The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-12-21
SERMON.
CHRIST, THE DESIRE OF ALL Ma
TI0NS.
BY sYLvANUs COBB, DID.

"And the desire of all nations shall come
Haggai ill.,.
Taking the immediate connection IN
which this passage stands, we read:
sFor thus saith theLord of hosts; yet
once. it is a little while, and L will
bake the heavens and the earth and
the sea and the dry land. And l will
shake all nations, and the desire OF all
nations shall come; and l will I'LL
this house with glory, saith the Lord
of hosts. The glory of this latter
house shall be greater than OF the
former.-and in this place will give
neace. saith theLord of hosts" These
words were addressed to Zerubbabel,
Joshua. and the residue of Israel,
who were engaged in rebuilding their
temple, after the Babylonish captlv-
ity. We shall devote our chief labor
to the particular passage which is
selected as the text and named above
hut there are two things in the con-
nection now quoted, brief notice OF
which, will aid to good understand
ing of our subject. These are, the
shaking of the heavens and the
earth, etc., and, the superior glory OF
the second temple to that of the for
mer.
With regard to the shaking of the
world and of the material objects in
the world, it is a very common mode
in the Scriptures of representing I'm
portant revolutions in the affairs of
men. Isaiah, in predicting the over
throw of the Jewish state, said of the
people, They shall go into the clefts
of the rocks, and into the tops OF the
ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord,
and for the glory of his majesty, when
he ariseth to shake terribly the earth"
Isaiah ii. 21.) Ezekiel, prophesying
a war in Israel by the invasion of
Cog and Magog, said, ''Surely in that
day there shall be great shaking in
the land of Israel; SO that the fishes
of the sea, and the fowls of the heav-
en-. and the beasts of the field, and
all creeping things that creep on the
earth, and all the men that are on the
face of the earth, shall shake at my
presence, and the mountains shall be
thrown down, and the steep places
shall fall, and every wall shall fall to
the ground, = saith the Lord OF J
hosts" Geek. xviii. POI And
Jesus, in describing the final over
throw of the Jewish church and state,
an event which should be succeeded
by more rapid spread of the gospel,
employed similar language: "Im-
mediately after the tribulation OF
those days, the sun shall be darken-
ed. and the moon shall not give her
light. and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heav-
ems shall be shaken. And then shall
appear the sign of the Son OF Man in
heaven. Verify l say unto you,
This generation shall not pass, till
all these things be fulfilled" (Matt. |
xiv. 20, 34) This passage describes |
a shaking which wrought an import
ant change both in the ecclesiastical
and the political condition OF the
Jews; and which opened the way for
the spread of that light of gospel
truth, the power of which soon caused
shaking among other nations. And
this is the shaking of the heavens
and earth which was the subject of
Haggia's prophecy. The shaking OF
the heavens denotes the changes
which took place in the religious or
ecclesiastical establishments; and the
shaking of the earth, both sea and
dry land, relates to the change in
political concerns.
For this application of the proph- |
ecy under consideration, we have
the infallible authority of the inspired
apostle Paul. See Hebrews xii. 26,
q, %: "Whose voice then shook the
earth; but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more | shake not
the earth only, but also heaven. And
this word, yet once more, signifeth
the removing of those things that are
shaken, as of things that are made,
that those things which cannot be
shaken, may remain. Wherefore, we
receiving a kingdom which cannot
be moved, let US have grace, where
by we may serve God acceptably,
with reverence and godly fear" Here,
st. Paul quotes from the passage I'M
der consideration in Haggai, and APP
plies it to the doing away of the old
order of things, the Mosaic dispense
ton, and the introducing and estab-
fishing of the dispensation of grace,
which constitutes heavenly king
dom, that cannot be removed. At
this change of dispensations, there