Wearing Out The Saints of the Most High - Things That Will Be Shaken, Part 2

** FOR THE BEST AND LATEST PERSECUTION / MIDDLE EAST NEWS GO TO www.shoebat.com. 

Hebrews 12:25-28

For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: ²⁶ Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. ²⁷ And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Hebrews 13:14

¹⁴ For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

God preserved in the Book of Hebrews his plan for an imminent, great shaking. This letter was written a little before the end of the Jewish system in 70 AD.  That time was quickly approaching when the Roman legions would reduce Jerusalem to rubble, and it was to this coming event of which was written. God was emphasizing that the Temple system was but an earthly shadow of heavenly things. The earthly was about to give way to the heavenly, and it was necessary for the new church to be anchored in the eternal, the abiding, the heavenly. This was the ultimate purpose of the Hebrew letter.

It was a revelation, a forward look, a hope on which they could look ahead and recall that in the midst of the destruction of the old system a new and superior reality was in view. As the temporal would pass away, this letter would serve to remind them that their real view and goal was in a City which was never earthly. "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." 13:14. 

So, if it was true that Jerusalem 70 AD was only the first half of the shaking, and that the other half of the shaking involved not only the earth but also the heavens, then He is saying that it is not only the temporal (earthly, local) but also the spiritual (cosmic, universal), then, which would be shaken. In order to bring in that which abides (eternal), everything that is not abiding (eternal) - that cannot stand -- will be shaken to its very foundations. This is a very weighty thought. And Jesus then proceeded to speak of the signs which would attend each of those shakings, and while Bible students still mull this over, only the blindest individuals can fail (refuse) to see that we are now at the precipice of the second shaking.

For hundreds of years people found it impossible to take these signs literally. Most still do. And that is a huge mistake. For the first time in the history of mankind all of these prophecies of the end times can now be seen as possible beyond anything that could have been imagined just twenty years ago. Calling fire down from heaven, lying signs and wonders, men resurrected (think 'hologram' or cyborg), trans humanism, demonic beings passing as "ET" - and these are only the physical signs. Ah, yes, Lucifer, the 'god of forces' has more up his sleeve for humanity than most could have imagined. It's always wise to take the only true God, the Creator, at his Word. Literally. He is the only Person who has 100% prophetic accuracy. He knew all of this before the foundation of the world.

Believers are going to be brought absolutely to the point of accountability for what God has given to us, what He has made available to us and to which He has given us access. He has given us His Very Word, the ministry of His revelation to mankind along with the evidence of its legitimacy as the foundation of God's personal message to mankind. I believe we will be brought face to face with what we have received, even in drastic ways - and then to answer for it and to what we have done about it and with it: the very Word of God. 

A minister who wrote sixty years ago says this: I believe the Word shows very clearly that the people of God will pass into a phase of spiritual experience where what they have is required to be their very life. What they have is required to be their very life and their very survival! To put it another way: that the things you and I have received and think we know are going to be sifted right down of all mere teaching, interpretation, mental grasp; stripped of everything.  Downright reality is going to be the emphasis of the Holy Spirit at the end, and you and I and the people of God will pass into such an intensity of spiritual experience under pressure, under stress, under trial and testing that we shall be found out as to what proportion of all that we have claimed to hold is really our being and our life. We're going to be just stripped down to that. 

Just reading the above sends chills up the spine. I agree with him. I believe I am seeing inklings of that very thing. When the very Lord of Lords looks at us as He looked at Peter on the night of the betrayal, all pretenses and personal interpretations and bombast will fall off us like water in a shower. We will be stripped down to TRUTH. How will what you believed, taught and lived stand up under the scrutiny of unvarnished truth? The reality?

He goes on to say: We have spoken of Christ as our Life. Very well then, the Holy Spirit says, "Let's find out how true that is and how much there is."  It may be something physical; how much is Christ our Life physically? Have we proved Christ as our Life for our bodies as well as our spirit? Have we? Because there is divine Life for the body dear friends; some of us would not be here today if that were not true. There is divine Life for the body to be had, if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead be in you... "He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall quicken also your mortal body." That's not the dust that's in the earth; that's your body now "by His Spirit that dwelleth within." Well, what about it? That's only one point. There are many others.

That certainly speaks to me. He is saying that we will be brought down to the bottom line. We may think we have been tested and tried until something new and unthinkable hits us. Is what we have been professing REAL? Is it the TRUTH about our relationship with the Lord? Is our spiritual claim made evident in our earthly life? Is the Cross real in my life? Is the Life I claim to live real? Is Christ real to me? Do I really know Him? And follow Him? How much?  THAT IS WHAT WILL BE SIFTED AND SHAKEN OUT AT THE END.  And everything that can be shaken will be shaken. We may then be able to sit down and have a meaningful conversation with our friend, Job.

And this shaking has been going on for a time. This is what has caused - and continues to cause - the great falling away, which is all but complete at this point. And this is why: because the vast bulk of what is claimed and professed is not justified deep down in the spiritual hearts of the people. And that is the very question and examination that we must each consider. This, to me, is a real sign of the times, one that is spiritual, of another dimension, true reality, the internal life, the eternal life. The proof of who we say we are will be revealed to our own selves.

It has always been about the spiritual war, and that is more true now than ever before. Are we truly walking down the path that leads to the narrow gate? At the last day of the school of life on this earth, that is the test question that we will need to be able to answer.

"Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear..."