Seismic Shakes
“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? 26 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.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” (Heb 12:25-27)
Introduction
From earliest times, the sovereign Lord has been memorably shaking things (Amos 1:1 cf. Acts 4:31). Generally undiscerned by a near-apostate Western Church, the traumas due to the current war in the Middle East are embedded in the healing power of the eternal wounds of the Lamb of God in heaven (Rev 5:6; 13:8). The glorified wounds of Christ (John 20:27) are our hope for restoration from the traumas of the universe in which we are called to abundantly share. Like it or not, the more the Australian Church, and nation, suffers due to the laziness and ill-discipline of our governments, yet this shaking will awaken the masses to the fact that we are a people under fatherly discipline. Hebrews 12:5-11 (https://cross-connect.net.au/disciplines-of-the-father-7-unfolding-the-plan/) openly attributes all our inconveniences to the action of a “holy Father” who is constantly working to refine our “spirits” in their union with the perfected holy spirit of his Son (Rom 8:14-16; 1 Cor 6:17). Understood through a prophetic magnifying lens, what we are dealing with today, on a cosmic scale, makes the “church quake” of “the new apostolic reformation” (P. Wagner) ridiculously tiny. Our present time of “wars and rumours of wars” (Matt 24:6) signals an approaching End of creation whose scale is immeasurable i.e. cosmic renewal. The end of the world order is upon us (Mark 1:15; 1 Cor 7:31; Heb 6:5), as it has been since Jesus ascended into heaven! Will the present Church prove as unprepared as our government for the impending fuel crisis, just as most are unprepared for their impending doom and death (Matt 24:38). God in sovereign mercy is plunging us into a time of apocalyptic/end-time faith.
An All-encompassing Biblical framework
As Jesus is the centre of created space-time, this end-time release finds expression in his life. “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and[e] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matt 27:51-54). As an ordinary earthquake herald’s trauma (I know traumatised survivors), the death of God’s Son brings a foretaste of that final great earthquake at the end which will see all in their graves raised to life immortal or resurrected to eternal perishing (John 5:24ff). This relates to the prophetic testimony given to the Church: “it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet 4:17)
Inclusion in Christ in all things
The present-day oil related traumas, indeed, all traumas of all people from all times, must be seen in the Spirit as enclosed in the wounds of the eternal Lamb of God (Rev 5:6; 13:8). As Isaiah prophesied “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence/face saved them” (Isaiah 63:9). For the angel who saves and destroys is, in the New Testament, equated with Jesus as the face of God (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4). Paul heard directly from heaven: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5), which became the source and substance of the apostolic testimony: “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. ” (Col 1:24). It is not as though Paul understands Jesus’ suffering as somehow deficient, he would completely affirm it as a “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world;” (Book of Common Prayer). Whilst Paul and Jesus were coordinated in their apostolic suffering, this was no mere parallel following, in the way that the disciples followed Jesus before his Passion, but a united anguish for the gospel and the Church. Paul was speaking of his life “in Christ”, so this is no mere imitation of Christ’s sufferings but real participation in them through faith (Gal 4:19; 2 Cor 1:5; 4:10-11; Phil 2:10). The more Paul suffers in Jesus the less his beloved Church must suffer and the closer we are moved to the final End. How many self-styled apostles in the contemporary Western Church are moved by this vision of suffering for glory?
Implications
If my read of the present spiritual climate is accurate, I see a number of profound implications for the near future. First, a swelling desire of people called to pray. This will culminate in a genuine 24/7 prayer hub for the Church in Perth. Secondly, and as a fruit of the intensification of prayer, a revival of Christian creativity in the arts. This will include pottery, poetry, painting, glass blowing, dance, design, writing, drama etc, as well as music and singing. As people adjust to the omnipresence of AI, it will become increasingly mundane and predictable, catalysing a depth of desire for genuine human creativity as an expression of the infinite reaches of the image of God. Thirdly, I believe we will soon witness a release of creed-based worship across the denominations. This will be the outworking of a shift from the transitoriness of experience to the solidity of history grounded in the recital of saving history (https://youtube.com/watch?v=2uQIfBWi3wg&si=lrBcgi6MSWvg_fn_). Fourthly, amidst this positive dynamic, as in the time of the age of the Early Church (the age of martyrdom), and the Second Great Awakening, (see the book: Burned Over District), anticipate an explosion of Christian heresies and weird cults. Finally, all the above will witness much sincere seeking after real spiritual fathers/mothers/mentors in God the Father.
Conclusion
It is a Bran neu day in Christ, where neu = new= καινος/kainos = superior in kind to the old. The awakening which the Lord is activating today is immediately catalysed by visible tumultuous events in the Middle East, but it is grounded in the “eternal gospel” (Rev 14:6), a gospel “hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3), the single place where we will all truly find our lives. It is not that we have to discover or invent something new through personal effort, but merely to see in the Spirit what is already sealed in Jesus for the whole Church. “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” (Col 2:8-10)