A brother in Christ this week pointed me to Haggai because of the blessing he had received from re-reading it in detail, and I’m grateful for that because I think it is especially pertinent to our current situation.
As most of you know we are earnestly praying about our futures and what the Lord might have in mind for us going forward. So, I want to show you some of the benefits I have reaped from this little two-chapter book, in light of the present circumstances.
Backdrop
The context for the book is found in Ezra chapters 1 to 6 which we haven’t got time to read, but here’s a summary of what has happened prior to Haggai’s revelations.
Following the final exile of the people of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians, the Babylonians utterly destroyed Solomon’s temple; they razed it to the ground. And that’s how it remained until the Lord raised up the Persian empire to overthrow the Babylonians, and until God established King Cyrus who proclaimed that he had been appointed by ‘The Lord, the God of heaven’ to build for Him a new temple in Jerusalem.
On the back of that proclamation, Cyrus allowed a forty-thousand strong company of exiles to return to their home town and begin the task of rebuilding the temple of the Lord, which they did.
Heading up the project was Zerubbabel governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest.
Now, before long they faced some significant opposition from the Samaritans who were settled in the area. First, the Samaritans asked to join the exiles in the work of rebuilding the temple, but when Zerubbabel wouldn’t allow it, they turned their efforts to obstructing the work.
To make things more difficult, Cyrus was succeeded by kings who were less predisposed to the work. And the result was that the Samaritans managed to obtain a letter from King Artaxerxes ordering the exiles to cease work on the temple build.
Nevertheless, after Artaxerxes came Darius king of Persia and he provided the go-ahead for the work to resume on the temple of the Lord, and even ordered that materials be made available to the Jews. It’s a remarkable account in Ezra and worthy of some time. Especially to see the Lord’s sovereign hand at work amongst the mightiest leaders and nations on earth at the time.
That’s the backdrop as Haggai receives these four separate words from the Lord. And they come to him 18 years after the first exiles had left Persia for Jerusalem – in the second year of King Darius (v.1).
The occasion of the prophecies
The nature of the 4 prophecies Haggai received are rebuke and then hope and, rebuke and then hope. So, there’s a pattern to the prophecy. The first 2 prophecies take up chapters 1 through to 2 verse 9 and so I’d like to focus our attention there. You can read the rest of the book for yourselves easily and see the re-emphases in prophecies 3 & 4. The occasion for the prophecies that came to Haggai is that, in the years of enforced lockdown when the Jews weren’t allowed to carry out work on the temple project, it seems that they had turned their attention away from the house of the Lord and towards their own houses. And as a result, God’s house remained unfinished. See verse 9: ‘My house remains a ruin while each of you is busy with your own house’.
God is not pleased that they have become distracted from the main goal. The main goal is the restoration of the temple, but here they are ‘panelling their own houses’ (v.4).
Now you could imagine them replying in a few different ways. Firstly, they might have retorted, ‘Well we wanted to work on the temple, but we were ordered to stop by the king’. That wouldn’t have been a lie. Or, they might have said, ‘We’re just so discouraged, because we saw the size of the temple foundations when they got laid and we wept because they looked so small in comparison with what we remember Solomon’s temple was like’ (Ezra 3:12). Or, they might have argued, ‘Haven’t we got to live? Haven’t we got to eat?’ Or, they might have said, ‘Our enemies are out there and they do not want this work to happen; they are against us’.
Whether those were their thoughts or not, we don’t know, but the conclusion they had come to was this: ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house’ (v.2).
How easy it would be to read that conclusion this morning with horror. ‘How could they think that way when the Lord’s own house is laying in ruins’.
Give careful thought
But friends, oh how carefully we must examine our own lives. I do not think we can look on them with judgment and not judge ourselves. And with that in mind, it’s worth noting the most repeated phrase in these two chapters. It appears 4 times. Chapter 1 verses 5 & 7 and chapter 2 verses 15 & 18: ‘Give careful thought’. And in chapter 1 specifically: ‘Give careful thought to your ways’. When the Lord repeats things, he does not want them to go unnoticed! So, we must give careful thought to our own ways, before we judge them for theirs.
I wonder, have we ever felt like we’re sitting on our hands for the Lord’s house, but working them to the bone on our own houses?
There’s no temple to be rebuilt in this year 2021AD. A huge mosque sits on that site now. But to think that way, would be to miss the Messianic shift that’s taken place. It’s not a complicated shift.
Listen to Ephesians 2:19: 'you are members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. In HIM the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord’. Jerusalem has given way to Jesus, and the temple has given way to the church. That is straightforward, but what’s that got to do with us?
I mean, it’s got to do with us as living stones in the temple, we get that from 1 Peter 2:4-5. But what has it got to do with us as builders? The answer is lots.
The parallelism between Haggai and 1 Corinthians 3:5-17 is, I think, very striking:
‘The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they each will be rewarded according to their own labour. For we are co-workers in God’s service.
There’s no doubt that Paul is referring to himself and Apollos here, but he’s got in mind the Corinthians too. Listen: ‘Each one should build with care…If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of EACH person’s work…Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst’.
So, 1 Corinthians 3 unmistakably considers the Lord’s people co-workers in the building of the temple of the Lord, which is the Church of the Living God (1 Tim 3:15). And that means that the word of Haggai is as much to us now, as it was to the Jews then.
God’s glory
Now, notice that God’s house is what He ‘takes pleasure in’ and what He is ‘honoured in’ (v.8).
Which is to say that God’s glory is tied up in the realisation of the completed temple. And by neglecting to undertake the completion of the temple, the people had begun to seek their own glory and not His glory. They were exchanging the glory of God for the glory of created things (Romans 1:23). And this is a subtle danger.
I put it to you that if they could be seduced by the glory of their houses, then we can be more. We live in an unbelievably globalised world. For them, it would have been the time and energy to go into the hills, get the timber, saw it up, plane it down, cut it to length and panel their houses.
For us it’s hours of trawling the internet, deliberating over the best deal, instagramming the trend setting look, choosing from a multitude of options, stressing over the availability of stock, getting the cheapest delivery fee and organising the professional installation. Or similar.
For them then, and us now, it’s distraction from the main thing.
No satisfaction
Here’s what the Jews had done: verse 6,
They had planted much but harvested little.
They had eaten but were never full.
They drunk, but never had enough.
They had put on clothes, but these had worn out and they were cold again.
They had earnt wages, but it was never enough. It was like there was a hole in their purse where the coins kept tumbling out.
And is this not a word about the pointless nature of toiling after what this world can offer. Better panelling gets chipped and dirty in no time. Better food, still only results in hunger again. More money still only results in a need for more money. Multimedia entertainment is at our fingertips (literally) – instantly accessible. And without ‘careful thought’ it is absolutely a hinderance to prayer, it is a hinderance to meditation, it is a hinderance to kingdom thinking and planning, it is a hinderance to holiness, it is a hinderance to singing, it is a hinderance to reading and it is, ultimately, a hinderance to building. No matter what your preferred flavour is. Keep a 1-week diary of multimedia entertainment consumption and I think you’ll be amazed how many hours are used up in fruitlessness.
We’re being sold down the river if we think that we can find satisfaction in panelling. God will always make sure that his people are miserable when they work for neat houses over His house: ‘I called for drought on all the labour of your hands’, the Lord says in verse 11. Listen, it is not your purpose to live your life out here for houses. It is your purpose to live your life out here for His house.
These times
Notice in verse 2, the people thought the times weren’t right for them to rebuild the Lord’s house. The Lord’s answer to that in verse 4 is simple, this time is certainly NOT the time to be living in panelled houses. We easily fail to interpret the times. We shouldn’t. The Lord Almighty is saying that there is no time on earth for panelling houses. The panelled houses come later. Heaven is where the panelled houses are to be enjoyed. 2 Corinthians 5:1 – For we know that we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Jesus said, ‘Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and vermin do not destroy’ (Matthew 6:19-20). In other words, when we become so distracted with panelled houses in this world, we are trying to realise heaven on earth. Don’t do that. We do not believe in the prosperity gospel because it sends people to hell with a hamper of goodies. We believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which says that we must take up our cross daily and follow him. That means it’s going to be less like panelling and more like tenting in this life.
Now is not the time for panelling, now is the time for living lightly to this world and throwing everything you can into the building of His house. Nothing can be achieved for the Kingdom of God without soberness and seriousness. Panelling is not sober or serious, it’s silly, and the Lord is saying we need to see it for what it is. Give careful thought to your ways then folks.
Small on earth, big in heaven
Now earlier I mentioned some objections the Jews may have raised as the word of the Lord came to them via Haggai. The really good news is, they didn’t respond like that. Verse 12 tells us the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message they received via Haggai. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that would be our response this morning also? The people feared the Lord and they obeyed His word. Nevertheless, the reason I mentioned those potential objections is that the Lord gives encouragements in chapter 2 against that kind of talk. The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai and the Lord said, ‘which of you can remember Solomon’s temple and its glory? How does it look now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?’
Perhaps, a reason why they had taken their eye off the goal, was that they had begun to think of the new temple as so insignificant in comparison with the old one, that it had become to them a pointless task. Perhaps, they thought that nobody would think great things of this temple when it was completed, so why bother with it any more. And that’s a big challenge for us. It can look like we are so small that nothing of worth for God’s kingdom and his glory could possibly come of a life-time of endeavours. And so, we just down tools and resort to panelling.
The Lord’s word in verse 4 puts paid to that idea: ‘Now be strong Zerubbabel…be strong Joshua…be strong all you people of the land…for I am with you, declares the Lord Almighty. In other words he's saying, ‘I am working to this end with you. If I count this work significant then you’d better count it significant. If I do not count it small, you’d better not count it small. I have determined to see this house completed and you will be my instruments to accomplish it – so work for I am with you’.
And, to reinforce the idea, the Lord reminds them that he covenanted with their ancestors to this end: ‘I brought them out of Egypt SO that I might dwell among them’ (Exodus 29:46). In other words, I promised to accomplish this, and I will do it.
To reinforce the idea that this word applies to us too, he has covenanted with us also along the same lines: Ezekiel 37:27 & 2 Corinthians 6:16 – ‘My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God and they will be my people. God has promised to accomplish his dwelling place in his people the church, and therefore when we are about the task of building his church up and strengthening it and bringing in new and living stones through the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we are about a task that is of eternal significance; no matter how small it may look here on earth. That is an absolutely crucial stimulus to working for the Lord.
Also verse 6 reminds them that His Spirit is on them and therefore they should not fear the opposition to the work. Sometimes we see the principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12) at work against the building of God’s temple and we look powerless in the face of that measure of opposition. But no! The Lord’s Spirit remains among us. He was there at the beginning of our walk with him and He’s here now. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves again, so that you live in fear. The Spirit you received has the power to make you fearless in the face of opposition.
The Lord Almighty says, ‘I will show you my power that will overcome all opposition’ - verse 7:
‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations and what is desired by all nations will come and I will fill this house with glory, declares the Lord Almighty’.
The ‘desire of all nations’ refers to the coming of the Messiah. That temple that they were building was glorious in Jesus’ day and now it’s gone. And we look to a day when the desire of nations will come also, and the heavens and the earth; the sea and the dry land, will again be shaken. When that happens, this house will be filled with glory. Not the temple in Jerusalem, but the temple of the living God. Colossians 3:4 – ‘When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory’. So, they looked to the first appearing of Jesus as a spur to work. We are to look to the second appearing of Jesus and the glory that is yet to be revealed, as the spur to work whilst we are here on earth.
Chapter 2 verse 9 says, ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house…and in this place I will grant peace’. Life seems so full of turmoil and hardship, but the house that is being built will be more glorious than any before it and, in that house, you will enjoy everlasting peace in the presence of the Lord. So now is the time to toil and labour for the Lord, though it be hard. Now is the time not to get distracted by houses but to be focussed on THE house of the Lord. Now is the time to build.
Not in our strength
One last thing. If we take away from Haggai that we are to work in our own strength, then nothing will be achieved. It is not in our own strength. Chapter 1 verses 14 & 15 make it so clear that the Lord was the one who stirred up the spirits of Zerubbabel, Joshua and the people. It was because He stirred them up that they began to work. It was because He was with them (1:13 & 2:4) that on the twenty fourth day of the sixth month – just 23 days after the Lord chastened them for panelling their houses – that they came and began work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God (1:14). Peter exhorts, ‘If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 4:11).
Therefore, my prayer is that the Lord would stir every one of our hearts to delay no longer, but to work with all our hearts to build his house. And that every one of us would obey the word of the Lord, not despising the day of small things, but counting the Lord’s work of monumental importance.
And that, our houses which are going to be burnt up in the general fire, and which we cannot take with us when we die, and which will be counted wood, hay and stubble – that they become secondary and poultry in our affections, and that the house of the Lord and His glory and honour and His pleasure, become primary and powerful in our hearts as we seek to do his will.
Three and half years after Haggai’s prophecy the temple was completed. Ezra records that ‘the people of Israel – the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles – celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy’ (6:16). And so, it will be for us when the house of the Lord is completed.
The path of obedience is the path to final and lasting joy. Whilst we have breath in our lungs the call is: build the house of the Lord.
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