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         [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.

 

PART I I I

 

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