O Come, Desire of Nations

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There is a tale told by the Pueblo Indians. Called the “Arrow to the Sun”. It is a story about a young maiden that was struck by an arrow from God which made her pregnant with child. The young boy grew up but was teased by others because he had no earthly father. The young boy eventually searched high and wide to find his father, looking to the corn planter, and the potter, to no avail. Finally he found the arrow maker a wise man who fashioned the boy into an arrow and fired him into the heavens. Once there, to prove his paternity the young boy was forced to endure 4 separate trials. He passed them all and was transformed. The father fashioned the boy once more into an arrow and fired him back to earth to bring the spirit of the Father to the world.
This story bears a striking resemblance to the story of the incarnation. To be sure this story is a mythological, the details are not precise and the characters are fictitious. The bible on the other hand records actual historical event, that happened. All of the Bible is the historical record of the redemption of the people of God. The story of creation, to the fall to glory.
I am amazed when I read the story of the Pueblo Indians and countless other the striking resemblance that cultures have towards the scriptures. How they came about is another discussion, but one thing I think that it does show is this? That the core truths of the bible, even if they are twisted and distorted in different cultures speaks to the very heart of every culture, we long to be at peace there is a desire within us all to be at peace with God and with others.
The Question that we must ask ourselves today is this? What is the Desire of Nations? In whom or in what does man find the peace that He so desperately desires?
O Come Desire of Nations and bind all peoples in one heart and mind, bid envy strife ad quarrels cease. Fill the whole world with heavens peace.
You can tell a lot about people groups and their desires and values by their traditions. Augustine in his writing taught that what brings people together is the things that they love. What are the things that Americans love, football, other cultures love soccer. American pride themselves on rugged individualism and freedom, but the Japanese place value on elderly and tradition, the collective community rather than the individual.
Different countries are known for the different resources they produce. Some countries are rich in oil, some in gold or silver, other countries are being sought out because they produce lithium.
The first temple was built under the reign of King Solomon, in the 10th century B.C. But where did he get the resources to build such a glorious temple. Gold and silver began to flow into Jerusalem because of Solomon's fame and wisdom. Solomon looked to the king of Tyre to produce the Cedars of Lebanon use in the construction.
The same temple in all of its glory would be destroyed in 586 b.c. by the Babylonians and the Jews taken captive. There were several waves of exiles returning from captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem in beginning in 538 led by Zerubbabel as their appointed governor.
The work on the second temple began almost immediately but was later delayed, and eventually put on hold because the people were mocked and discouraged and eventually the funding from Persia under Cyrus stopped. Hence the Prophecy of Haggai to encourage Zerubbabel in the building of the temple.
The application is too obvious. How many of us have started off strong in our Christian walk and made significant strides only to cool off and put down our tools. We have grown stagnant on our walk with the Lord.
Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
The 2nd temple work did resume under Zerubbabel with the help of a Daruis the new king fo Persia and eventually in the year 516 the work had been completed.
But this temple could not compare to its former glory. It was smaller in scale, the resources not there.
vs 3
So if nothing no amount of gold or silver could be surpassed then what could make this new temple shine with a glory greater than its former. Well it is this same temple that the Son of God had entered in His earthly ministry. This was the same temple that the 12 year old Jesus began to teach, and the same temple that He overturned the tables of the money changers, the same temple whose curtain separated the people from the Holy of Holies and whose curtain was torn from top to bottom at His death.
If you want to talk about shaking heaven and earth. They this was the time, the sun became darkened the temple veil was torn there was an earth quake and the tombs of the dead were opened and many were raised from the dead.
1. Who is the desire of nations?
He is the desire of the nations. He is the one that the nations will look to for peace. This is the place that peace came not only to the Jews but to the whole earth. What do the nations of the world desire they desire peace, and they will one day be willing to trade their greatest treasures of gold and silver and ivory and spices to see that they Lord’s house is once again. But this temple was once again destroyed in 70 A.D. this temple was a shadow of the true temple one whose glory and unsurpassed value is not measured in gold and silver, but filled with the praise and glory of the saints of all ages and all nations. This temple is none other than the Lord Almighty Himself and the streets there surpass the glory of Solomon’s temple and are covered with pure gold.
Revelation 21:22 (ESV)
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
How does He change the desire of nations?
He does it by shaking the earth. The purpose of shaking has an effect that causes men to move. When we are faced with the wrath of God there is one of two results either the heart is softened towards repentance towards the Lord or it is hardened by sin and deceit. Either way men are shaken by his wrath either to seek His mercy or to receive His condemnation. Like the little boy who gets turned upside down and shaken so that all of his lunch money falls out. Not that the Lord is anyway like a bully or even taking what is not rightfully his, however he will shake the nations so that praise and riches will fall like leaves from a tree.
Even His enemies have been captivated by Him. If you think about it, there is a huge movement that devotes all of their time and effort to destroying Christianity. Atheism does not target any other religion in the world with such tenacity as they do Christianity.
His coming lights the night sky. Kings seek him out. Tyrants are threatened even by his infancy. Angels herald his arrival. And indeed every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil.2:10–11).
“But we are not forced to obey Christ, as lions and wild beasts are, who indeed yield, but still retain their inward ferocity, and roar, though led in chains and subdued by scourges and beatings. We are not, then, so shaken, that our inward rebellion remains in us; but we are shaken, so that our disposition is changed, and we receive willingly the yoke of Christ.”
John Calvin
This is the reason why the Prophet says, I will shake all nations, and they shall come; that is, there will be indeed a wonderful conversion, when the nations who previously despised God, and regarded true religion and piety with the utmost hatred, shall habituate themselves to the ruling power of God: and they shall come, because they shall be so drawn by his hidden influence, that the obedience they shall render will be voluntary.
John Calvin
To desire Jesus is, among other things, to desire relationship with him, and that indeed is the definition Jesus offers for eternal life itself: that they may know you, the True God, and your Son whom you’ve sent! (Jn. 17:3)
What is it that you are willing to trade? What is your most valuable treasure that you are willing to bring to the house of the Lord and exchange for the glory of God. Not that salvation could ever be bought or bargained for by the things of this world, but we
“Christ was the expectation of the whole world, according to what is said by Isaiah, and it may be properly said that when the desire of all nations shall come, that is, when Christ shall be manifested, in whom the wishes of all ought to center, the glory of the second Temple shall then be illustrious; that the nations would come, bringing with them all their riches, that they might offer themselves and all their possessions as a sacrifice to God.”
Jeremiah 3:16–17 (ESV)
16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
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