whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 26. Whose voice then moved the earth, by such signs and prodigies on Mount Sinai: but now he promiseth, saying by the prophet Aggeus: yet once; and I will move not only the earth, but heaven also. These words of the prophet are commonly understood of Christ’s first coming at his incarnation, when at his birth a star appeared, Angels were sent, and sung his praises, when the heavens opened at his baptism, when the earth trembled at his resurrection, when the sun and moon were darkened at his death, and so forth Yet others expound these words of Christ’s coming to redeem mankind, so as to comprehend all the time of the law of grace, and even his second coming to judge all men, at the end of the world, of which may particularly be understood those words, (verse 27) of the translation of the moveable things; that is, of the elements, and of the heavens changed to a more perfect state. See here Saint John Chrysostom Saint Augustine l. 18. de civ. Dei. c. xxxv. p. 517. Nov. Editionis. Witham.