Haggai

The Brooklyn Bridge is truly a miracle bridge. In 1863, a creative engineer named Washington Roebling was inspired by an idea for this spectacular span. The project was only a few months under construction when a tragic accident severely injured Roebling. He was left with permanent brain damage and was unable to talk or walk but his mind was as sharp as ever and he still had a burning desire to complete the bridge. All he could move was one finger, so he developed a code for communication, where he touched the arm of his wife with that finger, tapping out a code to communicate to her what to tell the engineers, who were building the bridge. For 13 years, Washington tapped out instruction with his finger until the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge was finally completed. Lord, give us that kind of determination and that kind of stamina.

This was a similar problem that Haggai addresses in this prophecy in regards to the RE-BUILDING of the Temple of God. He multiple trials and issues he had to overcome to rebuild the temple to the Lord.

Let’s look at a brief history of Haggai. Haggai is also mentioned in Ezra quite a bit. As you will see today, the Old Testament is not written in Chronological order.

Ezra 5:1–2 CSB

But when the prophets Haggai and Zechariah 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, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak began to rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, helping them.

Ezra 6:14–16 CSB

So the Jewish elders continued successfully with the building under the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia. This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

1. Haggai’s name means: “FESTIVAL.”

2. Haggai was written around 520 BC.

a. By this time the “Nation of Judah had been in Babylonian Captivity for approximately 70 years,”

as Jeremiah had prophesied

b. Babylon has now been defeated by a new EMPIRE, as God told Habakkuk they would, the

PERSIANS under the rule of King Cyrus.

COMMENT:

In fact, it had been prophesied by Isaiah over 150 years earlier that “the Lord would raise up one named Cyrus, who would allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of God”-

King Cyrus gave the Jews (as well as other CAPTIVES) a choice to either REMAIN where they were since many had grown into a quiet and comfortable life OR they could return to their HOMELAND and be allowed a measure of self-government and could REBUILD their Temple.

3. The first of the EXILES that returned to Jerusalem were a comparatively small number from the

THOUSANDS whom had been taken CAPTIVE by Babylon.

a. The prophet Haggai was among the first to RETURN.

It is believed that Haggai was just a young boy when Jerusalem was destroyed. But he remembers the MAGNIFICENCE of the CITY and the SPLENDOR of Solomon’s TEMPLE.

b. You can imagine how the prophet’s HEART sank when they RETURNED to Jerusalem only to

see the CITY in complete DESOLATION and the SACRED TEMPLE of God in RUINS.

COMMENT:

Although the Jews were given permission by King Cyrus to rebuild the TEMPLE and were probably even given MATERIALS to do so, hostile neighbors made the RECONSTRUCTION a difficult task. “The work sat idle for 16 years, and only the foundation had been laid”- Ezra 3.

C. The book of Haggai presents a PROGRESSION in the ATTITUDE and CONDITION of the people as the prophet SPURS them on to complete what they have started so that “GOD’S HOUSE” can once again be FILLED with His GLORY.

MESSAGE:

I. Selfishness

A. God speaking through the prophet says to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah and Joseph the High Priest,

Haggai 1:2 CSB

“The Lord of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”

1. Really? “THE TIME HAS NOT YET COME?”

a. These people had waited for 70 years, waited in a foreign land, waited for the PROMISE to be fulfilled to RETURN to their HOMELAND so they can freely WORSHIP God again. And

now they say, “the TIME has not yet come…”?

b. This was God’s PLAN for the Babylonian Captivity in the first place—to finally purge out IDOLATRY so that His people will return to Jerusalem and once again WORSHIP Him and

Him only. And now they just can’t find the TIME to finish God’s House.

2. Interestingly enough, they were able to find the TIME for more SELFISH endeavors- Haggai 1:3-4

Haggai 1:3–4 CSB

The word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

a. Doesn’t this sound a lot like Christians today?

b. We don’t have time for God, but we can certainly find the time to DO what we want.

COMMENT:

We don’t have time to come to WORSHIP, to READ our BIBLES, to PRAY, to SERVE in a MINISTRY, to SHARE Christ, but we always find the TIME to do the THINGS that are IMPORTANT to us.

And the people of Israel were the same at this time.

Haggai 1:5–9 CSB

Now, the Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways: You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough to be satisfied. You drink but never have enough to be happy. You put on clothes but never have enough to get warm. The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it.” The Lord of Armies says this: “Think carefully about your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house; and I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

1. Haggai is wanting the people to know that the Lord is not BLESSING them because they are not

GIVING Him their very BEST.

COMMENT:

He kept them safe for 70 years in CAPTIVITY as He said He would, and they do nothing to show their GRATITUDE. Since they refused to rebuild the TEMPLE, God says: “Okay, I’m just going to SIT BACK and withhold my BLESSINGS until MY HOUSE is complete.”

2. Friends, I want you to understand that this is God we are talking about. He is our CREATOR.

Without Him we are NOTHING.

COMMENT:

The greatest FULFILMENT we can find in this life is to LIVE FOR God, and yet many Christians act like they just don’t have TIME for Him or they GIVE God the LEFT OVERS.

II. Obedience

A. When Zerubbabel and Joseph and all the people came to REALIZE that their INDIFFERENCE and

APATHY was a demonstration of their blatant DISRESPECT for God and His HOUSE, they

immediately REPENTED and OBEYED the Lord

Haggai 1:12–15 CSB

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the entire remnant of the people obeyed the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, delivered the Lord’s message to the people: “I am with you—this is the Lord’s declaration.” The Lord roused the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of the Lord of Armies, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

1. I love this. This so different from how the people of Judah responded to the PROPHETS before

CAPTIVITY.

COMMENT:

The prophets preached over and over, “Repent and return to God,” and the people refused. But now they’re listening to God and immediately OBEY Him because they “FEARED the Lord.”

2. Maybe the reason that many Christians today are INDIFFERENT and DISOBEDIENT is because

they no longer FEAR the LORD—they no longer RESPECT Him.

COMMENT:

I’m afraid that in recent years many PREACHERS (myself included) in stressing the LOVE of God has led many people to believe that GOD is a PUSHOVER—that He doesn’t take SIN and DISOBDIENCE serious anymore. That whether you REPENT or NOT or OBEY or NOT, God is going to REWARD you anyway. . . . . But nothing can be FURTHER from the TRUTH!

B. We see here that it was only AFTER the people REPENTED and OBEYED that God BLESSED them-

1. The people were REWARDED and BLESSED by God because they took ACTION.

COMMENT:

They didn’t just TALK about it. They didn’t call a MEETING and say to one another, “You know, Haggai’s right. We DO need to start WORK on the TEMPLE again. It’s been 16 years since we’ve done anything. Why don’t we set another MEETING in a couple of months so that we can come back and TALK about when it will be a good TIME to get STARTED?”

2. God is not honored by GOOD INTENTIONS (we all have those). He is honored by our ACTIONS.

a. Haggai said, “They OBEYED the voice of God and began to WORK on the house of the Lord.”

COMMENT:

The GOVERNOR, the HIGH PRIEST and all the people were CONVICTED by God’s Word and took ACTION. They GRABBED their AXES and went up that MOUNTAIN and started CHOPPING DOWN trees.

b. And God says, “I AM WITH YOU.”

III. Blessing

A. As the people continued their WORK on the TEMPLE, there were some of the OLD GUYS like Haggai

who began to reminisce about the “GOOD OLD DAYS”

Haggai 2:1–19 CSB

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison? Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel—this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies. This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’ ” For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies. “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai: “This is what the Lord of Armies says: Ask the priests for a ruling. If a man is carrying consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and it touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, does it become holy?” The priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai asked, “If someone defiled by contact with a corpse touches any of these, does it become defiled?” The priests answered, “It becomes defiled.” Then Haggai replied, “So is this people, and so is this nation before me—this is the Lord’s declaration. And so is every work of their hands; even what they offer there is defiled. “Now from this day on, think carefully: Before one stone was placed on another in the Lord’s temple, what state were you in? When someone came to a grain heap of twenty measures, it only amounted to ten; when one came to the winepress to dip fifty measures from the vat, it only amounted to twenty. I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you didn’t turn to me—this is the Lord’s declaration. From this day on, think carefully; from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid; think carefully. Is there still seed left in the granary? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet produced. But from this day on I will bless you.”

1. Those who remembered the glory of Solomon’s Temple are greatly DISAPPOINTED—it just

didn’t COMPARE.

Under Solomon’s rule Israel had become a MIGHTY, POWERFUL, and WEALTHY nation. Solomon had everything at his disposal to build a TEMPLE that was unmatched by any other STRUCTURE at that time. He spared no EXPENSE.

b. “But as the older generation including the PRIESTS and LEVITES who remembered

Solomon’s Temple look at the STRUCTURE before them now, they WEEP”- Ezra 3:12

Ezra 3:12 CSB

But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads, who had seen the first temple, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully.

ILLUSTRATION:

How many of remember six flags?

2. God acknowledges that even though the current TEMPLE was new “it seemed like nothing” in

comparison to Solomon’s Temple

a. And, yet, God says that “the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the

former house . . . and in this place I will grant peace”

COMMENT:

It is true that King Herod some 500 years later added onto this TEMPLE and it became a massive CONSTRUCTION, even far greater than Solomon’s TEMPLE. But I believe that the prophet is speaking of something of even GREATER significance than Herod’s TEMPLE.

b. Many scholars believe, and I agree, that Haggai is giving us a glimpse into “God’s Spiritual

House”—the church of Jesus Christ.

COMMENT:

The church is of “GREATER GLORY” because it is ETERNAL and OPEN to all people of every NATION. The HEAD of the CHURCH is Jesus Christ the Son of God

The name of Solomon who BUILT the first temple meant “PEACEFUL.” But the BUILDER of the ETERNAL TEMPLE is the “Prince of Peace.”

B. Haggai wants the people to remember that God’s BLESSINGS is contingent upon them continuing to

LIVE their LIVES for God

1. By this time three months had passed since they started the RECONSTRUCTION of the TEMPLE.

a. They had been PROGRESSING right along, but God knows that we HUMAN BEINGS have a

tendency to SLACK OFF or even QUIT in our SERVICE to Him.

b. Concerned that they may once again become COMPLACENCE and DISOBEDIENT, God has

Haggai to ask the PRIESTS a couple of questions

-FIRST: “If a person carries holy meat (the flesh of animals used for sacrifice) in the fold of his garment and then that garment touches other food, does it mean that whatever the

garment touches is holy as well?”- v. 12. The answer is: “NO.”

COMMENT:

God wants the people to understand that just because you are back in Jerusalem and rebuilding

MY HOUSE, doesn’t make you automatically HOLY and RIGHTEOUS in my sight.

Billy Sunday, a former athlete turned preacher, once said in a sermon: “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” It’s by giving our LIVES to God and LIVING for Him that SANCTIFIES us—makes us HOLY.

-SECOND: “If one becomes unclean by touching a dead body, and he touches other persons or things, will these become unclean?”-

answer is “YES.”

COMMENT:

God is reasoning that being in a HOLY PLACE does not automatically make you HOLY, but SIN and its INFLUENCE can SPREAD throughout the entire CITY. So God is urging the people to remain FAITHFUL and OBEDIENT to Him.

2. God goes on to remind them of their past DISOBEDIENCE and how He had withdrawn His

BLESSINGS from them in hopes that they will never RETURN to that life again-

COMMENT:

I know that as Christians we are not to DWELL ON and FRET OVER our PAST SINS. We have given our LIVES to Christ and we are FORGIVEN. Christ PAID for our SINS on the CROSS. But I think it is HEALTHY sometimes for us to just STOP and REMEMBER how

AWFUL it was when we were not WALKING with God.

I don’t know about you, but I just don’t want to GO BACK to the time when I allowed Satan to USE me and ABUSE me and to HURT the people I love because I chose SIN over God. I don’t

want to FORGET what that was like, because I never want to REPEAT it again.

a. God is saying to the people, “Don’t forget the misery of your disobedience. Don’t forget how

I withdrew my blessings from you. Continue to do my WILL and OBEY Me!”

b. Then God adds in v. 19b- “FROM THIS DAY ON I WILL BLESS YOU.”

COMMENT:

Now, those are the WORDS we want to HEAR from God.

A. Haggai concludes his prophecy with a MESSAGE from God personally directed to Zerubbabel, the

governor of Judah

1. Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiachin who was the King of Judah during the Babylonian exile.

COMMENT:

Since he was a direct descendant of the King, it was only natural that he be appointed as GOVERNOR over the reestablished nation of Judah.

2. But what is most significant about “Zerubbabel is that he is now the oldest living patriarch that will

continue the ancestral line of Abraham and King David to the coming Messiah”

a. Listen to what God says to Zerubbabel- Haggai 2:23

Haggai 2:23 CSB

On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.” This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

COMMENT:

The SIGNET was a ring or cylinder engraved with the owner’s NAME or special EMBLEM specific to that person. It was often worn by KINGS. It signified OWNERSHIP and SEAL

APPROVAL.

b. Zerubbabel was God’s “SIGNET RING.”

COMMENT:

The nation of Judah was in CAPTIVITY for 70 years, but during that time God kept the

MESSIANIC SEED LINE pure and intact.

God chose Zerubbabel to CARRY ON the lineage of David, through which Jesus Christ was born and crowned the King of kings.

3. Zerubbabel represents the MESSIANIC HOPE that had been RENEWED to the children of Israel and ultimately FULFILLED with the COMING of Jesus Christ into the WORLD.