a law that every man in his kingdom should not have more than one wife, but he himself took another wife. When objection was raised his reply was: ‘I make laws; I don’t obey them.’ The people arose and deposed the maharaja. If God would ask us to obey laws He Himself did not obey, then that God would be dismissed as God, and ought to be. But the God who not only obeys His own laws, but who would go the second mile and take on Himself the consequences of disobedience of those who break the laws and would bear them in His own body on a tree—that God can have my heart without reservation and without qualification. The self-giving was good for God—it is good for us.[23]
The One who took on flesh and went to the lowest of low places to redeem the lowest of low people has now been raised to the highest of heights. He’s not maturing or growing into His Kingship. Everything He will be when He returns, He is now. He’s not changing. Ever. He’s the King of Stability. In a world of increasing instability and accelerating change, we need both King and Kingdom. And we have been given both. Our most sensible response is complete, total, unconditional surrender: “Therefore, we should be thankful and worship Him with reverence and awe.”[24] From our safe place at the foot of the throne of grace, we offer this prayer:
Blessed are my eyes for they have seen Him and they do see Him.
My hands for they have clasped His.
My feet for they walk in His way.
My heart for it belongs to Him, now and forever.
Blessed am I, for I am His.[25]
Thy Kingdom come. Maranatha.
Jim Bloom and his wife Raquel are members of InnerCHANGE (an apostolic order among the poor), and have been serving in Minneapolis, MN for the past 26 years. He has served in the roles of team leader and US Director and now serves on the InnerCHANGE Horizons team, which is focused on new team starts and mentoring new team leaders. Find out more about InnerCHANGE here.
[1] Hebrews 12:28-29
[2] Hebrews 13:8
[3] H.G. Wells
[4] Hebrews 12:26-27
[5] Hebrews 4:16, NASB
[6] E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, pg. 9. Published by the E. Stanley Jones Foundation, 1972.
[7] Ibid, 11.
[8] Genesis 50:20
[9] Hebrews 11:27b
[10] 1 Samuel 17:26
[11] 2 Chronicles 20:21-22
[12] Esther 4:13-16
[13] Daniel 6:21-28
[14] Daniel 3:16-30
[15] Acts 12:6
[16] Acts 16:23-24
[17] Hebrews 12:2
[18] Hebrews 12:3
[19] Matthew 6:33
[20] 1 Corinthians 3:12; Hebrews 12:29
[21] Hebrews 12:1, The Message
[22] 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
[23] E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, pp. 98-99. Published by the E. Stanley Jones Foundation, 1972.
[24] Hebrews 12:28
[25] E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person, pg. 95. Published by the E. Stanley Jones Foundation, 1972.
