Building God's House: Intro to Haggai & Zechariah

Intro: How many of you have ever built a house? (a few of you have)

What does it take to build a house? Builders will tell you (so will occupants) that the most important part of a house is the foundation, which is true if you want the house to stand for a long time. But before you ever lay a foundation, there are a few things you need to have: you need a design in mind, someone draws up some blueprints, and you need to put a crew together. It’s only then that you can prepare the site, pour a slab, frame it up, and finish it out. What we’re going to talk about today are the steps before you get to build.

Ezra 5:1–2, Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. 2 So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

If you are not familiar with the book of Ezra, let me quickly set the stage. All the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament fall into 1 of 3 categories: pre-exile, in exile, post-exile. Exile refers to the time period when Judah was taken captive by Babylon for 70 years.

The 70 years exile was prophesied by Jeremiah, and you can read about it in Daniel.Babylon was defeated by Persia, & the king of Persia, Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return home. Ezra begins with Cyrus’ decree to allow the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple that Babylon destroyed (Solomon’s temple). The temple that is rebuilt is called Zerubbabel’s temple, aka the house of God (see vs. 2).

Before I go any further, let’s define the term “house of God.” In the Old Testament, the place where Jacob first met God, Beth-el, means House of God. When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, He met with God in the Tent of Meeting until the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was completed. God’s presence (represented by the Ark of the Covenant) resided in a tent until David wanted to build God a House. God allowed David to gather the materials, but it was his son Solomon who built the magnificent Temple for God. That was the temple destroyed by the Babylonians & rebuilt on a smaller scale here in Ezra.

Fast forward to the NT, and God’s presence came to dwell among His people in the person of His Son, Jesus.After Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, Jesus sent the promised Holy Spirit to dwell in His people, i.e., the Church. Now, every believer is “God’s House,” filled with God’s presence by His Spirit, and the gathered church is God’s Temple, the place where God’s presence resides.

Ephesians 2:19–22, Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are God’s House- both individually and corporately, personally and communally, this church is God’s House. This series through Haggai and Zechariah is about how God builds His house. As I said earlier, before you start building you need a plan, you need to prepare, and you need some people- 3 building blocks for building God’s House.

1. (plan) We need GOD’S WORD.

Ezrabegins with the decree to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Chapters 1-6 focus on the first groups to return & rebuild the temple. Chapters 7-10 happen 60 years later when Ezra the scribe returned with another group of exiles & taught the law to God’s people. The story continues in Nehemiah, where Ezra is still priest and teacher.

Ezra-Nehemiah tell the story of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem leading up to the NT. BTW, Nehemiah is chronologically the last book of the OT. It leaves us with little hope until Jesus arrives on the scene.

By Ezra 5, the 1stgroups had returned to Jerusalem and begun to worship God again through sacrifices and offerings. They started to rebuild the temple (ch. 3) but only got as far as laying the foundation when they met resistance by the occupants of the land. Opposition arose and put a stop to the building of the temple. Ezra 4:24 says “the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased.” 15-16 years elapse between the end of ch. 4 & the beginning of ch. 5.

Have you ever started a project that got hard, quit working on it, and laid it aside for 16 years? What happens when you do that? Complacency sets in, then a lack of urgency, finally apathy. It happens to individuals & it happens to churches. We fall into these lulls.

What happened when Israel stopped building God’s House? God sent them two prophets- Haggai and Zechariah. This is the first time they appear in Ezra; this is the 1st time they appear in Scripture. Each of these prophets have their own books- Haggai is 2 chapters, Zechariah is 14 chapters. These two verses are the introduction to their books.

Haggai & Zechariah contain the messages, visions, and prophecies that God used to get Israel to resume building God’s House. God has called us as Christians to continue to build His House- that means each one of us as individuals & corporately as the church here at LakeRidge. If we’re going to be part of building God’s House, we’re going to need His Word. God used Haggai & Zechariah to get Israel to build His House and I believe He can use them again for us to build His House too!

2. (prepare) We need a WILLINGNESS.

Notice that Zerubbabel and Jeshua got up and started to build God’s House. Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) of Judah, the last king of Judah before the exile. At this time, Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah & He is an ancestor of Jesus through King David’s line. As we will see from Haggai and Zechariah, Zerubbabel is a messianic figure. Both prophets invest him with messianic glory. In Haggai, Zerubbabel is God’s “signet ring” (Hag. 2:21–23); in Zechariah, he is the Lord’s servant (“the Branch”; Zech. 3:8; 6:12–13).

Jeshua (alternate Joshua) son of Jozadak is the most prominent Jeshua in Scripture.He was the first postexilic high priest. Jeshua was a common Hebrew & Aramaic name from the time of Ezra through the time of Jesus. It means “[the Lord] delivers.” This Hebrew name is the basis for the Greek name Ἰησους, which in English becomes “Jesus.”

Both Zerubbabel and Jeshua are going to show up again in our study of Haggai and Zechariah. Both of them are going to be motivated by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, but most importantly, both of them point us to Jesus, who saves His people from their sins.

Like Zerubbabel, Jesus is the head of the Church and like Jeshua He is the great High priest of God’s people. Hebrews 7:25, Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

It occurs to me, that if you are new here, especially if you are lost and an unbeliever, this series on building God’s house does not mean anything to you, unless we connect it to Jesus- our leader and High Priest.

If you are unsaved, lost in your sins, joining the church won’t save you. Trying to build up your life with good works won’t help you. You need to turn to Christ as your Savior and make Him the head of your life. When Christ is your foundation, then you can build your life on Him, you build God’s House through Him. Turn from your sins and trust in Christ.

If you are a member of this church, if we’re going to be part of building God’s House, His Church, we cannot do it apart from Jesus. Without Him we can do nothing. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, Iwill build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Jesus is triumphantly committed to His Church. He started it, loved it, died for it, empowered it, grows it, and one day will return for it. If Jesus is willing to do all that for His Church, what are we willing to do for Him?

We need to be willing to do what Zerubbabel and Jeshua did- rise up and begin to build. There are ways we can do that. I will introduce some of them in the next point and we will try some of them out this year. But please hear me, it is not a willingness on our part that will build His church, it is Christ’s willingness through us that will build it.

3. (people) We need to WORK.

Notice that the prophets were with them, helping them. This word “helping” isn’t there in the original, but the idea is, so translators put that word in to convey the idea. It’s actually just a one-letter preposition in Hebrew translated “helping” (NKJV, KJV, NRSV, CSB).

This one-letter preposition lamedis contracted to the front of the word “them,” and when added to a word means to, or for. If we were to read it literally, the word conveys that the prophets of God were “for them,” i.e., they “supported” them (NIV, ESV).

This is what God put prophets and pastors in the church for- Ephesians 4:11-12, And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…

God gifts certain people to help the church do the work of ministry. 1 Corinthians 3:6-8, Iplanted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Whether you are a planter or a waterer, we have work to do. Our work works together with God’s work who makes the church grow. Just so there is no misunderstanding about what is meant- building the church is less about more bodies, bigger budgets, and better buildings, the most important work in the church is how the church grows up into Jesus- personally and individually, corporately and communally.

The reason there are prophets and pastors who equip God’s people for the work of the ministry to build up the church is Ephesians 4:13, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...

God is building us into the image of His Son. On a personal level, we need to be in the Word, in prayer, attending worship services. As a church, we need to be inviting people, doing outreach, serving others, and sharing the Gospel. This year, we’re going to take some intentional steps to build up God’s House both personally and corporately. If you are looking for a new year’s resolution that will help with both of those things- commit to attending services on Sunday nights this year.

1 Corinthians 3:9–11, For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. You know our motto- It just feels like Home! That’s more than a tagline to me, it means something. It means that God is building us into His House, and we are building ourselves into a Church Home for those that the Lord sends our way.

If you are looking for a church that feels like home, where people love you, accept you, and encourage you, then LakeRidge may be that place for you. If you are lost, the first thing you need to do is turn from your sins & make Christ the head of your life.