Building God's House #5: God Bless You, Haggai 2:10-23

Intro: God Bless You. When was the last time you pronounced a blessing on someone? Was it when they sneezed? Let’s practice- turn to the person next to you and exchange blessings- say “God Bless You” & return the blessing to them.

Those 3 little words mean so much, don’t they? I know that commonly, the phrase is used as a kind of “wish” for someone’s good health, or as a way to express well wishes for their well-being. But for a Christian, the phrase “God Bless You” signifies divine favor and protection.

Numbers 6:23-27, Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” ’ 27 “So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” This promise of God that He will bless His people is a theme that runs throughout the Scriptures. We’re going to see it again in our text for today, when we get down to vs. 19.

Haggai 2:10-19, On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, 12 “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?” ’ ” Then the priests answered and said, “No.” 13 And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “ ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

15 ‘And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord—16 since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord.

18 ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it: 19 Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’ ” We are going to finish reading this chapter later when we get to vss. 20-23. For now, let’s think about God’s promise to bless- three blessings of being a Christian.

1. The Blessing of HOLINESS. Vss. 10-14

The first thing we have here is a case study in purity. God tells Haggai to ask the priests (i.e., experts in the law) two theological questions regarding holiness and uncleanness.

The 1st question is- If someone carries “holy meat” in their garment and with the edge of their garment they brush up against some common food would touching the common food with the garment holding the “holy meat” make the common food holy? The priests answered NO.

Holy meat- food that has been offered as a sacrifice; common food- items that could be eaten but were not offered on the altar, e.g., bread, stew, wine, oil, etc. Anyone who was ritually clean could eat “holy meat”, but holy meat could not transfer its “holiness” to other things.

The 2nd question is- if someone who is unclean because they touched a dead body, touched anything, would the thing touched be unclean? The answer is YES, it will be unclean.

Uncleanness transfers, holiness does not. God says in vs. 14, these people, this nation, is unclean before Him, and so everything they touch is unclean. I hate to tell you this, but what’s true for them is true for us. If we are unclean, everything we touch is unclean. If we are unholy, just rubbing up against something holy is not going to change us. E.g., One of Jesus disciples was in contact with Him 3½ years- he was unsaved, possessed by the devil, betrayed the Lord, & killed himself = Judas.

Reading your Bible, praying, & going to church (good things to do), that will not make you clean. The only thing, the only One, who can make you clean is Jesus. He told His disciples, John 15:3, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Jesus is the only One who can make us clean. This doctrine is called IMPUTATION.

Of our own, we have no righteousness. In fact, the Bible says that “we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (polluted garment); We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The only way for us to be made right with God is to receive the imputed righteousness of Christ.

This is the great exchange that was made at the cross- 2 Corinthians 5:21, (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. One of the great blessings of being a Christian is being made holy. How do we receive the blessing of Christ’s holiness? By receiving the blessing of forgiveness.

2. The Blessing of FORGIVENESS. Vss. 15-19

Here we have a description of their condition in their state of uncleanness. God takes their mind back to remember, before they ever laid a stone for the foundation of the Lord’s temple, before they had returned to Him, what was their life like? They were lacking material blessings. This description recalls Haggai’s 1st message (1:1-11)- they sowed much but reaped little, they ate but not enough, they drank but were not filled, had clothes but no warmth, earned wages put in a bag with holes. Why? God did it to them because of their disobedience.

Here He reminds them- you went to draw out 20 ephahs (measurement) of grain but only got 10; went to the wine vat to get 50 baths (measurement for liquid) but only got 20. Why? Vs. 17- God struck them with blight & mildew & hail but they still did not TURN to Him. Even today, He says- the seed is in the barn, the grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yielded fruit; BUT something is changing, God says “from this day I will bless you.” What changed? Not God, He doesn’t change. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. No, they changed. Something happened to them- they returned to God.

We are studying Haggai & Zechariah because they were the 2 prophets God sent to the remnant of His people so that they would do the work God had sent them to do- build His House. We have the same calling, to build God’s House, both personally & individually as one of His people, but corporately & collectively as His church, BUILDING GOD’S HOUSE.

One of the ways that we build God’s House is by returning to Him.

These people had been sent into exile in Babylon for 70 years because of their disobedience to God and degradation of sin. After their 70 years of punishment, God raised up another kingdom, Persia, and another king, Cyrus, who sent this remnant back to Jerusalem. Their priority was to rebuild God’s Temple. They started the work, but when opposition arose, they stopped building God’s House. They left His House in shambles while they built their own houses. After 16 years or so, God sent them these two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, on a mission to get the people back to work. So far, that’s what’s happened. Haggai delivered 2 messages, and work was moving along, but something was missing. They were doing the work of God without a heart for God, so they needed to turn back to God. Their return was in response to the 3rd prophetic message- Zechariah 1:1-6 - return to me & I will return to you. Based on this message (vs. 19), the turnaround must have happened because God is ready to bless them again.

When God’s people turn back to Him in faith, they receive His forgiveness. What a blessing God’s forgiveness is! Romans 4:7-8, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

One of the greatest blessings of being a Christian is knowing that God has forgiven you of your sins, not because of anything we have done, but because of Jesus. Ephesians 1:7, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. By God’s grace in Jesus, have you been forgiven of your sins?

Now don’t misunderstand the order of things here- you don’t get holy & then get forgiveness, you are forgiven & that makes you holy. The blessing of holiness comes from the blessing of forgiveness, and the blessing of usefulness comes from the blessing of holiness.

3. The Blessing of USEFULNESS. Vss. 20-23

Haggai 2:20-23, And again the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: ‘I will shake heaven and earth. 22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them; The horses and their riders shall come down, Every one by the sword of his brother. 23 ‘In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the Lord, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the Lord of hosts.

In these last verses, the LORD is emphasizing the future hope of redemption represented by the Messiah on the Day of the LORD. The language of shaking heaven and earth, overthrowing kingdoms, destroying the nations, and defeating their armies, is prophetic language pointing to the Day of the LORD. God’s choice of Zerubbabel is a symbol that He is not done with the line of David. Zerubbabel is a Messianic figure; Jesus is the fulfillment. A signet ring was engraved with a unique symbol that was put into soft clay or wax and then stamped over the crease of a letter or envelope guaranteeing the contents were authorized by the owner of the signet ring. God is using Zerubbabel as a seal guaranteeing the fulfillment of this prophecy through Jesus.

God puts a seal on all His people. What Zerubbabel was to them, the Holy Spirit is to us. Ephesians 1:13, after believing in Jesus, “you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” 2 Timothy 2:19-21, the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. We are forgiven first, then made holy, after becoming holy, we can be useful to God.

I don’t imagine there is anyone here who would say- “don’t you dare say to me “God Bless You.” I don’t want God to bless me.” That would be ludicrous. We want to be blessed, and if you are forgiven of your sins, you already are. We have every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, including forgiveness. And having been forgiven, we ought to desire holiness. To be holy, we need to cleanse ourselves of anything unclean, so that we can be a vessel for honor, sanctified & useful for the Master.

Are you being used by God? If not, are you holy before God? If not, have you been forgiven through God? My prayer is that God Bless you with forgiveness, holiness, and usefulness.