I Am Still Working

it is through God’s plan that people truly prosper. It is God’s plan that is full of hope for our future.

We can’t keep God’s word for him - It’s his word - his promise - he is the only one qualified to keep it. God doesn’t care that the temple isn’t as great as it used to be…

We can’t keep God’s word for him - It’s his word - his promise - he is the only one qualified to keep it. God doesn’t care that the temple isn’t as great as it used to be…

...take courage, work, and fear not, because you build more than you see. All you see is a paltry temple. But God promises to take your work, fill it with his glory, and make your labors with a million times more than you ever imagined.

The point is this: God had a purpose for a temple. The Jews of Haggai's day could not see it all, and what they could see seemed so paltry. So God came to them with a word of promise: Take courage. You build more than you see. The heavens and the earth and sea and land and all treasures are mine. I will take the fruit of your little labor and make it glorious beyond measure, no matter how trivial and paltry it may seem to you now.

We can’t keep God’s word for him - It’s his word - his promise - he is the only one qualified to keep it. God doesn’t care that the temple isn’t as great as it used to be…

There is a principle here that applies to you and me: God takes small, imperfect things and builds them into a habitation for his glory. O, how we should take courage in our little spheres of influence!

How was this prophecy fulfilled? Like most prophecies, it was fulfilled in stages, and the final fulfillment is yet to come. By the time Christ had begun his ministry, Herod had rebuilt Zerubbabel's temple so that it was truly magnificent. The temple was destroyed in AD 70, but Jesus had said in

,

20

, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up . . . But he spoke of the temple of his body." Jesus said there is a direct continuity between the Old Testament temple and himself: once God met his people in the temple, now God meets us in Jesus Christ. Some interpreters believe a glorious temple will again be built in Jerusalem and stand through the millennium as Christ rules on earth (cf. Ezekiel 41ff.;

). That may be, but the final state of eternity is described in

. When the new Jerusalem descends, John says, "And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb."