Millions of people right across the world are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel when this pandemic will be over. In Britain, confusion and fear are causing distress to most of the population. The big debate has been whether a national lockdown is needed. Or should restrictions only be imposed at local or regional level? No one really knows how to handle this pandemic. But none of our leaders in church or state have called the nation to prayer, to seek the Lord for guidance; or to mobilise the intercessors to deal with this crisis.
It is God who is shaking the nations!
The Curse of Fear
Everywhere, there is fear for the future because we don’t understand what is happening: there is unseen danger, and we don’t know how to cope with what is happening all around us. Neither we, nor our fathers in recent history have ever had to deal with a situation like this.
It is the unknown that causes fear: we don’t know where the virus is, we don’t know how to prevent it spreading, we don’t know how to treat it to avoid death, we don’t know how to produce a vaccine and we don’t know when it will all end. In many communities where people are unable to work there is great fear that they will not be able to put food on the table for their children.
The cure for fear is not to know all the answers, but to know who is in control. Bible believing Christians have the most important role in the nation – although few of them recognise the importance of their message and their responsibility.
The Message
The message is quite simple. It is God who is shaking the nations! God promised this through the prophets Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, as well as in the words of Jesus and in Hebrews 12. To sum up in one sentence what God has promised, read the words of Haggai: “I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations” (Hag 2:6-7).
The simple fact is that the nations of the world have reached a point of rebellion against God and departure from the basic truths that all people should know of God’s requirements, such as the sanctity of life and the exercise of justice and mercy, that God can do no other than act. As Paul says in Romans 1: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made: so that men are without excuse.” (Rom 1:19-20)
God is in Control
This is a statement of great significance for understanding what is happening. It means that God is in control. When we know this, it dispels fear and it gives clear direction for our prayers, asking God to fulfil his purposes and then remove the virus.
Bible-believing Christians need to break the silence of the church and tell everyone –their families, their friends and all those with whom they have contact – so that this message spreads across the nation:
God is in control and the pandemic will not be eased until he has completed his purpose of calling attention to the sins of the nations, and there are the first signs of repentance and change.
This message has to start in the church, the true ecclesia, the family of God, where judgement begins. We should be retelling the words of Jesus in the story of the ‘prodigal son’ who made a terrible mess of his life, but as soon as he recognised his plight and cried out for help, his father ran to him and embraced him.
This is a basic truth about the nature and purposes of God. It is found in the prophets of Israel writing 800 years before Jesus, in the words of Isaiah: “How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction… whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice saying “This is the way: walk in it” (Is 30:19-21).
This is the message that God wants to hear his people say to the nation – shouting it from the rooftops! This is the message of salvation that will take away fear and enable people to see the light, even in the midst of the darkness.
God is in control and the pandemic will not be eased until he has completed his purpose of calling attention to the sins of the nations, and there are the first signs of repentance and change.
A prophetic message
The following word was received by Clifford Hill on 22nd October 2020. The team from Issachar Ministries has spent time considering it in prayer, and find it to be a true word from God. We publish it for your consideration.
“This is what the Lord says: As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is yet some good in it,’ so will I do on behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them and there will my servants live.” (Isaiah 65:8)
As a remnant from Jacob and Judah was saved from the exile in Assyria and Babylon, so a remnant will be saved from the great shaking of the nations in this pandemic. Those who have not forsaken me but continue in my love, faithfully seeking me, to them I will give the blessings promised to the ‘overcomers’ in the messages to the seven churches.
They are the faithful remnant, like the cluster of grapes in the vineyard harvest. I will stretch out my hand of blessing to those who remain faithful and who abide in me. I will use them to convey my truth to the world; they will be as lights shining in the darkness and their love for each other and their faithfulness to God will bring comfort to many and point the way of salvation for the nation. It is a way of repentance and turning away from wickedness that will not be well received and will bring ridicule and rebuke from those who hate the truth.
This pandemic is destined to come in waves. The first wave has already broken across the nations to bring a strong warning to all those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, that the depth of human wickedness has reached the point when the God of creation must act to defend the truth.
This first wave is destined to bring a sharp warning to the nations, causing great anxiety. But the lesson to be learned is that human beings are not all powerful and do not have control of the universe. There are things that they cannot control, and they have to learn the limits of human power.
The second wave will bring great suffering but also opportunity for the faithful remnant to demonstrate kingdom principles in sharing their food in times of hardship; and comforting and strengthening all those around them.
The final stage of the great shaking will come when people cry out to the Lord for help and there is true repentance among the faithful remnant that will spread through the community of believers to those around them and bring many into the kingdom.
