"HAGGAI: PRIORITIZING GOD"

>>>The people came back from exile (described in Ezra).

>>>The needed to rebuild the house of God.

Ezra 4:4–5 “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

Ezra 5:1–2 “Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.”

>>>The people who were left behind from the exile discouraged the rebuilding of God’s temple.

>>>Haggai and Zechariah prophesied after about a 20yr. period, causing the people to get back to work.

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Haggai 1:2–6 ““Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”

Haggai 1:7–11 ““Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.””

>>>This was not a super inspirational prophecy as it seemed in Ezra, although Haggai does support the people when they build.

>>>The people said it “was not time” to rebuild the temple, yet they built their own houses/farms.

>>>God pointed out to them that they struggled in their building and harvesting, because the prioritized their houses over His.

>>>There was nothing wrong with them building their houses/farms. What was wrong is that it was put over God.

>>>There are times when things in our lives get in the way of making time for God.

*Actual important things that get in the way. They are not wrong but can be distracting.

>>>Putting these things over God, we struggle with getting by in life.

>>>The people stopped building because of the people already in the land hindered them.

*These people had already been opposing them in Ezra.

*Nehemiah also receives opposition when trying to rebuild Israel’s walls. Hostile people were trying to discourage the work of God.

>>>Have you ever thought about the spiritual warfare when it comes to prioritizing God?

Haggai 1:12–15 “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.”

>>>The people responded to the word of the LORD with obedience.

>>>As they began to rebuild them, the LORD said that He was with them, and that is when He stirred the hearts of Zerubbabel (governor), Joshua (priest), and all the people.

*“stir” means “arouse”

*God spiritually aroused the people to do His will.

PRIORITIZING GOD BROUGHT HIS PRESENCE.

>>>Not prioritizing God can bring about feelings that God is absent, not active in our lives, etc. But putting Him back to being first allows for us to walk in His presence and accomplish His will.

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Haggai 2:4 “Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts,”

>>>God encouraged the people as they built.

>>>This temple was in better condition than the other.

>>>Something is defiled after being contacted by something that is defiled.

Haggai 2:14–19 “Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.””

>>>God wanted the people to think about how they were before building, and how they were after they begun.

*Before rebuilding-no provision/struggling to work/no harvest.

*When they started rebuilding-there was going to be blessing/provision.

PRIORITIZING GOD BROUGHT HIS PROVISION.

>>>God encourages us as we seek to follow Him.

>>>When we put God back where He belongs in our lives, we see His blessing/provision/favor on our lives.

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Haggai 2:20–23 “The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.””

>>>This final word from God is directly to Zerubbabel.

>>>God is going to eventually overthrow the kingdoms of the world.

>>>He describes Zerubbabel as His “signet ring”-sets His seal. He has chosen him. Nothing is said much about him after this. What was he chosen for?

Matthew 1:12–13 “And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,”

Matthew 1:16 “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.”

>>>Zerubbabel represented the renewed covenant of the royal line of David-the bloodline of Jesus.

PRIORITIZING BROUGHT HIS PLAN.

>>>Zerubbabel had to prioritize God as well. This allowed for God to work out His ultimate plan.

>>>God has a plan for His kingdom and for us individually. Accomplishing this plan requires us to put Him first in our lives over everything else.