What Is This Shaking About?
Read this passage…
“…but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:26-28
There is a shaking going on today in the nations of the earth. But it is important for believers to truly understand what is happening so we are not taken by surprise and shaken like others.
2,000 years ago, God began shaking the nations. Why? Because earth’s rightful King had come and introduced a new form of the Kingdom of God to earth.
Up until that time, the earth had been ruled by Satan who received his right to do so from Adam. For this reason, Jesus called him the “ruler of this world” in John 14:30 and Paul called him the “god of this world” in II Corinthians 4:4. When Satan was tempting Jesus, he said, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me (Luke 4:5).” This was never disputed.
Notice these five statements in the passage above:
1. Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.
We know from II Corinthians 12:2 that there are three “heavens.” The first heaven is the physical sky. The second heaven is the spiritual realm where demons and angels exist. The third heaven is the place of the throne of God.
Since God’s throne in the third heaven cannot be shaken and the first heaven is associated with earth, the “heaven” referred to in our passage must be the second heaven – the place of spiritual warfare.
So God is saying that the earthly shaking we see today is actually a sign of a shaking in the spiritual realm. What we see on earth is a result of spiritual warfare. The heavens are being shaken and it is affecting earth. Consider what Revelation 12:10-12 says,
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.’”
It seems that John was seeing this warfare where the church is gaining so much authority in the second heaven that Satan was cast down. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18).” As the Kingdom of God advances and the children of God gain spiritual authority, the less of Satan’s rule is displayed. This not only shakes heaven but also earth.
And the closer we come to the end of time, the more ferocious Satan becomes because he knows the time is short!
In the last days, the shaking will get more intense as the conflict increases between light and darkness. While it may seem like Satan is winning, discerning Christians understand that this is actually a sign that the ultimate victory is near.
2. Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken
There has been a shaking going on for 2,000 years as the Kingdom of God advances. What we see in history is the removal of those things that do not align with the Kingdom of God. One-by-one, empires and nations have been shaken and removed that do not align with righteousness.
Consider Israel in the First Century. Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70. The old Jewish religion and traditions stood in the way of the full manifestation of the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. It had to be removed in order to make way for the advancement of the Kingdom across the earth.
The Roman Empire was shaken and removed. The Mongolian Empire was shaken and removed. The Ottoman Empire was shaken and removed. Nazi Germany was shaken and removed. The Soviet Union was shaken and removed. The list can go on and on…
There have been a host of nations and empires shaken and removed and every one of them has something in common – they were not aligned with the Kingdom of God and resisted to the point of shaking and collapse. History teaches us that kings and kingdoms that practice unrighteousness do not last. They are shaken and removed.
Which leads me to the next statement from the passage…
3. That the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” What he was witnessing in human history was the inevitable movement of history towards righteousness and the establishing of the Kingdom of God.
What we are witnessing around the world is the shaking of things that are not ordered with the Kingdom of God and they are disappearing. It is the conflict of light and darkness. It is the last gasping breath of some principality and power that has great wrath because it knows, like Satan, that it’s time is short.
We must not be shaken or lose heart because of this. These conflicts are indications that the arc of the moral universe is moving towards righteousness. Paul said in Acts 17:26-27, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” God is moving in the nations, bringing them to a revelation of Him.
Do you think Satan is just going to stand by and watch this happen? Do you think he will relinquish his control over these nations without a fight? Do you think these nations will shift towards God without a shaking? Of course not! That’s what we are seeing today. It’s a spiritual collision of universal proportions!
But here’s some good news…
4. Since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken
We are a part of something that cannot be shaken. Even in the midst of the greatest shaking the world has ever seen, we hold into something that cannot be shaken. This is the Kingdom of God.
And notice the present tense here – we ARE RECEIVING a kingdom. For 2,000 years the Kingdom of God has been advancing across the earth. We are in the Kingdom now but not in the fullness of the Kingdom. That won’t happen until Jesus comes again and rules on earth.
Until then, the Kingdom of God grows like a mustard seed and the kingdoms of the world shake and shift as they are slowly aligned with the Kingdom of God. What Jesus unleashed upon the earth 2,000 years ago is still terraforming the world into the image of the Kingdom of God. This is the Kingdom we are receiving.
So…
5. Let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
This verse says it all. Because of the shaking that is going on, we better get serious – or you and I may get caught up in this shaking! Hebrews 10:25 says, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6 says, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”
Jesus said that in the last days, these shifts and shakings we increase both in intensity and occurrence. In Matthew 24:7-14 says,
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
These shakings will increase over the course of our lifetime. It will culminate in the last great shaking before Jesus comes again. In V-30 of the above passage He said, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
In a parallel passage, Luke 21:28, Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
This is no time to be discouraged. This is now time to be distracted. This is no time to be afraid. This is our finest hour! This present shaking is proof positive that God’s Kingdom is advancing on the earth and the hour of His return is near. Be vigilant. Be focused. We are in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken!