[THE SHAKING OF ALL THINGS - PART II]
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 casts 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 casts 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 to their
advantage, so that they
would receive him into their
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 and sharing 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 exceedingly
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 of many 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, Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one
in us; that the world may believe that you have 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 God fully 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 Spirit on 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 will shake 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
to shake 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
Carlos 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.
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