5. The Overturning which is visible on every hand.
"I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and
it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is" (Ezek. 21:27). In close
accord with this prophecy through Ezekiel is the word recorded in Haggai 2:6,7
- "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." Note
carefully the coupling of these two things together - the coming of the
Desire of all nations (the Lord Jesus), and the shaking of all nations.
Surely this is just what we see going on before our eyes today! Verily, God is
now "shaking" and "overturning" everything that is on the earth. What has been
the watchword and catchword that has rung in our ears during the last decade?
Reform! Reform! Reform! Governments must be reformed. Churches must be
reformed. Creeds must be reformed. The Bible must be reformed, and conformed
to "modern thought." Schools must be reformed. Everything must be reformed.
The marriage-laws and divorce-laws must be reformed and deformed. What does
all this indicate? Nothing is any longer right.
This demand for reform is not merely
local, it is not confined to some cotery of enthusiasts. It is worldwide. It
is enveloping the earth. It has swept over Europe and across this continent,
and has now reached the lethargic East. In Turkey and Egypt, in Japan and
China, in Mesopotamia and India, in Asia and Africa, peoples who have been
stagnant for centuries are now aroused, and the cry is going forth - Down with
the old regime; Down with ancient institutions. Down with everything which
brooks restraint. Never before were such conflicting forces at work. Never
before were the foundations of society so seriously threatened. "I will shake
all nations" - surely the appointed time for this is now here. "I will
overturn, overturn, overturn" - truly this is exactly what God is doing today.
Revolution is in the air, but those who are able to read the Signs of the Times
can see that revolution is moving rapidly toward dissolution, the
dissolution of the old order. Closely connected with the overturning of
ancient institutions we may consider -