The Coming Glory of the Temple (Hag 2:1-9)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to Haggai 2:1-9.

We’ve been working our way through Haggai over the past few weeks in which we’ve learned what the primary issue is in Israel during the life of Haggai—they were regularly and consistently prioritizing things other than God, His temple, and His people.

So, the first two weeks dealt heavily with indictments against Israel for their sins—in particularly, that of neglecting God, His temple, and His people. We tied that directly into our current life—that many of us are doing the same, we’re neglecting God, His people, and His temple, which we’ve equated with the universal church with local churches as local representations of the temple.

Last week, after Haggai called out the people, we watched them repent—and it was notable that their repentance was more than just word, they repented in their actions—by getting back to work on rebuilding the temple.

This week’s passage starts the second message from Haggai to the Israelites. It’s important to realize that they’re still in the midst of rebuilding the temple and so, what we read in Haggai 2:1-9 are two encouragements for the people as they continue to rebuild.

Let’s read Haggai 2:1-9.

Haggai 2:1–9 ESV

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”

As we study the passage together, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) The Promise of God’s Enabling Presence (1-5) and (2) The Future Glory of the Temple (6-9). Both of these are encouragements from the LORD to the nation of Israel as they rebuild the temple. From our perspective we carry the same promises given to the Israelites that both enables and gives hope.

The goal for today is to reflect on God’s presence and see the hope that stems from His presence and the promise of the future. Today’s text is a reminder that even when we’re in the trenches as a church, God is still with us and there’s still a promise for a future glorified state as His body.

Prayer for Illumination

The Promise of God’s Enabling Presence (1-5)

The Setting (1-2)

Remember that this is the second message from God through Haggai to the people of Israel.

The first message was all that we read through in ch. 1.

The indictment against their sin and the call to repent.

Their willingness to actually repent, which is seen in their obedience—to start rebuilding the temple.

The second message from God to the Israelites through Haggai includes ch. 2:1-9 and it’s primarily encouragement.

We know that the second message starts here because the text starts by re-situating the date.

That in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

So about a month after the construction starts on the temple, the people then get another word from the Lord.

And much like the previous message, it’s sent to the same people.

We read that Haggai is to speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah.

And to Joshua the high priest.

As well as to the remnant again—remember, that the repentance that we had witnessed wasn’t all of Israel repenting and getting back to work, it was just a few who heard the Word of the Lord, was convicted, and then repented

The promise (3-5)

After the text sets the stage for the message, we’re then given the first part of the message in vv. 3-5.

God reminds them of what the temple used to look like—this is calling back memories for the oldest amongst them to consider the temple that Solomon had built before its destruction.

He recalls these memories for the purpose of contrasting what they see in front of them now with what things were like before—and He does it for a specific reason.

It’s not to cause them to be nostalgic for what they had before, but to call them to look towards the future.

Essentially, He’s saying, “remember how things were? Notice how things aren’t quite the same now, but take hope.”

Why should they take hope? There’s actually two reasons for this, but only one is in this section of the text—and it’s based purely on who God is and that He is still with them.

No, the temple isn’t as nice as it used to be, but be strong (v. 4) “for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”

Despite the fact that things aren’t as they once were—God is still with them and He enables them and gives them strength.

In fact, God’s presence both reflects and reinforces the idea of who He is—the God who has made a covenant, the God who is faithful to keep His covenant, the God who is willing to dwell with His people simply because of who He is.

Thus, because God is with them, because He strengthens them, because His Spirit is in their midst, God encourages them to fear not.

Now this idea of fear is different from the previous section dealing with the fear of the Lord. Last week, when we dealt with repentance from sin, I had mentioned that in that context fear of the Lord really dealt with a fear of judgment for unbelievers and a reverential awe for believers.

In this context, it’s dealing with fear of other things and issues. We would tie this into the concept of being afraid of something.

So, think of the fear of man—making man bigger than God is in such a way that you act differently because you’re afraid of what they might say or might do.

Or, think fear of losing a job, fear of being slandered or lied about, fear of unrealized potential or whatever else it might be.

God makes it clear that there is no reason to fear; and the reasoning for this is based on the fact that He is with them, He strengthens them, His Spirit is in their midst.

Transition: It’s really such an interesting concept when you think of it because God notices the fact that they could be looking at what they’re building and they could be saddened by the fact that it doesn’t seem as nice as what it was like before—and instead of telling them to think of how much better they could’ve done, He reminds them of Himself—who He is and the fact that He is present. That’s really the first part of the message, that even though things aren’t as they were, they can have hope because God is with them and He enables them and strengthens them. With that said, that isn’t the only reason why they can have hope. He continues in vv. 6-9 with more detail. Let’s look at those verses:

The Future Glory of the Temple (6-9)

Haggai 2:6–9 ESV

6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”

So, first, they can have hope and they need not fear because God is with them. In addition, there’s something better coming that ought to bring about hope. And it’s this idea of the future glory concerning the temple: and I would argue that there’s two ways to consider this.

First and most directly, while their current temple project isn’t as nice as they’d like, it’s not as big as they think it should be, it doesn’t hold the same gravitas as it once did, what they built wasn’t permanent.

In fact, if you’re familiar with that time period, though the Israelites do rebuild the temple, by the time Jesus is alive, they’re in the midst of the largest temple building project ever—funded by King Herod, which definitely amplifies the idea of all the gold and silver being the Lord’s.

While the Israelites did the best that they could in the moment, they recognized that God deserved much more.

And yet, at this point in time, that’s not God’s greatest concern.

Truly it makes sense that it wouldn’t be. God is God, He doesn’t actually need a temple for anything.

Rather, what He’s considering is the fact that the people genuinely repented and their repentance is seen in their obedience in rebuilding the temple itself.

So, yes, this current temple isn’t the greatest, most wonderful structure, but God doesn’t need a multi-million dollar property. He has all the silver and gold, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He delights in their repentance and their obedience.

I think just reflecting on David’s repentance in Psalm 51 can help us see what exactly I mean by this.

Psalm 51:1–2 “1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.”

Psalm 51:10–12 “10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.”

Psalm 51:16–17 “16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Indeed, something greater is still on its way and what’s to come is something that only God can do—even in the temporal sense as He shakes up the nations so that all His treasures come in.

Second and more indirectly to their immediate context, but more directly towards our own—I can’t help but to consider the eschatological ideas at play, especially when you remember the temple motif.

Scripture very clearly presents the theme of the temple from beginning to end—I’m not going to reiterate it, as we’ve discussed several times over the past few weeks and you can go back to those sermons to refresh your mind on the issue.

What I do want to focus on is the temple that the modern-day church is the temple united with Jesus Christ. With that said, when we reflect on the local church in light of all this:

As we labor together to build up the local church, we might look around and consider that this really isn’t that impressive—maybe our home church is larger, maybe the church we grew up in was nicer, maybe fill in the blank.

But if all we ever think of when we think of the Church is the earthly moments that we spend here, we’ve lost sight of the reality of a much larger Church—a universal church in which treasures from every nation are used for its structure.

A church that is filled with God’s glory, that experiences genuine peace, that is better than any local church you could ever imagine—ultimately because in union with Jesus Christ we will see God Himself face to face—what Christians through history have called the beatific vision.

That as a body of believers in union with Jesus Christ, we will see God.

This truth makes the reality of the universal church, which isn’t consummated until Jesus’ return, that much better than any single local church, any temple, anything that was meant to be God’s dwelling before.

Transition: while we’re not building a physical temple in the same sense that the Israelites are in Haggai, when we consider all this in terms of the spiritual temple—that of the people of God, everything starts to piece together in a way that’s directly applicable to us today. With the truth in mind that God’s people is the temple, the application makes sense in two parts: (1) God’s promised presence, grounded in His covenant faithfulness, empowers us to trust Him and fear not. (2) God’s promised future glory, when He dwells with His people in peace, drives us to persevere. Let’s talk about those ideas:

Application

As we labor together as His people, God’s promised presence, grounded in His covenant faithfulness, empowers us to trust Him and fear not.

Much of Christian ministry and really much of everyday life, is us just working and working and working towards a goal or towards something in particular.

Often, that daily striving can seem long, drawn out, and maybe unseen.

Sometimes, that daily striving can seem tedious—consider Sisyphus.

And yet, it’s through that faithful day-after-day striving for God and His Kingdom that draws us nearer to Him and is used by His Spirit to sanctify us.

And really, as we strive for God and His Kingdom faithfully day-after-day, it’s the realization of His promises that empowers us and compels us to trust Him as we go about our striving for Him.

It’s the reality that He is with us that comforts and guides us.

It’s the reminder that He cares for us and that He is faithful to us as His people that compels us to trust and not fear.

There are reasons why often in the Psalms, when the psalmist is dealing with something significantly discouraging, his typical response is to cry out for help and then to remind himself of who God is and what God has done and what God has said.

It’s the realization of who our God is that drives us not just say we trust Him, but to actually trust Him.

Which is reflected in our willingness to obey Him, to follow Him, to serve Him in our everyday life.

It’s also reflected in our willingness to obey Him, follow Him, and serve Him when He calls us to do something that we’re uncertain about—examples of callings.

As we labor together as His people, His promised presence empowers us to trust Him even when we can’t quite see the end from the start.

Bridge illustration.

True trust is revealed in obedience.

Now, with that said, we have one more application to think of. When we think in terms of the local church being a temporal reality of the eternal temple, even if we look around and see that our present temple isn’t as grand as a previous temple, God’s promised future glory, when He dwells with His people in peace, drives us to persevere.

Many, if not all of us, have attended various churches throughout our lifetimes. And in human sinfulness, it’s easy for us to compare and contrast.

Like the Israelites contrasting their new, not as grand temple with their old one, we can look at our local church and think that it’s nothing compared to previous churches that we’ve been a part of.

On the flip side, we can get caught in the trap of thinking that the grass is always greener, but that’s a different issue for a different time.

It’s easy for us to look at our current context and wonder why things aren’t the way that we would prefer them to be and the answer for that is often that in an imperfect, sin-cursed world.

Our local church setting isn’t intended to be perfect in every way nor could it be.

But the future gathered temple in which God will dwell with His people in eternity—that will be perfect.

When we dwell with God in eternity as a gathered body and we see His face together—that will be perfect.

Until then, we only get to witness glimmers of what it means to be a unified body of Christ, which means in our current setting, we will only ever see an imperfect temple of God.

One that while it seeks to be biblical, seeks to follow the Lord, aims to glorify God in all it does, will always fall short in some way or another.

One that while it tries to do its best in terms of being a healthy and good church, will always have some sort of dysfunction that causes consternation of some sort.

That’s not intended to cause discouragement or discomfort.

Rather, it’s a reminder that this side of eternity was never and can never be perfect.

It’s a reminder that our focus since the fall in Genesis 3 has always and should always be on the eternal consummation of all things—when we see Him face-to-face.

Though it could be discouraging or discomforting, it’s really meant to bring about hope—that while things are a struggle here right now, we as His people—His current temple—will dwell with Him in eternity face-to-face together.

And that alone makes it worth the pain and suffering that we experience; that alone makes it worth battling in the trenches for the Gospel; that alone makes it worth it all—because “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former . . . and in this place [God gives] peace.”

Local churches as God’s current temple will always struggle to be perfect, but the idea is that each local church is a foretaste of the eternal reality of God’s dwelling with His people—and that gives hope and comfort as we reflect on the future and rest in God’s ability to strengthen us and be here with us and fore us.

Honestly, if we think about this in our current context with this morning’s announcement in mind:

As we labor together as God’s people, this text reminds us that His promised presence, grounded in His covenant faithfulness, empowers us to trust Him and fear not.

For Israel, the temple they were building didn’t look like much compared to Solomon’s. For us, as we come to the close of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, it might feel the same way: “Was this worth it? Was it too small? Did it matter?”

God does not dismiss those feelings. He acknowledged to Israel that what they saw looked like “nothing” compared to what came before (v. 3). And yet His answer was not, “Try harder” or “Make it bigger.” His answer was: “I am with you. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”

Brothers and sisters, the closing of our local expression of God’s temple does not mean the Spirit departs. His covenant faithfulness has not shifted. He remains with us. He remains with you. His presence is not tied to one address in Ramey, PA. It is tied to His covenant promises in Christ.

And that leads to the second encouragement: God’s promised future glory, when He dwells with His people in peace, drives us to persevere.

Israel was told that what God was building in the end would far outshine what they saw with their eyes. The “latter glory” would be greater than the former. And for us, even though this congregation is closing, we look forward to the consummated temple—the church of the living God gathered from every tribe, tongue, and nation, filled with His glory, and perfected in His presence.

That vision means our labor here was never wasted. Our worship, our prayers, our preaching, our fellowship—none of it is in vain. Every step of obedience, every act of repentance, every moment of faithfulness will echo into eternity because God Himself is faithful.

So, yes, we grieve. Yes, we feel the sting of ending something we love. But our hope is not in what we can see today. Our hope is in the God who is with us, the God who strengthens us, and the God who promises a glory yet to come that is greater than anything we have known.

That is why we can walk forward in peace. That is why we can say with confidence: “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former…and in this place, God gives peace.”

Pastoral Prayer