"Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth" (Haggai 2:6). These prophetic words refer to what will precede the filling of "this house with glory" and began to be fulfilled, in their spiritual import, by the Lord Jesus. All history indicates the character of the agitation which has vibrated through mankind in consequence. The sound of the gospel goes out through all lands and wherever it is heard a revolution begins. The powers of evil offer opposition; children of darkness pass into the light; prejudices and customs disappear; laws and constitutions sink in the vortex of change. Wherever the gospel has penetrated, shaking has been the order of the day and it continues till this time. The agitation which commenced in the world with Christ's entrance was not confined to the earth. The heavens, too, were shaken. What a movement was there when He endured the shameful death of the Cross! What a movement was there, when, as the antitype of the high priest, He entered into heaven itself! That movement has continued as many sons are being brought to glory and will continue until"the times of the restitution of all things."The epistle to the Hebrews points out that the communication through Haggai covers more than a simple statement of the shaking which should accompany the institution of the Kingdom of God in the world."Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain" (Heb. 12:27).

There is in the material world only that which is evanescent in design, and subject to change, as having been called into existence for a period and then, having served its purpose, it will disappear. To that order of things pertained the Levitical types and shadows. But the Jews in their blindness clung to them as though they were immovable. Whence arose their despair when the fires of dissolution fell upon them? They had not the slightest idea that what was imperishable was to be found in the lowly dwelling of a Simeon or of a Zacharias. They were fascinated by what was splendid to the eye- the temple and the priesthood. They perished by thousands in vainly anticipating the re-establishment of what was shaken. To this category belongs the entire system of the world, glittering and durable as it seems to be. History conducts us over the sites of endless ruined states,, extinct princely families, and subverted religious systems. The dust of oblivion covers them. At every point we are confronted with the truth that the things that can be shaken pass away. We see it inscribed on political systems, on official appointments, on the family circles where the acme of temporal happiness is attained. Here likewise is the flower of the grass. It is written on our own foreheads, for we, too, are passing. Splendid as anything under the sun may be, it fulfils but its appointed span and the chill blast of time sweeps it away. The earth will be burned up and the heavens rolled together like a scroll! What foolishness then to let the affections rest on what is unstable. Let us fix ours on what is imperishable. Is there such a thing? Yes, it exists in the midst of all the secular change.

In the midst of the general upheaval which has marked the flow of time, something has survived and risen on every wave of change that has threatened its destruction. Century after century it meets us. At one period hemmed in to one particular spot of earth, but in the last nineteen hundred years it has spread all over the world. It is a living temple which no Nebuchadnezzar can desecrate and into which no Roman soldier can hurl the torch of destruction. It is a community of saints who are indeed in, but not of, the world, whose proper function is that of pilgrims with their citizenship in heaven. Such a phenomenon on this earth is, and always has been, the kingdom of grace invisibly sustained by the Holy Spirit and the merits of eternal redemption. Truly, this peaceful kingdom with its immunities, possessions and prospects is the only immovable thing in this world of change. It will outlive this age and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. True it is that many of its forms are changeable; the outward structure is transient but the real essential thing does not change, it will live when symbols, catechisms and institutions have faded away.

"Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Heb. 12:28). Therefore let us not follow the example of those who after being the recipients of wonderful grace, turn back to dead works, making their peace depend upon the degree of holiness to which they have attained. They misunderstand that which is unchangeable. They misrepresent the kingdom of grace. They seek to change it into a realm in which the insidious spirit of bondage reigns. Let us then pray that the light of grace may shine in us so that we may rejoice in the assurance of the unchangeable in this world of change. T. Oliver (Galashiels)