“Desire of Nations”

Advent Hour – December 22, 2011

Revelation 7:9-17/Psalm 68:28-35/Matthew 24:7-14

  Fr. Danilo M. Jorvina

God has been speaking to us strongly and has been speaking to us the good news.  The proclamation of all the Seasons of the calendar is actually good news.  The good news is spoken to us so that we may live the life of Christ in this world.

Advent speaks of preparation of God’s people.  Amidst this preparation, He speaks comfort to us.  Isaiah 40:1-2 says, “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.  Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended.  That her iniquity has been removed.” Each day in this Advent journey is a constant message of God: hope, faith, and love.

We look today at “Desire of Nations.”  All men have desires.  This is an instinct in man.  It is really God-given because every many bears the breath of God.   Every man’s breath came from God.  He may acknowledge it or he may say it is not from God because of some scientific thing, but it came from God.

Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” It is not just some stroke of evolution that we came to be.  It is because of the breath of God that we live.

Yes, even though today we see a lot of men who are lost, rebellious, serving strange gods, and are deceived, each man bears the very source of life which originated from God.  They may acknowledge it; they may understand it, but the Word of God shows to us that it came from God. God is the Source of all.

Because of that breath that God has given to us, unknowingly or knowingly, man desires ultimately for God.  There is a hymn that says, “Only Jesus can satisfy.”   Though monarchs, statesmen, emperors pursue and lust for power, conquest, riches, and expansion in every sphere of life, there is always that desire for something.  To a scientist, it may be the conquest for knowledge and discovery. For the medical practitioners, it is the desire to find new ways for medicine. To those who are in education, they strive to know how to best give knowledge to the people.   To the engineer, the desire is the best way to build things, infrastructure.  There is always a pursuit for something.  To every sphere of life, there is always the desire.

Deep within them is the desire for One who gave them life. In Psalm 68: 31-32 says, “Envoys will come out of Egypt.   Ethiopa will quickly stretch out her hands to God.  Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; Sing praises to the Lord.” We can see that all men, whether they like it or not, is yearning that desire for God.

Psalm 72:11, “And let all things bow down before him. All nations serve him.”  This is very much demonstrated in what happened with the Three Wise Men, and how they went out from the nations from the East just to find the Savior, the King of Kings.  This is because there is that longing, that desire for God.

In our hearts, we all have desires. God has given that desire in our lives that we may see that it is really Him.   Man is drawn to God. Some people deny the power and the existence of God, but still God exists and He is the only Source of their lives.

Romans 14:11, “For it is written, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’” Philippians 2:10-122, “That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The reason for all this longing, this desire in man’s life is because man has the very breath of God.  Every time you exhale and inhale, remember that came from God.  Thus, there is that longing because God has placed life in us. Our ultimate desire is Him because man’s being is drawn to God who has given him his breath.

Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s hear is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever he wishes.” The good news is the Jesus Christ is the Desire of All Nations. Even if we go through what we see all around us, we see how the statesmen, the emperors and all these things, regardless of the kingdoms of this world, God is in control.

In Exodus, we see that God was the One orchestrating the entire thing. It was not the Pharaoh who was trying to decide whether he will harden his heart or not.  God was orchestrating all only to show that all glory belongs to Him.

As children of God, we have the good news that God is in control.  He is the Desire of the Nations.  Let us not fret of evil doers for they will be cut off.  Whatever area of life we may be involved in, let us see through the eyes of God that He is in control.  Whether you are in business, God is in control.  Whether you are in the medical field, God is in control of healing because God is the Healer.  God is in every sphere of life.  Even if we have superiors that are not really of God, God is still in control.

Let us not fret of the unrighteous rich, for they will store it for the righteous.  God has already ordered the unrighteous to store for the righteous. Let us not fret when the unrighteous is getting richer because we know God has blessed His people, and they are just storing it for us.

We have all our apprehensions in our hearts for the coming year.  The song verse says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” This is because He holds tomorrow.  God is in control.  He is the desire of all men.  Because of that, we know that He has ordered all things.

I love the hymn, “This is My Father’s World,” that has always been my inspiration as I walk in this life.  It says, “This is my Father’s world. Let me never forget that though the wrong seem oh so strong, God is the ruler yet.  This is my Father’s world, why should my heart be sad?”

Why should we be sad?  One of the strong messages of Advent is: fear not!  In every of our lives, fear not!  God is in control.  He is the Desire of every heart.  Fear not though the evil is there for God is in control.  As we watch current events, where nations are rising against nations, or situations in our communities, our workplaces, and even in our family life, we fear not!

This is a strong message of Advent today.  We know that Jesus Christ is the only One that can give peace to this earth. He is the central figure that will destroy all our divisions because He is truly the Desire of every nation.  If we see tyrant emperors that do not believe in God, we know deep in their heart, they are really longing for God.  They are longing for the majesty and the glory of Jesus Christ.

I would think, “When Christians go to be with the Lord, they never return even though they have things to do here.”  I can only guess that probably they see the glory and the majesty of God, the One that they truly desire in their lives.  Finally, they come face to face with the Creator. You have no other thought in your spiritual mind but to just remain in His presence.

Whatever our longings may be, we have all our desires.  Always think that every desire that we have, good or wrong, is there because God has place His breath in us.  It is really Him who we desire.  Think of your desires, your longing or your desired Christmas present.  You will find that many of them are not really wrong; but when you think of them, it is born out of the fact that we have that God-given instinct of desiring Him.  It is only sometimes mis-channeled or misdirected to some other things or some people.  Is there any wonder why God hates idolatry?  It is Him that we should desire.

As believers, how do we now sanctify that desire in our hearts?  Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” It is important for us that we need the Eucharist; studying the Word of God; intercessory prayer; fellowship with the believers like the Wednesday Community and Sunday Mass. All of these that God has given us are for us so that our desires are sanctified unto Him.  As we delight in Him, He gives us the desire because He is the One desire in our lives.

Today, we journey to see that Christ is the only One in our lives.  Whatever our longing would be in life, it is really Him.  It is only Jesus that can satisfy.  At this point, we can see that in Him, everything else is fulfilled.  Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and everything else will follow.