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—