The Desire of All Nations

We are in the last days. Are they the last of the last days? We do not know, but we do know that the day draws nearer when the King of kings will once again come to the earth for His people.

And there will be a great shaking. Has this begun? We are seeing the first tremors of the shaking that is to come. We are still in the time when Jesus told us not to be alarmed, but to be aware.

We need to know the times and the seasons. We have to understand that there is a spiritual battle raging in the heavenlies and that the end result is victory to Jesus and His saints, but before this, the great shaking.

“For thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.

Haggai 2:6-7

The Desire of All Nations

Who is the Desire of Nations? This is another name for Messiah, for the Christ, Christos, which is the Greek word for Messiah. He is the Desire of All Nations. When will He come again? Well, in the midst of the great shaking of nations.

Whilst this passage, following on, speaks of a new and glorious temple that will be built with gold and the silver of all lands, we also know that God no longer resides in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48). His temple is His people. We are the Temple of the Holy Ghost, we are told (1Cor.3:17).

We see many things take place around us that are nothing short of tumult and turmoil, but is this the shaking? Not yet, but it will come. These are the beginnings of troubles.

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Matthew 24:4-8

We are not be troubled by these times. We are to watch and pray (Mat.24:22). We need to be aware of the times we are in, but not afraid.

Shaking

But there will be a shaking. All nations will shake. How will this come about and what will it look like? We don’t have this information, but it will be tumultuous. It will be the presence of God in the earth, just as it was when He surrounded the Mount at Sinai when Moses received the commandments.

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Hebrews 12:18-24

I believe the Church will be spared and will have been taken out from the earth and before this great shaking. In fact it’s possible that the removal of the Church will make the time of the shaking possible. By the Church I mean those who are true followers of Christ, born again believers, disciples of Jesus.

The Word speaks of an escape from the shaking.

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:25-29

So the warning is that we should not turn away from Him, meaning we must not turn from God. We who are of faith need to remain in faith and trust Him, giving Him our fullest attention, even when the world around us seems to be falling apart, even when earthly authorities attempt to squeeze the Body and diminish our effectiveness through regulatory interference. God remains greater. His Word is established and eternal.

Escape

He speaks of escape for those who do not turn away from Him. Here’s our great incentive to stay the course. The world will be shaken and we are seeing a prelude to what it will be like. These are the beginnings of troubles remember. More terrifying things will dawn on those who reject His counsel now. Today is the time to have a change of heart and come to Him whilst we still have grace and opportunity.

He likens the shaking to the day God gave the commandments to Moses as he came down the mountain glowing with the glory of God on his face after forty days alone with the Almighty. He says, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation” if we do not give “the more earnest heed to the things we have heard (Heb.2:3).”

Those things that will be shaken will be removed. Only those who are on a solid foundation will remain.We have to position ourselves on unshakable ground. It is the kingdom of God that cannot be shaken.

All we need to know today is that we are firmly planted in His kingdom through faith in the Son of God, and that we are immovable, being rooted and grounded in Him, in His Spirit, and in His Word.

Even if we remain here during the shaking, the kingdom will not be shaken. He speaks of people coming to the Desire of All Nations. Is this the great end time revival many speak of? Will the world be so shaken by the presence of God that they will flock to the Body?

However this pans out, we need to be ready. We need to be watchful. He is surely coming soon.