A Coming Glory (Haggai 2:1-9)

Hello to those of you who are joining me here today, it is such a pleasure to be able to speak for you and bring you a sermon from the Old Testament prophets. I’m glad we’ve all survived the crazy winter roads so far, the way it’s icing up we should almost invest in skates instead of tires! I supposed this is really where trust comes into the equation, since we never know what the drivers around us will do or even how our own car will respond to the conditions – we just have to trust in God to keep us safe.

On a totally different train of thought, I have a question for you. Have you ever done a puzzle? You start out by opening the box, taking the pieces out, and looking at the picture of what the puzzle should eventually look like. At the beginning, when all you’ve got is a pile of pieces, or maybe 2 piles of pieces if you’re like me and seperate out the edges, it looks like a big mess. It looks nothing like the picture, nothing like it’s supposed to look like. It can be discouraging to look at it and see how far you have to go! If you keep working at it though, slowly you can start to see what the puzzle will look like when it’s done. When that last piece goes into its place, the picture is there, even better than the box because it’s bigger and you put so much work into it! Now that you’re thinking about this image, I want you to hold onto it. We’ll come back to this later.

Today we are going to be reading from Haggai 2:1-9, in which Haggai the prophet receives a message from God for some leaders of the remnant of Israel and the people themselves. The book of Haggai occurs after the Exiles have returned from Israel, but some time has passed and the Israelites have worked on their own homes and crops but they are finding that they are not prospering at all. In fact, the opposite is happening, they hardly have any crops! So in chapter 1, Haggai is given a word of rebuke for the leaders of the Israelites - Zerubabbel and Joshua, the governor and high priest respectively. He tells them to start work on the temple again, that this is why they have not prospered, because they neglected God’s house and focused on their own houses. Talk about a sharp reminder! They obey, which closes off the first chapter, so now we open to chapter 2. I’m reading until verse 9 and I will use the NASB translation, if you care to read with me.

Haggai 2:1–9 NASB95

On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? ‘But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the Lord of hosts. ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”

So we see here Haggai speaking a message on behalf of God. Quick question for you: If you received a message from God from someone, how would you respond? Maybe you have before and it seemed absolutely ridiculous, so you brushed it off. Maybe you have received a message from God and then it came true, I’m sure you sat up and paid attention then! The Israelites are clearly listening to Haggai and ready to accept his messages as being from God since they obeyed his last message, so this mesage will have special meaning to them. Well, what is the message? What is the big idea of this passage? Haggai’s message boils down to, “Keep working, you’ll see God’s plan is glorious!” In this passage we see 3 points God is expressing to Israel and us.

Point 1: The past glories seem lost

The first point is: The past glories seem lost.

Haggai begins by asking a rhetorical question: “Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in comparison?” For those who had been in Jersualem before the Temple was destroyed and the Israelites taken into exile, the memory of the Temple would have likely become larger than life (Taylor & Clendenen, 2004, p. 150). They would have been only children when they last saw it, and now they see the meager efforts of the remnant of a once fruitful people… it must have looked pitiful. Haggai’s question makes it seem as if it was more than pitiful. His question could be rephrased as “Are not this new temple and nothing the same in your eyes?” How discouraging that must have been! Yet, God reveals with this simple rhetorical question that He understands their hearts.

1 Kings 8:39 says “then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men”. The ways of the human heart are not hidden from God, He understands us even better than we understand ourselves. To be fair, I don’t think that’s saying much, because I’m sure my husband has lost count of the number of times I have said to him “I don’t know what I’m feeling!” God knows our feelings, our thoughts, our disappointments, and He is not afraid of them. In John 20:24-29 we see Thomas after the resurrection of Jesus. He refuses to believe that JEsus hsa risen unless he can feel the scars and wounds for himself, and when Jesus arrives He doesn’t scold Thomas. He places Thomas’ hand to the scars that mar His glorified body and watches Thomas’ doubt turn to rock-solid faith. In the same way, He didn’t look at the Israelites who remembered Solomon’s temple and say “you guys really shouldn’t be disappointed here, just be glad you have something at all! It’s your own work that you’re disdaining.” Rather, He shows them that He knows what they are feeling - like this new temple is nothing - and then moves on to give them hope with the second point.

Point 2: God’s presence makes us courageous

Our second point is: God’s presence makes us courageous. Looking at Haggai 2:4-5, we see a shift from acknowledging the disappointment that the remnant holds about their current reality to an exhortation of courage. It would be easy to move from disappointment to apathy; why continue to work on the temple when it is like nothing in comparison to what once was? God targets this tendency, however, and lights a fire with a simple reminder. “Take courage!” This hearkens back all the way to the Pentateuch in Deuteronomy 31:6 which says, ““Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”” Moses spoke this to the whole nation of Israel, reminding them that they can have courage because God is with them. If God were not with them, they would have everything to fear! A nation of ex-slaves, still stuck in the slave mentality, wandering in the wilderness with enemy nations on all sides seeking their destruction. And yet, all of that turns into nothing to fear. When God is placed on their side, the scale slam to the side in their favor! God goes with them, or as Haggai puts it God’s Spirit abides in their midst, so they can be courageous and work.

For us today, this hold true as well. God’s Spirit is with us… even better, He abides within us! 2 Timothy 1:7 reminds us, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” Or, as the ESv puts it, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” The Holy Spirit living within us gives us reason to be courageous. We have God on our side, living in our midst, and dwelling within us. We, like the Israelites, have no reason to fear with God on our side, so just like the Israelites, we must keep at the work that God has given us to do.

Point 3: The hope of greater glory

This brings us to our final point: The hope of greater glory. God has seen the Israelites’ discouragement but He encourages them to take courage and keep working because He is with them. There is so much hope in those two simple verses, but He goes further.

Haggai 2:6–9 NASB95

“For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”

What on earth is He talking about here? Have we seen this happen, have the nations of the world come and given their riches to God and His temple? Not that I can recall. One commentary that I read pointed to a multi-part fulfillment. This was fulfilled in the time it was given by King Cyrus sending some of the temple vessels back to Israel in Ezra 1:7-11, but it points to a much more futuristic fulfillment as well. Isaiah 60:5 talks about something similar: ““Then you will see and be radiant, And your heart will thrill and rejoice; Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, The wealth of the nations will come to you.” When would we possibly expect the nations to value God and His temple so much that they would bring their wealth to give? The only time I can think of would be in the New Creation, when all the nations of the world actually follow, love, and honor God. While, yes, right now everything belongs to God - silver and gold - I see the ultimate fulfillment of this promise in the New Creation.

This is supported by the last verse of this prophecy where God promises that the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former and He will give peace. Revelation 21:1-4 describes the New Creation: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”” In the New Creation there will be no temple. “But Katie”, you ask, “How can the glory of the latter temple be greater than the former if there is no temple?” Good question! Allow me to expand my statement. In the New Creation there will be no temple because God will dwell among us as He never can here in this fallen creation. We will be His temple, millions of people, probably even billions, living in harmony by the Spirit of God, forgiven and redeemed and glorified. What more glorious and beautiful picture could possibly be painted? This is the ultimate fulfillment of the Temple of God - that God’s people will become His temple and His dwelling place.

Conclusion

We talked at the beginning about how Haggai’s big idea for this prophecy is: keep working, you will be that God’s plan is glorious. Having explored the passage a bit, we can now see not only that God’s plan is glorious, but we can see why. God’s heart is on full display as He demonstrates that He understands the people’s disappointment, He knows the current reality is nothing like the glories of the past. He encourages them, though, to keep working and not fear because of His Spirit among them. To spur them on even more, He tells them of the glorious future of the Temple, which we know is still to come. That glorious future is well worth the wait, however, as we know that we will take our place as God’s dwelling place in a newly intimate way. God’s people will be filled with and surrounded by God’s Presence, what a wonderful existense to look forward to! So, with that in mind...

Application

How can we apply Haggai’s message to us today? Keep working, you will see God’s plan is glorious. If we want to see God’s glorious plan come to fulfillment, we must hold fast until the end as it says in Revelation 2:25-26 and keep working. What is the work that God has set before us? Well, I believe most, if not all of us know the Great Commission. Go into all the world and preach the gospel, making disciples, baptising them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them Jesus’ commandments. This is our work, we must be about it until He returns to fulfill the promise of His coming glory.

Let’s pray. Jesus, we so look forward to Your Coming so that we can see this wonderful future that you have promised. Keep our eyes fixed on you as we seek to continue the work you have given us to do and help us to stay faithful until the end. Thank you for the hope of the latter glory of your temple. Amen.