Earthquakes in Italy and Pentecost - an Unexpected Link
Joel 2:28-31 Afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. 29 Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit. 30 And I will show signs and wonders in the heavens, and on the earth, blood and fire and (date palm like) columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.
There is an important, thinly-disguised link between the earthquakes in Italy and Pentecost (a new Pentecost?). The natural/heavenly signs of the imminence of Christ’s Coming are all around us and the Rapture draws ever nearer. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the catalyst for the initiation/beginning of the church, and I believe that a new outpouring will accelerate God’s purposes, and bring to a consummation His Eternal purposes for the church in the Rapture. The focus of this letter is on Italy, but I would like to get there via Christchurch and New Zealand.
Christchurch (Christ’s Church)
The Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch, built in the 2nd half of the nineteenth century, was a magnificent building and the highlight of Cathedral Square. I visited Christchurch with my work in both 2004 and 2005 and enjoyed the heritage building. During 2010 and 2011 the cathedral was damaged, virtually beyond repair, by a series of earthquakes and aftershocks. In March 2012 it was announced that the building would be demolished, and this is underway (there has been some controversy) - see link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChristChurch_Cathedral,_Christchurch
The timing of this, in a city called Christchurch, is clearly an indicator of the Lord’s soon return. However, it speaks of the crumbling of established religion, and religious structures and not His (remnant) Church triumphant and the wider body of Christ that needs to be awakened and purified through the power of the outpoured Holy Spirit. Where can we find this in the Bible? The answer is Acts 27 (Paul’s voyage by ship). The ship, typical of the established/organisational church, was lost as a result of the storm, but all 276 souls were saved - see Acts 27:41-44 below.
41 But striking a crosscurrent (a place open to two seas) they ran the ship aground. The prow stuck fast and remained immovable, and the stern began to break up under the violent force of the waves. 43 But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, prevented their carrying out their purpose. He commanded those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and make for the shore, 44 And the rest on heavy boards or pieces of the vessel and so it was that all escaped safely to land.
Swimmers and Boarders
There were two groups of survivors: the swimmers and the boarders! Those of us who are waiting and watching should be swimmers! I believe this speaks of those who have a strong and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who are prepared for and have no fear of the Coming Storm - those who rest in His total protection. While able to swim alone, we are surrounded by other swimmers in whom we are encouraged (Five Doves is highly beneficial for this!) There is also a wonderful truth in the boarders - they survive on parts of the ship. While organisational church structures may crumble (Judgment begins at the household of God - 1 Peter $:17), there is much that is of real and continuing and of eternal value, even in what we may see as imperfect churches. Jesus’ new commandment was to love one another - the Bible based teaching, Holy Spirit inspired preaching and gifts of the Spirit, prayer, encouragement and, most of all, shared suffering are all boards/pieces of the ship (of organised religion) that take believers (those who need support, including our weaker brothers for whom Christ died), safely to land (Malta in Paul’s journey). All on the ship, home safe (eternally).
Christ Church - in New Zealand (New Zeal Land)
Psalm 69:9 For zeal for Your house has eaten me up
John 2:17 And His disciples remembered that it is written Zeal (the fervour of love) for Your house will eat Me up.
Australia has a wonderful name - the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit (south wind). New Zealand also has an indicative name - the land of New Zeal. Now, a search for zeal in a Bible search engine such as www.biblegateway.com (in the Amplified in my case) is very interesting. Just three references are below:
Isaiah 42:13 The Lord will go forth like a mighty man, He will rouse up His zealous indignation and vengeance like a warrior; He will do mightily against His enemies.
Isaiah 59:17 For [the Lord] put on righteousness as a breastplate, salvation as a helmet upon His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal [and furious divine jealousy] as a cloak.
Zephaniah 3:8 :Therefore [earnestly] wait for Me, says the Lord, [waiting] for the day when I rise up …to gather the nations together, to assemble the kingdoms, for [in that day] all the earth shall be consumed with the fire of My zeal and jealousy.
The final outpouring of the Holy Spirit should ring new zeal to the church/body of Christ, a zeal that can only be found at the cross! The Holy Spirit encouraged the Church at Ephesus to return to its first love, and this first love includes an intense love for His appearing and our rapture to be eternally with the One Who died for us, who loves us. And finally we get to Italy.
Italy - Anagram of LAITY (Joel 2:29)
Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit (Amplified)
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days (NKJ)While musing on the earthquakes in Italy, my mind was guided to an amazing, yet simple, anagram of Italy: LAITY (a term for the body of Christ at all levels, the church as a whole). It seems more than coincidental that LAITY would be an acronym of Italy, the country where there have been earthquakes at this critical time and a country where arguably one of the most (albeit not the only) hierarchical/structured churches (the Church of Rome) is located. Rome in Italy was also the place where Paul finished his course - his life’s journey. The coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit can be expected to impact on the structure of churches, of all types - just as on the Day of Pentecost, when a small group of 120 persons were waiting in the upper room while much larger religious celebrations were taking place in Jerusalem.
Of those 120 persons - cloven tongues of fire fell on each one, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they all spoke with other tongues. I apologise for this somewhat long letter, but the last point I would like to make is arguably the most important, and is based on Joel 2:29. Joel 2:28 already contains a promise that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be upon ALL FLESH. So why add verse 29 (pouring out of the Spirit on Men and Maid Servants)? This verse appears to have been included for one key purpose only - to highlight very strongly that the final outpouring, like the Day of Pentecost, would go across all social strata, and would include the humble and lowly. This I believe covers both the lowly in society and perhaps even more so (true) servants in the body of Christ. These are the ones who have followed in the steps of the Suffering Servant Jesus Christ - we do not know most of those present on the Day of Pentecost, but they collectively, with the Holy Spirit’s fire/power, turned the world upside down. While leaders (especially the apostles) were released, the true strength of the early church was the release of the Holy Spirit’s power across the LAITY (following a shaking!).
We long for the Rapture, but we also desire to see the resurrection power of Christ released in His church - including the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on leaders within the Church (as on the early Apostles), our family members (Jesus’ family were there on the Day of Pentecost), our friends (presumably Lazarus, Mary and Martha were in the Upper Room) and, very importantly, those in the Church who have known the path of suffering, who have shared in His sufferings but will find release and see changed lives, healings and miracles in and through their lives and ministry as the Holy Spirit is outpoured - further fulfilling the prophetic promise of Joel 2: 28, 29 that began on the Day of Pentecost.
Maranatha! Denis