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 [THE SHAKING OF ALL THINGS - PART IV]

 

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 dwells 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 did shake 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 return on 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 and times this in such a way that it is the fulfillment of His wrath and judgment on 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 flees 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 calling on 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 puts a piece of new garment on an old; if otherwise, then both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees 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 they spoke 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 to release 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!

[END]

 

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