DIVINE SHAKING
[p. 384] DIVINE SHAKING
Hebrews 12: 25 - 29; Acts 16: 25, 26; Acts 4: 31
These scriptures speak of being shaken, and the thought is to enlarge on this subject, divine shaking. Scripture speaks much of it. These scriptures are only selected to represent what Scripture teaches and announces prophetically; in the passage in Hebrews we have allusion to two scriptures in the Old Testament, that is, Exodus 19 and Haggai 2. The passage in Acts 16 alludes to the shaking of something that is employed to interfere specifically with the work of God; and that in chapter 4 is intended to show how God can employ His power in this shaking way to encourage His people, shaking even their meeting place, not by itself, empty, but as they were in it; meeting places of Christians are not regarded as sanctified in themselves, but they have peculiar interest to heaven as affording convenience to the saints, and the passage indicates how heaven takes account of our meeting places.
The passage in Hebrews is the most comprehensive in relation to the subject in hand, and it begins with calling attention to the exhortation to hear Him who speaks. The epistle makes much of speaking, beginning with the thought that God, who had spoken earlier to the fathers by the prophets, “has spoken to us in the person of the Son”, that is, attention is called to the Person who speaks. Later we have an allusion, not only to the Person who speaks, but to the position from which He speaks. That is what is in mind in chapter 12; the Speaker speaks from heaven. One idea of heaven among many is that it is overwhelming in any movement it may make, whether for good or for evil. The dispensation in which we are has proved that in the sense that it is overwhelming [p. 385] in grace. Myriads have proved how overwhelming it is in grace. One might enlarge on that as from the very outset, from the deluge onwards, how the “windows of heaven” indicated the overwhelming character of the deluge; the thought there links on with the statement that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It is overwhelming when it comes to be executed. Here it is a question of speaking, and no disregard of the speaking can be brooked in the long course of God’s dealings; those who disregard it will be overwhelmed.
So the word is, “See that ye refuse not him that speaks”. And then allusion is made to Exodus, how at Sinai the voice caused the mount to shake. There the speaking was on earth; now the speaking is from heaven. Attention is further called to the passage in Haggai, “now he has promised, saying, Yet once will I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven”. This word, “Yet once”, the Spirit goes on to say, “signifies the removing of what is shaken, as being made”; that is, it is a final word. God has His ultimatums, and the idea entering into “Yet once ...” is a final thought; not only that things are to be shaken, but what is shaken shall be removed. And this leads one to face the great matter of what is pending, first as to the created universe, in itself beyond human ability to grasp. It is the one thing that pre-eminently seems to be stable. These mighty orbs of the heavens, great and glorious and affecting as they are to the natural mind, and the myriads of the stars, seem to be enduring, to be abiding, and they are, up to a point. For the worlds were framed by the word of God; they are held where they are by the word of God. “For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast”, Psalm 33: 9. Peter in his second epistle helps us as to how things are held by the word of God; he speaks of the earth standing out of the water, and in the water, everything [p. 386] held just there as God intended it to be by His word to serve a purpose. When His purpose is served, what is visible will be folded up as a scroll. “The heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements, burning with heat, shall be dissolved”. So that what seems to be so ponderous, so infinitely great and glorious to the natural eye, is held there just for a purpose, and when that purpose is finished, it will disappear. This is a very solemn matter and ought to affect our hearts and minds and direct them to what is unshakable. And so the Writer, the Spirit of God, says here, “Yet once”. This “Yet once” signifies the removing of what is shaken. It is no longer simply a question of shaking, but of removing what is shaken. Peter in his epistle enlarges upon this, and simplifies it, too, showing that it is a genuine removal. So that we may have, according to the divine counsels and needs, “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness”, and that is what is not shaken, as it says here, “that what is not shaken may remain”.
And then the passage goes on to say, “Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace”. Many christians have received a kingdom, and the word here requires some explanation, for it is no question of a preliminary or provisional kingdom, but a kingdom that abides; and I may say, dear brethren, that the idea of kingdom is eternal, not in the sense of a provisional kingdom for a thousand years, as will be seen presently in the millennium, but in the sense of a system or order of things held together divinely, in which there necessarily is law and rule. For in the eternal state of things the idea remains, “the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all”. The Son Himself, who is our Lord Jesus Christ, in a mediatorial sense takes the place of subjection, and all under Him is [p. 387] necessarily held in that same setting of subjection. Never again shall there be any disturbance, never shall there be a ripple of disturbance in that realm or kingdom. God will be all, we are told, in it. The great eternal thought of His mind will be realised, a fixity never to be disturbed, God all objectively, and God in all subjectively. “In all” implies a real footing in all intelligences, a real active footing for the Deity, for God, the blessed God, in all intelligences throughout eternity. What a prospect, dear brethren! And that is what we receive. It is that which is in view here, which the epistle develops, the heavenly side for us, that already we are coming into what is abiding, what is unshakable. Think of receiving what is unshakable! What stability there is implied in the thought of our receiving it! It is for each of us to understand it and to challenge his own heart as to whether he has received a kingdom that cannot be moved. So that if all else were to go, one is already stayed in that fixity, that divine fixity in the eternal state of things.
And then in addition to, or following on the created universe, there is the international or governmental system of things — governmental, I should call it, for it began with Noah. Magisterial government began with Noah and extended to imperial government in Nimrod. And God has owned it, taking up the thought in Israel, setting up a kingdom, a system of government and royalty and peace under Solomon, and prosperity such as had not been known hitherto. It had divine sanction. This epistle undoubtedly alludes to that particularly, for the Jewish believers were lapsing back into what represented it. It had antiquity behind it; it had divine authority ostensibly, but it was crumbling to pieces, and in a moment it was to be obliterated by the Roman armies, and it remains so at the present moment. Such is the way in which Scripture and historic fact illustrate what I [p. 388] am speaking of; what we may think is unshakable may be shaken to pieces overnight. This would apply to this great empire in which we are, for instance, wonderfully preserved of God on account of the testimony; let no one think it is on account of anything else. It is continued during the times of the nations, of the gentiles. In view of the break-up of Israel and its going into captivity, God set up the “times of the gentiles” under the head of four great monarchies; this is clearly set out in the book of Daniel and seen throughout Scripture.
These four great monarchies are presented in Scripture as one idea, one great thought, in the great image seen in the vision, a monster. Let no christian pride himself in having part in these empires! Jesus suffered under them; the apostles suffered, the saints ever since have suffered under them, yet they are set up by God (Romans 13: 1). In order to understand that, we must understand the book of Daniel and kindred scriptures. Those monarchies stood and fell one after another, until the great Roman system came into existence. It came and it fell. We have all heard of the decline and fall of that great system, and yet it has not fallen; it is a mysterious thing. None of the other great empires has such a history; the thing continues in mystery and will be revived presently. But it can be shaken at any time, as a leaf on a tree, as God is minded to do it. And so, as I said, this great empire which God has ordained is just about to be shaken. It is a continuation of it, and we pray rightly for the authorities, but we have to bear in mind the flimsiness on which things stand, and how all is just held together on account of the testimony, and is of the greatest importance in that sense, but let no one take comfort as resting in it in any spiritual way. It may be shattered in a moment. I am not speaking, dear brethren, in order to interest you in politics, in international affairs, but that we may see [p. 389] we have already received something that is unshakable and that correspondingly we are to serve God with “reverence and godly fear”.
And then there is the ecclesiastical state of things, corresponding with what I have been saying, laying claim to divine sanction, for apostolic succession is simply another aspect of asserting divine sanction. Let us admit it! But how long can it last? Morally, the thing is gone; the public system has no foundation at all. Let no christian here think there is any refuge whatever in it. There is not. The refuge lies in receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, that is to say, christianity in its heavenly character as presented in this wonderful epistle.
What I am saying, what this epistle teaches, is of the very greatest importance to us as christians. We are addressed as “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling”, Hebrews 3: 1. It is that side of things that we are introduced into, that we are received into in profession, and that is unshakable. There is what is shakable, and we get what God means, that it is not only a question of shaking, but of removing (that is the next thing), in order that what is unshakable may remain.
Well now, I go on to add something as to “our God”. It is a very beautiful phrase, “our God”, the christian’s God, but it is a very remarkable thing that He is said to be “a consuming fire” here. You say, ‘The terms are incompatible, that is not the God of christianity’. But it is the God of christianity. What is more cleansing, more purifying, more drastic in dealing with evil than fire? If there is anything to be afraid of, beloved brethren, it is that “God is a consuming fire”. If I think of the world as it is, lying in the wicked one, seething in wickedness, what a comfort it is that God has power at any moment to burn all up. The most drastic means of purification is fire, but it is “our God” who is a consuming fire.
[p. 390] What an incentive therefore! what a responsibility! what an obligation to judge ourselves in the light of that! For what is to be consumed is corruption, and corruption in a Christian is no more pleasing to God than corruption in an unbeliever. “Our God” will not tolerate what is corrupt. He hates corruption above all things, because it is contagious, it is destructive, it is morally destructive, and God will wither it up by the fire. He is Himself a consuming fire. It is not that He has fire to use, but He is that. How serious, therefore, to be out of accord with God! “Let us serve God acceptably”, says the writer, “with reverence and fear”.
Well, now, the passage in the Acts leads me to speak of what is smaller, as I may say — detail. Whilst God in His infinite greatness can call this great universe into existence, we read of the finger of God. Though He deals with infinite things, He deals with small ones, too, and here it is a question of that feature which would interfere with the testimony itself and with His service. I have no doubt this jail at Philippi represented the power of Rome. Philippi was a colony, and the Roman colonies were an integral part of the city of Rome, of the very city itself, so that the jail, or the prison, represented the power of the empire. It was a detail, of course, but it was a detail sufficiently powerful to take those two great servants, Paul and Silas, in the height of their service, and confine them with scourging, cruelly confining them.
Now this sort of thing is constant, not in the same degree, of course, but the enemy is working peculiarly in detail. He is unable to divide brethren in any general way, but he is working in detail, and these details are becoming numerous and are apt to endanger the whole position. So what comes out here is this detail, so to speak. It was a very important matter, it had to do with the introduction of the [p. 391] testimony into Europe. The enemy understood what was going on with Paul and Silas in this service, and he irritated the masters of the damsel and the Roman magistrates. “Being Romans”, the former says (verse 21); they were not colonials but Romans; that is what they were. They had that status, and they used their power to incarcerate these servants of God. Well, Satan is working on these lines, and will stretch forth his hand in the smallest way to interfere with the testimony of God, and to limit those who are rendering it. But what comes out here is the beautiful moral triumph in the midst of the enemy’s work. We are told that Paul and Silas in prayer were praising God. What a scene it was! What a delight for the ear of heaven, for the ear of God! What delightful accents pierced the walls of that prison and entered heaven, as in prayer they praised. They turned the prison into a veritable sanctuary for the moment, showing how God can turn the world upside down, as it were, can change the furniture of it, taking it all for Himself, and using it in derision of the enemy’s power. “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision”, Psalm 2: 4. And so the very jail which stood for cruelty, now especially manifested against the servants of God, is turned into a temple of praise — and the prisoners listened. It does not appear that one was exempted. What a change, beloved brethren! And may we not look for these things? Even in matters of correction amongst us, what we may look for is, “Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness”, Judges 14: 14. One always looks for that. Some of us have been noticing the three manifestations at the end of John’s gospel. The first is the normal one, the Lord Jesus Christ standing in the midst of His loved ones, the doors being shut, and His word is, “Peace be to you”, John 20: 19. The second is corrective, alluding to Thomas, an unbeliever.
[p. 392] The third is also corrective, dealing again with Thomas and Simon Peter and John and James and others. But these two latter cases are called manifestations — equal with the first.
I mention this to confirm what I am saying, that what seems to be disastrous turns into victory. We may look for that, dear brethren, in every case, however bad it may be; if we take it to God, out of the eater will come food, and out of the strong will come sweetness. Take many illustrations — the apostle Paul himself, the great champion of the devil, taken out of the enemy’s hand and put into the hand of Christ. Then Dionysius the Areopagite in Athens, the characteristic man of Mars Hill, is taken out of what held him, and becomes a disciple. And again we find rulers of the synagogue, the synagogue robbed of its leader by the gospel. It is a question of what God is doing in relation to His testimony. And so as these praises ascended up to heaven, the foundations of the prison were shaken. It was a great earthquake, we are told. Of course that jail would be outwardly small as compared with the great buildings in Rome and elsewhere, but it was a great earthquake. God never moves things in a small way; He does it in a great way. It is one of the great things of God to give such a victory to His people, but what people? People who in prayer were praising God. We may be sure that the Lord is helping us on that line, that is, on the line of praise or assembly service. It is the great thought in His mind at the moment. He is educating His people to know how in prayer to praise, to know the procedure, to know the furnishings, too, that exist for us.
And as this wonderful service of God goes on, will not God act? He will. It is “his own”; it is His treasure, and will He not protect it? He will. And so you find the spiritual, when they return from Babylon under the direction of Cyrus, set up the altar [p. 393] first. Why did they do it? Because of the enemies. God will protect His altar; God will protect His service, so let us go on. It is the surest way to call down the protection of heaven, deliverance from heaven in the testimony. The foundation here is shaken, and then we have our jailor, as we have often said, our Dionysius, and our Saul of Tarsus, and many more rescued — captivity led captive. We are not told what the jailor’s name was; the Spirit of God would keep the mind on the jailor, that is, the man that God has secured. I have no doubt he would make a good brother, he would become a jailor in a spiritual sense, for jails, prisons, belong to the institutions of God. We all know the prison gate in Jerusalem, and I have no doubt God carried on this thought in the jail. He would not now be one that would cast the brethren into the inner prison, no, but one that would limit unruly brethren for their good — and we need such. I am not speaking of any particular person, you will understand. I am speaking of a principle, of an element that is essential amongst us. It means that God has taken that out of the hands of the enemy; He has taken everything out of his hands; He has robbed the world. When Israel left Egypt, they robbed Egypt, they took everything that was of God out of the world. That is the principle; we must not let them have anything that belongs to God.
Well now, just a word on chapter 4. As I said at the beginning, this has relation to our meeting places. The place where the disciples were assembled together was shaken. Heaven looks at these places; they come under the eye of God; they have grown now in relation to the Babylonish system, into the cathedrals of the world, which are among the wonders of the world. Travesties of the meeting places of the people of God — that is what they are, pleasing to the human eye, but distasteful to heaven! The Lord when He was about to die directed His disciples to go [p. 394] into the city of Jerusalem, stating that a man would meet them bearing a pitcher of water; they were to follow him into the house where he went and say to the master of the house, “The Teacher says to thee, Where is the guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples?” Luke 22: 11. The Lord is thinking of a chamber. Luke says it was a “large upper room”. The Lord’s own words are quoted, “he will show you a large upper room furnished”. That is in His mind, and I believe it should be in our minds, that our meeting places should not be inconvenient. The Lord says “large” and “furnished”; they should not be inconvenient in any way, not unfurnished, but they should be suitable for the holy service intended. Not as hallowed, or dedicated, as is said constantly, but a place where the saints can meet, and that heaven can shake; that heaven can, as it were, use in that way. One has often thought of these rooms; one goes about a good bit, and seeing them, one is always affected by the sight; and yet it is not the thing, it is the persons that meet there that affect you. “In which they were assembled”, it says. That is the point, but I am speaking now in a very practical way. It is quite obvious that the Lord conveyed in His remarks that the upper room should be commodious, and He knew it would be. He had rights in that house in some way, and the master of the house allowed what He wished, and showed them a large upper room furnished.
The thought is carried on in the Acts in relation to those who saw the Lord Jesus go up to heaven, stress being laid on the way He went up — the manner of His going up. They came to the upper room, as if the manner linked on with the manner of old, the kind of room it was. And that ought to be in our minds, dear brethren, in regard to our rooms. You will pardon me in alluding to what is very simple and [p. 395] practical, but it is remarkable how Scripture provides for practicalness in these things. David, for instance, in purchasing the threshing-floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, bought the whole place. That is what we learn from Chronicles. The account of the transaction in 2 Samuel does not indicate so large a place, nor so much paid for it, but in Chronicles we have the best and most spiritual thought, that is, he bought the whole place. He would have ample room, not only for the buildings of the temple, but for the approaches, and we know it was so. And so with Abraham when he bought a graveyard, he bought not only the cave in the field of Machpelah, but the field and the trees that were in the field. All were included in the purchase. Can we doubt that we have instruction, dear brethren, in these things? How heaven would watch that field and the funerals! And so today, surely the eye of our God takes notice of the saints in their burials, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”, Psalm 116: 15. He knows where they are. The Lord Jesus will come to every grave. And was there not some thought of comfort in the field and in the trees? I think so. So with David, and so with our Lord Jesus Christ in the upper room.
I am saying all that just to show what I have in mind, that is, that the place was shaken. When was it shaken? After they prayed. The prison was shaken as they prayed (or praised), it was in answer to that undoubtedly. It does not say here the foundations were shaken — not a stone would be unloosed, not a board would be broken. It is all a question of a friendly touch from God, clearly corresponding with the incoming of the glory after Solomon finished his prayer; as he finished, the glory filled the house. It is not a question here of the building being taken charge of by the glory, but God intimating to His gathered saints in it that the power was [p. 396] available to them, not for destruction, but for blessing. That is the point, that is really what is meant. They did not ask for destruction, their prayer did not mention any retribution at all. As you will observe, they said, “Now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and give to thy bondmen with all boldness to speak thy word, in that thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus”. There is no retribution there. The prayer is in entire keeping with the dispensation, and heaven honours it; God honours it. As they prayed the place shook — as much as to say, There is power behind you, your prayers will be answered. What a comfort that is! How one would love a shake like that! Not that it is foreign, indeed, for we do experience something like it, as we are pleasing to God as gathered together, especially in prayer — how He signifies to us in one way and another that He is pleased with us. And then we are told that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness”. Much more is said, but time fails. But you will see the trend of what I have said, how it is to get into the realm of unshakable things, the kingdom that cannot be moved. The brethren were not shaken here; the place was. They were filled with power; they were really in the unshakable kingdom, as possessed of the Spirit of God.
May the Lord bless His word.