The Shaking of Nations - A Harvest Tsunami Is On Its Way....
The Shaking of the Nations will challenge your thinking, build your faith, and prepare you for—the exciting future...That is just ahead!
Embracing a victorious
And transformative future
by
Daniel J. Griffiths, D.Min.
© 2015 – ARK Ministries International,
Daniel J. Griffiths
Republished second edition, 2022.
All verses are from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted.
Printed by BT Johnson Publishing
www.BTJohnson Publishing.com
1-866-260-9563
Printed in the United States
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Foreword
Dr. Dan Griffiths is not only an excellent Bible teacher but also
a prophet of God. He has locked into a developing stream of
end-time revelation for our generation. Jesus is coming back,
and before He returns there will be a massive evangelistic
explosion, the prophetic fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.
The better we understand the days we are living in, the more
urgency will grip our every conversation with unbelievers. This
is a book that I recommend every Christian read: Learn its
content, and then share with others. Dr. Griffiths is a longtime
faculty member AT Northern California Bible College.
— Pastor David Sell , President of Northern California
Bible College
Preface
This book is a foundational study in the coming great shaking
of nations, a preparation for the greatest harvest of souls into
the Kingdom of God before Jesus Christ returns. It has taken
me years to revise my first edition of the book, because God
has continually allowed me to participate in the ever-growing
harvest movement.
God has actually given me a city in which to build my first city
wide Ark, a concept you will come to understand in the following
pages. He also has given me a wonderful college in which to
develop a school of the prophets, that many voices may be
raised up to prepare His people for His coming mighty move. In
all this I am both blessed and excited!
I hope to be able to write a sequel, The Shaking in Progress, to
testify how God has kept His promise to let me see His greater
move, after my early experiences in the Jesus Movement
(which I will begin to recount in Chapter One). Today the world
is going through one of the worst shakings of nations since
World War II. But with these horrendous shakings comes a
stunning opportunity to see the renewal of the church and the
salvation of millions into the Kingdom of God. Praise the Lord!
Please read this book with an open mind and with the
expectancy that God wants you to join in one of the most
dramatic spiritual movements in church history. I am the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, “ Prepare the way of the Lord! ”
Amen.
Table of Contents
Introduction .................... ......................................... .9 God is not going to let the world go quietly into the night of
eternity. He is going to shake things up until cities and nations
seek an unshakable life, which can only be found in Jesus
Christ. Contrary to pessimistic preaching, the church’s most
fruitful days lie ahead. For those who will prepare and believe
in what God is ready to, the best is yet to come.
Part One: The Promise and the Call .. ................... 23 Why am I writing this book? Because it is the message God has
given me to share with His church. As the Jesus Movement was
coming to an end, some 40 years ago, the Lord gave me a
promise that I would see yet an even greater move of His Spirit
— and that I would help prepare God’s people for it. The Lord
gave me this message of preparation for the church to draw
whole cities and nations into the Kingdom of God.
Chapter 1: The Building of the Second Ark .......25 God gave me a promise of seeing a greater move of His Spirit
than I had yet seen. A decade later He gave me two
assignments on how to get God’s people ready for the
promised greater move. The first assignment was to build an
ark . I did not understand what He meant then. Now I do. God
wants to turn cities and nations into salvation ships that will lift
millions above Satan’s rule, launching them into life-giving
cultures for the Kingdom of God here and now.
Chapter 2: The School of the Prophets ..............39 The second assignment the Lord gave me was to build a school
of the prophets. Again, at first I did not understand. But I came
to realize that God desired the church’s prophetic voice to be
restored through wise biblical training, so that His people could
be awakened for His coming greater move. No less than the
fate of nations hung on it.
Chapter 3: Our Future is Not Our Past ................47 From the book of Haggai we will learn how God wants the
church to look forward, not backward, to know how to follow
Him into the next great move of His Spirit. This movement will
be like nothing like the church has ever seen — demanding
fresh surrender to the Holy Spirt to understand new paradigms
in preparing he house of God
Part Two: The Shaking .................... ................... ....55 I will share my discovery of how God will awaken the nations to
their need of Christ through His divine shaking.
Chapter 4: The Shaking of Nations ......................57 According to the prophet Haggai, it is the shaking of the nations
that will cause a great harvest of people eager to be discipled
into the Kingdom of God. But what will the shaking look like? In
this chapter we see the biblical definition of this divine shaking,
and grasp its purpose and outcome.
Chapter 5: Who Is to Blame? ................................71 Inevitably the question will arise, “ Who is to blame for all the
pain and destruction that will come from the shaking of
nations?” The answer is in scripture.
Chapter 6: The Shaking of the Heavens ..............83 Haggai is clear that the coming shaking of nations will also
shake the heavens. There was an amazing power shift with the
dethroning of Satan and the enthronement of Jesus in the
heavenly realms. Now the church must activate its heavenly
position in Christ to participate in the harvest of cities and
nations.
Part Three: The Unshakable Kingdom .................97 The shaking of nations will be meaningless unless the church
becomes what it is supposed to be. It is the church that must
demonstrate the unshakable life and power of the Kingdom of
God in the midst of a sin-shaken world. Only then will nations
know where to run for hope and stability.
Chapter 7: Becoming Unshakable .......................99 God’s people will not be exempt from the shaking: We live in
the nations that will be shaken. But the church must
demonstrate how to face life ’s storms with peace and grace in
God’s strength. In this chapter we will deal with how God will
prepare His people to reveal His unshakable kingdom on earth
as it is in heaven.
Chapter 8: The Gift of the Unshakable Kingdom ...109 We so often fail to realize the amazing gift that Jesus Christ
provided for us. He brought heaven down to earth — the
Kingdom of God. The good news is not just the hope of heaven,
someday. Rather, it is the transformational power to change
lives for good here and now.
Part Four: The Great Harvest (God’s Passion) ...117 The whole purpose of the divine shaking is to awaken people
and nations to their inability to achieve a stable, enduring, and
harmonious existence apart from God’s sovereignty. Such
divine shaking will prompt searching for what will provide a
stable life — in Christ.
Chapter 9: The Age of Harvest ...........................119 Jesus built His life and ministry around one goal, the harvest of
the nations into the Kingdom. Jesus expected an overwhelming
response to His gospel message. The church must embrace
the same firm expectation and match the Lor d’s commitment to
bring in this great harvest.
Chapter 10: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit ...133 The key to the church to accomplishing the Great Commission
is the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew the church would need the Spirit's
transforming power and strength to fulfill His command. An
unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit will enable the
church to finish the Lord’s commission.
Chapter 11: Ten-to-One Ratio .............................143 One of the most exciting predictions in the Old Testament is a
10-to-1 ratio of how unbelievers will seek believers as they
respond to the gospel at the end of this age. We will explore the
prophecy predicting such a remarkable end-time phenomenon.
Chapter 12: A Continuous Harvest ....................151 The prophet Amos foretold that a rapid, sustained, rich harvest
of people would flow into the Kingdom in the last days. We will
examine his amazing promise of a continuous, uninterrupted
response to the churches ’ witness — and what that means for
the church itself.
Part Five: Israe l’s Role in the Great Harvest .....161 The nation of Israel — small as it is in territory and population
— will play a mighty part in the coming harvest of nations.
Israel’s restoration will greatly add to the momentum of this last
days movement.
Chapter 13: The War of Gog ...............................163 There is a war coming in which the very survival of Israel will
be in doubt. But God will directly intervene and not only will
save Israel, but use the surviving enemy soldiers to help finish
the Great Commission and begin the final conversion of Israel
to faith In Jesus Christ.
Part Six: God’s Growing Audacity .....................179 God is not a distant observer as this age of harvest comes ever nearer. Scripture is clear that we can expect God to become
audacious in His participation in the harvesting work.
Chapter 14: The Audacious Jesus and His Church ....................................................183 Jesus was the most audacious expression of God and His
message in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. No one had
ever done the amazing numbers of miracles Jesus did, or
spoken with such authority, or lived such an extraordinary life.
And Jesus said plainly that He wanted His church to live and
minister just as He had — only in a greater and more glorious
way.
Chapter 15: God’s Audacious Love ...................195 The most audacious aspect of the gospel is the sacrificial love
of God. As nations experience the impact of God’s willingness
to sacrifice what He loves most — His sons and daughters —
to share His message of love to a hostile world, thousands will
be drawn to faith in Christ. There is no greater power encounter
than experiencing sacrificial agape love.
Chapter 16: The Gospel Angels .........................211 One of the most audacious last-days proclamations of the
gospel will be the appearance of the three angels over the cities
of the world, speaking to every nation, and tribe. Both the
gospel and the God’s warnings to sinners will never be more
clear.
Chapter 17: Time for Audacious Faith ..............219 If the Lord is ready to do audacious works to better reveal the
Kingdom of God and highlight the gospel message to the
nations, then we as His church must equip ourselves with
audacious faith that God can use.
Part Seven: Preparing the Church (Part A) .........227 What good is it to have expectant faith for a great harvest but
have an ineffective way of doing church? We will explore a
biblical pathway back to a more effective apostolic paradigm in
readying the church for its critical role.
Chapter 18: The Importance of the Apostolic ...229 What does it mean to “build arks” today? We will f ocus on how
to form united city and regional churches and make them ready
to receive the coming harvest — using the early church’s
apostolic model.
Chapter 19: Reaching Cities and Nations .........245 One of the most important calls to the church is to recognize
what the Great Commission actually says. We cannot be
satisfied with individual conversions. W e must embrace Jesus’
command to disciple and baptize nations.
Chapter 20: Forming Movements ......................265 The early church grew from dramatic sweeping movements
that drew thousands into the Kingdom of God quickly and in
large numbers. Only through forming movements can church
growth overtake world population growth and disciple the
coming great harvest. But how do we define “ church growth
movements ,” and how do we launch them?
Part Eight: Preparing the Church (Part B) .........275 God is sending the greatest prophetic movement in church
history to prepare the church for what He is about to do. The
Spirit of God is elevating the ch urch’s prophetic voice to a fresh
passion and renewal.
Chapter 21: Building the School of the Prophets ....................................................277 What will be the impact of the second coming of the spirit of
Elijah at the end of this age? This prophetic movement will be
a key to worldwide restoration and renewal of the church. But
the church must focus on understanding it and ministering it
effectively.
Chapter 22: The Coming of Spiritual Fathers and Mothers ...........................................295 One of the most powerful aspects of the Elijah Movement will
be the raising up of spiritual fathers and mothers in the Lord.
They will play a central role in the restoration and glorification
of the church.
Chapter 23: Final Thoughts ................................311
Appendix 1: The Saving of Cultures .................317 Appendix 2: Eight Key Paradigm Shifts ...........319 Appendix 3: A Vision of Arks ............................323
Definition of Spiritual Readiness
Readiness means a right relationship to God
and a knowledge of where we are at present....
Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest
little thing
or the greatest big thing, it makes no difference....
And we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for
Him.
A ready person never needs to get ready.
Think of the time we waste trying to get ready when God has
called.
Oswald Chambers
His Utmost for His Highest
www.utmost.org
Introduction to the Second Edition
If the year 2020 brought us anything, it was a front-row seat to
what the shaking of a nation looks like. As I began a major
revision of this book, America was caught up in a terrible
worldwide pandemic. But that was not all. I have never seen
such a panorama of national crises in my lifetime. There were
violent riots, and mass marches in the streets of American cities
over racial injustices. My region experienced some of the
biggest, fiercest wildfires in state history. The political world
was in upheaval for weeks with an unresolved presidential
election.
It was a case study in nation shaking — one that I believe left
an indelible impression on all of us.
So more than ever, this book is a now word. It is a timely
message to the church and to the nations concerning God’s
promise to once again shake the earth — and an outline of how
the church must be prepared to deal with such shakings.
The divine purpose of such shakings is not to bring judgment,
but rather to awaken the nations to their need of God, and to
awaken the church to the opportunity of drawing nations to faith
in Jesus Christ. God’s heart is never for destruction, but instead
for redemption. The Lord will not allow mankind to drift into
eternity without being confronted by the love and salvation that
He has provided through His son.
I am not saying that Covid pandemic, the fires of California, and
the racial riots and marches are the greatest shaking events of
our times; but they illustrate how quickly the world can be
brought into crises, and how nations can be overwhelmed in
trying to grapple with such events. I was amazed by the waves
of panic, fear, and crushing loss — physically, economically,
and emotionally — that swept over America and the world.
Through the last several decades God has called me to write
this message, and to help ready the church for what is coming.
But I want to say up front that this is not a proclamation of doom
and gloom. Yes, the shakings will be deadly and devastating
for many; but they will usher in a day when the church, with
God’s help, will emerge as an unshak able force in every nation
— revealing the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
Some will want to frame these shaking events as “everything
going to hell in a handbasket, ” with the take-away that things
will only get worse. This must not be our message to the world.
Our job is not to measure the level of a nation’s sin to decide
whether it has passed a point of no return. Instead, we are to
believe for the transformation of people and nations, bringing
the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.
The world is in darkness, but Jesus has come to turn on the
light. In the days ahead millions will come to readiness to
receive the good news of Christ. We as the church must be
ready for an incredible harvest of souls into the Kingdom of
God.
Make no mistake. God is going to shake the nations to awaken
them to their need of blessing and peace that is unshakable in
the kingdom of God. This discovery will produce a ready
harvest of searching people and nations looking for answers
only found in Jesus Christ.
This then is the challenge: We must prepare the church for both
the coming shaking and the unprecedented harvest it will
produce. God is going to cleanse and glorify His church as
never before. The church’s future is not that of barely hanging
on by our fingernails until Jesus comes back to take us home.
As you study this book, you will realize that God has an
astonishing future for the church, here and now, not just
someday in heaven.
My assignment and the assignment of thousands like me is to
raise a chorus of prophetic voices to call God’s people into what
He is doing. Truly the greatest moments, the greatest harvest,
and the most glorious expression of the church are yet ahead.
It is my prayer that you will believe, prepare, and participate in
what God is ready to unfold.
Part One: The Promise and Calling
Why am I writing this book? Because it is the message God has
given me to share with His church. God gave me a promise that
I have carried for over 40 years – a promise of a greater
movement, beyond anything I had yet seen.
He also gave me two assignments that have taken me decades
to fully understand; but in these pages I now can share them
with you. It has been the journey of a lifetime, with God
preparing me for this moment. Now I join my voice with those
of the many whom God is raising up to share this message —
to get the church ready for the greatest harvesting movement
in its history.
Chapter One
The Building of the Second Ark
The Promise
The year was 1971. I had been married less than two years and
was pastoring my first church when God used two converted
hippies to draw me into the now- famous “Jesus Movement.”
That movement was a divine magnet for young, disillusioned
dropouts from American culture in the ’ 60s and ’ 70s.
At first I had no idea what I had stepped into -- but I began to
see growing numbers of young people saved and brought into
the Kingdom of God through this movement.
It was exhilarating to see poorly dressed, free-spirited youth
believing God’s word and living it out on the streets of the San
Francisco Bay Area. As for me, I saw the Bible come alive
through a youth movement that many churches rejected.
As the Jesus Movement was drawing to an end, I sat in my
church office wondering if I would ever experience anything like
it again in my ministry.
Revivals like the Jesus Movement tend to spoil you, leaving you
unwilling to settle for “church as usual.” True revival makes you
hungry for more of the pulsing presence of God, and His
spiritual power and the saving of thousands as the Holy Spirit
does His incredible work in and through you.
As I sat at my desk considering these things, the Lord made me
a promise: He said I would see a much greater move of His
Spirit later in my life. For over 40 years, I have held onto that
promise.
God also assured me that I would be a “spiritual father” in the
next move. It might seem strange for God to say this, but I knew
exactly what He meant. The impact of the Jesus Movement had
been limited through its early rejection by much of the American
church. Left largely on their own, the Jesus kids had a dearth
of spiritual fathers to give them guidance.
Long hair, torn blue jeans, granny dresses, and bare feet were
typical of the converted hippies. Dressed that way and
spiritually awkward, these kids were offensive to many
mainstream congregations. A few churches even borrowed
from the restaurant trade and posted signs warning, “No shoes,
no shirt, no service!” Thus, there was a scarcity of mature
Christian leaders willing to take these brash, excited new
believers under their wings and disciple them.
At the ripe old age of 26, I was considered by some of these
kids as a “spiritual father.”
With little seasoned leadership, the Jesus Movement suffered
from youthful excesses and immaturity. And yet this movement
became worldwide, dynamic, and incredibly powerful in
changing the lives of millions. As I look back today, it pains me
that the church missed such a tremendous opportunity to fan
the flame of this movement and make it even more impacting
— simply because it came in sloppy clothes, long hair, and
immaturity.
As I considered God’s promise of spiritual fatherhood in a future
move of His Spirit, I was greatly encouraged.
The Calling
Almost a decade after receiving this promise from the Lord, I
felt the Lord speak to my heart again. He was activating me and
calling me to become one of His voices in calling His church to
prepare for the greater coming harvesting movement He had
spoken to me about. His words to me were direct and to the
point: “Get my people ready for my coming visitation and
harvest.”
The Lord impressed again on me that this movement would be
something the church has not yet seen in size and scope in a
worldwide touch of cities and nations.
The time had come for me to get myself ready. Over the next
several weeks, as I prayed about my new assignment, the Lord
gave me two objectives.
Objective One
The first objective the Lord gave me was - “Build me an ark.”
This sudden thought made me stop. I felt the word was from
the Lord but honestly, I had no idea what He meant.
I went into one of the Sunday school classrooms at my church,
found a picture of Noah’s ark, brought it into my office, and
taped it to the wall behind my desk. It became a point of focus
for me in my prayer times. But as I mulled over the familiar
images of Noah hammering away on the Arks hull, and animals
going in two by two, I felt no closer to understanding the
message.
It has taken me years to fully understand what God meant by
this challenge. It has been a slow transformative journey of God
dealing with me as much as giving me clarification in what He
wants me to teach. But I can say that today I have a firm grip
on what I believe the Lord was assigning me to say and do.
Why the Picture of an Ark?
Why did the Lord give me the image of Noah’s ark to picture
the transformation of cities and nations in preparation for the
coming harvest? What does Noah’s Ark have to teach us in
preparing us for the great harvest God wants us ready to
receive?
As I reviewed the story of Noah’s ark and Jesus’ references to
it, and the a postle Peter’s reflections on his ministry ,I gained
some wonderful insights.
The Story of the Ark
First let me summarize the story of the Ark in Genesis 6-9. The
story is about a man and his family being commanded by God
to build a great ship on dry land. He was to build this massive
ship according to God’s specific instructions and preach
repentance and righteousness to his generation calling on them
to repent and enter the ship at the command of the Lord to save
themselves from divine judgment. This was a long term
dramatic construction of something that was meant to catch
people’s attention and cause them to stop and check out what
was going on.
The earth had become intolerably corrupt and violent and
disobedient to God. So God determined to judge mankind for
how badly it had degenerated and how evil it had become in
thought and deed. Such living, I am sure, created multiple
crises and deplorable living conditions but no one was turning
back to God. And yet God who is rich in mercy found a
righteous family who He could use to extend one last effort to
redeem humanity from destruction. Many see Noah and the
flood as a story of shocking judgment but it is more than that, it
is a story of amazing mercy from a broken hearted creator.
God’s Salvation Ship
As I have carefully studied the scriptures dealing with the ark of
Noah, one thing clearly stands out: The ark was a salvation ship
to lift those who would obey God out of condemnation into a
new and better life.
The idea of the ark in early Christianity became a symbol of
rescue and deliverance and salvation. The underground
catacombs of Rome, where early Christians met secretly for
worship, had many pictures of the ark on the catacomb walls.
The ark was to them a picture of Jesus’ providing the way of
salvation for all of mankind.
The apostle Peter refers to the ark and the great flood as
representing not only salvation from judgment but also of
baptism (1Peter 3:20). Like Christian baptism the flood waters
buried the perverted and sinful life of the ancient world but also
lifted Noah and his family to a new life in covenant with God.
This picture is consistent with Paul’s teaching that Christian
Baptism is the picture of burying the old life of sin and raising a
believer to new life in resurrection power (Rom. 6:1-6).
But Jesus added one other element to this story. Jesus
declared:
As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away …..That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matt. 24:37-39,42)
Jesus adds the element of urgency. At the time of the flood people were going about their regular life with little regard to what Noah was preaching. They ignored God’s message up to the day the flood came. Jesus is saying that the same spiritual resistance for many will be there in the last days, just before Jesus comes again. So He tells His disciples and the crowd:
Wake up and prepare your hearts for His return and the ending of this age.1
The Principles of Building Arks
This is the purpose behind this book and my calling: To be sure
the church is awake to what God is doing today. The Lord wants
the church to awaken to the urgency of our times. There will be
a time when the church will no longer be able to do the work of
redemption (John 9:4), but today the harvest is ready, and we
must be ready to bring it in (John 4:35).
Let me lay out a few more insights to be gained from Noah’s
ark story from the apostle Peter (1 Peter 3:21). Peter points out
that the great flood is a symbol of baptism. The word “symbol”
is the greek word ἀντίτυπος; (antitupos) which means something that resembles or is a type of something else. 2 I
believe that from the flood story the Holy Spirit has given me
It is important to say here that Jesus is not predicting that the nations will not have heard the gospel or that many will not be receiving the gospel. What He is saying is that if the church fails to stay awake and ready, it will fall prey to Satan’s distractions — losing the urgency of its harvesting work. But God will not let this happen, as you will see.
2 Thayer’s Greek Dictionary
five insights about preparing the church for God’s coming
harvest movement.
1. Every ark needs God’s leading and plan to form it. God
chose Noah and gave him detailed directions. In building
His church (the second ark) Jesus also gave His disciples
detailed instructions in how to build His church. This is what
this book touches on, how the Lord wants His people to
awaken, study His word and by faith form spiritual vessels
for the rescuing of billions — lifting them out of violence and
corruption into a transformed life of the kingdom of God.
This book seeks to add to this effort to provide the why, the
what, and the how in building spiritual arks in your home,
community, city, and nation.
2. The ark was a physically unavoidable work that caught
people's attention and caused them to ask questions. God
wants us as His people to raise up good works and solutions
that catch the eye of the lost. The Church has, in Christ, the
solutions for the problems facing people and nations. I love
what Dr. Ed Silvoso declares in his book Ekklesia, “that the
premier social indicator of spiritual transformation (or the
kingdom of God in action) is the elimination of the four levels
of systemic poverty.” 3 What would catch any nation’s
attention more than to solve the problem of poverty and all
the destruction and ruin that problem brings to its cities and
people. The church must show it has practical and visible
good news for people in need here and now and not just
words or a future hope. As nations are shaken and God’s
people, with God’s favor, step up with desperately needed
solutions, the salvation ship of God will take form in front of
a watching world.
3. As the church teaches and practices the teachings of Jesus
Christ throughout a city or region, Jesus says we will begin
baptizing them (Matt.28:20) - washing the environment of
homes, communities, cities and nations with the
empowered words and works - changing them into kingdom
centers where God’s harvest can be discipled in Kingdom
life here and now. The main difference between Noah’s Day
and the church is that Noah had to be rescued from his
culture, whereas Jesus has made it possible to rescue
cultures . I am not going to deal with these truths of national
baptisms and cultural transformation here, but will explain
3 Ed Silvoso, EKKLESIA, Chosen - Baker Publishing Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2017,
pg.36.
them in more detail later in the book. The church is a second
ark that must be built anywhere and everywhere to rescue
and disciple the harvest that is ready to receive the life of
the Kingdom of God.
4. The God given sign of the truth of Noah’s message was the
supernatural arrival of every kind of animal in multiple pairs.
The second ark is also a vessel that will present signs and
wonders resulting in transformed lives. God’s glorious
presence and signs and wonders in people's lives will be
seen by cities and nations confirming the truth of the gospel.
5. It is important to recognize in Noah’s story that it was a
family effort that built the ark and preached to the people of
their time. The family is the foundation of everything in
society and especially is true of the church. Spiritual arks
are formed from the family on up. The church always begins
with two or more (Matt. 18:19). I want to enlarge on this
more later, but for me this is a crucial insight the Lord has
provided in the building of spiritual arks.
Today there is only one visible vessel God is constructing, and
to which He is bringing people, and that is the church. God is
patiently building His church anywhere and everywhere,
through anyone. But let's be clear, these arks are not just
church buildings and Sunday-morning-only programs.
A true ark is the church of two or more gathering throughout our
communities, in every sphere of life, catching people's attention
with supernatural works and solutions of the Kingdom of God.
And like Noah, these ark builders will stand out as they live and
build a better life that only God can provide.
This is what the Lord asked of me, to prepare God’s church to
become a transformational vessel that can raise cities and
nations above the waters of destruction — baptizing them in the
gospel — until heaven's atmosphere permeates them here and
now. Into such ark cities and nations God will pour His harvest
with amazing, life-transforming results.
Study and Reflection
1. The church is a type of spiritual ark. Reflect on these
scriptures: Gen.6 and 7; 1 Peter 3:20-21, Matt. 24:37-42; 2
Peter 2:5. As the church, are we to accept that sin is
stronger than grace — dooming our cities and nations to
coming judgment? Is it not possible for the church by the
authority and grace given to it to lift cities and nations out of
judgment into Kingdom life here and now?
6. How are the last days of this age like the times Noah lived
in? Is there not a difference between Noah’s vessel of
escape and the Church as a vessel of transformation?
7. Where is your focus? Is your focus on the impossible
lostness of your home, neighborhood, city or nation? Or is
your focus on the incredible empowerment of the church to
reach every people and nation with resurrection
transformation?
8. How would you begin building an ark in your neighborhood
or city?
Chapter Two
The School of The Prophets
Not long after I heard God’s first objective, the second one
came: “Build me the school of the prophets.”
This was as puzzling to me as the command to build an ark.
Nowhere in scripture does the literal expression “school of the
prophets” appear. However, the Bible does speak of a
prophetic training school, in the first book of Samuel (1 Sam.
19:20).
The prophet Samuel led Israel through one of its greatest
spiritual revivals in the Old Testament. This revival was initiated
and carried out through Samuel gathering hundreds of young
men and women, training and anointing them to carry God’s
word throughout all Israel.
As I studied Samuel’s life I began to grasp what God was
asking me to do in this second assignment.
The School of Samuel
Scripture says that the “word of the Lord was rare” at the time
of Samuel’s birth (Sam. 3:1). There was little if any preaching
or teaching of God’s word in that day. Israel had a cultural
religion but not a heart faith in God and His laws. People openly
worshipped the Lord but privately served others gods. It was
the responsibility of the Levitical priesthood placed among
every tribe of Israel to teach God’s word to His people and
encourage their obedience to it. But the Levites were failing to
do their job, and God’s people were drifting farther and farther
away from the Lord.
The call came to Samuel to declare God’s wor d in a fresh and
powerful way. Samuel grew in his ministry and he considered
doing something that had never been done before in Israel. He
would multiply himself and his effort by developing a prophetic
school that would train, anoint, and send hundreds of young
prophetic leaders throughout Israel to declare God’s word.
This prophetic movement put fire in God’s word and began
catching the attention of the nation. Through Samuel’s
prophetic schools, the land was increasingly filled with God’s
teaching — going out through the young prophets he trained,
inspiring a great renewal of faith.
I believe God wants to develop such a prophetic movement
today.
Never before has there been more availability of scripture to the
church. There are Bibles in many translations and languages,
recorded and online as well as in print. But at the same time
there is a growing problem of God’s people failing to know and
practice His word.
The preaching of the Bible takes place almost every day in
pulpits and over the airwaves. Yet too many believers are not
really listening, not motivated to live out the word of God in their
lives or teach it to their children.
What is missing?
There is no life in the church. The Christian life is supposed to
be supernatural – miraculous and transforming, manifesting the
Kingdom of God. But where do we see this in the church today?
We see much talking, and fixation on religious traditions — but
little power and life in the words we speak.
If God’s people cannot get excited and committed to the gospel,
why should the world? As in Samuel’s day, God’s people need
reviving to again know and believe what is in the scriptures. We
need the fresh fire of the prophetic word of God to arise, with
miraculous anointing to awaken His people.
Prophetic leaders like David, Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha were
some of the more famous prophets that arose in Samuel’s
School. Once again, God wants to raise up thousands of
powerful prophetic voices in every nation, releasing fresh
revelation of the truth of His word to change lives and nations.
God wants to unleash the greatest prophetic movement ever
seen by the church, stirring millions of churches and believers
to incredible faith and miraculous works for His glory
The Elijah Movement: Raising the Prophetic Voice
The prophet Malachi declared that the Lord would again send
the prophet Elijah to restore God’s people to faithfulness to the
Lord (Mal. 4:5-6). John the Baptist was the first manifestation
of this promised visitation of the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17;
Matt.1 7:11). But Malachi is clear that there would be a second
coming of the spirit of Elijah just before the great and terrible
day of the Lord, when Jesus would come a second time (Mal.
4:5).
The Old Testament prophets did not understand that the
Messiah would come twice. They thought He would come just
one time, in a dramatic way at the end of the age, to set up the
kingdom of God on earth. And yet the Spirit of the Lord in them
did indicate a second coming of the Messiah and the spirit of
Elijah before Jes us’ final return.
The truth is that the spirit of Elijah is a work of the Holy Spirit in
reviving God's people. From the time of John the Baptist to the
final coming of Christ, the spirit of Elijah has been growing and
reviving work of the Holy Spirit in the church. Increasingly we
see such restoration movements in church history. But
scripture is clear that there will be a finale of the Elijah spirit that
will come just before Jesus’ returns.
But why is God going to launch such a dramatic end time
prophetic movement? Because it will be needed. Scripture is
clear that many of God’s people in the last days will need to be
called out of their sin and their compromise with the world
(Rev.18:4). And there is nothing as powerful as the prophetic
word.
A true prophetic word can pierce through the hardest heart and
change the atmosphere over cities and nations (Heb. 4:12). As
called prophetic leaders heed the voice of the Lord and submit
to His preparation, they will become an unstoppable force in
awakening the end-time church.
More needs to be said about the objectives of the ark and the
school of the prophets, but we will deal with that deeper
discussion later in this book.
These objectives are major themes that the Lord is bringing to
the worldwide church. What I call “ city arks ” are what others are
calling “apostolic focus and movements” to draw whole nations
and cities into the Kingdom of God. The Lord has simply given
me a slightly different slant on how to look at what He is going
to do in preparing His church for the great harvest.
The Elijah Movement is raising up the church ’ s prophetic voice
for church renewal. I am only one voice among many. I hope
and pray what the Lord has taught me will add to this great
move and preparation of His church.
Study and Reflection
1. Reflect on the second coming of the spirit of Elijah indicated
in Malachi 4:5. Review Jesus’ statements found in Matthew
17:11. There is nothing more powerful in touching people’s
hearts than an anointed word from God? Could God be
calling you to be one of His voices?
2. Would such a dramatic second coming of the spirit of Elijah
require biblical understanding and training for God’s
people? Yes. Would God use you to assist in that
preparation in your family, church or city? Will you embrace
the Elijah movement?
Chapter Three
Our Future is not Our Past
As I prayed over understanding my calling and how the Lord
would launch this greater harvest movement, He led me to the
book of Haggai. There, God began to give me insights into the
last great shaking of the nations that will precipitate the great
end-time spiritual harvest.
It was from the book of Haggai that I received part of the title
for this book. I began to grasp how God was going to cause
cities and nations to seek after Him. This became foundational
to my message — the truths that God wanted His church to
understand.
Let’s begin by looking at the first truth God brought to my
attention as I studied the second chapter of Haggai.
A Circumstance-controlled Life Study of Haggai 2:1-5
The background to this chapter of Haggai is that God was
restoring the Jews to their land, and He wanted them to rebuild
the temple after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. God had
caused the new empire of Persia to release the Jews so they
could return to their land and begin rebuilding the temple.
At first only a remnant returned to try to carry out this divine
mandate. But circumstances developed in which the Jews were
facing great difficulties and unexpected dangers, which caused
them to stop their work. Intimidated, discouraged, and
distracted by their fears and personal needs, these Jewish
exiles turned away from rebuilding God’s house to working on
their own homes and businesses.
As a result, the Lord sent Haggai as one of two prophets to
encourage the people and their leaders to obey the call to
rebuild His house.
“ But now be strong, Zerubbabel, ” declares the LORD. “ Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, ” declares the LORD, “ and work. For I am with you, ” declares the LORD Almighty. “ This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.” (Hag. 2:4-5)
The people’s obedience had become dependent on their
circumstances. God had to assure the returning exiles that He
was still with them to help them and protect them, despite their
circumstances. He reminded them that He is the same God
who miraculously brought Israel out of Egypt, against all odds.
He wanted them to focus on Him and not on their ability to deal
with their obstacles. With Him they could do anything.
The Glory of the Past
One of the key factors that discouraged the exiles from
continuing work on the new temple was their comparing it to
Solomon’s temple. As these Jews laid the foundations to the
new temple, the workers and people became aware of how
inferior the new temple would be in comparison to the former
one.
Solomon’s temple was a grand structure with gold overlays in
its architecture and golden vessels used in worship. On the day
of its dedication, God had come and literally filled it with His
overwhelming glory (I Kings 8:10-11).
These Jews felt that God would want the same kind of temple
that Israel had in the past. They obviously could not produce
such a level of splendor in their current situation, so they would
need to wait until it became possible. The inability to build such
a magnificent temple and the difficult circumstances
confronting them brought work to a standstill. They went to build
their own homes to simply survive and make the best of a bad
situation. (Hag.1:3-4).
Haggai speaks of this backward focus:
Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? (Hag. 2:3)
The people were looking at their past to determine what they
could do in the future. But they did not understand that God
wanted them not to look back, but to look forward. Again, they
were letting circumstances and a wrong focus determine
whether they could obey God.
When the people ceased obeying God’s mandate to work, the
Lord stopped blessing them. (Hag. 2:10-19). No longer was He
receiving their sacrifices on the rebuilt altar, because their
disobedience made such sacrifices unclean to him. Their lives
and hard work were achieving far less than they wanted,
because Go d’s blessings were withheld.
Yet, if they would stop letting circumstances dedicate their
obedience, and return to obeying His word, He would once
again bless them.
The Church Today
The Lord quickened a thought to me as I read about the
struggles of these exilic Jews: Too many churches, like these
ancient Jews, are gripped by fear of their circumstances and
are looking for answers to past glories of the church. Their
concept of what God wants them to do is based on what God
has done in the past.
God did not have in mind another elaborate temple like
S olomon’s Temple , but rather a new house that would embrace
the nations. God did not want them to look back but to look
forward — to a new covenant and new type of house Hr would
live in, from which He would draw all nations into His kingdom.
The exilic temple was only a beginning step toward what would
become a worldwide house of God. The prophet Zechariah
wrote:
Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the LORD that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel? ( Zech. 4:10)
Both Haggai and Zechariah infused their prophecies with far
deeper meaning and a grander vision of what the second
temple was to become.
Reflecting on God’s past faithfulness is a good thing. We can
learn valuable lessons and truths from the past. But when God
tells us to move forward, we are not to look at the past for
direction. Isaiah expresses it best:
Remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know
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