THE SHAKING OF ALL THINGS

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). When we know the truth concern­ing the things that are coming on the earth, and see how ail that God has purposed fits together in a synchronized pattern, it sets us free from many of the anxieties and uncertainties which otherwise would almost certainly plague us. When we see these things coming to pass we can heed Jesus' admonition to "look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near" (Lk. 21:28).  In this booklet we will show God's purpose and process of "shaking" ALL things that can be shaken, in prepara­tion for the full inauguration of that Kingdom which cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:27-38). This shaking will be both literal and symbolic. It will involve the shaking of this planet and its at­mosphere by seismic disturbances and nuclear explosions. But it will also involve the shaking of all of the social, political, religious and economic systems of man. Last, but not least, it involves God's dealings in our individual lives, homes, and churches, as God puts everything to the test, in order that everything that is not of Him will be "shaken loose" from us, that we might cleave to only what is going to carry us through into the new age coming.

 

May the Lord quicken these truths to your heart.

 

 

THE SHAKING OF ALL THINGS

 

All things new. "And he that sat on the throne said. Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me. Write: for these words are true and faithful" (Rev. 21:5). In majestic sweep of absolute and ultimate triumph; in complete defiance of every contrary factor or force; the Divine fiat goes forth from the throne of the Most High, "Behold, I make all things NEW," To make it more emphatic to those who shall receive this God given message, John is told to write that these words are "true and faithful.” We read in Rev. 21:1 that included in the "all things" to be made new are "a new heaven and a new earth." In this verse, I do not believe the Lord was speaking of bring­ing into being a different planet, but rather that the very earth on which we live, including its "heaven" or atmosphere, will be changed, REnewed, transformed and brought into a new realm in the plan and purpose of God.

 

 

No more curse.  In Rev, 22:1-2, we see a pure river of water of LIFE proceeding out of the throne of God, which flows to the tree of LIFE, the leaves of which provide "healing for the na­tions" (of the earth). Then follows a most significant statement: "And there shall be NO MORE CURSE" (Rev. 22:3).  It was this present earth that came under the curse because of sin (Gen. 3:17), affecting all life on it, and all the elements thereof. Isa. 24:4-6 says, "The earth mourns and fades away. . .the earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof. . . Therefore has the curse devoured the earth." But Paul informs us in Rom. 8:19-21, that all creation waits and earnestly anticipates deliverance through the "manifestation of the sons of God,” and this includes the earth on which we live. Certainly, when the final vestige of the curse is lifted from this earth, it will become a "new" (renewed) earth. In Rev. 20:11, we read that when a certain epoch is reached in God's program, that "the heaven and earth fled away" (moved to a different location in the universe) and "there was found no place for them" (where they were before). The same is intimated in Isa. 24:20, where the prophet says that the earth shall be "removed like a cottage. . . and it shall fall (be moved to a different location) and not rise again" (never return to its previous placement). Thus it seems that in making all things new. God will move the earth and its surrounding atmosphere (perhaps even the entire solar system of our sun and planets) to a new orbit and place­ment in relation to His Throne and the rest of the universe.

 

God's process. First, we must consider the matter of HOW God is going to make all things new. The scriptures are very clear concerning this matter.  The "new earth" not only involves change in this physical planet, and in the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, but in particular it involves a new hu­manity.  But before the new can come, the old must be taken away. The earth (and all humanity) is languishing under the corrupt systems of man's civilization, and nothing that is of the old can enter into the new. We read in Isa. 24:5: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.  Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." This scripture describes the consequences of man's folly, but also de­picts the means whereby God shall judge and purge the earth of that which cannot remain to mar the righteous kingdom which is to come. The only way the earth could be "burned "and "few men left" would be through all-out atomic warfare. God's time for this is symbolically depicted in Rev. 8:5, where an angel takes fire from off the altar in heaven and casts it into the earth (following which there were voices, and thunderings, and light­nings, and an earthquake). Seven times in the book of Revela­tion, the word "earthquake" is used to describe catastrophic events which bring man's corrupt civilization to an end, and remove that which man has built apart from God.

 

To illustrate. We have been hearing much in recent years about "urban renewal." Many programs have begun in large cities to reconstruct certain blighted and decaying areas with new build­ings, landscaping, etc. But before this could be done, the old buildings had to be torn down. God, as the architect and mas­ter builder must do the same with what man has built apart from Him. God's plan is that man be a co-laborer with Him (I Cor. 3:9), but man as a whole has failed to follow the plan and de­sign of God, and has, over many generations, corrupted the earth with his pseudo-civilization under the dominion and devices of Satan. In Rev. 11:18, the inspired writer refers to the time when God shall "destroy them which destroy the earth." The Greek word translated "destroy" in this passage is diaphtheiro, which literally means to "through pollute" or "pollute thoroughly." It can also be translated to "mar or corrupt thoroughly." How well God foresaw the time when man would greatly mar the land, pollute the air and water, and corrupt the minds of the masses, and the judgment would be that man would REAP the tragic consequences of his own folly, even to his own destruc­tion.

 

 

God shakes.  In Heb. 12:27, we read of God's purpose to so "shake" all things, that those things which can be shaken will be removed. Read all of Heb. 12:18-29, and notice how the fi­nal shaking is contrasted with the shaking at Mt. Sinai when God brought His people out of the old (Egypt) that He might lead them into the new (Canaan). This is very important, for the shaking (and related events) at Mt. Sinai is a TYPE of the final shaking of all things. You can read the story in Exodus 19. It is not our purpose here to go into detail, but notice in Ex. 19:11, 15-16, 20, that it was at the beginning of the THIRD DAY that God CAME DOWN on Mt. Sinai. This was after Moses was commanded by God to sanctify the people and cause them to wash their clothes for two days as a preparation (Ex. 19:10-11, 14). We know that a day is with the Lord as a thousand years (II Pet. 3:8). During the last two days (two thousand years) our "Moses" (Jesus Christ) has been PREPARING A PEOPLE for His coming DOWN or RETURN to this earth, by doing a sanctifying (separating) work in them and by causing them to be cleansed "with the washing of water by the WORD" (Ephes. 5:26). See time periods [below] which show that we are now coming to the close of two days or two thousand years since the time Christ began preparing a people and are in the dawn­ing of the third day.

 

Note: Time periods referred to [above] are as follows: Two days or two thousand years of lunar time ran out in 1941 (2000 x 354+ - 365.24 = 1941). Two thousand years of prophet­ic time ran out in 1971 (2000 x 360 - 365.24 = 1971). So from two perspectives we are already in the dawning of the THIRD day since Christ. Solar reckoning runs to 2000 A.D.

 

[ Ed. Note –Obviously we are well into the 21 ^st century without the fulfillment of these time patterns having occurred. While referring to the cross as his time point of reference, Brother Earls erroneously makes all his calculations from the birth of Christ—which was the common starting point for anybody calculating the Lord’s return in the late 20 ^th century. Truly, if we use Calvary as the starting point of reference for calculations, two thousand solar years will not actually occur until approximately 2030 AD .]

 

Shaking of heaven. In Heb. 12:26, concerning these last days, God says: "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." This "shaking" will be both literal and symbolic. Looking first at the literal application, we know that an earthquake can shake the earth and also the sea (tidal waves), but cannot affect the heaven. But there is one phenomenon which has been released in recent years that does shake the heaven. Jesus Himself indicated that one of the great signs of the con­summation of the age would be the fact that "the powers of the heaven shall be shaken" (Lk. 21:26). The Greek word transla­ted "heaven" is ouranos, from which we get the word uranium, the root word being urano, concerning which Funk & Wagnalls Standard Universal Dictionary says: "urano; from Greek ouranos, heaven: a combining form. In chemical and mineralogical words it refers to the element uranium." We know that uranium is the fissionable metalic substance used in the production of atomic bombs. Atomic energy is derived from the disintegration (or the "shaking" or splitting apart) of the nucleus of atoms of elements of high atomic mass, e.g. uranium 235. Thus when Jesus said that the "power of the heaven would be shaken," He was speaking of that which could be paraphrased as follows: "The powers (energy) of the heaven (ouranos—uranium atom) shall be shaken (split through nuclear fission)." Scientists tell us that an atom consists of a small, massive nuclear "core" composed of neutrons and protons, surrounded by a relatively empty re­gion in which the electrons revolve in elliptical or circular or­bits around the nucleus. Thus an atom is a tiny "solar system" in itself, with its "sun" or nucleus and "planets" (electrons) revolving around it. Thus when an atom is split, its "heaven" is sure­ly shaken, and God's Word is fulfilled.

 

Atmospheric disruption. Another unique feature of atomic bombs which fulfills the prophecy of the "shaking of the heaven" is the fact that an atomic explosion takes place in the air (atmospher­ic heaven) rather than through impact on the earth as conventional bombs. And the resultant damage is to a great extent through wind action created by the explosion. We have a sym­bolic allusion to this in Rev. 7:1 where four angels are seen standing on the four corners of the earth "holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree." These winds no doubt speak of the complete and consummating judgments to come on the earth, and the verses following in 7:2-3 indicate that these judgments are to be "held back" until God does a certain spiritual work of "sealing the servants of God in their foreheads." In other words, God must finish the work of preparing His people before final judgment comes. Certainly the "four winds" might indi­cate destruction from natural storms, but when we couple this symbolism with others in Revelation where the judgments of God come through "fire" (Rev. 16:8-9, 8:5-7), we can see that the fire of atomic explosions plus the terrific and devastating wind action which comes as an aftermath does fulfill the picture. We also find in Heb. 12:26-29 where God says He will shake not only the earth but also heaven, that the final statement of that passage is, "for our God is a consuming fire." It is the blazing, all-consuming fire of God that is released when an atomic bomb is exploded; the "heaven" of the atoms is shaken or split, the atmospheric heaven is violently disrupted, and the "winds" of God's judgment are released on the earth.

 

 

Symbolic. We have taken a look at the literal truth of the "heavens being shaken," but we need also to see the symbolic application. "Heaven" speaks of that which is higher up, or above the earth, and thus primarily that of rulers and leaders over the earth and its systems. In Rev. 6:12, as a result of the opening of the sixth seal (man's number), there follows a "great earthquake" (shaking), and then in verse 13 we read that there is a great disturbance in the heavens, as "the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree cast s her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind." A part of the phenomena of the end time will be literal earthquakes and cosmic disturb­ances, but since the book of Revelation depicts many things in symbolic language, we need to see that "stars" refer to rulers, leaders, and those in "high places" in the political, economic and religious "heavens." In the microcosm within each per­son, the "heaven" speaks of the mind and thought, and usually those in places of leadership and rulership in the systems of this world are the thinkers: those who are the intellectual and educated in contrast to the "earth" and "sea "of the general masses of humanity.

 

Falling stars. In Rev. 6:14, we read that "the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." The fact of literal cos­mic and geographical disturbances being depicted here cannot be doubted. But through His symbolic language, God is seek­ing to show us something more. The "heaven" with its "stars" being "rolled up as a scroll" speaks volumes to us when we see that God is symbolically saying He is "closing the book,” so to speak, on the tenure of man's leadership over the affairs of this earth. The mountains and islands being moved out of their pla­ces speaks to us of the nations being greatly shaken and changed as their "stars" (leaders) fall from their positions in the day of God's wrath. The "stars" which fall are simply suffering the same fate as the original "star" (Lucifer—which means shining one or day star), who was cast out of God's heaven (John 12:31, Rev. 9:1) and is further cast out of his own "heaven" in the atmosphere around our earth when the manchild is caught up to God and His throne (Rev. 12:5, 9).  Going back to Rev. 6:15, we see a listing of the "stars" that fall as " kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men." Those who have been the "stars" of the political, commercial, religious, and social world, find themselves in the same dire circumstances as the masses in the flight to hide themselves from the wrath of Him who sits on the throne (Rev. 6:16-17).

 

 

 

Untimely figs. Another interesting factor in this symbolic pic­ture is presented in Rev. 6:13, where we read that the stars of heaven fell "even as a fig tree cast s her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." We have already seen that “wind" is symbolic of God's judgment, but we need to rivet our attention on the fact that God likens the "falling stars" to the falling of figs off a tree in a wind storm before they are ripe. We know the fig tree is a type of the Jewish people. Is not God in symbolic language seeking to show us right here that as the last days of this age reach their consummation, that in the great commercial, industrial, and financially important nations (which hold the key to the destiny of the rest of the nations of the world), that Jews would be greatly influential in high pla­ces of leadership (whether openly or behind the scenes)? When God chose Israel, He knew that eventually, in their scattered condition throughout the nations, that they would be a "brainy" people (also clever and scheming in many ways—like Jacob their father, who maneuvered Esau out of his birthright). This is in no way an attempt to be anti-Jewish or engage in scape­goat foolishness, but simply to point out facts which confirm the Word of God. The Jews’ great influence in the nations is way out of proportion to their small numbers.  It was also a Jew (Karl Marx) who was the father of Communism, which has so greatly influenced many nations, giving rise to the anti-Christ Beast system headed up in Russia, and which is gaining such awesome power in these last days (the first Beast of Rev. 13), and it will likely be a Jew who will work hand-in-glove with the Beast system of Communism as the "false prophet" to deceive the rest of the nations. This second Beast of Rev. 13 is pictured as having two horns like a lamb (13:11), which could indicate a Jew raised in a Christian nation. We note that Henry Kissinger is Jewish, and he has performed "miracles" (he was called a "miracle worker" by President Sadat of Egypt) in getting "de­tente" opened up between Communist and non-Communist nations. And since "detente" is a part of the Communist plot to "pull the wool over the eyes" of stupid westerners, and "sucker" the wes­tern nations into giving them as much financial, technical, and industrial help as possible (so they will be better prepared to destroy us), WHO is Henry Kissinger really helping?? Whether Kissinger is a candidate for the "false prophet" only time will tell, but it certainly will be a man who will be able to perform the "magic" of getting the east and west more closely tied together in a "one-world" society.

 

Parable. Just how the Jews became influential in the Gentile nations in almost every area of endeavor is given in a parable which Jesus told as recorded in Luke 16. It would take a long article to fully deal with the matter, and that is beyond the scope of this writing. But note briefly that the parable deals with a steward who was unfaithful to his master. In its first and primary application, that steward represents the nation of Israel whom God had chosen to be the steward of His Word and cove­nants (see Rom. 3:1-2, 9:4). Since the Jews failed in their stewardship trust, when Jesus came to the earth He declared that the Kingdom stewardship would be taken from them and given to another people (Mt. 21:43) who would bring forth the fruits (the church). When the steward of Luke 16 was discharged of his responsibilities to the Master, he went out and manipula­ted the money of the debtors of his Master totheir advantage, so that they would receive him intotheir houses (Lk. 16:4-7). Even so did the Jews, after being discharged and cast out of their land in 70 A.D., become accepted into the "houses" of the Gentile nations to become the financiers, money changers, etc. Also their "brains" have vaulted them into places of in­fluence in the scientific, industrial and governmental areas of the Gentile nations. One of the reasons the Russians have re­sisted the emigration of educated Jews out of the country to the state of Israel is that they constitute a reservoir of "brains" that the Russians do not want to lose.

 

 

 

Judgment intervenes. We cannot try to make the Jews more blameworthy than any other humans in man's corrupted society. All shall come under the intervening judgment of God. But be­cause of their failure as God's "steward" and their rejection of Christ when He came to them, they have become the "enemies of God" (Rom. 11:28) during this dispensation, and thus particu­larly susceptible to the devices of Satan in his attempt to mold the nations into a one-world society, and also God foresaw the influence far beyond their small numbers that the Jews would exert at the end of this age. But since God said that the "wind" of His judgment would remove the " untimely figs,” it indicates that Divine intervention would take place before the plans for a world society under the anti-Christ and false prophet are fully ripe, and all the "stars" (both Jewish and Gentile) shall fall to the ground in utter defeat before Him who sits on the Throne! Hallelujah!

 

Shaking message. Looking again to the pattern at Mt. Sinai, Heb. 12:26 says that God's voice “shook the earth." God audi­bly spoke from heaven on that occasion. But to us this is a type of that which God purposes to do in these last days.  The fact that God's voice shook the earth, typically portrays a MESSAGE which will go forth through the church that will "shake" the nations of the earth. We also read in Ex. 19:19 that when the glory of the Lord descended on Mt. Sinai, "the TRUMPET sounded long, and grew louder and louder." In God's symbolic language a trumpet portrays a voice giving forth a message. God told the prophet Isaiah to lift up his voice like a trumpet (Isa. 58:1).  The apostle John on the isle of Patmos was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and he heard behind him "a voice, as of a TRUMPET." When he turned to see who was speaking, it was none other than His glorified Lord coming with a message for him to give to the church (Rev. 1:10-13). One of the feasts which God established in Israel was the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24). This was on the first day of the seventh month, which inaugurated their NEW YEAR. The seventh month was the be­ginning of their civil or agricultural year, but also the consum­mation of their religious year with the feast of Tabernacles, the seventh and last of the seven religious festivals, falling in that month.  Thus the seventh month represented an overlapping, as both a beginning and a consummation. How APT a type this is of the day in which we live, as a TRUMPET message is going forth to declare a NEW DAY of the Lord, but also presenting the truth of the consummating HARVEST (Tabernacles) of all things. The trumpet of Ex. 19:19 heralded the Lord's DESCENT on Mt. Sinai, typifying the Lord's RETURN to this earth at the close of this age. So may that "trumpet message" declaring His coming "grow louder and louder,” and may that message "shake" His people, even as Mt. Sinai "quaked greatly" (Ex. 19:18)!

 

Voice as many waters. After John the Apostle heard the Lord's voice as "a trumpet" (Rev, 1:10), he next hears His voice "as the sound of many waters" (Rev. 1:15). "Waters" are a type of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues" (Rev. 17:15), Thus when His voice is heard as the "sound of many waters,” it signifies many people responding to the message of His voice andsharing it,becoming the "many waters" of that voice to others. The prophet Ezekiel throws considerable light on the effect of the prophetic voice being lifted up as a "Trumpet" and becoming the sound of "many waters" (peoples) in the 37th chapter of his book. He sees a valley of dry bones, represent­ing the scattered and spiritually impoverished condition of Is­rael in his day, and also portraying by type the general condi­tion of Christianity in our day. Ezekiel was told to prophesy (speak the Word of God)to the bones which were very dry, and God promised to put sinews and flesh on the bones and cause them to live. Then Ezekiel was told to prophesy to the winds, that breath might come into the revived house of Israel. When Ezekiel obeyed and spoke the Word, he says, "as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a SHAKING, and the bones came together, bone to his bone" (37:7). While Ezekiel was behold­ing the Lord's working as the Word went forth, he says, "they lived, and stood on their feet, an exceeding ly great army" (37:10). And through that "great army" of His spiritual people, HIS Voice and message shall become multiplied as "many wat­ers" flowing out in life-giving power to the nations. This is portrayed in symbolic form later in the book of Ezekiel as the prophet sees the glory of the Lord returning to the temple.  In Ezekiel 43:2 the prophet describes what he saw in vision: "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like a noise ofmany waters: and the earth shined with his glory." Then in chap. 47:1-9, he describes further his vision by telling of the waters he saw coming out of the house or temple of the Lord, increasing in depth as they flowed, and bringing LIFE wherever they went. I am sure there is more than one application or fulfillment of this vision of Ezekiel, and no doubt it will see a more complete and liter­al fulfillment after the Lord returns to this earth and begins to inaugurate His Kingdom, But I believe the Lord is NOW pre­paring His spiritual "house" or "temple" (the church) through revelation and cleansing, that the FULL GLORY of the Lord might FILL that church, and that LIFE-GIVING spiritual waters might flow to the nations in a mighty revival in this end time.

 

God's purpose. Beloved, if we can just see how the purpose of God is now progressing. God is "shaking" the Christian world today with the outpouring of His Spirit and with the "trumpet" message of repentance and renewal that we might "come alive" out of our spiritual deadness (dry bones), and also COME TOGETHER as one body in Christ, answering Jesus' prayer as re­corded in John 17:21, "that they all may be one; as you, Fatherare in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe thatyouhave sent me." But God knows that in order to bring in the new life, vitality and power He has for the church in oneness and unity, He must shake us out of our old patterns, traditions, and "static "status-quo mentality. The "shaking" which God is doing now is only a prelude to the spir­itual "earthquake" which is coming when Godfully pours out His Spirit, that we might gradually be prepared for that day. In the Hebrew language, the word for "breath, air, wind and Spirit" is the same— ruach; so when Ezekiel prophesies to the wind to "breathe"on the dry bones being reclothed with flesh, it portrays by type how God is moving by His Spiriton His church, and when the fulness of that "breath" of the Spirit of God comes, then God's people shall "stand on their feet, an exceeding great army" (Ezek. 37:10), to go forth in power to reap the end-time harvest,

 

 

The glory yet to come. Another prophetic portrayal of God's shaking is given to us in Haggai 2:1-9. Haggai was one of the prophets to the Jewish remnant that returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple of the Lord. His "trumpet" message, along with that of Zechariah, went forth by the Spirit of the Lord to encourage the people to continue the rebuilding in the face of strong opposition and many difficulties (see Ezra 5:1-2, 6:14). Many of the people who were rebuilding the temple could still remember the glory of Solomon's temple which had been des­troyed by the Babylonians a number of years previous, at the time the Jews were taken captive. It seemed to them that the temple they were rebuilding was not going to match it for glory and splendor (Haggai 2:3). In the same way, it is difficult for many Christians today to believe that God will yet bring His Church (the true spiritual temple) to the plane of glory and pow­er which was manifested in the apostolic church at the begin­ning.  But we read in Haggai 2:9 that "the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace. The "latter house" will be the church or spiritual temple in the closing years of this dis­pensation, the glory of which will be greater than that of the "former house" or church of the apostolic period. Hallelujah!

 

 

The desire of all nations. Right in the midst of the great pro­phetic message concerning the glory of the "latter house.” God declares His purpose to "shake" all things (Haggai 2:6-7). In other words, God must "shake" that which can be shaken that His purpose might be accomplished. He says He will shake the heavens (leaders), the earth (organized systems of men), the sea (masses of people), and the DRY (the spiritually "dry "as Ezekiel says in chap. 37). Then He says He willshake ail nations. All this "shaking" is to prepare the way for the "desire of all nations" (the Lord Jesus Himself) to RETURN to this earth. This phrase "the desire of all nations" in Hag. 2:7 may seem rather strange, for it is quite obvious that at present the nations cer­tainly are not "desiring" the Lord. But this will rapidly change as the "shaking" process gains momentum. We read of this in Psalm 110:3: "The people shall be willing in the day of your power." This "willingness" shall come to many through the out­pouring of spiritual power such as the world has never seen, for they shall see the glory of Christ manifested in His church in a message of power, with mighty signs and wonders.  They shall respond to this positive "shaking" by receiving the message of salvation and turning to the Lord.  Others shall become wil­ling through the "pressure" of events, as God shakes (negatively, in judgment) everything that can be shaken. There will develop such chaos in the earth, with the utter failure of men to control the situation and maintain security and order that the remainder of all nations (who survive man's madness-in-conflict) will be literally "panting" for the Lord to return and take over." Thus the returning Lord will become the "desire of all nations" as the intense desire for Him to return increases with each pas­sing day towards the end of the chaotic tribulation period.

 

Invasion from the east. Isaiah chap. two gives another prophet­ic picture of the "shaking" that is coming and the reasons for it. In 2:19 we read: "and they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises toshake terribly the earth." As we read the preceding verses of that chapter, we can see the reason for God's "shaking" in judgment.  In 2:6, the inspired prophet speaks to the Lord saying, "Therefore you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they are replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philis­tines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers." What ancient Israel did, so has modern Christendom. The word "stranger" in the preceding verse can be translated "foreigners" or "aliens.” It was the foreign influence from the nations east of Israel that corrupted God's people with their religious, idolatrous, occult, mystic, meta-physical practices, including Sa­tanic inspired divining, fortune-telling, astrology, witchcraft, etc. In the same way there is what we might call an "invasion" of eastern religious thought and mystic, occult practices in Am­erica today. This influx of eastern influence is filling the vac­uum left by the failure of the churches to give the people that which is living, vital and powerful.

 

By illustration. I won't take time here to detail what you can read from many sources today, much of it in the daily newspaper and also in many popular magazines. Interest in the psychic and occult is rapidly on the rise. Many people, including ar­my generals, Wall Street brokers, and legislators, are practic­ing eastern transcendental meditation techniques now popular­ly known as T.M. There is now a massive move into mysticism, and various types of spiritualism are enthralling thousands, in­cluding vast numbers of young people. In Nov. 1973, the gi­ant Astrodome in Houston, Texas was rented to feature a 16 year old religious guru from India, the Buru Jaharaj Ji, who has gained thousands of enthusiastic devotees in this country. I read recently where Jerry Rubin, one of the notorious Chicago Seven activists, publicly proclaimed to thousands of his admir­ers his absolute faith in Buru Maharaj as the coming saviour of the world. In Berkeley, acid-rock king Carolos Santana, un­til recently known for his waist-long hair, stunned his audience when he emerged on stage with cropped head and set up an altar with a photo of his guru, Sri Chimmay. Many former long-haired young people are now wearing shaved heads, pajama pants and turbans, to join the chanting dancers, leaping up and down while tossing rose petals over idols of Hindu deities. Many ot­her examples could be given to show the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that our nation is being "replenished from the east" as the multitudinous variety of ancient Satanic-inspired relig­ious and occult beliefs and practices flood into the religious and psychological vacuum left by the failure of the churches.

 

Man brought low. The shaking effect of earthquakes usually results in the collapse of that which is high and exalted in the things built by man such as buildings, towers, walls, water works and dams, etc.  Earthquakes can also cause trees and mountains to be moved and to collapse as the earth shifts and opens great crevasses. The shaking of the natural things is only a type and picture of how God purposes to "shake" the entire society of man and all of his systems—religious, political and economic; the purpose being to bring down that which is high and exalted, which has vaunted itself against God in pride and self-sufficiency.  Looking further into Isaiah 2:6-22 we note that God repeatedly declares His judgment on that which is high and which He purposes to bring low .  "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be on every one that is proud and lofty, and on every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: and on all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and on all the oaks of Bashan, and on all the high mountains, and on all the hills that are lifted up, and on every high tower, andon every fenced wall, and on all the ships of Tarshish, andon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be ex­alted in that day. . . In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he aris es to shake terribly the earth."

 

Fulfillment. In the preceding scripture there is much symbolism which we can "de-code" when we understand God's symbolic language, and see its fulfillment in this end time. The majestic cedars which grew only on the mountains of Lebanon are a type of leaders; those in "high" places in the mountains (nations) of the world. The cedar was considered to be the "king of trees" in the lands of the Bible. The oak tree was a strong tree and is a type of strong and powerful men (Amos 2:9). Bashan, where oaks abounded, was largely a tableland east of Jordan with some hills and lesser mountains, indicating by type those leaders in lesser positions, but strong and influential. Oak groves in ear­ly times were used as places of religious concourse. Altars were often set up in them (Josh. 24:26). Idolatry was practiced un­der them (Isa. 1:29, 57:5; Ezek. 6:13), and idols were made of oaks (Isa. 44:14). Thus "oaks of Bashan" could refer to relig­ious leaders and their sects—the largely apostate and greatly "idolatrous" Christendom of today. In Isa. 2:14-16, we can see symbolically portrayed the three-fold system of "Babylonish" civilization and God's judgmenton each: in vs. 14 are men­tioned the "mountains and hills,” symbolic of the greater and lesser nations and their political systems; in vs. 15 the "high towers and fenced walls,” portraying religious Babylon with the many denominational "walls" and "fences" which separate God's people, and the "towers" on these walls representing the hierarchies over the denominations, watching out for their "vested interests;" and in vs. 16 we see commercial Babylon, symbol­ized by the "ships of Tarshish" (trading between nations) and the "pleasant pictures" (advertising). The marginal reference in the King James version gives "pictures of desire" as an alternate reading for "pleasant pictures.” Could the prophet have been foreseeing our modern TV screens where the "pictures of desire" are flashed constantly before a gullible public, and which is used so cleverly to promote Babylonish commercialism? This last statement is not meant to convey that TV in itself is bad, or that all business is wrong. We have a great mixture. But by the picture of Rev. 18:12-13, we see that Babylonish commer­cialism puts "gold" (money) first, and the souls of men last, trafficking in both.

 

 

The Inner. All that can be shaken is going to be shaken (Heb. 12:27), and this does not only mean in the macrocosm of the outer world in which we live, but also in the microcosm of our inner being. God is going to shake you loose from every idol that you may hold in your heart (see Ezek. 14:4, where the pro­phet speaks against the "idols" the people had set up in their hearts), and from everything which you may be holding on to that is not of Him. He is going to shake all within you that can be shaken, that what cannot be shaken may remain. Heb. 12:28 declares that the things which cannot be shaken pertain to God's eternal kingdom (in contrast to the things that are man-made, referred to in vs. 27). "Wherefore we receiving a king­dom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." Notice that the inspired statement indicates that we are NOW receiv­ing a Kingdom (a present continuous process). Even though we have become citizens of God's Kingdom through the new birth, and the Kingdom of God is within (John 3:3 & Lk. 17:21), there is a sense in which that Kingdom or RULE of God is increasing in our lives. And we are progressively entering into the reali­ties, blessings and powers of that Kingdom.  Because of this continuous receiving of the Kingdom, God is building within us by His Spirit that which endures forever and cannot be shaken by any circumstances (I John 2:17). What a wondrous revelation of God's purpose: while God is in the process of shaking every­thing that can be shaken, we are entering more fully into that which cannot be shaken—by receiving His Kingdom.

 

New. "Behold, I make all things new. . . And I saw a new heav­en and a new earth" (Rev. 21:1, 5).  God's whole purpose in "shaking" is to eliminate the old, that He might make all things new—even a new heaven and a new earth.  But we must not think of this new heaven and earth only in terms of the macro­cosm of the outer world.  Let me elaborate on the thought of the microcosm of our inner being, for within each of us must the pattern be fulfilled of a "new heaven and earth.” Your "heav­en" within is your mind, and your "earth" is your manner of living, or we might say, your heart response to life situations, and thus the way you live. God's order is first a new "heaven" and then a new "earth"—in other words your mind and thinking must first be changed.  This is the pattern Paul gives in Rom. 12:2: "be you transformed (in the manner of your life) by the renewing of your mind." Also in Eph. 4:23-24: "be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man, which aft­er God is created in righteousness and true holiness." See also Phil. 4:8 where Paul shows the importance of the new "heav­en" (thought-life), as the key to a new "earth" (new life).

 

 

A process. We need to see that a "new heaven and earth" within for the Christian does not come suddenly or automatical­ly.  It takes the creative power of God, and our cooperation with God, "who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). Just because we have been "born anew" and have Christ's eternal life dwelling within, and may even have the transforming dynamic of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, this does not mean we are automatically changed in every as­pect of our lives. We may still have much of the old patterns of thought and wrong ideas and concepts embedded in our minds; and this affects our entire response to life situations and the way we live. These "strongholds" of the enemy have to be broken down and our minds renewed by the Word (truth) of God. Jesus said, " you shall know the truth, and the truth (received and ap­plied within) shall make you free" (John 8:32). When the Isra­elites went into the promised land of Canaan, they had to obey the command of God to break down all the strongholds of the enemy nations in the land and tear down their "high places" (where they carried on idolatrous worship). Paul no doubt had this Old Testament type in mind when he declared in II Cor. 10:4-5: "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations (false reasonings and thinking), and every high thing that exalt s itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

 

Satanic influence. Satan is called the "prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2); that is, he rules in the invisible heavenly realm around our earth, roughly corresponding to our atmos­phere.  It may come as a shock to some that Satan is not now in the pit or in "hell" (that is coming—Rev. 20:1-3, 10), but is reigning in his own "heaven" (not God's heaven), from which he controls the systems of this world.  He is thus called the "god of this world" (II Cor. 4:4). Just as Satan rules the earth from his vantage point in the heavenly realm, so is it true in the microcosm of your being. If Satan rules your heaven (mind), he will also rule your earth (manner of life). As the prince of the power of the air, Satan seeks to dominate your thoughts (for air is symbolic of the thoughts of the mind).

 

 

Birds.  Birds which fly in the atmospheric heaven area type of thoughts which enter the mind. In the law given to Moses, such birds were divided into categories of "clean" and "unclean,” to symbolize the fact that both clean and unclean thoughts enter our minds. You have probably heard the old saying: "you can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair!" The mind is not and cannot be a vacuum. Thoughts are passing though our minds constantly, just as we are continually breathing air without any conscious effort. But we can keep the wrong birds (thoughts) from lodging and "nesting" in our mind, so that they do not "hatch" their perfidious offspring and dominate our thinking (and our actions).

 

Power. Birds are also a type of angelic "spirits.” Unclean birds are a type of the fallen angels or demons, which have the power to project wrong thoughts into our minds.    These are the "fiery darts" of the wicked spoken of in Ephes. 6:16 which must be warded off by the shield of faith, to other words, we have the power, through the authority given to us "in Christ,” to cast out these demonic "birds" (thoughts) out of our "heaven" (mind). This is portrayed in Rev. 12:7-11, where we read that there was "war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Satan); and the dragon fought and his angels." This is not only a description of the macrocosmic battle that is tak­ing place in the invisible realms around our earth, but it also depicts the struggle that goes on in the inner realm of the human mind. The battle in the microcosmic "heaven" within is in the thoughts (and emotions which are aroused by thoughts). Since the sacred text declares that "Michael and his angels fought,” we are to know that God does not want us to fight the battle; for "the battle is the Lord's" (I Sam. 17:48, II Chron. 20:15). We are merely to speak the word or command: "Satan, get out in the Name of Jesus,” and if it has been spoken in faith and earnestness of heart, immediately the angels go into action on our behalf to disperse the demon-inspired thoughts which are seeking to dominate our minds. Hallelujah! Then immediately begin to praise the Lord for the victory.

 

 

Sentry. Perhaps an illustration will help. The duty of a sentry is to stand guard and watch for any intruder.   He is to deter­mine if anyone approaching is friend or foe. And if he discerns the foe coming, he sounds the alarm for help; he does not try to fight the battle himself.  We (our spirit within) is like the sentry. When we discern enemy thoughts coming into our minds, we are to exercise our will in commanding a "halt,” and then CALL on the Name of JESUS for help. Paul says in Rom. 10:13 that "whosoever shall call on the NAME of the Lord shall be saved" (delivered).  Don't try to wrestle the enemy yourself; you will be overcome. Call for help and let the angels of God go into battle for you. The result of such battle is described in Rev. 12:8-9, which says that Satan's angels "prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon (Satan) was CAST OUT."

 

Kingdom benefits. Immediately following, in Rev. I2:10, we see the benefits of such victory in Christ: "NOW is come salva­tion, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down." Our salvation is a continuous and complete provision of God for our every need, and a continuous Spirit-impartation on our behalf, that we might experience His strength and Kingdom rule at all times. But we must know the truth of our throne-rights and privileges in Christ, as we are seated in "heavenly places" with Him, with the enemy under our feet (Eph. 1:20-22, 2:6). And then we need to take the initiative in claiming that provision, speaking the word of authority against Satanic powers, calling on the Name of Jesus, and then praising the Lord at all times, filling our minds with thoughts of gratitude and thanksgiving, as we praise and worship Him, as our thoughts and affections ascendto Him as sweet incense.  Rev. 12:11 says that "they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony (declaring the truth); and they loved not their lives to the death (yielding of the self-life to be 'crucified with Christ'—Gal. 2:20)." Beloved, every battle is a "shaking" experience, as the Lord exposes our areas of weakness, and our desperate NEED of Him. And this is a part of the process of making "all things new" within us; even a new "heaven" (thought life) and a new "earth" (new manner of life, with a new heart response to all life situations).

 

No more sea . The essence of God's covenant in Christ is that He will put His laws into our minds and hearts (Heb. 8:10; 10:16), writing them there by His Spirit (II Cor. 3:3), so fear not the "shaking,” for your first "heaven" and first "earth" (domi­nated by sin) must pass away (Rev. 21:1).  In his vision of the new heaven and earth, John saw that there was "no more sea" (Rev. 21:1). Water is a type of the soul with its unstable emo­tions, desires, and feelings. Jacob prophesied over his son, Reuben: "Unstable as water,you shall not excel" (Gen. 29:4). Water is easilystirred up by wind, and remember that Satan is the "prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2). When Satan influences our minds, he also stirs up our desires and emotions, for as a man "think s in his heart (feelings and desires in con­nection with thoughts) so is he" (Prov. 23:7). We read in Isa. 57:20, that the "wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." This is because they are so easily influenced by the "wind" of Satanic forces. But when God finishes perfecting within us a "new heaven and earth,” there will be no more (troubled) sea; that is, no more unstable emotions or wrong desires to precipitate us into sin. But until then we will experience some "upsets" and "stormy" times in our emotional being, as the enemy "blows” and God allows this to happen to "shake" what can be shaken.

 

God our refuge. While we are yet experiencing the attacks of the enemy, and many changes in our lives, let us remember the words of the Psalmist in 46:1-7: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed (the shaking experiences), and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea (‘mountains' of trials which ‘carry over’ into our emotional be­ing and cause upheaval); though the waters thereof roar and be troubled (turmoil within), though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof (experiences which almost overwhelm us). There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. . . God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God will help her, and that right early." YOU are that city, and God's river of life and power flows in you, and you shall not be moved, for God shall help you.  THAT is God's prom­ise, even though there be storms and shakings in the world around and even some emotional turmoil within.  God IS our REFUGE! He cannot be moved, though everything else is. The rest of Psalm 46 is good; read and meditate on it, that you may know Him as an "ever present help."

 

Consuming fire. In the passage we have been emphasizing con­cerning the "shaking of all things" (Heb. 12:18-29), note that the very last statement is: "for our God is a consuming fire." Let's take a further look at the role of the "fire.” The apostle Peter saw through prophetic revelation the earth being renova­ted by fire (II Pet. 3:10-13). It is my personal conviction that what Peter saw actually comes in two phases. Many times those to whom prophetic revelations of the future were given did not discern the time elements involved, or it was not their purpose at the time to make known such time elements. Such were re­vealed to others at a later time.  For example, Jesus said, as recorded in John 5:28-29, that "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." It sounds from His statement like both the resurrection to life and the resurrection to judg­ment takes place at the same time. But a later revelation was given to John on the isle of Patmos which separates these two resurrections by one thousand years (Rev. 20:4-5). Further il­lustrations could be given, but I believe this is sufficient to make the point. Peter gives us the picture of the earth's reno­vation by fire as follows: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fer­vent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. . . looking for and hurrying to the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dis­solved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Never­theless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwell s righteousness."

 

 

Two-fold. In a later revelation by the apostle John, however, we see that the fire (probably atomic) of God's wrath shakes and purges the earth of its iniquities at the close of this age, just before and at the return of Christ in power and great glory (Rev. 8:5-7; 13:13; 14:18; 16:8; 17:16; 18:8), and also that at a later time (some time after the 1000 year millennium) the earth goes through a more complete and transforming "baptism of fire" (Rev. 20:9). Only at the time of this later "fiery baptism" will there be a complete "new heaven and earth" (Rev. 21:1), and the present "heavens" (atmosphere) "being on fire shall be dis­solved,” and "pass away with a great noise"; and the very "el­ements shall melt with fervent heat" (II Pet. 3:10, 12). THEN there will be "no more sea" (Rev. 21:1); all waters being evap­orated in that complete fiery holocaust. The earth will then become the arena for the final schooling of the glorified sons of God, as they learn to transform the very substances of the earth and eventually launch it into a higher plane of existence.

 

Pattern. God conforms all His works to a basic pattern, and as the outer transformation of the earth and heavens is in two phas­es as described above, so is there a two-fold work of the "fire” of God's Holy Spirit in our Individual lives. The first is to purge and refine us within, and this is why we are to receive the bap­tism of the Holy Spirit and FIRE (Mt. 3:11), which burns to the "core" of our being, and facilitates God's work of removing the "dross" of our carnal nature, or "old man" of sin. This is a part of the process of making a "new heaven and earth" within us. But the final renovation of our whole being—spirit, soul, and body, to where it can be said that "the former things are passed away" and ALL things are made new for the overcoming Christ­ian, comes only at the experience which is called the "rapture" or translation of the saints, when we shall be WITH the Lord.

 

Near. The evidence points to the fact that this translation, when we shall be made like Him (I John 3:2), and receive a glorious body like to His (Phil. 3:21), is near at hand. This is why God is shaking everything that can be shaken IN us, as a testing, and as a catalyst, to "shake loose" and remove all that is not of Him. We are being prepared for the final change, when the very "elements" of our bodies will be "dissolved" (or loosed, which is the literal meaning of the Greek word luo), for the very atomic structure of our bodies will be changed as they are "loosed" into the glorified estate. Only then will we experience the complete "new heaven and earth,” with the transformation of our whole being.

 

Fire of God's Spirit. The Biblical TYPE for our coming complete change is Elijah being caught up into heaven in a whirlwind and a chariot of FIRE (II Kings 2:11). Both wind and fire speak of God's Spirit. "Wind" indicates the action of invisible power, but "fire" speaks of a CHANGE. In the natural, fire does not destroy anything, it merely produces a chemical action whereby elements are changed (such as, from solid to gas). Even so shall the "fire" of God's Spirit come on us at the time of our trans­lation, and the elements (or atoms) of our bodies shall be re­structured into a glorified body. The word "elements" in II Pet. 3:10 & 12, is from a Greek word which means "a basal, funda­mental, initial constituent; that which is rudimental; also some­thing orderly in arrangement." Cannot we see in this definition what our scientists call "atoms,” in II Pet. 3:12 we read that the "elements" shall "melt" with fervent heat. The word "melt" here is again the Greek word luo, also translated "dissolved" twice in 3:11-12. The basic meaning is to "loose or break up" and can refer to the change in atomic structure of substances. Although the passage in II Pet. 3 refers primarily to the change coming in this material world and its atmosphere as we have seen, it forms a pattern for the change that is coming, as each one who is ready receives the final "baptism of fire" of God's Spirit, and these present bodies shall be changed and fashion­ed (made like to) Jesus' glorified body (Phil. 3:21). Until then may we be willing to let the "fire "of God's Spirit continue to purge and remove the dross within, that He may finish the work that He has begun in each of us (Phil. 1:6). Now let's take a final look at events that are impending and our relation to them as God continues to "shake all that can be shaken."

 

 

Day of Wrath. On Aug. 6th, 1945, at 8:15 in the morning, three U.S. B-29's had approached the city of Hiroshima, Japan, from the north-eastern direction. One of them stopped its engine as it glided over the central part of the city. It dropped a single bomb and, making an abrupt right-angled turn, sped away at full speed.  The bomb fell rapidly and one and a half minutes later, above the ground level, it exploded in a fire-ball, then sent reddish-blue or dark brown flames shooting out against the ground at an astonishing velocity, radioactivating some forty percent of the city area.  Simultaneously a cluster of white smoke became visible, which, centering around a mass of dark-red cloud, enveloped in a yellowish mass, mushroomed upward, topped with a crest of white cloud. Fifteen minutes later rain began to fall and brought back radioactive particles to the ground. Pressure waves from the blast flattened practically all buildings; fires broke out all over the city. In this unpreceden­ted holocaust more than 240,000 persons lost their lives and more than 165,000 were injured. The first atomic bomb ever exploded on a human city had taken place. It is my conviction that this event BEGAN the fulfillment of Rev. 6:17 where we read that "the great day of God's wrath is come." However, the first verses of Rev. 7 indicate that the "winds" of judgment were to be held back for a time, and we know that this has come to pass. We are now in this "holding" period, even though the "fire" of God's wrath has been cast into the earth (Rev. 8:5), resulting in the loosing of the atom's fire-power.

 

Evil returns. I point out the above to emphasize the fact that the outpouring of God's wrath on this earth is to come pri­marily through the instrumentality of man; that is, God allow­ing the consequences of man's evil to RETURN ON HIS OWN HEAD (Joel 3:4). In light of this fact, we can better grasp the significance of the question asked in Isa. 14:16-17 following the destruction of a certain powerful man: "Is this the MAN that made the earth to tremble, that didshake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?" If you read Isa. 14:12-20, you will see that the passage is talking about Lucifer's re­bellion, whereby he sought to exalt Himself and become like God. But God's sentence on Him is that he is to be com­pletely cast down (see also Rev. 12:9). When this takes place he will enter in and take possession of a certain MAN, and MANIFEST as a man in this end time, even as the "man of sin" described in II Thess. 2:3. Through this man he will seek to completely dominate the nations of the world, and through his "false prophet,” he will punish those nations who refuse to submit by causing atomic fire to come down on their cities (see Rev. 12:13), thus fulfilling the prophecy in Isa. 14:16 that a man would cause the earth to tremble (with fear) and shake kingdoms (with atomic destruction).  Thus, in a sense, man's kingdoms will be judged by the madness of a man. Furthermore, in God's providential workings, the evil of this "man of sin" will also returnon his own head. For God will enable cer­tain nations to resist his dominion, and retaliate, so that atomic fire will fall on his kingdom, as we read in Rev. 16:10: "And the fifth angel poured out his vial on the seat (throne) of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnaw­ed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." Thus man destroys man in a final great holo­caust, but God directs andtimes this in such a way that it is the fulfillment of His wrath and judgmenton the evil of this world. Man "shakes,” but God is behind the shaking, causing it to be the fulfillment of the counsel of His own will.

 

Vivid prophecy. I don't have time in this short treatise to go into detail, but read ail of Isa. 24 for a vivid description of the end-time shaking. Note especially verses 17-20: "Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you , O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fle es from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit (bomb shelters); and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare (drafted and forced into public service): for the windows (trap-doors of bombers) of heaven from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake (from the explosion of many nuclear bombs). The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved (rent asunder), the earth is moved ex­ceedingly (shaken violently). The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage (or sway to and fro like a hammock); and the transgression thereof shall be heavy on it; and it shall fall, and not rise again (its or­bit around and inclination to the sun shall be changed)."

 

Final.  There is one final shaking referred to in the scriptures that will be totally the Lord's doing, and will bring the final wind-up to this present age. We read about it in Zech. 14:4.When Jesus Christ, as the Lord of glory, personally returns to the earth, His mighty presence will literally stagger this planet." And His feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." (Zech. 14:4-7). Hallelujah! THAT DAY will be the evening of the feast of Tabernacles, the 15th of Tishri, in the fall of the year, when Jesus makes His descent to this earth to tabernacle with His peo­ple. The pallor of death hangs over the earth on the 14th of Tishri. Millions lie slain; the nations are exhausted through all-out atomic war; cities lie in ruins. So much debris has been thrown into the atmosphere through massive explosions, along with great banks of gaseous smoke mixed with the debris, that the light of the sun has been blotted out (Mt. 24:29). It is a grey-like, murky day, neither light nor dark. The remaining few inhabitants of each nation (Isa. 24:6) are all desperately callingon the Name of the Lord for preservation (Acts 2:20-21). As the evening draws near (closing the 14th of Tishri and opening the 15th), in the time-zone where Jerusalem and the Holy Land is located, suddenly the skies shine with a very bril­liant light, as the inhabitants of that area see the SIGN of the Son of Man in the heavens—the supernatural glory cloud (Mt. 24:30), for at evening there comes light (Zech. 14:7). Short­ly afterward they shall see Jesus personally coming in the clouds (His saints returning with Him) of heaven with power and great glory. Hallelujah! No wonder Zech. 14:7 says that it will be ONE DAY which shall be known to the Lord.

 

Fabric. Let me give one more illustration to show how the Lord views the present world society. Supposing you had a garment that was old and frayed, and you realized that there was no way it could be saved. If you tried to patch it up with portions of new material, it would only tear and be worse.  Remember that Jesus spoke a parable and said, "No man put s a piece of new garment on an old; if otherwise, then both the new mak es a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agre es not with the old" (Lk. 5:36). Not only would the new rend the old, but the new material would not match the old. When God looks at our present Babylonish world society, He sees an old garment, worn and frayed, which cannot be saved. To patch it up would only make it worse, and the NEW which He purposes to introduce DOES NOT MATCH the old (ways of man).   The "shaking" which we are now experiencing in the world is simply the "old garment" of man's ways beginning to tear apart. It simply cannot stand the stresses being placed on it. The entire "fabric" of society in its present condition is not strong enough to hold together. God has purposed to make all things new, and we are now in the transition period. Those of us who are born-again Christians have become "new creatures in Christ,” and the "old" in God's sight has already passed away (II Cor. 5:17). We are already partaking of the new. We have "tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:5). We belong to a new kingdom which shall never pass away (Heb. 12:28). We have "new garments" which will never wear out (Isa. 52:1). Let us be willing to let God divest us of all the remnants of the old.

 

 

God working. We have already alluded to the "shaking" effect of the new thing which God is doing in the earth, as He moves by His Spirit. We should pray earnestly for more of this kind of shaking. In Acts 4:23-31, read of the early Christians gathering together for prayer after being persecuted. Verse 31 says, "And when they had prayed, the place was SHAKEN where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and theyspoke the word of God with boldness." Ah, beloved. God wants to shake things up. The prophet cries out, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion" (Amos 6:1). There is a positive as well as a negative shaking going on in the world. It is the result of God's moving on the behalf of His people. Let us not resist this shaking, but joyfully anticipate and em­brace all that the Lord is doing to bring us into the FULNESS of His purpose in this day.

 

Pressures. In the natural, an earthquake is caused by a move­ment of the earth's crust along "fault-lines.” The movement is very gradual and indiscernible until a certain amount of pressure is built up—then something has to give; and a sudden shift takes place as segments of land on either side of the fault-line suddenly shift torelease the pressure and adjust to each other. In His providence God, who created the earth, knows its every "fault,” the movements and pressures involved, and is able to TIME earthquakes to fulfill a portion of His will—as instruments of judgment, etc.  Especially is this true as we approach the end of this age. Jesus said that one of the signs (portents) indi­cating the nearness of His coming would be "earthquakes in di­verse (various) places" (Mt. 24:7).

 

The affairs of men. As in nature, so in the society of humans. There are "fault-lines" (weaknesses) in the economic, political, and religious systems of men, and we are living in a time of great change (movements) causing pressures to build up; so that man is increasingly experiencing sudden shifts in the power struggle, shaking and turmoil in social patterns, religious rum­blings and upsets, economic Instability, etc.—all because God in His providential workings is MOVING mankind toward a new Kingdom era. Whatever cannot stand the shaking and adjust to the will of God must be destroyed.  "And there was a great earthquake. . .and the cities (societies, systems) of the nations fell" (Rev. 16:18-19). The same is true in your individual life. God knows your "fault-lines" (weaknesses); those areas which must be willing to "give way" and adjust to the will of God. God in His love will continue to move you (with pressures, if necessary) into His unshakable Kingdom. Fear not the "shak­ings" in your experiences; for it only indicates God's purpose to remove those things that CAN be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken MAY REMAIN (Heb. 12:27). Amen!

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