A Word for the Rebuilders - The Shaking of the Nations

‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations. Haggai 2:6‭-‬7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/hag.2.6-7.NIVUK

What could this mean? The writer to the Hebrews certainly has his explanation: See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘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 12:25‭-‬27 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.12.25-27.NIVUK

This can be linked to the scenes of final judgement in Revelation: I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig-tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Revelation 6:12‭-‬14 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.6.12-14.NIVUK

At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. Revelation 11:13 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.11.13.NIVUK

Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. Revelation 16:18 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.16.18.NIVUK

Those would certainly qualify as a shaking of the heavens and the earth! But here's a thought. In seismology (the study of earthquakes) there is such a thing as a foreshock. That is, a minor tremor which acts as a warning of a bigger earthquake to come. Now, I am not a seismologist, and neither have I any wish to be one. I've already seen the movie 'Dante's Peak' several times. That's enough for me. However, what if God uses foreshocks to alert His people of the judgement to come? What if He sends us huge global catastrophes like this to say to us, "So you think this is bad? Wait till you see what's coming! If you want to get out of the way, better get your life sorted now!" What if this not a sign of God's wrath, as some would have us believe, but a sign of His grace? I believe God has sent cataclysmic events into history to get our attention. Haggai and his fellow Jews would have little difficulty believing that after having lived through the Exile and returned home. The coming of Jesus Christ was itself a cataclysmic event. Every Christmas we tell our children that God moved a star out of orbit to lead the wise men to Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-12). When Jesus died on the cross, Matthew records there being an earthquake (Matthew 27:54), and again when Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:2). However, Matthew also notes that these are only birth pains (Matthew 24:7-8). Or, to use our seismological term, foreshocks. Even Jesus used two apparently unrelated events (a cruel, capricious dictator mixing the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices and the collapse of the Tower of Siloam) as a foreshock to encourage people to repent (Luke 13:1-5). These events, although shocking and devastating, would have produced a much lower casualty rate than a global catastrophe that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe. If these small events are foreshocks, then why not the Coronavirus pandemic? If this a foreshock, then I believe we need to understand some critical truths. Firstly, He is God. He is Sovereign. He has every right to do it (Isaiah 29:16). Secondly, we must understand it as an act of grace, not of judgement. Just as a foreshock is an alert to a bigger earthquake that allows us to evacuate from danger, so a Divine foreshock gives us warning to get our lives right before Him. Thirdly, the way we get our lives right, as Jesus describes, is to repent. But what should we repent of? Our sins, obviously (1 John 1:8-10). That goes without saying. However, I believe we should also repent of the insufficiency of our commitment to God. Too many of us have thought we could get by with a hymn sandwich, a cup of tea and a biscuit. With a tick-box Christianity where everything is okay provided we, or other people, perform certain rituals or conform to certain standards. Or worse, used Christianity as a means to an end to gain a good reputation, a good school or a good venue for life events like weddings, baptisms or funerals. This is an empty religion, devoid of any life or faith. It consists of nothing more than rules taught by men (Isaiah 29:13). That simply will not do. Let me state this plainly, simply and directly: God hates false religion. With a passion (Amos 5:21-24; Malachi 1:6-10; Matthew 23). This crisis has struck at the very heart of this falsehood and shown it up for the useless folly it is. I am in no doubt that God is shaking the nations right now. Any rebuilding we do, on any level, must begin with repentance, with getting ourselves right before God and getting rid of any false religion or pretence from our lives. Regardless of what happens next, this disaster is a profound reminder that our mortality is much closer than any of us would ever want to think. We must get ourselves right before God. We have to listen to Him. That is the first step to rebuilding our lives. Having seen the shaking of the nations, and seen that our current circumstances are a foreshock of a far greater cataclysm to come, in me next post we will move onto Haggai's second area of rebuilding: THE DESIRED BY THE NATIONS.