In the Zoom meeting that I enjoyed
earlier this evening, a thought that Brother Henry Mahan brought
out, and I didn't know it was his because I've been using it,
but I probably heard it from him, was some of the verses that
we run into in the Bible, we may not know what it says, but
we know what it doesn't say. And I mentioned tonight during
that Zoom that when the Lord teaches us, And he says, God
will teach us. When God teaches us, He gives
us a foundation that He is sovereign, that He's almighty, He's all-powerful,
He's everywhere all at the same time, and that foundation, the
rest of the scripture must agree with that foundation. It is not
going to be different, and we're not going to have God changing.
So, as we look here at the 14th chapter of the book of Zechariah,
I'm reminded of that very thing, that God is sovereign, that he
is king, and that most of what is said about the 14th chapter,
or even the whole book of Zechariah, or the Old Testament or New Testament,
has no foundation in scripture. It is men's imagination. And
they look at, they have some theology, or some preconceived
idea, and I know this for a fact, because I used to do it. Look
for verses that would fit my And it may not agree with the
verse before, and it may not agree with the verse after, but
that verse in between. So we're going to look here at
some thoughts in the book of Zechariah chapter 14. And we
kind of covered down through verses 1 through 4. So I'd like
to look at this verse five and we'll read verses four, five,
and six and spend some time here. And his feet shall stand in that
day. And we spent one entire lesson
on the number of times that phrase is used just in the book of Zechariah,
in that day. And Isaiah used that term. And
we find so often that that term is the gospel day for us in that
day. There was that day for Abel,
excuse me, there was that day when God gave him faith and he
believed God. So in that day, upon the Mount
of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of
Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward
the west. The Lord used the Mount of Olives many times during his
ministry and he taught from this place. And it is his feet that
are going to do this. Now I believe that this is is
picture language, symbolic language, spiritual language. And the Lord,
when he comes, is going to bring division. He has promised it
in the church that there would be division, that there would
be those who would come in from the outside or even from the
inside and bring up damnable heresies and to be on guard about
it and to not permit it to go on. And there shall be a great
valley and half the mountain shall be toward the a move toward
the north and half towards the south now notice verse five it
follows right after and ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains
for the valley of the mountain shall reach unto azale yea ye
shall flee now notice this like as ye fled from before the earthquake
in the days of Uzziah king of judah and the lord my god shall
come and all the saints with thee interesting language the
Lord my God shall come verse 6 and it shall come to pass in
that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark and then
I want to go into verse 7 but it shall be one day which shall
be known to the Lord not day nor night but it shall come to
pass that at evening time it shall be light Now this afternoon
at 4.30, it was dark. And I'm thankful that next Wednesday
we start to see more light. That's the day. But let's look
at this verse five in particular, and there's something in this
verse of scripture that caught my eye, and that is the word
earthquake. It tells us in that verse five, Yea, ye shall flee like as ye
fled while before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah the king.
Now if you'll turn with me back just a little bit to the book
of Amos. The book of Amos. Amos chapter
1 and verse 1. We have the same earthquake.
Now I am convinced that when we read the book of Isaiah chapter
6 In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. If we ask Isaiah what happened
to him, he could respond, it was like an earthquake. I was
turned upside down from my original thoughts about things and my
original thoughts about God unto the true and the living God.
And I learned that He is holy, holy, holy. If we go over and
had the privilege of visiting with Saul of Tarsus, we could
probably say, you know, I felt like I was in an earthquake.
My world was turned upside down. All right, in the Book of Amos,
it tells us here, the words of Amos, who was among the herdmen
of Tikal, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah,
king of Judah. Now, I'm not a very good pronuncier
of names, but I have been instructed by Pastor Bill, when you come
to them, act like you know what they are and say it. So just,
that's what we're doing. And in the days of Jeroboam,
the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
All right. So we have an earthquake mentioned
here. We have an earthquake, that same earthquake mentioned
in the book of Zechariah. So I'd like to spend some time
tonight on this subject. Because I believe the Lord is
teaching us some things when he brought up this subject, the
subject of an earthquake. So I would like to have a lesson
on earthquakes tonight, as it's found in the scriptures. And
we find that these things, these phenomena, that I don't know
how many here or how many are listening have been in an earthquake.
I remember being in two of them. They were very slight, but they
moved things that shouldn't be moved. I mean, it was just a
phenomena. And if we're in a big one, I've
only seen pictures of that, some of those down in California,
when it just tore the freeways apart and everything else, big
ones, Japan has big ones, earthquakes demonstrate great and sometimes
terrible forces, but back of them all is God. He is the beginning of all things. And nothing takes place on this
earth that He has not purposed. I used to use the word permitted,
but it is far greater than permitted. It is purposed. Now He uses this
phenomenon in many ways, but He also uses it from a spiritual
context. He does bring, I believe, to
every believer the greatest of earthquakes when we learn that
our religion is worthless. I know the depths of despair
I went into just, and then I heard the gospel. The Lord primed me
for it. I was primed, ready to hear the
gospel because I was in the depths of despair. The back of all this is that
controlling all things is Almighty God. So let's look into God's
word about earthquakes. Turn with me to the book of Job,
if you would. Job had something to say about a lot of things,
and in the book of Job, Job chapter 12, Job chapter 12, as we think
about that earthquake in the day of Uzziah, that's brought
up here. You shall flee like in that day. You shall flee like
in the day of the earthquake in Uzziah's time. No doubt there
was. You can't find much in the Bible
except those words, but that's enough for us to realize that
there was a historical event and that there was an earthquake
in the days of Uzziah. But for those who heard the gospel
in the days of Uzziah, there was a real earthquake. They really
understood that God was behind all things. God was behind salvation. God was the first beginning of
all things. God is the beginning of grace.
God is the beginning of our faith. God is the beginning of everything.
So here in the book of Job chapter 12 verse 1, And Job answered
and said, No doubt, but ye are the people, and wisdom shall
die with you. But I have understanding as well
as you. I am not inferior to you. Yea,
who knoweth not such things as these? I am as one mocked of
his neighbor, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him. And
just, upright man is left to scorn. He that is ready to slip
with his feet is a lamp despised in the thought of him that it
is at ease. The tabernacles of robbers prosper,
and they that provoke God are secure, into whose hand God bringeth
abundantly. But ask now the beast, and they
shall teach thee, and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell
thee. or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and
the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee, who knoweth not in
all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this, in whose
hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all
mankind? You know, I run into verses in
the book of Job that I never realized were there. I passed
over too quickly. And here's some of that. Doth
not the ear try the words, and the mouth taste his meat? Now
notice there in verse eight, so speak to the earth, and it
shall teach thee, and to the fishers of the sea shall declare
unto thee, who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the
Lord hath wrought this? So as we look at this earthquake
in the days of Uzziah, when we look at this earthquake that
Zechariah reminds us of, and says this is in a gospel day,
that the hand of God is behind it. He is behind every event. It's interesting when the Lord
is upon the earth, when He is going to demonstrate His power,
He brings on the wind. When He's going to demonstrate
His power, He has water and turns it to wine. When He's going to
demonstrate His power, He walks on water. He is the controller
of all things. And so as we look at this event
here concerning the earthquakes, we find that the earth is in
control by God and just as He is in control of every spiritual
matter. Turn with me just one more book,
book of Psalms, Psalm 68. In Psalm 68, We once again find this great
story about the great truth about, I should say, about the Lord
our Savior. And here in Psalm 68 verse 8,
the scriptures say this, Psalm 68 and verse 8, the earth shook,
the heavens also dropped at the presence of God. I am so thankful
that when God brings his presence, He takes us and turns us. He draws us and brings us. And it may be the most difficult
event that we have ever gone through in our life, but He is
going to use, like an earthquake, to cause us to realize that He
is in charge of all our salvation. Even Sinai itself was moved at
the presence of God, the God of Israel. And we go over there,
we read about that mountain shook with great earthquake when God
came down to visit with Moses. I wonder how Moses felt about
the whole thing. Here's something that he is having
an event in his life, but God is going to demonstrate that
he is in charge and earthquakes can be his great moving hand. This subject again is brought
up in Psalm 104. Psalm 104 and verse 31. As we think about who is behind
the earthquake, who's behind our salvation? Who's behind our
faith? Who's behind our hope? Who's
behind our security? Who's behind it all? If we don't
have God, we don't have anything. We're really on shaky ground.
But if God is behind it all, we have everything. We have God
behind it. All right, Psalm 104. Psalm 104
and verse 31. Psalm 104 and verse 31, the scriptures
share this. It says, the glory of the Lord
shall endure forever. The Lord shall rejoice in his
works. He looketh on the earth and it trembleth. He touches
the hills and they smoke. If the hills do that, what is
he going to do to a person that is his elect? He looketh on the
earth and it trembleth. All we have to do is go over
to the ninth chapter of the book of Acts and find out, when God
came to Saul, he trembled before an Almighty God. He was in an
earthquake. It was demonstrated. Earthquakes
are the instruments of Almighty God and certainly demonstrate
and produce in God's people humility. You know, even in the slight
tremors that I have been in, there's absolutely nothing you
can do to stop it. You can't prevent it. You're
either going to ride it out or you're not. So this, it gives
us a sense of utter helplessness. Now, I've made fun of a lot of
Californians moving to Oregon because I called them Quakers
and people would say, oh, that's a different religion. I says,
no, no, they're running away from the earthquakes. They're
Quakers. Well, they have felt or have
heard from someone of the utter helplessness that they have felt
in that earthquake. I have seen videos out of Japan
when those earthquakes shake up those buildings and people
are in their rooms or their offices. They're just in utter helplessness. They can't do anything. They
can't even stand up. And this is the way that God
moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. Nobody is
going to stand up against God. He's not going to lose. A discussion
I've had a number of times is that people can resist God and
resist God, and I says, yeah, we do that by nature, but when
He is interested in saving somebody, there is no resistance. And you know, on the outside
of that, the salvation side of that, we say, thank you, Lord.
My goodness, if we were given the ability of resisting Him,
to our dying day, which natural man is, non-elect do, then how
serious that is. But to the elect, how blessed
it is that he overcomes us. And he does it in such a way,
as an earthquake, we are totally helpless before him. And we find
out that's a good place to be. Resistance is down. Now people
are building buildings that seemingly are earthquake resistant. But
I'll tell you what, natural man isn't. He's not earthquake resistant. When God intends to have someone
hear the gospel, it will be, their whole world will be turned
upside down. And we're so used to reading
the Bible from this side, that when it's turned right side up,
we find it's a totally new book. is absolutely totally new. We're not looking for historical
events, we're looking for Christ. So the earthquake that is mentioned
there, it shares with us that it is an instrument of Almighty
God, and man has allowed many things, but he does not have
power over that. We have power over water sometimes. I love going over here and turning
on that faucet and getting hot water out of it. We have power
over fire. We build a fire. Sometimes it
gets away from us. But we have power over many things.
God has allowed that and permitted that. We have power over the
dirt sometimes. We plant vegetables, we get vegetables
out of it. But when it comes to an earthquake,
we have no ability to resist when it comes. Now, I'm afraid,
I'm just afraid that there's a lot of fear mongers that share
with us that right here, we're gonna hear, feel the events of
an earthquake off the coast, and it's gonna bring the tsunami
over the Cascade Mountains right in here. I don't think that's
gonna happen, but that doesn't mean that we're not gonna have
an earthquake physically, but I pray that we have some spiritual
earthquakes. That's the ones that pay off,
is spiritual earthquakes. Isaiah chapter two, would you
go back there to, or forward, excuse me, we're in Psalms. Turn
with me to the book of Isaiah chapter two. Isaiah had much
to say there in Isaiah chapter six, but let's notice here in
Isaiah chapter two, verse 19. As we think about these earthquakes,
they just bring a humility. God is all powerful. We have no argument about it.
Isaiah chapter two, verse 19, the scriptures say, and they
shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the
earth, for the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty,
when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." What a statement. When he comes to shake, ariseth
to shake the earth terribly. And then in verse 20, And in
that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols
of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to
the moles and to the bats. It's time to get rid of these.
All right. Earthquakes can quickly demonstrate
and convince us of the instability of our foundation. How unstable. I went to a one-room schoolhouse. It was built in 1909. And the
year I graduated, they had determined that that was not any longer
earthquake proof. So they built a brand new school. Both of them are still standing. But if the earth ever moved,
both of them could fall. What we build on, our religion,
when we find out how unstable it really is, that everything
that we depended on by our nature, by our religious teaching, we
find out how really unstable it is. There used to be an occupation
that I've seen films of that just, and that's those guys that
floated down on tops of logs down rivers. Now they were on
the most unstable possible place I could imagine. On a log on
top of the river trying to get these log jams undone. I wonder
how many of them went through the logs and never came back.
Well, that's just a microcosm of what it is to be in an earthquake
and realize how unstable a ground we're on. You know what Saul
of Tarsus found out? How unstable his religion was. When he met
the Lord, everything was turned upside down. He no longer, I
can just imagine his knees shaking. at the coming of the Lord how
dramatic this was that his world was turned upside down and then
later He writes, or we hear written about, this man turned the world
upside down with his preaching. Well, that's what the gospel
does, and God intends for us to have our world turned upside
down by the preaching of the gospel. He does not want us latched
on to that any longer. He does not want us in that any
longer. He wants us to trust Him, to
have faith in Him, and He supplies all of that. We can do so many
things, but we can't tame an earthquake. I've read where they've
tamed zebras, and buffalo, and giraffes, all kinds of critters,
wolves, coyotes, but not a earthquake. It is God's demonstration of
great power. And it convinces us that there
is nothing stable, even if we build our religion earthquake
proof when God wants to shake it up, He will, and it will happen. Earthquakes are used to admonish
us that judgment is coming upon this earth, too. We find that
God is a judge. He judged his son at the cross,
and he will judge. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of 2 Peter, chapter 3. In 2 Peter, chapter 3, God
is going to bring an earthquake, just as in the days of Uzziah.
He had his people back then. He brought an earthquake in the
days of of Abel, he brought an earthquake in the days of Daniel,
the days of David, the days of Solomon, he brought an earthquake.
Life changing, cannot stop. Find out how unstable we actually
are. In the book of 2 Peter chapter
3, 2 Peter chapter 3 beginning with verse 10. The scriptures have this to share
with us about this very subject, that earthquakes are used to
admonish us that judgment will be one day strike this earth.
It will come. And it tells 2 Peter chapter
3 verse 10, the scriptures say, but the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise And the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness?" What does that mean? Trust the
Lord. Trust the Lord. That's our holiness and our godliness,
is Him. So this is going to be a time,
I can't explain it because I can't understand it all. I just know
that when the end comes, the end will come. And then we read
about two lines. Talk about, I've been in Europe
and there's a group of people that Nancy and I have noticed
that don't know what lines are. They crowd right in front of
you. They just, we were looking at the Mona Lisa. We had a nice
vantage point. And the next thing we know, we're
crowded out by people who don't know what a line is. Well, that
day, they'll know what a line is. Left hand, right hand. They'll know that. Alright? And
earthquakes teach us the perfect security of God's sheep. You know, even in the greatest
of difficulty, in the greatest of times, the greatest time of
testing of our life, our health, or life situations, or whatever,
we find out that even in these great trying times, when it seems
like an earthquake There is perfect rest. Now we may not feel a perfect
rest, but the Lord has perfect rest for his people. He has a
rest that passes understanding. He has a rest that he has caused
his people to rest in him. We've been spending quite a bit
of time in the book of Numbers and looking at that rest that
people did not have. I'm still baffled about a bunch
of people that noticed another man out there picking up sticks.
What were they doing? Wishing they were doing it? Well,
there is a rest for the people of God. There's a whole bunch
of people in their tents, doing what they're supposed to be doing,
and then there's those outside. So, turn with me, if you would,
to the book of Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter 21. Luke chapter
21, verse 10. Then said He unto them, now I think this is more what
happened in AD 70, the destruction of Jerusalem,
I think instructions about that. Nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be
in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences, and fearful
sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven." Now, every
time we heard of an earthquake, we knew what the preacher was
going to be preaching on Sunday, from this passage. All right,
but before all these They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute
you, and deliver you up to the synagogues, and into prisons,
and being brought before kings and rulers for my namesake, and
it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate, but for what
you shall answer. Settle it in your hearts. You
don't have to worry about this. For I will give you a mouth and
wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay
nor resist." I just thought, how interesting. Even in that day, I remember
that prophet. The king says, I have one more
prophet, but I hate to listen to him. I just hate him. But
bring him anyway. Let's see what he has to say
this time. I knew it, I knew it, I knew
it. You would be against me. Well,
he was the Lord's prophet and he couldn't do anything else.
The Lord protected him. I'm reminded of Jeremiah stuck
down in a pit and left to die. And the king finally says, get
him out of there. How the Lord takes care, and
even those It's just hard for me to read the end of the 11th
chapter of the book of Hebrews. But those fellows, those ladies,
were presented spotless before the throne of glory. They could
not be shook from that because God had His hand on them. What
shall separate us from the Lord God? There are things that cannot
be moved, and they are the heritage of God's people. The mountains
may depart, but not our relationship with the Lord. Turn back to the
book of the Psalms again. The book of the Psalms. So a
great earthquake took place in the days of Uzziah. I pray that
it will take place tonight, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. A great earthquake. When God
does something for somebody. In the book of Psalm 46. Psalm 46. Psalm 46, verse 1. God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will
not we fear, though the earth be removed, Though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shall shake with
swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the
streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place
of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of
her. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, and the kingdoms
were moved. He uttereth his voice and the
earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Even in perilous times. Now, I've visited with a lot
of people in my life and they've never had an earthquake. They
just asked Jesus into their heart. They just went forward. They
didn't have anything happen. And I'm so concerned. that God
didn't turn them upside down. The Bible means the same thing
to them? Probably less. I had a preacher tell me one
time that most professions of faith are a result of doing something
really seriously wrong. And this is the way of making
it right. Having a religious experience. Well, in this day,
there's going to be a great earthquake. Now, we get over there to the
book of Hebrews chapter 12, it says, you have not come to Mount
Sinai. That place shook. The law shook, Sinai shook, God
shook it, but you have come to Mount Zion. Now, there's such
a difference in just the tenor in the voice in God's word when
we talk about Sinai or Mount Zion. There is no resemblance
in even the tenor of your voice when you say the difference.
Here we have in Mount Zion, the city of the Most High God, He
takes every one of those people that He has saved by His grace,
turned their worlds upside down, and caused them to be in one
place, and that is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Earthquakes are
mentioned in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. They
are often spoke of spiritual instruments of God. Isaiah 29. Isaiah 29. We have to just say
that everything is an instrument of God. But when we look at this,
there's a special instrument of God. Isaiah 29. Let me get that right, Isaiah
29 verses 1 through 6. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city
where David dwelt. Add ye year to year, let them
kill sacrifice. What is that city? It's another
name for Jerusalem. Yet I will distress Ariel, and
there shall be heaviness and sorrow, and it shall be unto
me as Ariel. And I will camp against the roundabout,
and I will lay siege against thee, and with mount, and I will
raise forts against thee, and thou shalt be brought down. One
of my favorite books by John Bunyan is Holy War. And it almost copies this. The
town is called Mansoul. Man is in there, locked all the
doors, not going to let anybody in. And then it demonstrates
Almighty God taking control, overcoming, and the person goes
through the greatest earthquake. Thou shalt speak out the ground,
thou shalt speech shall be low out of the dust. Thy voice shall
be as that which hath the familiar spirit out of the ground, and
thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Moreover, the multitude
of the stranger shall be like small dust, and the multitude
of the terrible one shall be like chaff that passeth away.
Yea, it shall be at an instant, suddenly. And thou shalt be visited
of the Lord of hosts, with thunder, and with earthquakes, and great
noise, and storm, and tempest, and flame, and devouring fire. And the Lord says, and the church
says, Amen. When Jesus died, There was a
great earthquake. You know, it's interesting. There
was an earthquake that opened up some selective graves. Talk about an earthquake being
selective. He opened up some graves of some
saints with an earthquake. Now, they didn't come out of
their tomb until after his resurrection, but they were opened. I can't
imagine what it was like for those folks to walk into Jerusalem
and go to the houses where they used to live, and here's their
children and grandchildren, and what did they say? And then we
find there was a great earthquake that day the Lord was raised
from the dead. Now He didn't use the door, but
they rolled it back. There was a great earthquake.
on that day, how God has demonstrated through time the use of earthquakes
for his glory, for his honor, and his praise, and he can be
so selective. There were many that were with
solid tarsus, and they didn't feel a thing. There was one that
he intended to save, and he felt everything. That's the work of
God. In the days of Acts, in the 16th
chapter of Acts, Paul and Silas had been arrested, put in stocks.
How did they get out? A great earthquake opened the
doors and opened the locks on their stocks. Selective earthquakes. how God works that he could be
so precise. You know, next week Nancy's gonna
have some surgery on her eye. Cataract surgery. I just don't
want just anybody poking around in my eye. I want someone who
knows something. Well, the same can be true about
salvation. So many people have tried practice,
but there's only one that can do it efficiently, effectually. He can open up one grave with
an earthquake. He can open up one door, roll
a stone away. Or he can open up one jail cell
and the stocks of two men and have a man come in and do exactly
what we do by nature. What must I do to be saved? And they said, believe. Now,
people turn that into a work. We have to find out that belief
is given to us by the Lord. Alright, earthquakes. There was
a great earthquake. And that last part of that verse,
notice this, and we'll close with this. In the book of Zechariah,
chapter 14, verse 5, the last part of that verse of Scripture
has this to say, as Zechariah is used to write it, Holy Spirit
gave him the words in the original language, Thank Lord we have
a translation. It says there, before the earthquake
in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and the Lord my God shall
come and all the saints with thee. That's where they will
be, is with him. They're not going to be in opposition
to him. If we're in opposition, we haven't
had an earthquake yet. When God gives us that very special,
particular earthquake, turns our lives upside down, we will
be with the saints and with Him. That will close tonight. We're
thankful you joined us here in Zoom and those on Sermon Audio.