Haggai: Haggai 1:13-The Lord Encourages the Remnant of Judah That He was with Them Lesson # 20

Haggai 1:13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s word to the people: “I am with you!” says the Lord. (NET)

Haggai 1:13 presents the result of the three statements recorded in Haggai 1:12.

The first of these statements asserts that Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son as well as Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, the high priest along with the whole remnant of Judah obeyed the Lord, their God’s voice.

The second asserts that they obeyed Haggai, the prophet’s words because the Lord their God had sent him.

Specifically, this remnant obeyed the Lord’s command in Haggai 1:8 to complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

Then, the third statement presents an inference from the first two statements and asserts that this remnant demonstrated respect in the Lord’s presence.

Then, Haggai 1:13 asserts that Haggai, the Lord’s messenger spoke the Lord’s word to this remnant saying, “I am with each and every one of you!” says the Lord.

This statement means that the Lord was experiencing fellowship with this remnant.

Consequently, experiencing fellowship with the Lord would enable this remnant to complete this task assigned to them by the Lord.

This assertion that the Lord was with this remnant was to encourage and enable them to complete the task to complete the rebuilding of the temple.

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 also has an active sense in that the Lord would Himself be actively involved in the work of completing the rebuilding of the temple since Haggai 1:14 asserts that He energized Zerubbabel and Joshua and the entire remnant of Judah to complete this task.

Haggai 1:14 So the Lord energized and encouraged Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the whole remnant of the people. They came and worked on the temple of their God, the Lord who rules over all. (NET)

Therefore, the Lord’s statement here in Haggai 1:13 that He was with each and every member of the remnant of Judah was the direct result of this remnant obeying His command to complete the rebuilding of His temple in Jerusalem.

Thus, Haggai 1:13 teaches the child of God during the church age and all of His children in every dispensation that fellowship with God demands or requires obedience to the Lord’s commands.

It also teaches that this obedience empowers the child of God to execute the Father’s will.

This verse also teaches that the child of God avoids being disciplined by the God by obeying His commands.

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 that He would be with the remnant of Judah also assures this remnant of His personal presence meaning He would indwell the temple.

This is implied by the command in Haggai 1:8 to complete the rebuilding of this temple in Jerusalem since the purpose of this task was so that this remnant could once again have a centralized location in which to worship Him.

This interpretation is further supported by the fact that many years after the completion of this project, the prophet Malachi demanded that the Israelites bring proper sacrifice and tithes to this temple, which the Lord asserts He loves (cf. Mal. 2:11).

As Joseph Greene asserts “Malachi’s prophecies assume the Lord’s approval of, and presence in, the second temple, an assumption that Ezra 7:15 communicates by referring to the God of Israel as the one ‘whose dwelling in Jerusalem’ (although the words are attributed to the pagan king Artaxerxes).”[1]

Further supporting this interpretation is that in Luke 1:8-22 asserts that Zacharias was performing his priestly service in this second temple “before God” when the angel appeared to inform him that he and his wife would have a child in their old age.

In fact, the gospel of Luke presents the temple as the location of God’s presence and activity (cf. Luke 2:22-49).

Matthew 23:21 records Jesus as assuming God’s presence in this second temple as a location of God’s presence when He rebukes the Jewish religious leaders’ practice of oaths by saying “Whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.”

The Lord’s declaration in Haggai 1:13 that He was with the remnant of Judah is repeated in Haggai 2:4 where it was used to encourage this remnant not to despair that Zerubbabel’s temple did not possess the same splendor as Solomon’s temple.

In fact, in Haggai 2:9, the Lord asserts through the prophet Haggai that future splendor of Zerubbabel’s temple would be greater than Solomon’s.

This was fulfilled when Jesus Christ, the God-Man entered into Herod’s temple which was an enhancement of Zerubbabel’s temple.

Haggai 2:1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Lord spoke again through the prophet Haggai: 2:2 “Ask the following questions to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the remnant of the people: 2:3 ‘Who among you survivors saw the former splendor of this temple? How does it look to you now? Isn’t it nothing by comparison? 2:4 Even so, take heart, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord. ‘Take heart, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you citizens of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and begin to work. For I am with you,’ says the Lord who rules over all. 2:5 ‘Do not fear, because I made a promise to your ancestors when they left Egypt, and my spirit even now testifies to you.’ 2:6 Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says: ‘In just a little while I will once again shake the sky and the earth, the sea and the dry ground. 2:7 I will also shake up all the nations, and they will offer their treasures; then I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord who rules over all. 2:8 ‘The silver and gold will be mine,’ says the Lord who rules over all. 2:9 ‘The future splendor of this temple will be greater than that of former times,’ the Lord who rules over all declares, ‘and in this place I will give peace.’” (NET)

Therefore, a comparison of Haggai 1:12 and 13 teaches that God and His people experience fellowship with one another when the latter obey His commands.

1 John 3:21 Beloved, if any of our hearts are not being convicted, then each one of us are experiencing confidence in the presence of God (the Father). 22 Consequently, if any of us does at any time request something, then each one of us are receiving the fulfillment of our request because each one of us are conscientiously obeying His commands. Correspondingly, each of us are practicing that which is pleasing in His judgment. 23 Specifically, this is His command: First, that each and every one of us believed in the name, that is His Son, who is Jesus who is the Christ. Secondly that each one of us continue making it our habit of divinely loving one another just as He gave to each one of us this command. 24 Consequently, the one who at any time does conscientiously obey His commands is living in fellowship with Him. Correspondingly, He Himself is living in fellowship with him. Simultaneously, by means of this, each one of us can at any time confirm that He is living in fellowship with any one of us: By means of His Spirit whom He has bestowed upon each one of us as a gift. (Author’s translation)

1 John 3:24 is teaching that living in fellowship with the Father is the direct result of conscientiously obeying the Father’s commands or in other words, they are first living in fellowship with the Father as a result of being declared justified by the Father through faith in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.

Secondly, they are living in fellowship with the Father as a result of obeying the command to love their fellow-believer as Jesus Christ has loved them.

1 John 3:24 teaches that the condition for experiencing fellowship with God is obedience to God’s Word and reveals the importance on the part of the believer to be obedient to the voice of the Spirit of truth, who speaks to the believer regarding the will of the Father through the communication of the Word of truth.

The believer who is obedient to the Spirit of truth will experience fellowship whereas the disobedient believer will not.

This declarative statement here in 1 John 3:24 echoes John’s teaching in 1 John 2:3-5 and 2:24.

1 John 2:3 Now, by means of this, any of us can, at any time confirm that we are existing in the state of knowing Him experientially, if any of us does at any time exist in the state of observing conscientiously His commands. 4 The one who does, at any time say, “I know Him experientially” and yet at any time, does not observe His commands conscientiously is a liar. Consequently, the truth is unequivocally not existing in them. 5 However, whoever, at any time, does observe His Word conscientiously, indeed, in this one, the love for God (the Father) is accomplished. By means of this, any of us can, at any time confirm that we are existing in the state of being in fellowship with Him. (Author’s translation)

1 John 2:24 In contrast to them, what each of you have heard from the beginning must continue to remain in each of you. If what each of you have heard from the beginning remains in each of you, indeed each of you will also live in fellowship with the Son as well as in fellowship with the Father. (Author’s translation)

[1] Did God Dwell in the Second Temple? Clarifying the relationship between Theophany and Temple Dwelling; JETS 61.4 (2018): 767-84