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THE SHAKING AND TRANSLATING
was done at the giving of the law ; as is clearly intimated in the in- ference : " Then he shook the earth, bnt now the heavens also." It is a gradation to a higher demonstration of the power of Christ ; which that the things of this interpretation are is not apparent.
[3.] It is marvellous these learned men observ^ed not, that the heavens and the earth shaken, verse 26, are the things to be removed, verse 27. Now, how are angels and men removed by Christ ? are they not rather gathered np into one spiritual body and communion f Hence, verse 27, they interpret the shaken things to be Judaical ceremonies, which, verse 26, they had said to be men and angels.
(2.) Others by heaven and earth understand the material parts of the world's fabric, commonly so called ; and by their shaking, those portentous signs and prodigies, with earthquakes, which appeared in them at the birth and death of the Lord Jesus. A new star, preter- natural darkness, shaking of the earth, opening of graves, rending of rocks, and the like, are to them this shaking of heaven and earth.'* So Junius, and after him most of ours. But this interpretation is obnoxious to the same exceptions with the former, and also others. For,—
[1.] These things being past before, how can they be held out under a promise ?^
[2.] How are these shaken things removed ? which with their shak- ing they must certainly be, as in my text.
[8.] This shaking of heaven and earth is ascribed to the power of Christ as mediator, whereunto these signs and prodigies cannot ra- tionally be assigned ; but rather to the sovereignty of the Father, bearing witness to the nativity and death of his Son ; — so that neither can this conception be fastened on the words.
(3.) The fabric of heaven and earth is by others also intended, — not in respect of the signs and prodigies formerly wrought in them, but of that dissolution, or, as they suppose, alteration, which they shall receive at the last day. So Parens, Grotius, and many more. Now, though these avoid the rock of holding out as accomplished what is only promised, yet this gloss also is a dress disfiguring the mind of God in the text. For, —
[1.] The things here said to be shaken do stand in a plain oppo- sition to the things that cannot be shaken nor removed ; and there- fore they are to be removed, that these may be brought in. Now, the things to be brought in are the things of the kingdom of the
Kptl. 1. 10. 'AvaKtfx>.aiiu(rec(r^ai, that is, ju,!izv Kt^xXhv Tcc^ix(r'f^s~v xyyiKtis kxi avf^a- trois Tov Xj/o-Tov" ctTsr^^^iiXfiivoi yaj ^irav o'l ayyiXoi xai av^^aiToi. — (JiC'UlllOll. ill loc.
2 Matt. ii. 2, xxvii'. 4.>; Luke xxiii. 44, 4."); Matt, xxvii. 51, 5'2. '"O yuQ /3Xj<ri/ 'TIS, Ti Ko.) Ixvi^ii, Rom. viii. '24.
OF HEAVEN AND EAETH. 253
Lord Jesus. What opposition, I pray, does the material fabric of heaven and earth stand in to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus? Doubt- less none at all, being the proper seat of that kingdom.
[2.] There wiU, on this ground, be no bringing in of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus until indeed that kingdom in the sense here in- sisted on is to cease ; that is, after the day of judgment, when the kingdom of grace shall have place no more.
Those are the most material and likely mistakes about the words. I could easily give out, and pluck in again three or four other warp- ing senses; but I hope few in these days of accomplishing will once stumble at them.
(4.) The true mind of the Spirit, by the help of that Spirit of truth, comes next to be unfolded. And first, what are the things that are shaken ?
[1.] As the apostle here applies a part of the prophecy of Haggai, so that prophecy, even in the next words, gives light into the meaning of the apostle. Look what heaven and earth the prophet speaks of; — of those, and no other, speaks the apostle. The Spirit of God in the Scripture is his own best interpreter.^ See, then, the order of the words as they lie m the prophet. Hag. ii. 6, 7, " I will shake heaven and earth : I will shake all nations." God, then, shakes heaven and earth when he shakes all nations ; that is, he shakes the heaven and earth of the nations. " I will shake heaven and earth, and I will shake all nations," is a pleonasm for " I will shake the heaven and earth of all nations." These are the things shaken in my text.
The heavens of the nations, what are they? — even their political heights and glory, those forms of government which they have framed for themselves and their own interest, with the grandeur and lustre of their dominions. The nations' earth is the multitudes of their people, their strength and power, whereby their heavens, or political heights, are supported. It is, then, neither the material heavens and earth, nor yet Mosaical ordinances, but the political heights and splendour, the popular multitudes and strength, of the nations of the earth, that are thus to be shaken, as shall be proved.