The Command to Rebuild the Temple
Notes
Transcript
Order of Service
Order of Service
Welcome
Welcome
PrayerAmos
PrayerAmos
Hymn -
Hymn -
Notices
Notices
Prayer Meeting - 7:30pm Wed
Friday 7pm - Online
Sunday Morning 11am & 6pm
Tithes & Offerings - £
Main Prayer
Main Prayer
Hymn -
Hymn -
Reading
Reading
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”
Sermon
Sermon
Contemporary Relevance of Haggai
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Jesus Disciples naturally were worried about basic life necessities
A significant proportion of time is spen providing for basic family escentials such as foog, clothing and shelter
But this needs to be balanced by a sens of urgency with regard to the service of God
namely the advancement of the Kingdom of God
Individuals end up in a preoccupation of meeting their own human needs first, and offering only what is left over to God
Each generation must learn anew the need to put God first
The people before Haggai may have verbally articulated belief to the contrary
but their actions disclosed their inverted priorities
They sought first the Kingdom of self and its comforts
Despite all the determination to gain all of life’s necessities they made little progress
Their hard work produced nothing
Their crops failed because of disease and disaster
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Haggai’s ministry was of calling his generation to a nenewed commitment to the task of restoration of Jerusalem’s Temple and normalise the religious life of Israel
In large measure this task that lay before them was a test of whether they would put God first in their lives
Haggai drove it home in a relentless and uncompromising fashion
The people had to decide whose interests mattered most to them - their own or the Lord’s
affluence of God’s people all too often leads to a hoarding of resources and to ugly self-indulgence
We are called to personal sacrifice in order to advance the cause of God’s work in this world
Too often Haggai is accused of being preoccupied with material things and fail to see the deeper theological considerations
Yes, Haggai is very different from prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel - is a worthy servant and divinely commissioned by the LORD
His relently approach in pressing the people to respond in an appropriate way, made him unpopular
But, he was in the end one of the most successful prophets described in Old Testament literature
The temple was central to the religious aand national experience of the Jews
It had an unusual theological significance in the religious life of ancient Israel
To return to a normalization of religious life required the rebuilding of the temple
Today we are commissioned with the building of the a spiritual temple, the people of God as living stones
Important History
Babylon had taken control and held siege of Jerusalem (605 BC)
They took many if the Israelite nobility into captivity (among them Daniel and his three friends)
A few years later they took a greater magnitude into captivity and destoyed the Solomonic temple
The land was decimated and rendered inhospitable to humans and animal life
The walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, along with the royal palance and residences
Nebuchadnezzar’s forces took bronze objects, and high value items, from the temple and took them back to Babylon
The absence of the temple was a painful metaphor for the religious and moral condition of the nation
Rise of Persia
Cyrus the Great - forces ultimately captured Babylon - 538 BC
They diverted the water of the Euphrates, providing access to Babylon
Babylon fell with little resistence, having become a shaddow of its former self resulting in its people being disgruntled
Cyrus enabled people to return to their former lands
Permitting the Jews to return to the promised land and to rebuild the temple
Cambyses succeed his father Cyrus, who catured Egypt in 525 BC
There was a relative stability throughout the empire during his reign
After a failed attempt against Etheopia, he died in strange circumstances on his return to Persia
Herodotus stated Cambyses “accidentally” stabbed himself in the thigh with his own sword
Darius (age 28) came to power in 522BC
He feautres prominently in the Book of Ezra
work on the temple had stagnated until this period
The work was challenged by neighbours, but after legal checks Darius send word of authorisation and forbid interference on penalty of death
He also ordered that Royal fuinds be released for the building work and ordered sdacred vessels (taken to Babylon) to be returned
This was an era that produced several greek and roman philosophers, as well as in Far East philosophers such as Buddha
His Ministry
No much is known about his life or death
Haggai’s ministry lasted just 4 months
Followed by Zechariah
Summary:
it is God’s work that deserves our highest priorities, our most enthusiastic energies, and our absolutely unrestrained commitment
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
First Sermon - 29th August 520 BC - first day
“the word of the Lord”
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”
Too busy
Waiting for a sign or direct word
Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled [covered] houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
“thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways” - inverted priotites
“You have sown much, and harvested little”
“You eat, but you never have enough;”
“you drink, but you never have your fill”
“You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm”
“he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes”
So many years prior David said...
2 Samuel 7:2 “the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.””
Paul said...
Philippians 2:21 “For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways” - Necessity of obedience
“Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified”, says the Lord
“You looked for much, and behold, it came to little.”
“when you brought it home, I blew it away.”
“Why?” declares the Lord of hosts. - The Lord’s Discipline
“Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.”
“Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.”
“And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”
Hymn -
Hymn -
Q&A
Q&A
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology
