The Desire of All Nations

Haggai gives the coming Messiah a wistful and beautiful title: the Desire of All Nations. Beneath all the world's restless wanting, its searching, its striving, its endless reaching for something that will finally satisfy, lies a desire it cannot name: the desire for God Himself, for the King who alone can fill the empty places of the human heart. Every culture, every age, every searching soul is, without knowing it, longing for the One whom Haggai promises will come.

This puts the world's hunger in a new light. The deep dissatisfaction that drives people to chase a thousand things is, at root, a homesickness for Christ. He is the Desire of all nations because He is what every heart was made for, the only One who answers the longing that no possession, achievement, or pleasure can satisfy. And the promise is that He comes, the Desire of the nations does not stay distant and unreachable, but draws near, filling His house with glory. Advent is the season of this great approach: the Desire of all nations coming to a world that has ached for Him without knowing His name.

Name your own deepest desire today, and trace it to its true object. Beneath all your wanting is a longing for Christ. Bring that longing to Him this Advent.