On Christmas, God Shook Up The World

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For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. (Hag. 2:6–7)

Reflect

When this prophecy came to Haggai in 520 BC, did anyone imagine that God would shake up the world with a baby born to humble parents in Bethlehem? Or that “a little while” would be more than 500 years later?

Yet if Advent teaches us anything, it’s that the Lord works according to his own schedule and doesn’t act as we expect. His timeline may not align with ours, but in the passage of centuries we experience his mercy. We read in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

The Lord works according to his own schedule and doesn’t act as we expect.

In Hebrews 12:26, the writer expands on this relationship between patience and judgment by quoting Haggai 2. The shaking is a kind of sifting, like the sand separated from jewels in a strainer. The Lord shakes the world to sift out anyone who doesn’t worship that baby born in Bethlehem. Because even as a helpless babe, he is the King of kings and Lord of lords who will reign forever. In Jesus we see “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,” the One who “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3).

One day, after a little while, that baby would grow up and exercise his power in the most unexpected way. He would submit to death, even on a cross. The day he died on Calvary, the temple curtain was torn in two. An earthquake shook the city. Rocks split at the Place of a Skull (Matt. 27:32, 51). That helpless man, bloodied and beaten, commanded more authority than anyone else had realized—including the power to judge his judges. The Roman officer who commanded 100 confessed, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (v. 54).

Those who don’t follow suit will be sifted. But the shed blood of the only Son of God has the power to forgive the sins of all who repent. By this sacrifice, believers will receive a “kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb. 12:28).

To this kingdom all the treasures of the nations will accrue, as Haggai foresaw with the temple filled by God’s glory. God did this for the Hebrews when he delivered them from slavery. They plundered the Egyptians (Ex. 12:36). And he’ll do it again when he delivers the world from death, as the kings of the earth bring their glory to the temple in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24).

The shed blood of the only Son of God has the power to forgive the sins of all who repent.

These kings will follow a path already trod by the wise men of the east, who tracked the star to baby Jesus. From the nations they brought their treasures—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The purported king, Herod, could only see a threat. But these wise men fell down and worshiped the baby still nursing with his mother, Mary (Matt. 2:11).

Do you see the power and the glory concealed from the world while contained in that baby? Do you see in him a King whose love for sinners kept him nailed to the cross?

Advent is waiting for something that not everyone can see. Advent is preparing to receive a gift that not everyone wants. Advent is enduring an unstable world with hope because an unshakable kingdom is coming—in a little while.

Respond

How might the Lord’s seeming lack of action express his patience for you? How could you help your non-Christian friends and family see the glory in Jesus this Advent season?