In Isaiah 1:1-4 the Lord is addressing the Judahites (“Jews”-tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi) along with the rest of Israel (called “Israel”–comprised of the other nine tribes), warning all 12 tribes that they had “provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger” by refusing to obey Him (vs 4).  In 2:19,21 God speaks to and through the prophet who warns Israel that God was going to “shake terribly the earth” where His chosen people lived.  At this point the nine tribes formerly of Samaria had been defeated and scattered throughout the earth.  However, like Jeremiah, Isaiah was commanded to speak to them (the U.S., Britain, Jews) in the end time.  In 13:13 he warns Israel that God will also shake the heavens.  In Hagai 2 God says that He will shake the heavens, the earth and the nations on it.  Hundreds of millions of Israelites occupy those nations today, believing that they are Gentile Christians.  There is no such thing.  Bible Christians are spiritual Isralites.  Church Christians are Christians in name only.  Satan has deceived the whole world (Rec. 12:9) relative to this and many other issues.

In Hebrews 12 God, through the Apostle Paul, is speaking to the New Testament Church whose true saints have been made partakers of the covenant He established with those who obey Him, telling them that, as He had shaken the earth and the heavens in times past, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven” (vs 26).  He adds that only the true saints of God will be able to stand when the final shaking comes.  What Jesus described as “… the beginnings of sorrows” (Mat. 24:8) is what we are experiencing today.  If the Scriptures are true, things will become many times worse and will end only upon the return of Jesus Christ to earth, which will be followed by the first resurrection.  Read The Three Resurrections.  Key word-Resurrections.

In Habakkuk 1:1-4 we find the ancient prophet crying out to God concerning the wickedness of those around him who “encompass the righteous and put forth wrong judgment.”  Because the people refuse to obey God’s Law, wickedness, iniquity, violence, strife and contention had become the norm.  God assures Habakkuk that a day would come when Israel would pay a price for her sins.  As I have shown in past series, the United Stated, Britain and the Jews of the middle-east comprise end-time Israel.  Read Who and Where is Israel Today?  Key word-Where.  In 1:6-11 God tells the prophet that HE (God) would raise up a force against sin-soaked Israel to defeat, slaughter and enslave her–TWICE.  Habukkuk was to warn ancient Israel and Judah.  His warnings came to pass anciently when both Judah and Israel were defeated, enslaved and scattered throughout the world.  But notice that God told Habakkuk that the vision He had given him would come to pass–AGAIN: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time,” that “At the END it (the vision) shall speak” (2:3).  Whose appointed time?  To whom shall the vision speak?–ISRAEL.  THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN TO, FOR AND ABOUT ISRAEL.  Gentiles are mentioned only when they come into contact with Israel.  It applies to Gentiles only when they become spiritual Israelites.  God’s promises are made only to Israel.  In order for a Gentile to receive them he/she must become a spiritual Israelite by obeying the Law of Israel’s God.  This is the same Law the counterfeit church nailed to the cross and is keeping it there.  In Galatians 6:16 the New Testament Church is called “THE ISRAEL OF GOD.”

In 1:1 we are told that God is showing Habakkuk a vision (2:2) which the prophet calls “the burden.”  Upon reading what God showed him in the vision we can understand why he called it a “burden.”  The Lord makes known to him that the vision would come to pass at two different times.  At the time of his vision, Israel had already been dealt with.  Habakkuk was personally warning Judah, and would also warn Israel whose global locations he did not know.  Both felt the heat of God’s wrath, Israel (the nine northern tribes–722 B.C.) and Judah (the three southern tribes–585 B.C.) were overthrown, defeated, enslaved and scattered throughout the earth in the times noted.  This tells us that there is yet another manifestation of Habakkuk’s vision to come relative to Israel “at the end” of the world.  God said to him in 2:3: “For the vision is yet for an APPOINTED (future) time, but AT THE END IT SHALL SPEAK”(AGAIN).  The Lord was referring to the end of the age, the time in which we are now living and have been living for many years.  ISRAEL WAS TO BE OVERTHROWN, DEFEATED, ENSLAVED AND SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TWO TIMES.  The first time was in 722 B.C.  The second time will be “at the end” when “it (Habakkuk’s vision) shall speak.”  We can hear its whispers (beginnings of sorrows) now.

Let us now prove this truth by comparing America’s (and the world’s) state of affairs to the admonition the Lord had given the Old Testament prophets to record what ancient Israel did, then God’s reaction to her actions.  How God dealt with her was written to serve as an example “for us, upon whom the ends of the world have come” (1 Cor. 10:11).  The writings of the Old Testament prophets were recorded and preserved as learning points for those who call themselves God’s people now at the end of the age.  Daniel’s visions and dreams were recorded for those Israelites living “… at the time of the end” (12:13), specifically the church, which is an Israelite institution.  As goes the church, so goes the nation.  Therefore, what is written to the church is also written to the nations in which she abides.  As the church has fallen away from God, her host nations have followed in her spiritual footsteps–away from the ways of the Lord.  The Words of the Lord to Daniel, Habakkuk, Isaiah, Moses and others were written to and for God’s chosen people today, only a minutely few of whom obey what He wrote.  Recall that Jesus Himself warned in Matthew 24:4-12 that a time was coming when false preachers would lead God seekers astray, and that the world would follow them, bringing on “wars, rumors of wars, famines, diseases,” etc.  Has that day arrived?  Is God shaking the earth and the heavens now?  Let us compare the world in which we now live to what God prophesied in Leviticus 26 would happen if His chosen people did not obey Him.  We will focus our study on the United States of America because she is the leader of the world’s nations in every regard, at least for the time being.

But before we launch into that study let us briefly examine God’s expressed will for His Israelite people and all who would become His people through obedience to His Law.  We find this information in Leviticus 1:4-13.  Here He tells ancient Israel and modern day Israel that, IF they would obey His Law He would give them (us) rain in due season so as to assure good crops yielding an abundance of grain, vegetables and fruit.  He promised us peace and the absence of war.  We would be able to sleep in peace at night, knowing that none would make us afraid.  God would drive evil out of the land using our military might.  He would live among us and be our ever-present God because we are His obedient people.  We now know God’s will for Israel and those Gentiles who would join her.  He saw fit to proclaim the warnings written by the Old Testament prophets,  Jesus of Nazareth and the New Testament apostles then and now because He loves man and wants all men to be saved.  Next we will look at how He is shaking both heaven and earth and, generally speaking, when the final shaking will “speak.”  L.J.