The world is going to experience many things. Men’s hearts will faint from fear in expectation of what is coming as the powers of the heavens are shaken. In Luke 21, the Lord Himself addresses some of these things and says, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25–26).[1]

Two things are happening in the end-time events: one is that God deals with the forces of wickedness and the spiritual forces in the heavenly places; the other is that He is preparing, delivering, disciplining, and creating His people into sons of God (Romans 8:14). Will there be fire? Yes, the Scriptures say, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). We know we will face that fire, but I want to take you back to the story of the three Hebrew youths in Daniel the third chapter.

In this story we see King Nebuchadnezzar acting wickedly. He created a golden image and forced everyone to worship this idol. But three young Jewish rulers there in Babylon named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to this god. The king became outraged and gave orders to bring the youths to him. Nebuchadnezzar confronted them and said, “Look, I am going to play the psaltery, bagpipes, and all this, and you are going to bow down.” But they said, “Don’t bother. We will save you the trouble of making the band play because we are not going to bow down, no matter what you say.” The youths continued, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods” (Daniel 3:17). They refused to be fearful.

So the king’s valiant warriors made the fire seven times stronger than usual and threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace bound hand and foot. The furnace was so hot that the ones who threw them into the fire died. “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, ‘Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?’ They replied to the king, ‘Certainly, O king’” (Daniel 3:24). Yet when the king looked into the furnace, he saw four men walking about in the fire without harm. And we are going to do the same.

Although our God is a consuming fire, His presence is a place of safety for us. His fiery presence is what burns away the cords and the bondages that bind us. Yeshua our Messiah is always with us. We are not to be fearful; it is the time of our deliverance. The fiery presence of God will free us from our personal bondages and the bondages that others have laid upon us. It is truly a day of deliverance, fulfillment, and joy. We give gratitude to the Father and to the Son as we stand in awe and wonder of what God is doing in establishing and bringing forth His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

Listen to the entire message: GIG178 A Time of Shaking

[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).