PART TWO
THE LIFE AND
TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST
Chapter VI
Christ, The
Desire of Nations
The Old Testament is literally filled with
prophecies of the Messiah. One of the
least understood of these prophecies is found in the book of Haggai:
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. The silver is mine, and the gold
is mine, saith the LORD of 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.1
The Jews have never understood this scripture.
Very few Christians have
really grasped the full significance that JESUS CHRIST is the FULFILLMENT — THE
DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS.
Let’s understand this prophecy.
Haggai’s prediction was fulfilled, right on
schedule, in the days of Herod and Christ.
God said, through the prophet Haggai, “I will shake all nations,” and
that is just what He did. We have seen
how the armies of Rome literally “shook” all the nations of the civilized
world. The armies of Pompey, Julius
Caesar, and then Augustus, forced the nations of the world to their knees and
subjugated them to the imperial power of Rome.
Hundreds of years before, armies from Babylon, Persia, and Greece
wreaked havoc throughout the entirety of the world, and the world was shaken!
The Temple Glorified
The prophecy continued, “The glory of this latter house SHALL BE
GREATER THAN OF THE FORMER.” The house
being referred to is the temple of God at Jerusalem. The temple which had previously been built by Solomon was one of
the greatest buildings ever
constructed by human beings. Its plated
walls of gold bedecked with jewels made it one of the OUTSTANDING
SHOWPLACES of the world. That temple
was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar between the years of 604 and 585 B.C.
The latter house is the temple which had been
constructed by Zerubbabel after the
return from captivity, about which we read a little in the book of Daniel. The prophecy through Haggai was that the
glory of this latter house would be greater than the former. In a physical way this NEVER occurred.
Herod the Great remodeled Zerubbabel’s temple
after over three hundred years of use and made it a truly magnificent
structure. Herod’s chief glory was:
¼The new temple in Jerusalem. The actual labour on the shrine itself
lasted but eighteen months, although eight years were required on the
surroundings. The last detail, however,
of this gem of all Palestine was not completed until the days of Albinus (62-64
A.D.). And then, less than a decade
later, it was fired by the conqueror’s torch!
Its magnificence — white marble with its overlay of gold and precious
stones — gleaming high on the summit of Zion, and bursting into sudden view as
pilgrims came over the top of Olivet on the Jericho road, gave rise to the
rabbinical saying: “Whoever has not
seen the temple of Herod has seen nothing beautiful.”2
The temple refurbished by Herod was a
magnificent structure. Yet, all the
Jews readily knew it did not even
begin to measure up to the magnificence and glory of the temple which was built
by Solomon.
Then how could Haggai’s prophecy be
fulfilled? How could this latter house
have more glory than the former?
The obvious answer is that God sent Jesus Christ, His Son, into
that second temple and GLORIFIED IT beyond any building in all history.3
One of the first acts Jesus did in His
ministry was to enter the temple in Jerusalem and cast out the money-changers
and the animals which were desecrating the temple of God.4
Jesus Christ did enter into that second
temple, He did cleanse and purge it, HIS VERY PRESENCE made it a more glorified
building than the temple built by Solomon.
The World Sought a Savior
But was Jesus Christ “the desire of all nations,”
as Haggai’s prophecy states?
Ironically, the Jews were not the only ones looking for a Messiah at
this time. The two best known Roman
historians of this period of history, Seutonius and Tacitus, both record Roman
anticipation of a deliverer.
There had spread over all the Orient an old and
established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judaea
to rule the world.5
¼There was a firm persuasion, that in the
ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very
time the East was to grow powerful, and RULERS, COMING FROM JUDAEA, WERE TO
ACQUIRE UNIVERSAL EMPIRE.6
Certainly, the Romans did not accept Jesus
Christ as the Redeemer or Savior.
Rather, they became the instruments who put Him to death to fulfill the
scriptures about Him. But it is,
nevertheless, interesting to note that the world was looking for a savior and
that Jesus Christ was the “desire of all nations” even though the nations did
not accept Him.
But What About Other Nations?
We have already seen how the Greeks had the
greatest educational and cultural influence in the world up to this time. Probably their most famous philosopher was
Plato. His writings also show a desire for a redeemer or savior. Speaking of the subject of religion, Plato
says, “It is therefore necessary, to wait till One teach us how we ought to
behave toward the gods and men. When
shall that time arrive and who shall that teacher be? For most glad would I be to see such a man.”7 Although written three hundred years before
Christ, the Greeks were looking for a man to lead and teach them. Their traditions looked for “the desire of
all nations.”
We have already recorded Seutonius and
Tacitus as far as the Romans were concerned, but let’s read from Virgil, the
Latin poet of forty years before Christ’s time: “A GOD-LIKE CHILD SHALL BE BORN¼COME QUICKLY TO RECEIVE YOUR
POWER FOR ALL THE WORLD AWAITS YOU. O
that I may live to see so noble a subject for my verse.”8 Yes, the Romans were looking for a deliverer
and were looking for someone divine.
The Romans and Greeks represented the western
portion of the empire. But what about
the eastern portion of the world? Were
they also looking for a redeemer?
There is even greater evidence in the
East! Who was it who came in the early
days of Christ’s life to worship and give Him honor? Was it not the Wise Men FROM THE EAST?
“The East” at this time in history referred
to the nations east of the Euphrates.
These nations consisted primarily of India, Persia, and THE PARTHIAN
EMPIRE. In the article which appeared
in the December 1966, issue of the PLAIN TRUTH magazine entitled, “The Greatest
Story Never Told,” you will see clearly proved just exactly who the Parthians
were — they were portions of the LOST TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL who had settled in
the area of Parthia after the Assyrian captivity of 721-718 B.C.
They had known for centuries that a deliverer
would come. God directly led and
inspired them by a miraculous star
(which was an angel, Revelation 1:20) to acknowledge the newborn Messiah in
Bethlehem shortly after His birth.
But there were other Eastern countries who
also looked for a Messiah.
The Wise Men, from the East, who followed the star
to Bethlehem, represented the universal Eastern expectation of a Redeemer. The Persians were at this time looking for
the appearance of their Sosiosh, who would conquer Ahriman and his kingdom of
darkness.9
Although the Persians in no way understood
the true plan of God, their traditions looked for a Messiah who would suppress
the works of evil — Satan the Devil and his demons. These traditions, although warped and twisted by time and pagan
ideas, certainly show all nations did know of a coming Messiah and were looking
for Him — and looking for Him at this SPECIFIC TIME IN HISTORY.
It is very likely the people of India had
heard of the Savior born in Palestine from the Parthian magi, either as they
began their travels to see Christ, or upon their return. An amazing tradition of ancient Indian
history tells of the ruler of India who sent emissaries to Palestine in about
the year 1 A.D., to inquire whether the PREDICTED royal child had actually made
his appearance.10 It is amazing that the world in general has never heard of these
traditions and never realized the entire world was waiting for Jesus Christ.
But even more amazing than the Indian history
is the ancient Chinese tradition looking for the Messiah:
Confucius, who wrote about 550 years before the
Christian era, was accustomed to say: that The
Holy One must be sought in the West.
His declaration was carefully handed down to
posterity: and, in the year 64 after the Christian era, the Emperor Mimti, we
are told, under the influence of this ancient expectation, sent messengers
westward into India, that there they might inquire for the long predicted Holy
One of Confucius. Such, in the remote
East, was the expectation, which existed 550 years before the Christian era,
and which from that time downward continued to prevail.11
Traditions from around the world
constantly focus upon a HOLY ONE, a
DELIVERER to come.
Just as Haggai prophesied, Jesus Christ was
“THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS.”
Jesus Christ Really Did Exist
Whether or not an individual accepts Jesus Christ
to be the Savior, there is abundant historical evidence to PROVE that Jesus
Christ was a literal historical figure born in Bethlehem, who lived in
Palestine between the years 4 B.C., and 31 A.D.
Roman annals recorded His birth and His
death. The historians and writers of
the day, besides Biblical records, mentioned His life. The Jews preserved testimony of Christ and
the Christian Church He founded, in the writings of both Josephus and Philo.
Traditions of the day from around the world
showed the world knew a deliverer should come.
That Deliverer was Jesus Christ, as the Biblical record claims.
Many atheists ridicule the existence of a
person such as Jesus Christ. Perhaps it
is appropriate at this point to insert a short section proving that Jesus
Christ literally was an historical figure.
Certainly, we have already seen evidences in secular history of Jesus Christ. We have seen that His birth was recorded in
Roman chronicles and preserved — even though those records are not extant at
this time. The skeptic could still
doubt and ridicule.
But there is still another witness!
When being tried for his life before the
Roman governor, Festus, the apostle Paul said, “For the king knoweth of these things, before
whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded THAT NONE OF THESE THINGS ARE
HIDDDEN FROM HIM; FOR THIS THING WAS NOT DONE IN A CORNER.”12
If these things were not done in a corner, certainly there must have
been some notice in Rome and there would be some record of Jesus Christ at this
time.
There is that record! Here is proof Jesus Christ did exist:
Nero fastened the guilt (for the burning of Rome)
and inflicted the more exquisite tortures on a class hated for their
abominations, called CHRISTIANS by the populace. CHRISTUS, from whom the
name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
Tiberius at the hands of one of our own procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most
mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only
in Judea, the first source of evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous
and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.13
Now that we have proved that Jesus Christ did
live, and have determined the dates of His life, we need to understand His
teachings and how He founded His one true Church.
1Haggai 2:7-9
2Enslin, Christian Beginnings, p. 54.
3Luke 2:20-39.
4John 2:13-17
5Seutonius, Lives of the Caesars, viii. 4. 5.
6Tacitus, The Histories, v. 13.
7Plato, Alcibiades 2. 150.
8Lonsdale and Lee, Works of Virgil, Eclogue 4.
9Hurst, History of the Christian Church, Vol. I, p. 87.
10Jones, Asiatic Researches, vol. X, pp. 27-28.
11Faber, Eight Dissertations, vol. II, p. 97 (see also: Du Halde’s China, vol. I. p. 360, 361; Le Compte’s China, p. 18, 200).
12Acts 26:26.