SUPEREMINENCE OF CHRIST ABOVE
MOSES:
or Of The More Excellent Glory
and Power Which Accompanies His Promulgation of the Gospel,
than did
Accompany the Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.
"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven; whose voice then shook the
earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth
only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth 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, whereby we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear :for our God is a consuming fire"
- HEB. XII.
25 - 29.
"According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came
out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the
Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens,
and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land: and I will shake all nations, and
the Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory,
saith the Lord. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord qf
hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former,
saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of
hosts. - HAGGAI II. 5 - 9.
The apostle is upon a comparison (or
rather, that there is no comparison) between Christ, as giving forth the word
on Mount Sion, and Moses upon Mount Sinai. This Moses, in delivering his law,
he reckoneth of but as a man on earth ; and so infers from thence (to greaten
Christ), If they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from
heaven. The vast disproportion between these two teachers, he argues from
that infinite distance that is between the situation of their seats and places
they spake from; Moses's chair (as Christ terms it) was placed on earth, so
low, at the footstool; but Christ hath his chair in heaven, as was said of old
of him, so high above the others as are the highest heavens. Neither let this
so great lowering Moses and his law, unto Christ and his gospel, offend you, 0
ye Jews, as too bold or contemptuous. For Paul had your own John Baptist to
bear him out, who when in like manner he would compare himself with Christ, and
his doctrine with his own (to the end to exalt both it and him), he casts
himself, and the highest point he could reach to, as low as earth: John iii.
81, 82, He that is of the earth is earthly, and he speaks of the earth.'
And such a teacher I acknowledge myself to be, says he, when set with him
that cometh from heaven;' and such also my doctrine is in comparison of
his, who speaketh what he heard and seen,' namely, in heaven, from whence
he comes. What John thus speaks of himself, Paul applies to Moses. And John in
his ministry was greater than Moses and all the prophets, put all into the same
scale together with him, Mat. xi. 11 and 18.
The apostle Paul doth urge us
farther to consider those infinitely surpassing and more glorious effects of
power and majesty, which do issue from the voice of him that speaks from heaven
in the gospel, and accompanies the delivery of it, as a testimony of the glory
of the matter uttered in it ; which the more lively to represent, he compareth
them with those former effects which accompanied the delivery of the law when
it was given by Moses Whose voice then shook the earth,' says he,
but his voice now shall shake both earth and heavens.'
From which advance
he thirdly raiseth another mount yet higher, namely a consideration of that
super-excelling glory of his kingdom, which his gospel uttered, by him brought
to light, and gave believers the right and assurance of; all these effects
accompanying both law and gospel, being but works and effects of an inferior
sort, and lower make and production : things but made, in comparison of the
things of his kingdom, which Christ should bring in.
Now by these shakings,
&c., the apostle meaneth and intendeth those new, strange, and (in
comparison to those under the times of the law) unparalleled changes,
alterations, and abolitions of things which were begun in his time and view, to
be made in this world, and are to go they are to be consummated at the latter
day. And these are the effects and concomitants of this word, the gospel, and
of his voice that dictates it. All which removals should be but the preludiums
and fore-running preparations unto that kingdom of his, which cannot be
shaken;' which all shall issue and determine in, as infinitely more glorious
than all thing we now see or know, by how much all these are but made to be
pulled own, and then removed, as the rubbish that lies in the way to that
kingdom to be erected: But we have a kingdom,' the gospel speak
which cannot be shaken;' which therefore let us firmly expect, and adhere
unto, and serve God acceptably,' in the expectation of it, in the midst
of all these shakings. This for the coherence, and as an outside show of the
meaning of the words, hung forth at the entrance, inviting you to the within.
Let us now enter and view each particular more thoroughly and exactly.
The
words of my text, in ver. 26 and 27 (though I have read the rest afore and
after), do fix upon this latter point, namely, the vast different effects and
demonstration of power, by all sorts of alterations in heaven and earth, that
shall accompany the coming and kingdom of Christ, all along the times of the
gospel, in comparison of those that attended upom giving of the law of Moses.
And this I have also fixed on to be my present subject.
The particulars to
explain that difference are two.
I. The difference of those effects
themselves when compared.
II. The allegation of the prophecy in Haggai, for
the proof of that comparison, and likewise the pertinency of that allegation.
Which two, being by way of general premise despatched,I shall more closely
grasp those which are the greatest difficulties in the text, in their own
place.
I. The difference of those effects themselves compared.
1. The
first part of the comparison are the prodigies that fell out at the birth and
bringing forth of the law, the shaking of the earth, &c. Whose voice
then shook the earth,' says the text out of the 19th Exod. 18. The
mountain quaked greatly,' and the sights in the air upon the mount were so
terrible and the voice then heard so dreadful, that they could not endure it
(ver. 19, 21). But yet, so as the force and efficacy of all these reached no
higher or further than the earth and air, which signified the lowness and
earthliness of the frame and form of worship given, and also to be of that
sort, which one day, as the earth was then, should be in the like manner itself
shaken, as the apostle here unfolds the mystery of it.
And withal (to that
end to greaten Christ, and heighten the comparison of his gospel effects with
these the more) he hints us to consider that it was even our Christ which then
gave the law, and that it was his voice, though hiddenly and concealedly, the
power whereof shook the earth; Whose voice,' saith my text, then
shook the earth' for though angels are said to have given the law, it being
termed, Heb. ii. 1, The word spoken by angels,' yet the Lord God (which
was Christ) stood hid under those angels; so expressly, Exod. xx. 21, You
have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.' And though Moses, as a
mediator, is said to have given it visibl yforth., Gal. iii. 19, compared with
Deut. v. 5, yet you may see what a poor slight mediator he was by his carriage
in it, and to have been but a cypher, or shadow of our Christ, whose voice then
and now speaks, and made him to tremble. You may read how Moses stood by
quaking and trembling, whilst the law was uttering, like a frail sorry man of
earth (as he was), for no sooner did he begin to feel all things shaking under
him, but he cries out, as ver. 21, I exceedingly fear and quake.' He
shewed what a man he was, and how constituted, but of the same matter the
mountain itself (that was the first shaker) was of, earth and dust; which our
apostle allegeth to show his law, in comparison of this gospel, to be like unto
him, earthy, and ordained to be shaken.
Corollary. And this, as it
is the clearest scripture in the New Testament, that it was Christ that gave
the law, so it is as evident a proof that he is God, whose voice it was that
spake those words, and said, I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have no
other gods but me;' which voice then shook the earth, in testimony thereof at
the uttering of them. This is the first part of this comparison.
2. The
second part is a comparative inference, how far greater and more surpassing
outward effects, and signs and tokens of power and glory, must needs be
ordained to accompany the coming of Christ himself, and the dispensation of the
gospel from him, inferred from this, that his voice then shook the earth,
&e.; wherein two things are to be considered,
(1.) The surpassing
excellency of the effects themselves.
(2.) The ground and rationality of
the apostle's inference, when from a comparison made with the other, he argues
and infers the excellency of those effects themselves under the gospel.
(1.) For the super-exceeding of the effects themselves under the gospel. If
he shook the earth then, he will shake heaven now; that is, as Christ in his
own case speaks, if you wonder at this, you shall see greater wonders than
these. The Father loveth the Son,' and to shew us that he is the Son
himself, He will shew him greater works, that you may yet marvel.' Thus
here, if be then shook earth, he will now shake both earth and heavens too.
Which phrase, to open it first in general, is a proverbial speech, to
express how far higher and greater things he will do even by so much higher as
the heavens are above the earth; that look, as it would in all men's
apprehensions to be a demonstration of greater power for one to shake the
pillars of heaven, and make the stars quiver, the sun to tremble, in comparison
of shaking houses and glass windows on earth, which, we see, great noises, as
of thunder-claps, and great ordnances are wont to do; so in this.
[2] As in
the object shaken this riseth higher, even to the shaking heavens, so in the
issue of the shaking either the one or the other. For whereas then he did but
shake, he will now not only shake but remove: and then he did but shake the
earth, and in the earth that mountain the Law was given upon, which yet stands
where it did; under the gospel he not only shake but remove, not the earth
only, which he shook but in part afore, but even the heavens, which he then
left untouched. But now he shakes, yea, and he means to remove, ver. 27. Thus
this word once more signifieth the removing of those things that are
shaken, as things made, on purpose to give demonstration of his power in their
removal, and withal that super-exeelling glory of that kingdom, to which these
things are made to give way unto; and observe it (for it must be our guide, and
so to bring us to the fullness of Paul and Haggai's meaning, that the apostle
puts the emphasis upon even this), that he shakes so as to remove. And this he
allegeth as Haggai's scope.
(2.) For the ground or rational part of this
inference, namely, why, upon giving the gospel, these effects should rise so
much higher, the account stands thus,
[1] If God (whom here the apostle
affirms Christ to be) will anew come down into the world a second time, he will
surely make his discovery therein exceed the former; it is his manner so to do,
especially if the first be but a shadow or type of the same person in lesser
discoveries (as Moses was in this of Christ's), and in that respect but as the
earth; then the second or next succeeding, whatever it be, will rise as high as
heaven in comparison of the former. Now Moses, as a man on earth, gave forth
his dispensation but Christ as the Lord from heaven; therefore his must
accordingly in its proportion exceed. And his argument runs thus, It was
Christ's ownvoice which then did shake the earth when he gave the law. Now if
being then hid (himself concealed under the administration of angels,
therefore, Acts vii. 30 - 82, in his speaking to Moses, he is sometimes termed
a angel, sometimes the Lord), and also stood disguised under Moses receiving
the law, as his type, did yet own and second that dispensation, so far as shake
the earth, &c., in testimony of that underhand and remote presence of his;
what effects will his voice have, when he comes personally to a appear, and
professedly as Son of God to dwell in man's nature person united to himself,
and therein to deliver a new doctrine (namely, the gospel); especially now,
that is, after his having been on earth, and there had himself conversed with
men, but now is ascended again to heaven, and from thence speaks and rules,
who, in his person, was the Lord from heaven,' 1 Cor. xv., and in heaven
whilst on earth, and so Lord of both earth and heaven, and hath received all
power both in earth and heaven. To give full proof of all these things, he will
therefore surely shake both earth and heaven, and shew he is able to shake and
remove both. So much for the inference and ground of the apostle's arguing,, as
elsewhere be doth the like from Adam to Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 45, 46, by way of a
super-excelling comparison, which is his way of arguing here.
II. For the
allegation out of Haggai, and the pertinency of it, to this his scope, which is
the next and great thing to be insisted on, I observe that the apostle's custom
in this epistle (he writing to Jews) is to assert nothing but what he brings
proof for out of the Old Testament (as all along appears), he writing to such,
who (as Peter speaks) gave heed to that sure word of prophecy of old;'
and thus he here quotes Haggai ii. 6, 7. For thus saith the Lord of
hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the
earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the
Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith
the Lord of hosts."
1. The prophecy is evidently of Christ, his person and
coming, whom he entitleth the Desire of all nations,' according to other
scriptures, as also what in himself he is, and should be unto all believers.
Jacob had before, by the like circumlocution, described him to be that person,
to whom the gathering of the people should be.' The Septuagint translates
it the Expectation of the people,' be being the centre of all their
desires, and dearest affection, whom kings and prophets desire to see, Luke x.
24, or as Isa. xi. 10, To him shall the Gentiles seek;' or as Christ out of
Isaiah of himself, In his name shall the Gentiles trust ; - it is
the periphrasis of the Messiah. Thus multitudes of places, the land of
desire,' speaking of Canaan, Zech. vii. 14, is put for a land most pleasant,
and to every one the object of desire. Thus things or persons lovely are termed
desirable, or things of desire, everywhere in the prophets; and a person most
dear, as a wife, is called by Cicero, desiderium meum, my desire, even as we
now say, My love,' and as Christ is thus by Haggai enstyled the Desire of
all nations, and to come as such; in like manner Malachi (in a correspondency
to this prophecy) terms him the Lord, and messenger of the covenant, whom
ye' (speaking to the Jews) seek and delight in,' Mal. 1. That which is
our happiness or chiefest good is the object of desire when waited for, of
delight when enjoyed; and such is Christ both to Jew and Gentile, coming to be
Lord of both. And the harmony between the prophecy of Malachi and Haggai is the
more full, because both prophesy, whilst they speak these things of his
coniirIg, and both prophesy of his filling that temple, then built, with glory.
Now, 2. The pertinency of the apostle's singling out this scripture thus,
evidently meant of Christ, is very observable; for it not only serves to prove
the thing itself he would assert, namely, the shaking of both earth and heaven,
when this Messiah should come; but further, it ratifies also the foundation of
his very comparison here made, namely, that if God did so great wonders at the
giving the law by Moses, that he will do greater when the Messiah promised
should come. To this purpose observe how, in the words just before, the prophet
pointeth them to what God had done in Moses this time for the people, as the
ground and foundation of inference, that he would now again, upon the
approaching times of the Messiah; do greater. Read ver. 5, 6, 7,
According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of
Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord
of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the
earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the
Desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith
the Lord of hosts. As if he should have said, you know how greatly then for you
I shook the earth. I shook Egypt afore I gave the law, I shook the earth at the
the law, and I shook all, and all the nations round about you in casting them
forth for you, after I had given it. Now, once more, I will a second time
begin, and go on to do greater things, and shake heavens also, and and dry
land, and all nations; and shaking, remove all in them that is.
Now the
difficulties that are met with in this text, by them that travelled through it,
are eminently two.
1. Concerning the time which this prophecy and promise
should cerncern, Now he hath promised;' or when it is this promise either
was, is to be performed, and in what centre of time we may find Haggai his
intention, and Paul's application hereof in this epistle to this time,
Now, to meet and agree.
2. The second is the explication of
these heavens and earth, and shaking and removing of them; what these import.
1. Now for the first. There is no controversy as to the designment
of this time in the general, viz., that it being opposed to the time of giving
the law, therefore it should note out some time under the gospel; for then
is clearly opposed to now, Whose voice then shook the earth; but
now hath promised,' &c. So that some part or piece of gospel time,
in opposition to the time of the law, should be designed, is acknowledged by
all hands. But the difficulty is, whether this now of the performance of
promise was only the time of the first giving forth the gospel (as the
then shook the earth was at or upon the first giving the law); and so to
design that time only, when Christ was on earth, and his apostles had begun to
preach the gospel. And this so as with that time all this should end and
determine, and with it the commission of Haggai's prophecy as extending to no
further time.
This some assert, observing, 1st, Haggai to speak evidently
of Christ's first coming, and of the signs and prodigies which were found to
accompany his being on earth, in shaking heaven and earth, &c., of which
hereafter. And, 2ndly, they observe the great change and shaking that fell out
there upon in the world, in giving forth the gospel first by Christ, then
succeeded by the apostles, whereby the Gentile nations were then converted, and
Christ, the Desire of all nations, even.the utmost blessing their hearts to the
utmost enlarged could desire, revealed to them, and so come amongst them. And,
3dly, they observe that among the Jews, to whom Haggai directed his prophecy,
there was a shaking and removal of that former frame of worship, &e. (or,
as Paul to the Colossians expresseth it, a blotting out the handwriting
and nailing it to his cross, and so taking it out of way'), set up by the law
of Moses; and instead thereof, that eternal kingdom, the kingdom of heaven (as
the gospel, and the doctrine, worship promises of it are called) set up once
for all. After which God will bring in no new nor further doctrine or worship.
Hence therefore, it is judged by many, that the time of Haggai's prophecy doth
end and. determine with this, in a full and complete accomplishment; as also
Paul's scope his intent here being (as they judge) in his application hereof
(he writing to the Jews about the change of the Jewish worship, &e., which
he had inculcated all along in this epistle) to put a conclusion to this his
argument, which been the subject of his epistle, and to that end allegeth, last
of all, this prophecy of Haggai's, as foretelling this change which they had
seen Christ's coming, as no other than what was foretold by him should come to
pass upon Christ's coming (who now spake to them from heaven, as this
alteration clearly evidenced), viz., a new doctrine; unto whom therefore, and
his doctrine, he most vehemently now at last exhorts them to attend.
Others
observing (as they judge) Paul to step over the mention of Christ's coming, and
to carry the minds of those he wrote to unto other shakings and removals of
heaven and earth yet to come; they on the opposite side have restrained Paul's
scope and intention to the change which is yet to be made upon the second
coming of Christ, the reasons for which I shall give anon. But then how to
reconcile Paul and Haggai together is still the difficulty. For if Paul carries
it to the second coming, and yet Haggai's prophecy doth expressly intend the
first coming; or if Haggai intends the first, how can Paul (who cited
scriptures pertinently, and so as might convince the Jews he wrote to) apply it
to the second especially, as a promise made in Haggai yet to be fulfilled?
I shall endeavour, as I am able, to search and give forth the full intent
and scope both of Paul and Haggai in their utmost latitude, and try if all
these may not justly be reconciled by an amplitude of interpretation of either.
I shall begin with Paul's scope first, and then with Haggai's, and so proceed
to a reconciliation of them.
1. For Paul's mind herein, I shall proceed by
degrees:
As, 1. That his now here takes not in the time of
Christ's being in the flesh only, but the age of the apostles, the present time
he spake this in, which is clear. For his now refers to that now of Christ's
speaking from heaven, and therefore speaks of him as being ascended to heaven,
and from thence now speaking to us on earth; and it was now some years from his
ascension when he wrote this epistle. He was not only come (as Haggai speaks),
but gone again into heaven; and he says not, Refuse not him that hath
spoken from heaven,' in respect that he being a man from heaven when on earth,
first gave the gospel; but as one that now continues to speak from thence.
Then, 2nd, the just reason of this will carry Paul's scope, not only
to be fixed to that present now or age, but all along to the end of the world.
For, 1st, by and for the same reason alleged, that he did shake the earth and
the heavens then in Paul's time, by and for the same reason he must be
acknowledged to continue to do it in all ages after. Now the reason he
attributes it unto then was that he was then speaking from heaven; and so his
voice then had this effect of shaking heaven and earth. Therefore by the same
reason, whilst from heaven he shall thus speak to men, he will continue to
shake both earth and heaven during all that time. His voice, while he speaks
from heaven, will shake earth and heaven, as even that parallel of his shaking
the earth when he gave the law, serves also to persuade. For look, as whilst
the law was a-speaking by the ministry of angels, he is said to speak from
heaven, Exod. xx. 22, and all that while his voice continued to shake the
earth; so here, whilst the gospel is dispensed by the ministry of apostles and
ministers to succeed them, he is all that while said to speak from heaven
as well as at first, and during that time he, for a sign and token of the power
of it, continues more or less to shake earth and heaven. And therefore, as he
hath not ceased to speak, - nor doth to this day, so, nor hath he ceased this
shaking. And therefore, secondly, the apostle speaks in the language of the
present time, I shake. That whereas of his shaking the earth at his
giving the law he speaks in the time past, whose voice then shook the
earth;' and whereas also the prophet Haggai, as prophesying of it, hath said,
I will shake, which interpreters have observed, but not considered enough
for the purport of it; yet of this he speaks in the time being, I shake, I am
a-doing it now, when this was writing, and in that age and I still shake whilst
I speak. As therefore he then was, and still a-speaking from heaven; and it is
the Messiah's voice we hear; so as did then, be also doth still shake, and will
do to the end of the world, when will come himself again, and by his own
immediate voice, elevated louder than ever, as a man transact that great affair
of judging and convincing men face to face, and together therewith shake and
remove heaven earth, once for all, even for everlasting. As therefore the
exhortation apostle useth, Refuse not him that speaks from heaven' (which
is founded upon this motive, For now he hath promised, saying, I shake
heaven earth"), must needs be acknowledged to take hold of us; so likewise
motive or foundation itself, which that exhortation is made upon, must granted
in like manner, to hold and continue in force together therewith and therefore
the performance of it (which keeps it in force) continues to this day as well
as then. Yea, and as some observe from those words He hath promised,
saying, I shake,' that word saying had reference to that of the
25th verse, him that speaks,' or to him speaking, as particularly what
among other things he is a-saying and speaking now from heaven, to move us to
attend to him; even this of the prophet, I shake, though said by way of
prophecy afore, yet is now said by himself heaven over again, by way of renewed
promise and performance. From heaven he still says, I am he that shakes
heavens,' &c., therefore hear him; or, as Paul, and therefore refuse
him not.'
3. From those words of St Paul, Now he hath promised;' that
is, from that particular of it; that he calleth it a promise as yet to be
performed, this assertion is yet more and more argued; for he says not, which
according to his promise he hath performed, as he would have spoken, and was
meet to have been said if it had been fully accomplished; but, as being a
matter still under a promise, which is always of things yet to come as faith
and hope are, and so yet to be performed. Paul says, he now hath promised the
constellation of that promise of Haggai (though in part performed) yet still
reigning, and in its influences not having the whole those events it portended
as yet come to pass. And for this Paul giveth an unanswerable argument, that
still much of it must remain under promise, for the main import of that word
yet once more,' which Paul puts upon it, is to note out that the thing to
be effected was the removal of the things shaken,' as well as shaking
them; and this to the end to settle and establish things which cannot be
shaken.' Thus Paul expoundeth it, ver. 27,' this word,' in the prophet,
yet once more,' says he, signifieth the removal of those things
that are shaken, as of things that are made; that the things which cannot be
shaken may remain.' And therefore it is an undeniable argument, that Paul's
meaning was to hold forth (and that argued by him, out of the words of the
prophet himself) that that promise was not yet fully performed, but the main
thing intended, namely, the removing work, remained yet to be done, and so
under promise.
For it is undeniable, that upon Christ's first coming, and
being upon earth, the heavens or earth then shaken by him, whether you would
understand the Jewish worship, expound it of what you will, what was shaken by
him was not actually removed, but continued still, though loose and weak; and
those that confine, it to the first coming, and Christ's being on earth,
interpret the shaking the heaven, &c., of those signs in the heavens, as
eclipsing the sun and moon at his passion; in the sea, when the winds were
calmed by him, &c. But still I urge, as Paul doth here, these were not
removed then. The sun is where, and as it was, &c., yea, though the veil of
the temple was rent then, to shew that in his death the Jewish worship had its
fatal blow given it virtually by his death; yet actually it was not removed
till afterwards, nay, not till after Paul's time and death, and this epistle
written. And I further urge, that for the same reason that, according to
Haggai's prophecy, the Jewish worship was to be removed, namely, because shaken
by Christ at his death, by the same reason the sun, and moon, and earth,
&c., are to be removed, ere this prophecy shall end, for these also were
shaken then; and the apostle tells us, that the prophet intended the removing
of those things that are or were shaken; yea, and the shaking, or putting out
of course the heavens and sea then did signify, that one day they were to be
removed; yea, the word signifies the removing of things shakeable (or as the
margin varies it, which may be shaken'), that are capable of it; and the
apostle adds, as of things that are made': so then whatever things are
made and shakeable, whether it be Jewish worship or these visible heavens or
earth, made for a time, and begun to be shaken by Christ then, to shew they
were shakeable, and but as it were artificial stuff made by God for a time, or
whatever else was or is to come in the world that is human, or set up by men
made with hands, is according to that prophecy to be shaken and removed, and
therefore it must still needs remain as a promise unperformed in the main part
of its accomplishment.
Yea, and 4thly, it may, according to this,
perhaps not be found wholly contrary to the apostle's spope, but congeniate
thereunto to say, that in those words, But now he hath promised, saying'
(they referring to him that speaks from heaven, ver. 25, as was said), Paul
doth bring in our Lord Christ, as now since his being in heaven, anew ratifying
and saying over again the same promise which had been delivered by Haggai, as
that which was to receive a more full and perfect accomplishment. It is Christ
whom Haggai brought in at the first speaking these words; for in Haggai the
prophecy runs thus, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I will shake,' &c.
It was this Son of God, the Lord of hosts, who gave the law (for his voice then
shook the earth), and who also spake this there, and promised to come in man's
nature, and become the Desire of all nations, and who, as Paul, since his going
to heaven, says, now hath promised, namely, again, himself now saying, and
using those his own words which, in Haggai, he had afore uttered by a prophecy
foretelling it afore his first coming, only because he speaks them now when he
had begun to perform it, he alters the tense and says, I shake.' And then
the result is but this, that the Desire of all nations coming according to
Haggai's prophecy, and shaking all nationsas he was a-coming, and shaking
heaven and earth, upon his being come on earth, and he having, whilst on earth,
and upon his first coming, but performed part of what was intended, and
incompletely, it became him now when gone to heaven, having apostles to utter
his mind from heaven, as infallibly as ever by Haggai he had done; it was but
suitable, I say, to declare and utter by Paul, as also by Peter, in their
doctrine, that he from heaven had ratified and confirmed that promise afresh,
and that in the same words before delivered, especially there being so much of
it yet behind, and so main and essential a part thereof yet left unpaid,- so
that he renews his bond for performance of what is behind; his former bond in
Haggai remaining uncancelled till the whole should be fully paid in, and he
only renews it for more clearness and further security.
And so there are
according to these two last, the third and fourth positions: two senses to be
given that well stand together of these words, But now he hath promised,
saying,'
1. That now, under the gospel, the time is come of which and
concerning which he hath or had thus promised in Haggai; and this is
conespondant to the third position. Or else,
2. The sense of the words
refers to the time of renewing again this promise, that is, Now again he hath
promised' since he went to heaven. This like sense we find, Heb. i. 6,
And again, when he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world, he
saith,' &c., where the word again may either be taken as referring
to he saith, that is, again he saith,' as a new quotation added to
two that went afore, to prove Christ the Son of God, very God; or it may be
taken as referring to his bringing him into world again.'
And as
congruous to this last meaning given, Ambrose and Chrysosto gloss upon this
word yet once more may fitly be taken in; they supposing as in this
explanation I do, that Christ by his apostles from heaven now uttered this
promise after his first coming in the flesh. And if Christ indeed be thus
brought in here by Paul after his being gone to heaven, as renewing the promise
afresh, and saying yet once more, then it necessarly points out a second
performance, yet under promise, that should end all and once for all; us not
having so thoroughly performed what Haggai had prophesied of at his being on
earth, and so withal it gives an acccount of the reason and necessity of
renewing this promise. For Paul in his recourse to the words of Haggai, having
proved the promise to be as unfulfilled in a great part, when in the 27th verse
he urgeth, that once more in the prophet's intention, to signify the
removing of those things that were shaken, therefore hence it was that Christ
had renewed or now again promised the same since his going to heaven, that yet
once more He would come and shake, so as to remove what he shook; which was
meet for him both now to promise, and hereafter to effect. And according to
this intent, the words of the 26th verse are to be understood as a new promise
now given forth; yet renewed and made in Haggai's words, both the analogy and
the likeness of the things promised by the one and other to be done, as also
because he was now to do in effect but what Haggai promised should be done by
him. And, as conspiring with this sense, you may take in the word once
more used in the 27th verse, to refer partly to the very words of Haggai,
as a proof that Haggai intended the same; and yet withal, that word is to be
taken as an explanation of what this renewed promise principally aimed at, as
hath been explained.
Now in the fifth place, that Paul here had in
his eye the second coming of Christ, or at least that effect that shall
accompany it, namely, that shaking heaven and earth then, is evident.
1.
There is not until then a full removal of all that is made, and that is to be
removed; and then, to be sure, it will be done, finally and once all. And
whatever removal else of any other heavens or earth can put in a plea to have
been intended, this which I allege can and may plead the same reason to have
been intended. This hath a visible earth and heaven, reserved for Christ to
shew his power upon, in the removal and change of them, 2 Peter iii. 7.
The heavens and the earth which are now, are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. And if any
other heavens and earth come within the verge of Paul's reason here, why they
were at any time removed, as of things that are made' (which is the
apostle's reason; and he speaks in the language of universality), then all
things whatever, one as well as another, that were alike made to be removed at
any time by God, do come within the compass of the same sentence. And as it is
an universal law against all men, It is appointed for all men once to
die,' so is this an universal judgment passed upon all things, which the word
of God tells us, were made but to serve for a time one as well as another, and
therefore takes hold of these heavens and earth, which the word of God doth
declare to us to be kept in store for the fire, and to be in respect of the
condition they now are in, or use they now serve for, but as a stage or
masque-house, which, when the story of this world is ended, is to be removed.
And,
2. More particularly; the apostle's scope is clearly to work a dread
and awe in the hearts of those he wrote to, of this great person that speaks
from heaven, as one that threatens and will execute vengeance on them that will
refuse to hear him: ver. 25, If they escaped not who refused him that
spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that
speaketh from heaven.' And to edge and pursue this exhortation, thus mingled
with threatening, he allegeth this promise of shaking the heavens and the earth
one day, parallel to that at the giving the law, and concludeth it with this,
For our God is a consuming fire:' therein more eminently pointing at that
change and removal of the earth and heavens, and the destruction of wicked men
at the latter day. Even as Peter had also spoken; and comparing the words, we
have an eviction in them: 2 Peter iii. 7, But e heavens and the earth
which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.'
Neither, 3, is there any
other shaking the heavens and the earth which holds so fair and clear a
correspondency with that shaking the earth by j Christ (which Paul here
mentions as the parallel of his shaking the heavens intended by him), which was
at the giving the law, as this of the latter doth, and may therefore be
supposed more intended than any other. For then, as at the 18th verse of this
chapter, he came down with fire and smoke; the mountain burned with fire,
and there was blackness, darkness, and tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and the
voice of words' uttered by angels, chap. ii. 2, which they could not endure,
verses 18, 19: so now there is parallel with it, his coming at the latter day,
as to the Thessalonians in each epistle Paul hath set it forth: 1 Thess. iv 16,
The Lord himself from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and the trumpet of God.' And 2 Thess. i. 8, With his mighty
angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel of
God.' And Paul speaks suitably, Heb. xii. 25, See you refuse not him that
speaks from heaven.' (obey his gospel); for if his voice then shook the earth
thus, it will one day shake the heavens, and he manifest himself a consuming
fire, rendering vengeance unto such.
4. Add to this, that Peter having
treated of this great day, and burning heaven and earth by fire (as hath been
cited, chap. iii. of his epistle, from the 5th to the 15th), he confirmeth the
doctrine of it, and his exhortation thereon founded, from the testimony of
Paul, who, as he says, had in all his epistles, but especially now in an
epistle written to the Jews (which is this to the Hebrews, to whom also Peter,
the apostle of the circumcision, directed these of his, 1 Peter i. 1, as is
generally acknowledged) inculcated the same. Now where, in all this epistle to
the Hebrews, can any passage be singled forth, that hold so direct a
correspondency with those in Peter, as these words do? both speaking so alike
of the removing and burning of heaven and the earth by the power of Christ, who
is a consuming fire. So, then, we have Peter's testimony concurring with us in
this interpretation.
And thus much for Paul's more eminent intention. I
come to Haggai's. It is, in the second place, as clear, that Haggai his scope
was, to fix, eyes of the Jews he wrote unto upon the first coming of Christ in
the flesh, and the signs and effects of that coming of his, both those which
afore, or accompanied his presence on earth, or followed presently after.
1. He must needs intend the first coming of Christ in the flesh, when he
uttered that promise, ver. 7, And I will shake all nations, and the
Desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith
the Lord of hosts;' not only because that was yet to come, in the days of his
prophecy, and it was the first coming that was to come between his times and
this second coming of Christ, but because it was next and most in the eyes ard
expectations of himself and these Jews he spake to. And it was that coming,
concerning which the promise of yet a little while was made, and must
needs be supposed to have its first and immediate reference unto, put in for
relieving the impatiency of that people's spirits, who waited so long. Whereas,
had it only and immediately respeted the second coming of Christ, it had not
been yet a little while to them, but far larger (as now in our days it is since
Haggai's time), than from their coming of Egypt until then. -
2. His scope
argues it, which was to encourage them to finish the a temple, and to comfort
themselves against the outward meanness of it, in comparison of the former
built by Solomon. And he comforts them with this, that the Messiah himself
should come into this second temple; ver. 8, 9, The silver is mine, and
the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall
be greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of hosts; and in this place
will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.'He points to that material temple
then a-building, as those words show, ver 8. and so his meaning is; whereas the
temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians, was in all outward respects
far more glorious in proportion and was filled with a glory from God at the
dedication of it. Know (says the prophet) that a greater glory shall in the end
fill this. And Malachi utters the very same, He whom ye delight in'
(their Messiah) shall come into his temple,' Mal. iii. 1; where he so
often preached and uttered His glory: John xviii. 20, Jesus answered him,
I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple,
whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.' And thus
the Jews generally, afore the destruction of the temple, understood the mind of
this prophecy to be, that that temple should stand to the coming of Messiah;
but since, the Jews have sought evasions, because, if granted, it is an
undeniable argument of our Christ being come in the flesh.
3. The shaking
of the heavens and the earth, Haggai himself interprets, ver. 21, 22, of
throwing down kingdoms and monarchies during that space or small remnant of
time left, as forerunning signs that the king and Lord of all the world was
a-coming into it: Speak to Zerubbabel, governor Judah, saying, I will
shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms;
and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will
overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their
riders shall come down, every one by, the sword of his brother.' These stirs
began a little after Haggai's time throughout the earth; and that the prophet
had those confusions in all other nations, which were antecedaneous to Christ's
first coming, in his eye, is eminent by this, that for the comfort of the Jews
he tells them both (ver. 9) that they in the mean time should have peace, as in
comparison of all other nations they eminently had; as the stories of the
Maecabees and of Josephus shew. And he says that Zerubbabel and his successors
should be as a signet, whom God would have a dear and special care to preserve
(ver. 23) in the midst of those general commotions. Thus far Haggai's next and
more immediate meaning doth reach.
The next thing is, to make the
reconciliation of these two, Paul and Haggai. We must hold this fast as a most
certain truth, that Paul here quotes that place of Haggai according to the true
aim that the Holy Ghost intended; for he setting himself in this epistle all
along to prove what he asserts out of the Old Testament, his scope therein
being to confirm the Jews he wrote to in the great points of Christian
religion, they would expect (being many of them unsettled) that the proofs
which he should allege should be punctual and convictive; and in that he so
expressly termeth that shaking a promise in his time, and yet to be
fulfilled, it necessarily argues it so intended by the Holy Ghost, as a thing
then promised and prophesied of by Haggai. For the reconciliation and
demonstration thereof, I shall lay down these four general assertions.
1st.
General position is, that the scope of Haggai, as well as Paul, is to
comprehend and sum up all the proceedings and transactions of Christ under the
gospel, throughout his whole reign, in shaking and removing what is
heterogeneal or opposite to his kingdom, and advancing thereof to its perfect
glory. And this position alone, if cleared, will sufficiently reconcile both,
and justify Paul's quotation as pertinent. I shall clear this assertion in such
a manner as at once to prevent objections, as well as establish the truth of it
by degrees.
1. I observe in Haggai two things distinctly prophesied of: the
one, the coming of Christ the Messiah; the other, I will shake the
heavens and the earth, &c., and all nations.' And then take this along with
you, to prevent a great mistake, that the Holy Ghosts intention, in his mention
of the latter, is not only or barely of them as signs and tokens that should
fore-run or accompany that his coming - the restraining it unto which alone
hath caused a narrowing of the prophet's scope - but it is withal to be
understood as the great design and consequent or business of the coming of the
Messiah, as Lord of the world, into the world. He speaks of the work which he
should effect, and came for, and is therefore one distinct part of this
prophecy, and as eminent as the other of his coming. And to put such an eminent
observancy of it, he mentions it first in order', I will shake, and the
Desire of all nations shall come." Which order of the words hath occasioned
some to confine this shaking to what passed afore Christ's coming, and so only
to the forerunning signs thereof which must be acknowledged, is to be taken
into the prophet's scope. But to the full cornprehension of his meaning, or the
Holy Ghost's rather, this shaking is to be understood of a great design God
had, farther than Christ's first coming; and so to hold forth one great part of
the counsel of God towards this world, in the changes and alterations thereof,
as the main errand of the Messiah's coming. And indeed, even those that most
restrain it to the first coming of Christ, as prodigies and signs, &c., of
it, do yet contradict themselves in this; that they interpret, -
(1.) This
shaking the heavens, not only of what went afore his coming - but of what also
after his coming whilst upon earth. And,
(2.) That the shaking of all
nations, they interpret the conversion of Gentiles to the Christian faith,
which was to be after Christ's being gone to heaven. And so according even to
their interpretation, it is not to be understood in this sense only of
fore-running signs, as to this sense, I will do all these things afore, and
then the Desire of all nations shall come. And you may observe, that Paul here
mentions not at all that part of the prophecy of the Messiah's coming, nor did
he cite it as a proof or evidence of the Messiah's being come (though it served
most fitly thereto), but takes that for granted, and chiefly singleth out that
part of it which was the designed work of his coming when come, as that which
is to be the demonsration of his power and glory, thereby to work a dread in
the hearts of those he wrote unto, and all men to whom the sound thereof should
come, how great a person he was that now spake from heaven, evidenced from
greatness of the work which was the design of his coming, even to shake and
remove the heavens and earth itself, as was here prophesied of him, and who
therefore would be to the refusers of him a consuming fire.
2. The word
once more, or yet once, is in the prophet not to be joined or put
in construction with this part of the prophecy, the Desire of all the
nations shall come,' as to this sense, that yet once, and he shall come, and
but once. That were an evident falsehood to have spoken in days; for Messiah
had in the days of his prophecy both a first and a second coming, as in
distinction from the first it is called, chap. ix. 28;- Yot therefore observe
the apostle applying and conjoining the word once more only unto this
other part, Yet once more, and I will shake heaven and earth,' leaving
that other particle it is a little while' to be applied to other of his
coming by the prophet spoken of, taking and urging this once as properly
belonging to his work of shaking. And,
3. As this word yet once is
to be understood as relating to this work or business to be done, so it was put
in to signify and import the thorough and effectual performance of that work,
as the greatest and last that God hath a purpose to do; that it shall not cease
when begun, till he hath thoroughly shaken, and removed, and settled once for
ever that which shall never be shaken; and so that it is the utmost and last
that shall be done. God hath but this one work to do, to remove all that is
made, and to set up a kingdom which cannot be moved; so that the expression
once imports he will make but one work of it. And in this sense Paul urgeth the
import and signification of the word yet once more. And this also
discovers another mistake that diverts the interpretation; for the word
once sounds ( at the first hearing of it) as if it noted out only some
point of one time, whereas all that is to be done shall be at once done, or
mainly some one special instant of time allotted for what is to be done, and
that done in a trice (as may we say), once, so as not be done again a second
time. But if it be so understood, it cannot be applied to that part of the
prophecy concerning the coming of Christ, for so it were a manifest falsehood;
and so to say in that sense, he shall come,' were a contradiction to that
which Haggai asserts, that he should come, not only a first, but a second time.
But to apply it to this work of shaking and removing all things, as noting
forth the thorough and effectual doing of it, a doing it to purpose, this sense
will admit a continuation of that work for a long while; yea, and therein a
reiteration of doing the same thing towards it again and again (when but
imperfectly at first), until it be done thoroughly and to purpose, and hath
attained its full intended perfection at last. A man may be said to intend to
write but one book or treatise once for all, and after it no other (as the
utmost sum of his thoughts), and yet be a-writing it by pieces for many years,
yea, over and over, till he hath completed and perfected it. So here to say,
yet once more I will shake, so as to remove, and then no more,' will bear
and admit a shaking, and shaking again over and over; first, one piece or part
of an old building, suppose, and then another, till he hath perfectly renewed
it, and set up another once for all in the room thereof. For all is but one and
the same work, though necessarily reiterated until perfected; and that
perfection at last is the once that was intended. Or look, as that may be said
to be but one earthquake, which continuing for many days, hath yet many throbs,
and shakes down first one house, then another; or that travail but one birth
that yet hath many throes; so here, the word yet once more' will, without
any such contradiction, admit and take into its comprehension the whole work of
Christ's shaking and removing,'from first to last, and every part and parcel
thereof, as belonging and appertaining to all and every piece thereof, unto one
perfect complete work, which when done is done once for ever. Now then, to
restrain it unto those first times of the gospel, and the shakings that first
accompanied Christ's first coming, is to restrain it from the attainment of its
full end, and limit it unto what is imperfect, and but the least piece of this
work. So then, though this word yet once being applied unto Christ's
coming, or to those words, the Desire of all nations shall come,' would
exclude a second meaning; yet being thus understood and applied (as it ought)
to the work and business itself, as the intent of his coming, then it will also
admit a first and second coming, or a.third (if a third were to come), and all
of them prophesied of, whenas all of them are in order to effect and complete
the business that is at length to be fully done.
4. I observe, the apostle
doth indeed draw and interpret Haggai's shaking heavens and earth, &c., to
this, that God's great design, or that one work (as we say), is to remove what
is made, diverse from, or not belonging to a kingdom, which he means to set up
as his utmost master-piece, once for all; and then he hath done for ever, and
will do no more. This is expressed, ver. 27, 28, And this word, yet
once more, signifieth 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
whereby we may serve God acceptably.' It is evident by the contexture of Paul's
speech, that he doth collect or infer from this prophetic speech of Haggai this
kingdom of Christ, which cannot be moved, as intended and prophesied of by
Haggai, as well as the removal of things that were made to be preludes to it.
That same wherefore, ver. 23, sounds forth this a reference to, with an
inference from the prophet's speech; he strongly enforcing both from that one
word of the prophet, yet once more.' For as Beza glosseth on it from the
word yet, in, he infers the moveable condition of all other things that are not
ingredients into Christ's kingdom. And from the word once more (as we use to
speak) he argues something that shall succeed it, and be in the room of it,
when the other is removed, that shall remain, and so shall become a work of
God's once for ever. And both these, I say, equally and alike are inferred from
the prophet's words.
Now there is nothing more consonant to reason than
that the prophet's scope should be to prophesy of Christ's kingdom, under those
expressions of shaking heaven and earth, &c., as signifying thereby the
removal and throwing down all high and potent oppositions thereunto, or
possessing the room thereof. Yea, and it became him as well to insert the
prophecy of this then, when he spake of his coming in the flesh, as conjoined
therewith and the designed work thereof. For,
(1.) The setting up this
immoveable kingdom of Christ was the issue and mark of all the prophets that
have been since the world began, as Zechariah in his song tells us; of which
David speaks (upon whose throne he knew Messiah was to sit, Acts ii. 30), and
others also in many psalms, Ps. lxxxii., xciii.,xciv., xcv., xcvi., xcvii.,
xcviii., &c.; and Daniel also speaks to the same purpose, Dan. viii. 2, 24,
and chap. vii. 9, 27: in all which when you read, you will find the throwing
down of all other kingdoms and worldly excellencies that have, or should have,
never so firm a rooting in the world, are still prophesied of, in order to the
erecting this kingdom of Christ. And so, whilst many of the prophets prophesied
of the one, they necessarily intended the other. To express this out of Daniel
once for all, chap. ii. 44, 45, The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed; but it shall break in pieces the iron, the
brass, clay, and the gold, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
ever.' Or, if you will have it in the Psalmist's words (reiterated again and
again) sounding nearer to the apostle's here, The Lord reigneth; the
world also' (that new world he brings in) shall be established, that it
shall be moved.' Now then Haggai prophesying, though under another meteor
namely, the shaking of the heavens and earth, the sea, and the dry land (which
phrases, how they serve to express the removing all these, or whatever else can
be supposed made, or heterogeneal to it, I shall here shew), the prophet doing
this together and with the same breath when he prophesies of Messiah's coming;
this must needs be acknowledged with the rest of its fellow-prophecies, to
point at and intend the bringing in of the kingdom of Christ, where, in order
to the erection of it, he foretells removing of all else, even from the heights
above to the depths below; else that possessed the room of it; especially,
considering that the erecting of this kingdom is made by all the holy prophets
and apostles, the end, errand, or business of Christ's coming into the world,
whereof, together with it, this our prophet here speaketh. And further,
(2.) He that shall duly weigh the prophet's inserting this royal title his,
The Desire of all nations,' whilst he prophesies this of him, that he
should shake all nations, may perhaps easily be persuaded to judge this to be
most genuine and natural import thereof; even prophetically to shew what he
should be unto all nations, when shaken and converted to him, even their Lord
and king. Then, when he hath by shaking all nations converted these and brought
them under his subjection, and so taken, the words are found expressly to
prophesy of this his kingdom, to be set over all nations, not over the Jews
only; for we all know, that desire to another (which is all one, as to call
that other one's desire) is put to express subjection to him as a lord or
superior; as that of the wife to the husband, Thy desire shall be to thy
husband,' which is explained, and he shall rule over thee,' Gen.
ii. 16. And again, chap. iv. 7, the subjection of Abel as the younger
brother (by the law of nature then) is likewise thus expressed, Unto
thee' (speaking to Cain) shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over
him.' And more pertinently, in the same language, did Samuel prophesy to Saul
that he should be chosen, and set up as king by all the tribes of Israel: he
thus expresseth it, On whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on
thee?' 1 Sam. ix. 20. It is as much as to say, that their desire is to make
thee their king and ruler. And thus Haggai here says of all the nations of the
world, receiving Christ for their king, The Desire of all nations shall
come, and shake all nations;' so expressly prophesying of his kingdom, and
converting all nations to him, and removing what is opposite to that his
kingdom among them.
5. Now from hence, in the first place, it will easily
follow, that this work and design is such as the proceedings of it do take up
and run along through the whole time of the New Testament, the space of
Christ's reign, and is not to be limited to any particular, as the removal of
Moses's law, or the like. Yea, and indeed that was the prophet's intendment, to
include all as well as any one; both which are evident if we consider,
(1.)
That the whole time of the New Testament is allotted to this work, that is, the
removal of what is opposite, and the advancement of his kingdom. Christ hath
both set that whole time to effect it in, and is continually a-doing of it one
way or other; He must reign' (that is, continue to reign, having then
begun to reign) until he hath put all things under his feet, and subdued
all things under him;' which therefore, while he reigns, he goes on to do age
after age. And though some one age may bring forth a full birth of some eminent
shaking of what had been long and fixedly rooted in the world before, yet the
occurrence of those many ages afore had wrought together to the ripening of it;
and when some one such piece is completed, then a new design is set on foot to
shake some other thing that riseth up, or which was left in opposition to his
kingdom. one way or other, so as this work is perpetrated throughout that whole
time. And this agrees with Daniel's prophecy, which, as you heard, in the
matter prophesied of agrees with Haggai, who sets out the whole time of the New
Testament, as the space allotted for this work; whilst he foretelleth, that in
the days of the fourth monarchy a kingdom should be set up, which, after the
setting it up, should by degrees break in pieces all those kingdoms, to advance
its own throne and dominion for ever: Dan. ii. 44, And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall
break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever;'
so that all the time, from the days when it first began, which was upon
Christ's first coming and ascending to heaven in the days of the Roman empire,
to its attainment of the full sole dominion, is allotted for the
breaking in pieces,' or in Haggai's phrase shaking,'
in Paul's, removing and subduing,' all things else that stand in
the way of it. And because this kingdom was, when Paul wrote this, in
existence, and actually begun, therefore Paul said, we receiving a
kingdom,' which must shake and remove all things else. And thus Paul's
now, Haggai's yet once more, Daniel's days of the kingdoms
of this world, are one and the same space of time set out, though a long one,
for this great work of shaking, that was to continue during that time. And,
(2.) It will hence follow, that Haggai, thus prophesying of the work of
Christ's reign and kingdom, must be understood to have intended all such
shakings, one as well as another, that are in order thereto; for the same
reason why any one shaking of one sort or kind, in order to advance Christ's
kingdom, should and doth hold as well, and carry us on to any and to all other
that tend alike to the same end. For though the things shaken may be diverse,
yet the work of shaking them is all of one and the same But especially because
Haggai, by his shaking, manifestly intended a removal, and a thorough removal
of all, as of one work, once for all, theref no other than the total removal of
all things; and so of one as well as the other, though one after another, must
be alike intended by him. His once more extends itself to all that
Christ himself (in whose name he spake) intended to do of this kind of work. I
will do it once, that is, thoroughly and so rest and cease from all such kind
of work for ever. Now, therefor whoever should confine the prophet's aim and
speech to any one kind of shaking, in some one age (as suppose that of the
Jewish fabric in the primmitive times), when yet Christ had designed divers as
great works of removal of other things afterwards, would thereby, though
unwarily, make the prophet to speak an untruth. For after he had in Christ's
name said once more I shake,' and but once more I will shake, and then no
more but end and cease that kind of work, as that word once imports; and
and Christ should yet afterwards shake other things as great, yea, greater than
the first that were shaken, even the gospel worship and administrations
themselves that came in the room of the Jewish by Christ's institution, and
last of all these heavens and earth, this would be untrue. Therefore this word
once more, being thus put in, signifies both a total removal and a
thorough shaking, as one entire, complete work, of all but Christ's kingdom,
and what it was for ever to to remain. Hence therefore necessarily it must take
into the compass of it all and every shaking of Christ's, in their succession,
in after ages, from first to last, and bind and grasp them all into one bundle.
For if any were left out, and were after to be done, Haggai's once more
having put a period to that kind of work, had precluded and fore-spoken their
being never to be done. For why, God had by the prophet set out his
finis to that sort of work, and engaged himself hereby to do no more the
like. On the other side, whilst any one piece of this work were yet left to be
done, it might not only be said the whole work was imperfect, but that Haggai's
prophecy was not yet fulfilled and accomplished; for he prophesied of a full,
final, and total removal, in saying but once more I will shake' and yet
still something was left and remained behind; it must necessarily, therefore,
take in all.
4. This will more clearly appear, if we bring all or any such
particular instances of shakings, which any have gone about to determine the
date of this prophecy withal, and to circumscribe its meaning in the circle of
it, to a due trial and examination. The issue of which trial will be found that
no man will know where rationally to fix the non ultra of it in
particular accomplishments, and to stay the waves of it, but so as the like
reason will break in upon him, and carry him on to take in still more more to
the end of the world; or else some defect, or absurdity or other. Which will
appear in such a confinement. Which will appear by bringing each their order to
their trial, and let them each put in their plea.
1. Will any pitch upon
these great alterations in states and kingdoms which did forerun his coming,
and took up the space between Haggai's and Christ's time, and those prodigies
in the heavens, which are usually cited by interpreters, that fell out before
Christ? If he will therewith shut up the extent of the prophecy, he will not
only, (1.) much eclipse the spreading glorious beams of this prophecy; but,
(2.) exclude thereby these prodigies and miracles in the heavens and the earth
that were wrought when Christ was in the flesh, and afore he went to heaven.
And,
2. Those that will further extend into that date of Christ's
ascension, so take in the signs that accompany his being come, as well as those
that forewent it, still will find they leave out that glorious shaking of all
in the conversion of the Gentiles and nations, which Haggai here and all the
prophets spake of; and which is the greatest evidence that Christ is not come
only, but is ascended, and hath erected that kingdom in all nations which shall
never be removed. For Christ was but new gone to heaven, the apostles found the
house at Jerusalem only shaking under them, and three thousand converted,
whenas afterwards the whole world was. He, upon his ascension, receiving all
power in heaven and earth to shake both; thereupon the gathermg of the
people was to him,' and all nations began to desire him, and stand astonished
at him. And so therewith we must admit the alterations of the primitive times,
wherein Paul and other apostles saw this effected, and so Paul's now, to be
that present age. And,
3. Having gone so far, we shall be tolled on to
comprehend in the aim of the prophecy, that great and eminent change, above all
other, of Moses his ceremonial law, which the apostle so much inculcates in
this epistle, that with the change of the high priest, there must needs
be a change of the law;' and herewith most interpreters do bound it, as having
received a fair and full accomplishment, this change being, as they allege, but
once for all. For the gospel, or kingdom of heaven, that comes in the room of
it, is an everlasting gospel: and the word we preach to you,' saith
Peter, abides for ever.' This change indeed, because it fell out first,
interpreters have rested on, and thought it enough; yet to set up the rest
here, and stretch it no further, is evidently short and defective, and hath its
absurdities. For,
(1.) In this very comparison which the apostle here
useth, Moses his law, worship, &c., doth bear but the proportion of the
earth; and therefore Moses is said to speak on earth (ver. 25) in comparison of
what Christ brought in, the ordinances, institutions, and administrations of
which are called heavenly in opposition to them (Heb. ix. 23), as being given
by him that was from heaven. Now, the change that Paul brings the prophet to
foretell, is expressly said to be not only the removal of the earth, but of the
heavens also. And so the prophet's scope is not accomplished in the abolition
of the Jewish, but even the heavenly ordinances, which had been brought in in
their stead, must one day be removed by virtue of it; and to fulfil it, the
sun, and the moon, and the stars, the ordinances that rule and govern the times
of the gospel, must also he shaken and dissolved; so as that change of the
Jewish state is but a mean and a low one in comparison of what Haggai meant and
intended. Yea, and the gospel ordinances being removed as well as the Jewish
was, the prophecy is to cease; the Lord's supper, &c., to continue but till
Christ comes. Nor Paul nor Haggai could have said that God would shake but
once, and mean the Jewish earth only, when after that these heavens were to be
removed also; he thereby endeavouring to reach the highest and utmost change,
whatever that could or ever should be. And,
(2.) Though the Jewish fabric
was in Paul's time shaken, when he wrote this, yet it was not removed till
after; for the temple worship stood some years after this epistle. And the
apostle speaks of a removal of what is shaken, not a shaking only; and so the
prophet also. And so it must yet be stretched to the destruction of Jerusalem,
after the apostle's death. And if intended thus of the Mosaical rites, then as
yet it is not fully accomplished; for the Jews to this day stick to a uphold
those observations of the ceremonial law, even all which their exile out of
their country will permit them. And our apostle tells us that Moses's veil is
still upon their hearts, but when converted it shall be taken away (2 Cor.
iii.); so it may be truly said that it is removed, as here. And therefore till
there is not (no, not in that respect) a full accomplishment of Haggai prophecy
so understood. So, then, still we are under this promise un the Jews'
conversion; and the prophet's intention having gone these many miles with us,
we may easily persuade ourselves it will go throughout the world's end, and
reach the day of judgment, as by this invincible reason it doth. For till then
the ordinances of heaven, the gospel institutions, will not be removed.
(3.) And it having stretched its line over all time, to such changes yet
come, we may as well enclose within the compass of it all other alterations of
religions, false and supposititious, that are and have been found in the world
during all this space of time, or shall fall out; and bring them in topay
contribution unto Haggai's prophecy; as that change of the whole Roman world
from heathenish religion to embrace Christianity, and popish idolatry to the
purity of worship, and the alterations of states kingdoms together herewith;
and all these may be inferred by as good a warrant out of the prophet, as that
change made of the Jewish religion and kingdom, not only because these are all
in Scripture language denominated heavens and earth, as well as any of the
former, but further, because, -
[1] The shaking which Haggai prophesied of,
was a shaking in all nations and so is not only, much less principally, meant
of the Jews or Jews' religion only, whose law was given only unto that nation,
and not the Gentiles, though converted unto Christ. It imports therefore, that
Christ would make some work in all the nations, as he did in the Jewish. That
look what was done to the green tree of the Jewish religion, &c., should be
done to the dry; the same elsewhere. And,
[2] It is not a shaking of
persons only in conversion, but of things that are to be removed, they are the
subjects of this abolition, which is evident from the interpreting it of that
judicial remove, which was not only effected by the conversion of many of that
nation to Christ, which was but common to them with all other nations; but
chiefly it is to be understood of abolition of the temple sacrifices, &c.
And by the like proportion of reason (this being a shaking of all nations, not
the Jewish only, as that which more expressly and literally spoken than that of
the Jews), the shaking and removal of all things in all nations, and not of the
conversion only of persons in all nations that are opposite to, or possess the
room of Christ's kingdom, will come in to have been intended, and as eminently.
And therefore -
[3] The apostle interprets it of the shaking of all things
made, not persons only, as the principal subjects of this vengeance. And there
are and ha been in all nations things made, and so made to be destroyed. All
things that are human in religion, whether false religions themselves, or what
is superstition in the true, comes under the same praemunire of Haggai's
prophecy that the Jewish religion did, and by juster sentence; for that had a
better plea for itself, having been made by God. And to be sure, thay are much
rather to be removed than the ordinances of the gospel, which were made by
Christ himself, which yet must submit to this general law, and suffer this fall
in the end, by virtue of this writ of prophecy that comes to us by Haggai's
commission. And,
[4] If it be thus extended to changes in religion in all
nations, diverse from the gospel, and removing all such things that stand in a
nearer competition with the things belonging to Christ's kingdom, then truly we
may without much difficulty be persuaded to take in all the alterations,
shakings, and removals civil that have been in states for religion's sake, and
in the quarrel of Christ and his truth, which have at any time since fallen out
in the world. For,
First; If those alterations in kingdoms, which
foreran the coming of Christ, as signs of it, are taken in by Haggai, and so
interpreted by Haggai himself, ver. 20 of this chapter (of which more anon),
then much more these commotions in all nations that have followed upon his
going to heaven (seeing those in religion since Christ's ascension are
entertained into it), not only because they are of the same rank and sort, and
so may as aptly come into this catalogue and account as their fellows afore
Christ did ; but further, because they are proper and immediate effects of his
being come, yea, demonstrations and puttings forth of his power and rule, that
was given when he went to heaven. Whereas those other were but signs of his
coming to come, and so warnings to the world that when he should come, he would
do the same, and far greater. And,
Secondly; The powers and
dominions in all are and have been the great upholders of those things in
religion that were made to be destroyed, and so, having still cast their lot
with them, will alike perish together. Yea, the powers of this world have been
the great opposers of the interest of Christ in all ages, and are therefore
more particularly set out as Christ's mark to remove and subdue: He must
rule, till He hath put down all rule and dominion.' And,
Thirdly;
The Jewish state; the sceptre or government of it was broken, as well as their
religion abrogated; and so shall all other, so far as they stick to what is
false. And, -
Fourthly; States and kingdoms, and the governments,
and powers, and ranks in them, are as ordinarily set forth by this metaphor of
heaven and earth; and the changes therein, by the shaking of heaven or earth,
as any other. And the shaking of all conditions of persons in them, when
opposite to the gospel, is more properly a shaking the nations themselves
(which is the letter of the prophecy) than any other accomplishment.
Fifthly; By the conduct of these threads that have carried us to
this length of time, the end of the world, to this extent of things, to all
that is made in religion, to all powers that oppose and stand in the way of
Christ's kingdom, we may now be brought to think that nothing is to be left out
of the reach of Haggai's net, but that it is cast over all that is any way or
ever to be removed; and so throw this line of desolation over the visible
heaven and earth we see, which we know one day will be removed.
Sixthly, and lastly, We may also think the last days of the gospel
the special times intended for the perfecting these works of,Christ. For,
1st, Though it be true that Haggai doth explicitly in his words and
intendment fix his eye upon that first coming of Christ in the flesh, as that
which he eminently points, A little while, and the Desire of all nations
shall come;' yet this hinders not, but that his intendment was to prophesy of
that kingdom he should come to set up in shaking all nations, and removing in
all nations what was opposite thereto during his whole reign. For all and every
of such changes he should make, from his first coming to the end, were alike
the end of that his coming and taking man's nature, and their original, their
motion and influence were from thence. This was the spring did from that time
set all the wheels agoing, which have never since ceased; wheel moving within
wheel (as Ezekiel), until this engine brought then into the world hath forced
down all the old frame of things whatever, and set up a new, which work hath in
every age gone on, more secretly or openly, to this day. And therefore it were
derogatory to the honour of Christ to limit the prophet's intent unto the
occurrences that fell out at his first coming, or in that age. And if there had
been no other dependence between this great design and his first coming, than
simply that the putting it in execution beareth date from thence, and it had
its rise and beginning therefrom, it were sufficient reason that first coming
alone should be so eminently mentioned above any other, though the whole of
what followed thereon were intended. But further, it was causal, and set it all
a-foot. Nor was it needful in that respect explicitly to mention his second
coming, though that should be for the complete accomplishment of the; work.
Besides,
2nd. No wonder if the prophet in his times, primarily, and in the
first place, and explicitly did foretell his first coming; because the time he
lived in was that in which the Jews had their eminent, and in some respect
their only, expectation of the promised Messiah: the next great thing to be
done, which their eyes and hearts were intent upon. And it is as little a
wonder, if the apostle in his time (after that coming was past), carries on the
eyes and hearts of these Jews he wrote to, to all that yet remained to be
accomplished of this work, and was yet behind (whereof the greatest part by far
was to come), and more especially to a second coming, which should accomplish
it; which brings me to the second part of this assoilment or reconciliation of
Haggai and Paul, to be added to the former, to make the answer full ; - namly,
that one and the same prophecy had often such a comprehensiveness in it, as it
may involve and take into itself many accomplishments and so be fulfilled over
and over. Instances of this in scriptures, we find many. That voice in Ramah,
of Rachel weeping for her children which were Ephraim and Benjamin, Jer. xxxi.
15, foretold the destruction of some, and leading others into the captivity of
Babylon; from whence the promise is, they should be brought again into their
own border, and was then fulfilled. And yet this was verified in the slaughter
of those infants in and about Bethlehem, by Herod, in our Saviour's time, where
Rachel was buried. Yea, and there shall be a like ground for this lamentation a
third time, at the calling of the Jews, which is yet to come; for even unto
that doth the promise made then, reach. If Rachel were alive, she could not but
lament for her son Ephraim and all his posterity as utterly lost; for they
themselves know not themselves, nor none other in the world, where the ten
tribes are, or what nation they are. She wou1d cry out, Ephraim is not,
he is a lost child;' yet they shall be converted, and owned by God for his
pleasant child. There is hope,' says God, in thine end,' speaking
of the latter day; Thy sons shall come into their former border,' verses
17, 18; 19, 20. Thus the destruction of Jerusalem, , prophesied of by Isaiah,
chap. xxix. from ver. 1 to the 13th, for the cause there specified - verses 13,
14, Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth, and with their
lips do honour me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear
towards me is taught by the precepts of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed
to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder;
for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their
prudent men shall be hid' - is applied by Christ, as a prophecy of the like
superstitions and temper of the Jews' spirit in his time; so as the cause of
that second destruction of Jerusalem that followed, by Titus, Mat. xv. 7, 8,
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but
their heart is far from me.' Both which destructions of that city, did (God's
providence thereby shewing the parallel that held between them), as Josephus
records, fall out on the same day of the month. Thus also that prophecy of
Jeremiah, chap. xvi. ver-. 14, 15, and chap. xxiii. ver. 8, Behold, the
days come, that it shall be no more said, 'The Lord liveth, that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; but, the Lord liveth, that
brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the
lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land
that I gave unto their fathers;'- this was manifestly intended of, and
fulfilled in, their deliverance out of Babylon; and as manifestly the same is
intended of their conversion and deliverance yet to come, in the days of the
gospel, out of all lands, as chap: xxiii. verses 6, 7, 8, where the same
prophecy is in the same words repeated, and there undeniably applied to the
times of Christ, and remains yet to be fulfilled: In his days Judah shall
be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall
be called, The LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that they shall no more say, 'The Lord liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up, and
which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from
all countries whither I have driven them; and they shall dwell in their own
land.' I say, it is to be fulfilled (to use Isaiah's words) a second time, Isa.
xi. 11. To instance in no more examples foreign to the thing in hand, but in
such as are more parallel unto that which in Haggai we have in hand (it being a
prophecy of Christ's coming as a redeemer), as this also is. There is none that
reads those words, Isa. lix. 28, And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and
unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord,' but will
presently have his eyes upon Christ's first coming in the flesh to preach unto
the Jews, which he did; especially, if he shall withal read Peter's sermon to
the Jews of that age, speaking in the very words of that prophecy, Acts iii.
26, God hath sent Jesus to bless you, by turning every one of you from
his iniquities.' Yea, and Jeremiah certainly, and the Jews in his days, had
this first coming of the Messiah in their eye, and perhaps it only; and yet the
Holy Ghost, in penning this, had a further eye upon his coming to them, as a
redeemer, to convert them, in the last days. Therefore Paul guided by that
Spirit, is bold to apply this as a proof of Christ's coming in his Spirit (or
perhaps visible appearance, such as made to himself when converted to Christ),
to convert the nation of the Jews, after their rejection, under these times of
the gospel, which is yet to come; Rom. xi. ver 26, - All Israel shall be
saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' - And why shoild not the like hold here in
the prophecy of Haggai? That although the prophet himself, and the Jews he
spake it unto, had their eyes only fixed upon the first coming of Christ, and
the alterations and shakings then made, yet the Holy Ghost had a further eye
upon a second coming, accompanied with greater shakings both afore and after.
And,
3rd. This rule must needs be acknowledged in a special manner to hold
true, when there are many and several gradual accomplishments of one and the
same kind of work done by degrees and parts, which are all of one sort or kind,
and all at last to be cast up in one total sum, and which may be reduced to one
general head that comprends them all. In this case a prophecy may be applied to
each of those performances, and may be said to be fulfilled in the first, and
yet remains to be fulfilled, and still under promise in respect of a future
accomplishment. And such indeed is that instance given, which upon Christ's
first coming in the flesh, had an imperfect handsel, and first fruits of
performance, in converting multitudes of Jews in that age; but so as to have a
more full harvest in the conversion of all Israel at the last. This is
undeniable in other instances; for that promise, Old things are passed
away, behold all things are become new,' given forth by Isaiah at twice, chap.
viii. 48, and chap. lxv., hath a just accomplishment in the conversion of every
sinner, as the apostle affirms, 2 Cor. v. 17, Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new;' and so is every day fulfilled in the world. And when whole
nations renounce their false worship and entertain the worship and profession
of Christ, it hath a more ample degree, but yet still it remains at the end, to
be fulfilled in his creating the New Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 8, When the
tabernacle of God is with men; and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall
wipe away all tears: from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.'
And Isaiah manifestly aimed at it, Isa. lxv. 17, 18, 19, For, behold, I
create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor
come into mind. But be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create:
for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will
rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and voice of weeping shall be no
more heard in her, nor the voice of crying, And this, though it had an
imperfect accomplishment in Paul's time, in every true Israelite that was
converted to God, who had a new heaven in the renewal of his mind, and a new
earth created in his affections and outward man; yet Peter tells us, that
still, in respect of the ultimate accomplishment of it, it still continues
under a promise to be fulfilled: 2 Peter iii. 18, Nevertheless we,
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness.' And thus here, as to the point in hand, the shaking of
the old heavens and earth to bring in this new, being a work that hath many
parts, and pieces, and degrees, that go to make up the total of it; it
comprehending the whole work of Christ's kingdom during his whole reign, from
his first coming to the end; it had an accomplishment in what was done in the
world in those primitive times, upon Christ's first coming. But he that should
determine and end it there, in his removal of the Jewish worship, converting
the nations, or the like great alterations thereupon made, should narrow that
prophecy of Haggai, as much as he that should confine Isaiah's intent to be
meant only of each particular believer's conversion, when it is so evidently to
be enlarged to the creating of a new world, in which righteousness shall dwell,
that is, rule and reign, which we look for, even that world to come, as in this
epistle to the Hebrews the apostle termeth it.
THE END
(from
vol.5 of works)
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