Haggai
Notes
Transcript
Intro: A look into perspectives
Intro: A look into perspectives
The Alaskan Bull Worm
Transition: Can’t see the forest through the trees expression. That’s exactly what the Israelites are dealing with here
Setting the Context
Setting the Context
Flashback to Ezra: King Cyrus decreed temple be rebuilt, foundations were laid
some time later Cyrus died unexpectedly and Darius took the throne
Time had passed since the laying of the foundation and where we are today
Look at the Text
Look at the Text
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.”
Why? No infrastructure, limited resources, no room for “special projects”
Cleaning room analogy
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.
Lord of Armies
Irony
Israelites striving to store up wealth and resources rather than pursuing the God who rules over the heavens and the earth with armies of angels
How are we like them? Stuff? Friends? School? Career? Money?
Lewis Quote on beauty found in music or a good book: “The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things--- the beauty, the memory of our own past--- are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have not visited.”
People repent and begin their work
Given a promise
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.’ ”
Lesser physically then Solomon’s temple
Greater blessing of “peace” -Shalom
Twofold fulfillment- Restored presence of God with people, moving of temple to man’s hearts through Jesus
Presence of the Lord will never be taken away from His people again. One day perfected.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
If you boil it down, we’re all searching for one thing: Peace. Friends, money, status, school, stuff can all be good things, but they can also be cheap substitutes that will only leave us feeling insecure. True peace is ultimately found when our satisfaction is found in the Lord. Don’t miss out on the peace that will carry us through our toughest storms because your grasping for cheap knock-offs. And don’t misunderstand what that really looks like. Reading your Bible, going to church, doing good things… those are all great, and the natural response of someone who has found their peace in Jesus. We should want to do them. But by themselves, without a love for God and a desire to be with him and his people, they’re just things you do. When the Israelites repented of their sin and began building the temple God gave them the gift of peace, shalom. When we let go of the stuff we cling to in this world and truly place our affections and satisfactions in Jesus we will be given that same peace, whatever the circumstances may be in our lives.