Rebuilding the People

Haggai 1:12–15 ESV

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.

Do you ever have those moments in life when it seems like everything is going wrong, and you expect everything to go wrong, and miraculously something goes right? That is the text we are reading today.

This morning we read one of the most remarkable texts among the Old Testament prophets. If you’re not familiar with the prophetic books they have a lot of sin, a lot of weeping, a lot of calls to repentance, and a lot promises of wrath.

But in this morning text, in an unusual event - the people listen, repent of their sin and do what the Lord commands them.

In this text, Haggai demonstrates how the people of God were convinced by the word of God, through the Haggai the messenger of God, to repent of their sin and obey the word of God to do the work of God, which is rebuilding the house of God.

I know that was a really wordy sentence but I want to make sure that I draw attention to the the centrality of God in this text.

We are looking at 4 verses here and the divine name, YHWH, generally translated as The Lord is used 8 times. Three times it is partnered with “their God.”

God is very active in these 4 verses.

It is the voice of the Lord their God that they obey.

It is the Lord who has sent and spoken through the prophet Haggai. Haggai is referred to as the messenger of the Lord. Haggai speaks the Lord’s Message.

It is the Lord who is with his people.

It is the Lord who stirs up the spirit of the people.

They are working on the house of the Lord.

And thus the first aspect of this text that I want to draw your attention to today is the people of God.

The People of God

As the text opens, we see the same group of people named who have been named already. Zerubabbel, Joshua and all the remnant of the people.

The first people to be addressed in the text are the leaders. It starts with the leaders and the people follow.

This is the first of three times that the word remnant is used in the book of Haggai. It’s a fairly familiar with used in the prophets. Haggai uses it twice in our text for today and once in our text for next Sunday. Verse 12 and in verse 14.

In Haggai, there is a connection made between faith and obedience and the uses of this word remnant.

If you look back to how the people were spoken of before in verse 1:2 they are called “these people”. Which is oddly impersonal, and yet similar language is used in 2:14. And it should be somewhat shocking when you consider that in Exodus Moses is told that they shall be my people and I shall be their God. Yet here it’s these people… and the reason for that is, as we see by their neglect of the temple they were living as if they were not God’s people and as if they didn’t want God around.

But here in 1:14-15 the remnant of the people listen to their God, repent and obey his commands.

v. 12 - The people obeyed the voice of the Lord. The people feared the Lord.

The definitive marker of who God’s people are is that God’s people believe in God. Connected to that is that for the Christian the defining marker is the confession that Jesus is Lord - God’s people believe in God - God’s people believe in Jesus. But mere faith is not sufficient. And what I mean by that is simply saying “yeah, I believe in God” isn’t saving faith. The demons believe that and they shutter. And yet we can all think of people who would call themselves believers in God, or maybe even Christians and do not pass that test.

Faith without works is dead. James 2:14-17.

They repent of their sin. And they are obedient to his commands.

And Jesus says this himself in John 14.

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

and 1 John 2:3

1 John 2:3 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Christians are saved by faith in Christ Jesus to forgive sins and bring new life, not works - but a working faith is evidence of saving faith.

The mark of Christian discipleship is obedience to God’s commands. The remnant in this text demonstrate that they are God’s people by being obedient to what God has commanded them to do.

How many people do you know who profess to be Christians but live in unrepentant sin, or fail to love their neighbor, or completely disregard God’s word? or maybe that’s you today. If so, repent and believe. Turn away from sin - from lust, greed, idolatry, impurity, immorality and instead look to Jesus.

The remainder of my points this morning all communicate the motivation for the people’s work.

The people of God were moved by the Word of God, the fear of God and the presence of God.

The Word of God

The Word of God should lead us to obedience to God

The means by which they are driven to repentance and obedience is by the word of God. God speaks to them through the prophet Haggai and the obey. The text tells us that “they obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as their God had sent him.”

Hearing - or reading - the Word of God should lead us to desire to do the work of God.

They hear the word from Haggai that it is time to rebuild the temple and they do. They hear from God that they need to fix their priorities and they repent and turn their focus from their homes to building the house of the Lord.

Connected to the word of God is the one who delivers the word of God. Here it is Haggai, the prophet of God.

Haggai is referred to as the prophet and the messenger of the Lord.

However, I want to point out how Haggai’s role as prophet might be a little different than how we generally think of prophets. So far, in this book Haggai isn’t telling anything of the future.

Think about what his messages have been thus far: He exposes their sin that they have neglected God, their worship, and the temple. He exposes that their priorities are out of whack. He calls them to repentance. And then he reveals to them that God has blown the harvest away and called the drought. Normally when we think of Biblical prophesy we think of the prophet telling the future - but that’s a minority of Biblical prophesy. Though there is some bit of future telling in chapter 2. It important that we think of the office of prophet properly. However, the role of prophet is rather one who is the mouthpiece of God. They speak on God’s behalf. Haggai’s words are God’s words.

We should not read the biblical prophets asking the question what remains to be fulfilled, but primarily we should ask has this been fulfilled and how.

The Fear of God

The Word of God should lead us to the Fear of God.

What does it mean that we fear God? I remember back when I was in middle school, we read a poem or a story in my literature class that mentioned the fear of God. One of the students raised his hands and asked “Why would you be afraid of God?” If I recall correctly, the teacher dismissed the idea of being afraid of God and merely remarked that is a statement referring to reverence. And this is a common definition. Many people reduce the fear of God down to the reverence and honor of God - and by doing so they diminish the fearfulness of God. Let me explain that with two Bible verses.

We should be afraid of God. Because we are sinful people, and he is a righteous judge.

I once heard Voddie Baucham describe our sinfulness and God’s justice this way: “You said, thought, and did things yesterday that God would have been well within his rights to kill you in your sleep last night.”

I’ve mentioned the prophet Joel several times in the past few weeks. The main theme of the book of Joel is the Day of the Lord. Which is not necessarily one day, but rather the exercising of God’s wrath upon people.

‌In Joel 2:11 the prophet speaks of how this day of wrath is awesome, and unendurable. Yet awesome here is not on par with “I found a $20 bill on the ground, isn’t that awesome?” But rather something inspiring awe… jaw dropping, unable to move, dreadful awe.

Joel 2:11 ESV

The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?

The writer of Hebrews says it a little more plainly.

Hebrews 10:31 ESV

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Fearful.

This is what the people in Judah experienced - they neglected God, placed themselves first and God blew away their harvest and called for a drought on the land. Also keep in mind that this is following the exile - and the reason they were sent into exile is because of their sin. This is a people who have seen first hand how dreadful the wrath of God is - and thus when they are called to repent they indeed do that.

And our repentance for us isn’t any different. I’ve seen a lot of people who have said that they prefer to emphasize the love of God rather than the wrath of God, because it mades God seem nicer. Which there are a lot of problems with that. One, we are foolish to think that God needs our help to look more glorious. Two, if we are to believe that God is our savior - what is he saving us from? You might say sin - but why? Because of God’s holiness and his justice to execute.

Our default state is that we are sinners - through Adam’s sin we all inherit a sinful nature. And we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Thus we are deserving God’s wrath.

To have a rightful understanding of God, we must understand, and communicate to others, that God is indeed fearful. We do not merely stroll into the presence of the living God. God is merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love - which only confirms and emphasizes how wicked sin is that he must punish it.

For those who are dead in their sins - God is fearful. But that’s not the end of the story - God loving has given his son as a perfect substitute that we might find our sins forgiven - thus while reverence and awe maintain some of that fear is gone.

Yet the fear of God is also their motivation to pursue the work and the will of God.

The Presence of God

In verse 13, Haggai tells the people that God is with them.

How would your life change if you knew that whatever you were doing was endorsed by God? You knew that God was with you and that stirred you up to do your work.

God has told the people here in verse 13 that he is with them. God’s presence is often associated with God’s will. In Numbers 14, and Deuteronomy 1 Israel is told that they should not go into battle because the Lord is not with them. This is the opposite - they are encouraged to do the work of rebuilding the temple because God’s presence is with them.

You would probably be overjoyed. You would probably get right to work.

The word of God tells us what we are to do - and Jesus assures his disciples that he will be with them always - even to the end of the age. But what is the task that Jesus gives alongside this? What is the work of God? To make disciples.

God with us. We joyfully declare that Jesus is the Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus came and dwelt among us. . And after his ascension into heaven, he gives his people the Holy Spirit. God indwells his people.

In Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus gives his great commission he tells his disciples the same that the Lord tells the people here in Haggai.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are comforted to complete the task that the Lord has given us because he has also given us his presence. We can seek first the kingdom of God, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to be obedient because Jesus has comforted us and encouraged us with his presence and his Holy Spirit.

They did not complete the work here. They complete the work in 2:18. 3 months later. But the assurance of God’s presence guides them. Additionally, God stirs up the spirit of Zerubabbel, Joshua and all the people. The Lord awakens them from their stupor to move them to work.

In the final statements of this text we are given a date. This shows us that 23 days after the initial message they resume the work. Now 23 days might seem to some of you like a long time but really consider that it only took 23 days. Have you ever started an important project that took months to get it going? This is just over three weeks since Haggai’s initial sermon that the building begins.

Application has been weaved throughout this whole sermon - but to put it in a few short sentences…

What does it look like to fear God?

How does the Bible lead us to fear God?

What does it mean for you to be obedient to God’s commands?

How does God’s presence encourage you to obey his commands? to share the gospel? to love your neighbor?

And for a bonus - that will be what we are going to discuss this Wednesday night.

Conclusion:

So as we see so far in the text: The word of God leads the people of God to fear God, forsake their sin and to instead pursue the will of God.

If we want to see change in our lives, in our community, in our city, in our state, in our nation - then that change must be through the proclamation of the word of God. It’s why I cannot, and will not stand up here and give my postulations on current events, or politics but rather i must proclaim the word of God - and help all of us - myself included to apply the word

In this text, through Haggai God has rebuilt the temple so that they might rebuild the temple. And the Lord has placed his Spirit inside those who have

We are his workmanship a new creation— created in Christ Jesus for good works. Those who are in Christ Jesus are rebuild into a new people, being conformed to his image - in order that we might do the will of God.