A Shaking is Coming!
A day is coming when God will judge the nations and everything that He has not established will be shaken and removed from its place. All of the nations will be shaken, not one will escape! Even now God is starting to shake things up as we see men fainting with terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world and the heavenly bodies themselves starting to shake even now as we see tsunamis, ecological disasters and wild unpredictable weather patterns plaguing many nations today. Nations are tossing like the stormy sea, tossing in anguish and perplexity not knowing the way out.
A convergence of ‘the labour pains’
A convergence is coming when the ‘labour pains’ will come one upon another and that in intensity and frequency. These labour pains of spiritual deception, wars, rumours of wars, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and famines and earthquakes and disease and pestilence and the martyrdom of the saints of God will all converge together at once. All things will be completely shaken and moved out of their place. Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most professing Christians will grow cold. In that day only those who have persevered to the end will be saved.
Every level of society
Isaiah the prophet wrote; “Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left” (Isaiah 24:1-6).
The days of Noah and Lot
Our Lord Jesus told us very clearly that as things were in the time of Noah and Lot so they will be in the world just before God’s wrath is poured out on a Christ hating, Christ rejecting world. The people in the time of Noah and Lot we are told were “eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying, selling, planting and building” and continued to do these things right up until the day Noah entered the ark and when Lot was taken out of Sodom. After this there was no reprieve for the wicked. In the case of Lot’s wife she was escaping from the city but because her affections were still centred in the world’s pleasure palaces, pursuits with its allurements and enticements she did not make it out of the city.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken!
Isaiah the prophet also spoke about the last judgement that will come upon the inhabitants of this world suddenly and expectantly when the world system as we know it will come to an abrupt and sudden end. The Bible calls it the Day of the LORD when everything will change and when everything that God has not established will be shaken. Every level of society will be shaken. As the Lord speaks through the prophet Haggai; “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.” (Haggai 2:6-7) And again the LORD says; “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27).
Pulling up the weeds
God’s purpose in this shaking is to establish His rule on the earth and to shake out of His kingdom on earth every offensive thing as the Lord Jesus himself affirmed when He said; “As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:40-42).
Now let us turn to our text in Isaiah Chapter 24 verses 1-6
(Vs 1) “Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.”
This world and the things of this world are passing away and after the purifying and refining work of God has done its work a new heaven and earth will immerge. This earth will still be here but different in that everything that has polluted the earth will have been burnt up and righteousness will be the standard of the Messianic Kingdom. The heavens will also be purified and cleansed of the demonic spirits that have been living in the atmosphere just above the surface of the globe. This new heaven and earth will be the harbinger of the final and eternal state to come in the future (2 Peter 3:10-14) (Isaiah 65:17-25) (Revelation 21:1-4) (Isaiah 24:21).
(Vs.2) “And the people will be like the priest,”
This is the religious world including the apostate Church, whether it is those in the pulpits or in the pews and these will all be shaken and judged for their wickedness in deliberately perverting the Word of truth and teaching others to do the same. Their judgement will be most severe. The Word of God itself will be the standard by which they will be judged.
Then you have the domestic world; “the servant like his master.” the maid like her mistress,”
People’s everyday lives will be shaken and these will be those who are conducting daily living as usual such as eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage and leaving God out of their daily activities, having no time for God or for His Word or for His one and only begotten Son who shed His blood for their sins. When they are saying peace and security sudden destruction will come on them as sudden labour pains on a pregnant woman and they will not escape because their whole domestic way of life will be utterly shaken and devastated (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Then the business world will be shaken; “the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.”
Whether they are top executives and CEO’s or office workers or tradies their whole world of business will collapse overnight, Banks and financial conglomerates will ‘go to the wall’ financially. The economies around the globe will all collapse, even many of the great skyscrapers will come crashing down in that day as the LORD devastates the earth and scatters its inhabitants (Isaiah 30:25).
(Vs.3) “The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word.”
God will literally “empty the earth” of all that is sinful and rebellious and plunder Satan’s kingdom and sending him into the pit along with the nations that have served and worshipped him (Revelation 20:1-3) (Ezekiel 32).
(Vs.4) “The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.”
When the Son of God appears in the heavens as He descends to earth we read where the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, will hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and will say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand? (Revelation 6:15-17)
(Vs.5-6) “The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.”
The Bible says that a time is coming the Lord Jesus will come back to save the world from total annihilation, to rescue His saints, save Israel, destroy Antichrist, imprison Satan and set up the Millennial Messianic kingdom of God on earth centred at Jerusalem (Matthew 24:21-22) (Isaiah 2:1-5). This will happen after everything that can be shaken has been shaken and swept away in the refining fire of God. In that day few will be left to repopulate the earth.
God’s standard of righteousness
This whole fallen world is under the curse of the law and of sin and death and no one is exempt from the curse of the law and its eternal consequences for all have sinned and fallen short of the standard of righteousness God requires of men if they are to be saved in this age and enjoy the age to come. God’s standard of righteousness by which He measures all men and women is the Lord Jesus Christ. This righteousness that comes from God is not obtained by works, personal merit or by religious works but is bestowed and received by faith when a sinner repents of their sin and turns from it with all of their heart and believes upon the Lord Jesus and His shed blood to redeem them from the power and penalty of sin and from this present evil age (Ephesians 2:8-9) (Romans 3:21-31) (Galatians 1:4). As it is also written; “But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4-5).
Deliverance from the power and penalty of sin
Without this righteousness that comes from God and is bestowed because of God’s unmerited favour by faith alone in the Lord Jesus, men and women will continue in their sin and rebellion and indifference to the everlasting covenant and their good deeds will not save them in the end. All of us have broken the everlasting covenant cut with man in the blood of Jesus because we are by nature and by birth children of wrath and have at one time been indifferent to Him who shed his blood to rescue us from sins power, to redeem us back to God, to deliver us from this present evil age and from the wrath of God to come. The LORD will judge all unbelievers for their sin and rebellion and men will have to give an account to Him for every idle word they have uttered and by their words they will either be pardoned or condemned (Matthew 12:36-27).
“Confession is made unto salvation”
Our confession is important and involved in our salvation. As Paul writes; “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:8-11). As it is also written; “that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).
A broken curse
Now the Lord Jesus also said that the wide path of wickedness, indifference and a rejection of the salvation found only in Him alone will lead to hades but that the narrow way that leads to life and that only a few find, is when, by faith, a sinner embraces the cross and there at the feet of the Lord Jesus surrenders his life to be His bond-slave until life’s end. Those who come back to God in this way will never be accused by God for breaking the everlasting covenant, even though they had before they were saved, because the curse over their life has been broken because the Lord Jesus became a curse in their place (Galatians 3:13).
Knowing to whom you should go
The prayer that will move the heart of God every time is that simple prayer uttered by the repentant thief crucified with the Lord Jesus when He said to Him; “Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom” and the response of the Lord Jesus was immediate when He said to that crucified and dying man; “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” This man was no theologian or religious as far as we know but a common thief most probably not welcome in religious circles and one who was despised and distained by men. He knew what he was and just how spiritually sick he was but he also knew to whom he should go for the remedy for his fallen spiritual condition.
Have you been to the cross?
Have you been to the cross, have you laid down your will and taken up the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for your life? (Romans 12:1-2) Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are all of your sins forgiven and cleansed? Are you like Lot’s wife in that you are escaping from the world but are still attached to this world and to the things of this world and the love of the Father is not as yet residing in you? Have you called upon the name of the LORD to save you? Have your passions and desires for self- gratification and the pursuit of sin been crucified with Christ? Is the life you now living a life lived for God and for his will?
Saved from sins, not in them
Of course no one is perfect and we still have to combat the world, the flesh and the devil, even after we have come to the obedience of faith in the Lord Jesus, but if we walk in the light of God’s Word as He is in the light then the blood of the Lord Jesus will keep us clean and free from the power of sin (1 John 1:7). As it is written of the Lord Jesus that; “He will save his people from their sins” not in them! However, when the final shaking comes and it will, all of the nations will be shaken but those who are building their lives on the foundation of God’s Word will never be shaken from their strong position in the Lord Jesus because of their faith in Him and because they are being kept by the Holy Spirit. The foundation that will stand and not be shaken is the life built upon the solid rock of the Word of God also being the Lord Jesus Himself (Matthew 7:24-27). This is why we need the blessed Holy Spirit as it is written; “Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit says the Lord!” No one can live the Christian life without the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. This is why we must be born again from above and made brand new deep down on the inside by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3). With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26)
To which kingdom do you belong?
So then everything that God has not established will be shaken and swept away in the last judgement. One will be taken away in judgement but the other left to inherit the Millennial Kingdom which will never be shaken (Matthew 24:40-41). In which Kingdom are you living right now? If you are in God’s Kingdom and living for the will of God you will not be moved when this time of shaking comes, you will spiritually survive and God will personally see to it Himself even though you lose everything you have in this world. Even though everything will be shaken you will not be shaken but empowered by the Holy Spirit to say with the psalmist; “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken!” (Psalm 62:1-2)
And so the LORD says; “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27). Those who by faith have within them the indestructible life of the Lord Jesus will never be shaken either in this age or in the age to come and for all of eternity after that! (Hebrews 7:16)
