Haggai
Today we start a new book! Haggai. As is often the case, we need to have a bit of a history lesson first.
When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem just about everyone was taken into exile into Babylon. It’s hard to overstate the significance of this event. If the Exodus is the most significant event in the Old Testament, this is the second most significant because it was like a reverse Exodus. In the Exodus they are taken out of slavery into the promised land and now they have been taken out of the promised land and back into a sort of slavery.
This is where you see three of our major prophets. Jeremiah is still in Jerusalem and he has a ministry for a short period of time after the destruction. We believe he is also the author of Lamentations which is a book lamenting the destruction of the city. We mentioned there were 3 deportations to Babylon. Daniel is taken in the first one. Ezekiel is taken in the second deportation. And you’ll see that both of their ministries take place in Babylon as exiles. Jeremiah is almost taken in the third deportation but because he was on good terms with the Babylonian captain of the guard he was actually given the choice whether to go or stay and he chose to stay.
Babylon has a short reign. The book of Daniel records the end of it. If you remember the story of the hand writing on the wall in Daniel 5, that’s how Babylon was overthrown. The one ruling in Babylon at that time was a man named Belshazzar. He was feasting and celebrating and he was boasting over God essentially. He was using the vessels which had been stolen from the temple in Jerusalem for his feasting. A hand appears and writes on the walls a mysterious phrase. Daniel is called to interpret it and he says your kingdom will be removed from you and given to the Medes and Persians. Then we read “That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed.”
So Cyrus the Great is the ruler who conquers Babylon. Again it has to do with a river that flows through the city. The Euphrates river flowed right through the city of Babylon. The Persians simply diverted the river and entered the city through the dried riverbed. It took relatively little effort and minimal bloodshed.
One of the very first things that Cyrus the Great does for the Jews is that he allows them to go home. In the first verses of the book of Ezra this is described. Ezra leads many of the exiles back to Jerusalem where they will begin to rebuild the city and the temple. These events are going to be significant for our study of Haggai today.
Jumping ahead, after the book of Ezra, Nehemiah picks up the story of rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem.
And just for the sake of placing biblical events the story of Esther takes place in Susa the capital of Persia.
So let’s look at Haggai and talk about where he fits in this story.
1:1
I mentioned how the events of Ezra are very important for what’s happening in Haggai. So let’s turn to the book of Ezra 4 and look. In Ezra we mentioned the exiles return and they see that their first responsibility is to rebuild the temple. So they begin the work. Now look at Ezra 4.
READ EZRA 4:1-5
The people Assyria had sent to the land of Israel want to join in rebuilding the temple, but the Jews say “No, this is only for God’s chosen people to do.” So the people in the land sabotage the rebuilding. The rest of the chapter describes how they sent a letter to the king of Persia saying the Jews are rebels trying to rebuild their kingdom. So the king issues a decree that they must stop rebuilding the temple.
READ EZRA 4:24, but wait something happens in the next verse. READ EZRA 5:1.
Enter Haggai. Just as it’s described for us in verse 1 of his book. It’s the second year of a new king named Darius, Haggai starts prophesying.
You’ll notice it tells you very specifically, the date this prophecy took place. We have more confidence for the dating of events in Haggai than just about any other writing in the Bible. It took place on August 29, 520 BC. That was a Tuesday. Write August 29 next to it.
We’re also introduced to two important figures in this book: Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest.
Why is Zerubbabel significant? Zerubbabel is the governor. Basically he’s the king, but he’s not allowed to be called king. He is overseeing Judah, but they are not an independent nation. They are under the authority of Persia. But there’s something significant to know about Zerubbabel. He comes from the royal line. His great grandfather was Josiah. His grandfather was taken into exile in Babylon. Zerubbabel is the rightful heir to the Jewish throne.
We won’t say much about Joshua the High Priest now, but he will have a part to play in the book of Zechariah later.
1:2-11
The keyword for us here is “house” so let’s find all the houses and circle them. There should be 6 here: 2, 4, 4, 7, 9, 9.
Vs 2 - Haggai highlights the problem. He says, the people claim it’s not time to rebuild the house. Remember they started rebuilding under Ezra, but then were forced to stop. And they haven’t rebuilt it yet.
Vs 4 - Underline the words paneled and ruins. They have been rebuilding their own houses and making them paneled beautiful houses. The word paneled here is only used elsewhere in the Bible of the coverings on the temple or on the king’s palace. It’s a luxurious, extravagant type of housing, perhaps even excessive comfort. Meanwhile, the temple is in ruins.
Vs 5-6 - Think about how things have been going for you in these past 20 years or so. You keep putting in lots of effort for a harvest. You keep trying to save money. You're not able to do anything that feels ultimately satisfying.
Vs. 8 - The command is to start rebuilding the temple. Go get some wood and get to it.
Vs 9 - Nothing is working out for you. Why? Because I’m blowing it all away. I’m making sure that nothing happens for you. As long as my house lies in ruins, I will not allow you to succeed in your pursuit of gathering more and more comforts. Underline ruins again there in 9.
Vs.10 -11 - I have done this specifically by sending a drought on the land. A little bit of a fun fact here. Frequently in the Bible you’ll see grain, wine, and oil listed in that order. That’s because that’s the order that the Jews would harvest those crops throughout the year. Roughly it was grains in the spring. Grapes for wine in the summer. And olives for oil in the fall. Whenever all three are listed it refers to all your crops throughout the whole year.
There’s some pretty easy application points for us here today. If you were here this past Sunday, you recall how we talked about the temple being the place where God’s presence was. But now God’s presence is with his gathered people. He is with the church.
Haggai is rebuking the people for working on their own personal lives while failing to work on the place where God’s presence dwells. This is extremely relevant for our time. How often do we make plans for our own houses? We know what our career goals are. We know what our financial goals are. We have plans for how to move forward. We’re regularly purchasing things to increase our own comfort and ease. Yet, for all of our efforts, we still feel like we’re chasing after the wind or as Haggai states it, we’re putting money into bags with holes in them. All the while churches all across the country are floundering. No one is attending them. No one is participating in them. No one is giving financially to them. No one is volunteering their time at them.
At FBC, how are we doing? How are you doing? Where are your greatest efforts directed? Are they to the building up of God’s church or to the building up of your own kingdom? Now when I say God’s church, I don’t mean to say you necessarily need to be giving more money in your offerings. It may mean that. But it may also mean that your efforts should be in investing in the people of God’s church. Are you investing in the next generation of Christians? Are you introducing yourself to the believers who are younger than you and are looking for a mentor? Do you take them out for coffee? Do you invite them to your home? Are you building God’s church?
If God has been foiling all of your efforts to get ahead personally, then this is something you should take into serious consideration.
So what do the people do in response to Haggai’s prophesying?
1:12-15
We see this trio repeated multiple times here in the Haggai: Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant. They obeyed God and they started to build the house.
But here’s an important question to ask: Why did they obey the Lord? I think there’s a pattern that we see throughout the Bible that is very obvious here. Look at vs. 13-14.
First, we see God’s Word proclaimed. Underline Haggai spoke to the people.
Second, we see God’s presence arrived. Underline I am with you declares the Lord.
Third, we see God stirring up people’s hearts. Underline line the Lord stirred up the spirit.
His Word, His presence, His stirring. This is how God works. Consider how souls are saved? The word of God is preached - the gospel. The Holy Spirit arrives. And the Holy spirit transforms a heart to accept Christ and to follow him. You see this in how we grow in discipleship. The word of God is preached. The Holy Spirit convicts us in our hearts and our lives are stirred up and changed.
When we see God saying, I am with you - it’s not a reward they receive because of their good behavior. You built me a house, now I’ll be with you. Rather, God decides he will send them his word through Haggai. He decides he will stir their hearts. Then they obey and build.
We can’t force the Lord’s hand in any way. However, we do see the pattern and the promise that where his Word is preached he will show up and he will stir hearts. This is why we want to have more Bible in our services and our gatherings, not less. We want God to show up and transform hearts, and he does that through his Word.
Put a line under vs 15. That concludes our first section.
2:1-9
Put a line under verse 9. That concludes our second section.
Previously he was concerned about the existence of the house. Now he is concerned about the glory of the house. So we’ll circle the word house again, but this time each time we see house it comes with another word glory. Circle glory and box house in vs 3, 7, 9.
Vs 3 - He speaks to the old folks. And he says, “Do you remember what the old temple used to look like, Solomon’s temple? Do you remember how incredible that one was? Now look at this new one. It’s pretty lame in comparison isn’t it?”
This is classic. Every Christian I’ve met who is over 60 years old or so, will always have stories about the glory days. You’ve probably told the stories “Back in my day!! We used to…” Take comfort knowing that people have been talking about the good ol days for thousands of years.
But Haggai says to them, you are probably tempted to think this work is worthless. But BE STRONG. He says it 3 times in verse 4. Underline each of them.
And most importantly, why should they be strong? Because “I am with you” Underline that too.
He’s highlighting something we’ve talked about before. The size of the temple means absolutely nothing. The beauty of the temple means absolutely nothing. The number of people in the temple, the size of Jerusalem, the amount of gold they have, the strength of their army, the muscles of their king - none of these things matter at all. The thing that matters is the Lord’s presence with them. So Haggai encourages them, work hard, because I am with you. None of that other stuff matters.
Then he says, it’s just like when I brought you out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Underline that phrase too.
Think about when they left Egypt. They didn’t have a king. They didn’t have an army. They didn’t have horses. They didn’t have political power. They didn’t have a fancy temple. All they had was tents. Tents for everyone, even God. But why were they successful in making it to the Promised Land? Because God was with them.
Think about First Baptist. I don’t know what period in our history would count as the “glory days”. I’m sure everyone reckons it differently. But compared to the glory days, maybe you think we’re not doing great. But Haggai reminds us, the thing we need isn’t those old days to come back. We need God’s presence. And when we preach his word and gather together. We have it! Think back to 1894. This church didn’t have anything. No programs, no building, no pastor, not even a name. But it had some people and it had the presence of God with them. And because of that they were able to build a lasting legacy that’s been around for 130+ years. We’ve got people. We’ve got God’s Word. We’ve got God’s presence. I have every reason to be optimistic about what God’s going to do.
Vs. 6-9. Haggai says, The future you have to look forward to is incomparable to anything you’ve had before. He says he’s going to shake everything. In fact it seems like the only thing not shaken is the house of God itself. He says, I’ll shake the earth. I’ll shake the heavens. I’ll shake the sea. I’ll shake the land. And all the silver and gold and treasures will fall out of them into my house. Kind of like a bully would pick a kid up upside down and shake him until his lunch money comes out. This house is one day going to receive all the treasures of the world.
READ HEBREWS 12:26-29
As Christians, we don’t ever need to look backward at what we used to have, because we can look forward to what we’re going to have. This church. These people. We’ll be with them forever. They will become more glorious than anything we can imagine. God is going to shape his church into a beautiful spotless bride. Everything we used to have pales in comparison.
2:10-19
I’ll make his point quickly. According to Jewish law, if you are holy and you touch something holy, does your holiness transfer onto it? No. It does not. But what if you are unclean and you touch something, does your uncleanness transfer? Yes it absolutely does.
Then vs 14, underline the last couple lines - so with every work of their hands, what they offer is unclean.
He’s explaining again why they had no success. You were unclean because you refused to build my house. Thus, everything you touched became unclean as well.
How do you fix being unclean? You get cleansed.
How should they have fixed their sinful attitude? They should have repented. But look at verse 17, Yet you did not turn to me! Circle that one.
But now they have repented and God says, in verse 19, from this day on I will bless you. Underline that one.
Put a line under 19 that’s the end of that section.
2:20-23
Here he speaks specifically to Zerubbabel. Circle his name in verse 21.
He is the heir to the throne, remember? God is taking time to remind them of the promise has made to Israel. He will establish an eternal kingdom through them. They may feel defeated now, but God will defeat all the other nations. Underline in verse 22, I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations.
He’s going to preserve Israel. And why is he going to do this? Vs 23 “For I have chosen you”. Underline that one.
They will be destroyed and you will survive because you’re simply the one that I have chosen. I made a promise and I will keep it.
So the major theme of Haggai is God’s promised presence with his people.
Let me take a minute to trace this theme throughout the Bible.
Eden - God’s presence is with them. He is perfectly with Adam and Eve.
Fall - Man is separated from God’s presence because of sin
Moses/Tabernacle - God’s presence is represented by fire and smoke on Mt. Sinai. God says, Though you have sinned, I want to be with you again. Let me design a way that I can make that happen. He goes with them throughout the wilderness with the ark of the covenant. Smoke fills the tabernacle when it’s completed. God’s presence. Or it’s often called the glory of the Lord.
Solomon’s Temple - God has a more permanent structure. Smoke fills the temple when it’s completed, the glory of the Lord arrives.
Destruction of temple - God’s glory leaves the temple.
God’s presence is with his people in Babylon - Ezekiel makes this really clear in a vision where God’s throne leaves Jerusalem and comes to Babylon.
God returns to Jerusalem with his people as they rebuild the temple, but it’s not the same fire and smoke presence as before. Will that ever come?
Luke 2 - And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night… and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. God’s glory has finally returned to Jerusalem! BUT… It’s in the form of a baby.
God’s presence is perfectly seen in Jesus who is “God with us”
Jesus dies, resurrects, and ascends and declares that his presence will now be with his gathered people, the church. Everywhere the church gathers, God’s holy presence is found.
One day, God’s presence will be perfectly on earth again as the new heavens and new earth are joined together for eternity.
God is stirring our hearts right now to build his church because that’s where his presence dwells.