Building God's House #3: Glory Days, Haggai 2:1-9

Intro: In the immortal words of the 1980’s American prophet Bruce Springsteen- who sang... Glory days: Yeah, they'll pass you by, glory days; In the wink of a young girl's eye, glory days; Glory days

If you don’t know that song, it’s about reminiscing with old friends, one a baseball player, and one an old girlfriend, about their high school days.It’s relatable because it’s something that we all do from time to time, look back at certain times of our lives and think they were the best. Those were the “glory days.”

The problem with the glory days concept is that we can get stuck in the past, when there is life to live right now in the present, & a future that is brighter than we can ever imagine.That progression is what we’re going to see in today’s passage.

Haggai 2:1–9, In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: 2“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: 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? 4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. 5 ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’

6“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.” PRAY

It’s OK to look back on the glory days, but it’s not OK to live in them. Three reasons why we must move on from the glory days and move forward to a greater glory.

1. We can’t live in the PAST. That Comparison is a KILLER. Vss. 1-3.

Reminder- we are studying Haggai & Zechariah because they were prophets sent by God to His people to prophesy to them so that the people would get to work building God’s House.We are introduced to the two prophets in Ezra, where we learn that the remnant of God’s people, those who returned to Jerusalem after their 70-year exile in Babylon, they were sent home to rebuild God’s Temple. They got as far as laying the foundation of the temple, but opposition arose around them & they stopped building. For about 16 years the work on God’s House lay dormant while they all built their houses. What we saw last week is that after Haggai’s 1st message to Zerubbabel, Joshua, & the people, they all obeyed the Lord & got to work.

What I want you to notice is that when these people started rebuilding the temple, some of them who had seen the original temple built by Solomon, would have looked at this one as nothing compared to that one. In fact, this is not the first time they’ve had this reaction. In Ezra 3, when they started rebuilding the 1st time by laying the foundation, Ezra 3:11, And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

Ezra 3:12–13, But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, 13so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.

The application of Building God’s House for us is this: God doesn’t reside in a temple anymore.Through His Son & by His Spirit He resides in each one of His people. Individually, each one of us is a house of God, & collectively, the church is being built into a glorious temple in the Lord, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. That means God is present with us, right here, right now, in this place, not because this space is sacred, but because you are. Together we are a Temple for the Lord.

We need to face the truth that, whenever we start playing the comparison game, no matter what it’s about- whether we are looking back to a certain time in our history, or down the block at a different church, that kind of comparison is a killer. Comparison will kill our enthusiasm and our initiative.

When we look back to life in the past - the church was bigger then, we had more young families, more youth & kids, a bigger choir, etc. When we do that, we lose sight of the fact that there is stuff for us to do now.

All any of us can do, or should do, is what the Bible says about David, Acts 13:36, David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption. We can’t live in the past, that comparison is a killer.

2. We’ve got Work in the PRESENT: God’s Covenant will KEEP us on the Right Path. Vss. 4-5.

Notice that God says to them through Haggai- to be strong. He said it to Zerubbabel, Joshua, & all the people- BE STRONG. This command is reminiscent of what God told Joshua when he was to take the people into the promised land. Joshua 1:9, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

There is a very strong connection to God’s charge to the people here and what He did for them in the Exodus.God led them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. God was with them, guiding them in a pillar of cloud by day, & a pillar of fire by night. The shekinah glory of God rested on the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. When Solomon completed the Temple for God, God’s Glory came to reside in that temple. Before their captivity & the destruction of Solomon’s temple, Ezekiel had a vision of God’s glory leaving that Temple. Now as they are rebuilding this temple, God is with them, saying to them- Work, for I am with you.

What are they to base God’s promise of His presence on? The Covenant that He made with them at The Exodus. He was with them when they left Egypt, & now He promises that His Spirit is among them. On the basis of God’s Covenant faithfulness, He commands them to not fear.

Can I tell you something? The same God who covenanted with Israel & commands these builders to Be Strong, Work, & not Fear because He is with them, is the same God who covenants with us through the Person & Work of His Son & our Savior Jesus Christ, so that by believing in Him, the very Presence of God by His Spirit moves into the hearts of each one of His people. Having the Spirit of God is the basis for Jesus telling His disciples and us- Acts 1:8, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

For us to build God’s House, both personally and individually, corporately and collectively, we need God’s Spirit to do the work that God has called us to do. Jesus promises that when we are doing His work, He is with us. Matthew 28:19-20, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. We must not live in the past, because there is work for us to do in the present. God’s Covenant Promise is that He is with us By His Spirit, and being filled with the Spirit will keep us moving forward.

3. We can have God’s PEACE: The Best is yet to COME. Vss. 6-9

In these last few verses, God counteracts their unfavorable comparison of the restored temple with Solomon’s temple. He assures them of ultimate success because of the future glory of His temple.

We read of the cataclysmic results of God’s coming that shakes the whole world. This kind of language symbolizes God’ supernatural intervention when He comes in judgment. E.g., Isaiah 13:13, Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the Lord of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger.

We need to keep in mind that while Haggai is delivering a message to real people in real time & in a real place, his message is still prophetic. Most prophecies work on two levels- present, future. I think this one works on three levels: present for them, future to them (Christ’s 1st coming), and what is future to us (after Christ’s 2nd Coming).

To them, God shaking the nations was on the horizon. Already the Lord had taken down Babylon, the current power was Persia, then Greece, then Rome. Rome was the empire in power when Jesus came. The very temple they were rebuilding was the same temple Jesus walked in. It was adorned in glory by His presence within it.

There is an interpretation that sees Jesus, the Messiah as the fulfillment of “the Desire of All Nations.”Charles Wesley interpreted it this way in his famous song “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” “Come, Desire of nations come, Fix in us thy humble home.”

More likely is the translation- ‘the desired of all nations will come,’ in which “desired” is a reference to desirable things, i.e., treasures. This is why in the next verse God says the silver is mine, and the gold is mine, because they nations will bring their tribute to Him “and I will fill this temple with glory.”

Revelation 21:22–26 talks about the New Jerusalem- But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

The New Jerusalem will be the place of God’s peace (Jerusalem= city of peace).Jerusalem will not have peace until the Prince of Peace resides in it. This place and time are when peace will come at last. Truly, the best days are yet to come, but you don’t have to wait until then to experience God’s peace. Your Glory Days can be right now.