SHATTERED EXPECTATIONS
The Book of Haggai: Renew The Vision • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsGod’s promises will fuel our continued worship, but sometimes we need to visit the past and hear those promises again.
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Introduction
Introduction
Haggai’s sermon was effective, the people were provoked by his message, for we learn that the temple was soon repaired.
Haggai follows up one month later and he addresses some problems of Shattered Expectations among the people.
This produces the need for Haggai’s second sermon.
The people had worked hard on the temple.
Yet, the temple that they were building was really unimpressive.
It was nothing compared to the glory of the Temple Solomon built some 500 years earlier.
The moral was pretty low for finishing the project
The Jews were comparing the present with the past.
God told Haggai...
2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?
And how do ye see it now?
Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built. 3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
Haggai 2:2-
Zerubbabel, Joshua and the people are challenges to research how the temple looked before.
Haggai 1:
God seems to be using its status to challenge the Hebrew people to look into their past and see his provision.
The Prophet had a message from God to Address the Peoples Shattered Expectations...
Firstly, God said “I Am With You.”
Firstly, God said “I Am With You.”
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord;
And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest;
And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work:
For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:
Be Strong - Repeated three times for emphasis sake.
The same exhortation was given by David to Solomon before the building of the first temple.
“The problem was essentially one of attitude.
So the primary command was to take courage. When the people did that, the command to ‘work’ would be fulfilled quite naturally.
For the Lord to have only said ‘work’ without giving assurances would have been inadequate motivation.
These people did not need to be whipped but encouraged made optimistic.
The most uplifting thing they or anyone could hear was that God was with them
And work - Work on bravely, finish what you have begun,
For I am with you...
Just knowing that God is with you ought to give you some strength.
Secondly, God Assures them of His Presence.
Secondly, God Assures them of His Presence.
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt,
So my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
The promise of present help is confirmed by remembering God’s former covenant with Israel.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Exodus 19:
45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God.
Exodus 29:
Because of the finished work of Christ, we are assured His presence.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Thirdly, God Promises He would Move...
Thirdly, God Promises He would Move...
6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while,
And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come:
And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.
The Word is always pointing toward something.
In this passage, we can see God’s promises both to act on behalf of the Hebrew people—bringing about vindication and peace from suffering—as well as on behalf of the whole world at a future time when all will be made right again.
It would be better to emphasize that, in the Scriptures, God has proven consistently to move toward the faithful and to act on their behalf
Lastly, God said the Latter will be Greater than the Former.
Lastly, God said the Latter will be Greater than the Former.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts:
And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
Theologians have argued this for many years...
Some interpret this to mean - the new building itself would be more magnificent that Solomon's Temple
Others say - that in the future the splendor of the Temple then under construction would be much greater than it was at the time Haggai spoke.
This is appropriate to the needs of Haggai audience who were discouraged and their expectations had been shattered by what the Temple currently looked like.
Some of you are looking at your current situation and your expectations have been shattered.
Things haven't turned out they you wanted them to or thought they should've turned out.
Seems like time after the time you've run into a dead end.
Maybe you've considered giving up on your dreams, life or the Lord.
I encourage you today, in the words of the Prophet Haggai...
Be Strong and continue to work...
Because God promises He is with you…
Because He is with you His Spirit will lead and Guide you into all truth...
No matter what comes your way God will move on your behalf.
So don't look at your current condition or circumstance to define where you are going.
God said your latter will be greater than your former.
You cant stand on this promise without an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
He draws from the earlier Prophets especially Isaiah and Micah about the New Jerusalem and that it would be the place from which God would redeem the whole world and where all nations would come and participate in God’s Kingdom resulting in an era of Peace.
The Temple plays a key role in Gods Plans for the future.
Haggai calls on the people to work in hope despite the disappointing circumstances
