In a Little While...

 

Thus, through the prophet Haggai, God said that “in a little while” He would shake all nations, and that the precious things of all nations would come.

 

Haggai 2:7 “and I will shake all nations; and the precious things of all nations shall come...”

 

This word is a prophecy concerning the coming of Jesus Christ, who is the precious One of all nations (1 Peter 2:6-7). In other words, the time when Jesus Christ would come and shake all nations would be fulfilled “in a little while.” However, today people generally date the book of Haggai to around 520 B.C. Therefore, the people of that time may have received God’s word, “in a little while,” as something that would soon be fulfilled, but today we know that this event was fulfilled more than 500 years later.

 

Through this fact, we can understand that “God’s time and man’s time are not the same.”

 

Numbers 14:34 “After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation.”

 

Thus, by reckoning each day of the forty days as one year, the children of Israel had to bear the penalty of their sins in the wilderness for forty years.

 

2 Peter 3:8 “But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

 

Thus, Peter said, “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Therefore, God’s thoughts are different from ours, and they are higher.

 

Isaiah 55:8-9 “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

 

Jesus also spoke of the things that would happen at the end of the world (Matthew 24:3), and said the following:

 

Matthew 24:32-34 “32 Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; 33 even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.”

 

These words feel similar to the expression “in a little while” recorded in Haggai above. Therefore, we can see that the people who followed Jesus at that time thought that, because of the many great works Jesus performed and because of words like these, the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

 

Luke 19:10-11 “10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. 11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.”

 

Acts 1:6-7 “6 They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority.”

 

However, as this word shows, Jesus said that the times and seasons belong to God’s own authority, thereby firmly declaring that the restoration of the kingdom to Israel would be fulfilled “in God’s time,” which only God knows. Nevertheless, Jesus also said that He would come quickly.

 

Revelation 22:20 “He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.”

 

And since many words testify to this in the same way,

 

Hebrews 10:37 “For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.”

 

James 5:8-9 “8 Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors.”

 

Therefore, the promise of Jesus will certainly be fulfilled without delay, unlike what some people think.

 

2 Peter 3:3-9 “...4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation... 8 But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

 

Thus, the promise of Jesus is not delayed, and He will fulfill exactly what He has promised in His own time.

 

Revelation 14:7 “and he saith with a great voice, Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.”

 

Therefore, whether this event is fulfilled in our time or not, we must not disbelieve the promise of Jesus (2 Peter 1:16), nor have an impatient heart (Proverbs 14:29). Rather, we must earnestly long for and wait by faith for the time when Jesus will save us.

 

2 Peter 3:11-13 “11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

 

Amen.