Haggai

Getting ready for take-off

If you’ve spent any time on an airplane, you may be well familiar with the routine - at least the pre-covid routine.

Seats in their up-right position

Tray tables locked and stowed away

Seat belt fastened low and tight across your lap

In the event of an emergency, note the location of the nearest exit - keeping in mind it may be behind you.

In the event that the plane loses pressure - oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling. Pull it firmly toward you. Place your mask on first, then assist your children with their mask.

Several years ago, Erwin McManus was travelling with his son when they heard that announcement. Erwin’s son blurted out - do these people hate children and want us to die?

Erwin explained that it was a matter of priority. Those who are in a position to help need to remain in that position in order to help others- they have to take priority.

Let’s consider this another way.

If you’ve ever attended a leadership seminar or read a book on leadership, you’ve probably heard some form of this illustration.

An instructor put some sand, small rocks, and larger rocks on a table and asked the class to put all of those pieces in.

When beginning with the sand - the class found that they could put some things in place, but not all of them.

When beginning with the small rocks, they found that they could get a bit more in, but still not everything.

The instructor finally said - put the big rocks in first, then the smaller rocks, then the sand.

The whole point of that illustration is setting proper priorities - establishing which things are more important and which things are less important and then proceeding in an order of priority.

What are your priorities?

What are the priorities that God wants us to maintain?

Introducing Haggai

Today, as we continue our look at God’s Story in Scripture, we come to the small book of Haggai. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are not only the three final books of the Old Testament, but all three of these books take place after the exile Judah as God’s people were re-established in the land.

In case you’re a little fuzzy on the history of Israel and Judah - let’s do a quick review. Do you remember roughly a year ago, we borrowed from the 7 Cs of History from Answers in Genesis. As we’ve progressed through the Old Testament, we’ve added to their Cs in order to more accurately grasp and summarize what is happening. So, let’s review where we are briefly.

Creation - (hands up and out)as God started it all

Corruption - (hands down and out) as humans rebelled against God

Catastrophe - (hands together) as God brought a flood to begin things anew

Confusion - (hand over mouth) as the languages of humans were confused so that people would spread out over the earth - be fruitful and multiply

Calling - (hand to ear like a phone) as God in His sovereignty called out people like Abraham, Jacob, and Moses.

Covenant - (hand over heart) as God made promises to these people and their descendents

Consecration - (like washing hands) as God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and established them with ceremonial and moral laws that would set them apart from other people groups

Conquest - (hand forward) as the people finally get to move into the promised land - taking hold of the territory that God had promised to Abraham.

Chaos - (hands rotating at sides of head) as the people chose to do what was right in their own eyes and rebelled against the Lord.

As we entered into the books of Samuel and Kings, we got to see the next C:

Coronation - (hands on head like a crown) as the people cried out for a King and God gave them Saul and then David and his line of Kings in Judah.

When we looked at the books of Kings, we saw how...

Complacency - (hands together on side of head like resting) led the nation into decline, which ultimately led God to introduce...

Correction - (pointing finger to the side) - as the people were led into exile.

Now, after some 70 years in exile, some of the people have returned to their homeland. Back when we looked at the books of Chronicles - which was written after the exiles returned, we added the word...

Contemplation - (hand on chin like the thinker) - It’s almost as thought the Chronicler (as he is often known) is calling the people to contemplate on the past in order to learn from it in the present and then move forward in hope.

Of course, all of this will eventually lead to

Christ (rocking a baby)

Cross (arms wide)

Consummation (hands together in front)

So let’s briefly consider the timeline leading up to the book of Haggai.

In 605BC - the Babylonian empire initially attacked the southern Kingdom of Judah - taking some people off into exile - including Daniel.

There were several waves of these attacks and exilic parades between 605 and 586 when the Jerusalem and the temple were finally destroyed.

Roughly 50 years later - 70 years after the initial attack, Cyrus, king Persia made a decree that allowed some people to return - and approximately 50,000 Israelites returned to Judah.

During the exile, some of the Israelites who remained around Jerusalem continued to offer sacrifices on a makeshift altar in the rubble of the temple. When the vast group of exiles returned, they re-established a more formal worship - and started to re-build the temple, but then they stopped. Opposition got in the way and progress halted.

Roughly 15 years later - in 520BC - God raises up Haggai to preach, calling the people to get their priorities straight and re-build the temple in Jerusalem. The contents of the book of Haggai take place from the end of August to the middle of December in 520BC.

We learn from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that over the next four years the people of Judah fulfilled this challenge from Haggai and completed the temple in 516BC.

One of the unique things about the book of Haggai is that his prophecy, rather than being written in a poetic form is written in prose. We also get some very exact dates in this book and a little bit more of the surrounding context. The book is essentially divided into five different messages that take place on 4 different dates over a three and a half month period of time (dates are converted to our dating format according to ESVSB):

August 20 (Hag. 1:1-11) - calling the people to get their priorities straight and rebuild the temple

September 21 (Hag. 1:12-15) - The people obey and begin to rebuild

October 17 (Hag. 2:1-9) - Haggai encourages the discouraged and gives a bigger vision of the temple

December 18 (Hag. 2:10-19) - Blessing for a defiled people

December 18 (Hag. 2:20-23) - Zerubbabel the chosen leader

So, with a bit of an understanding of the context, structure and timeline of the book let’s consider a bit of the message of Haggai and how we might apply this to our lives today.

The call to have biblically-oriented priorities

In Haggai’s first message to the people of Jerusalem, he places before them a call to get their priorities straight. For them, this centered around the worship in the temple.

Haggai 1:2–11 ESV

“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.”

What started out well after they returned from exile in Babylon devolved into complacency and selfishness. According to Ezra chapters 3 and 4, the people did set up an altar almost immediately after coming back into the land. In the first two years of their return, they began construction - so far so good! As some of the older members of the community began to look and see what this temple would look like, they began to complain - that it was not as good as Solomon’s temple. Rather than focusing on what it would be like to worship God again together, they were hung up on the good-ole days.

In addition to the complaining from within, the assembly experienced distractions and opposition from the outside. The non-Jewish locals were hindering their progress.

So what did they do? The people began to focus on their own homes. They added luxuries and niceties to their homes - making themselves more comfortable, rather than finishing the temple - the symbol of God’s presence with them.

In commenting on this section of the book, Mark Dever stated:

“From the people’s standpoint, the rebuilt temple would be a clear and public statement that they still wanted and valued God. It would indicate that he was a higher priority than everything else clamoring for attention in their lives. It would be a mark of their faith in God and their recognition of his priority in their own national identity.”

“From God’s standpoint, the temple was a visible sign of the covenant that bound him and his people together, and it represented his continuing favor to them and his continuing design to fulfill his promises, such as his promises to David (2 Sam 7:11, 16; Jer. 33:17-22).”

(Dever, 887)

The temple was central to their worship and their witness.

It would be easy for us to transition into a building program at this point - and many churches have - but I don’t think that is what Haggai is really calling us to do. Our building is important, but it’s not our temple - Christ is! We do need to take care of the structure, but it’s not our witness like the temple was.

As we have navigated through this pandemic - I have been deeply longing for us to get back to normal. For us to be able to gather here, without masks, singing praises to our God, discipling one another. I’ve been yearning to have our Sunday school classes open again. I’ve been longing to fellowship together in the foyer of the gym - shaking hands, catching up, giving high fives.

But I have to wonder if I’m more concerned with the “good-ole-days” than I am with fulfilling the great commission? Am I more concerned with the way things were than I am with being faithful to fulfill God’s mandate to make disciples even amidst the opposition we are facing with regulations and the constant threat of this virus?

Because the people of Judah got their priorities out of wack, God caused their work to bear less fruit than it should have (Hag. 1:9-11). They were working so hard to make themselves more comfortable, that their results required extra labor.

So what do biblically oriented priorities look like? Based on what we see here in Haggai, it seems like it means

Putting God first...

in our hearts and minds - letting things of God shape how we think and who we love. Allowing our desires to be focused on what pleases God - worshiping Him, caring for His people, fulfilling His mission.

in our time - the people of Judah were spinning their wheels trying hard to get ahead, and yet it was becoming a waste. Who are we taking time to disciple? Who are we making time to share the gospel with? How much time are we spending in His Word and in prayer? How much time are we wasting watching TV or playing video games or reading books that cause us to escape from reality rather than live the lives that God has called us to?

in our finances - the people of Judah, had placed their personal gain above God-oriented budgets. What place does God have in our finances? Are we dedicating things to Him, His church, and His work first or are we saving it for leftovers? It’s always a sensitive topic to bring up finances. Over these months, you all have been so faithful to give to the Lord. God has supplied our church’s needs and then some! So, in bringing this up, I don’t do so because of a need or a shortage, but because of a spiritual discipline. I’ve shared before, but in our family, what we’ve settled on is that the tithe - the first 10% of our income is given to the Lord through the church - it comes here. We support other missionaries and Christian organizations beyond that - but the tithe goes here. I know me. If I didn’t do it first, I wouldn’t do it at all. I would get to the end of the month or the pay-period and have nothing left. The beauty of giving it to God first is that now it’s in His hands and we get to watch Him supply the rest!

So Haggai made an initial call for the people of Judah and for us to biblically-orient our priorities. In response, the people of Judah model for us how to...

Repent when our priorities are out of order

Over the next couple of weeks that followed Haggai’s initial message, the people responded. Look at what it says in...

Haggai 1:12–15 ESV

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

The people repented of their selfishness and their misplaced priorities. But this was not simply an intellectual ascent or a verbal “I’m sorry” - this was true biblical repentance.

Dever notes that this passage illustrates three elements of repentance -

The action of repentance

The motivation of repentance

The cause of repentance

(Dever, 891)

Let’s consider each of these briefly.

First of all...

The action of repentance - obedience

in verse 12 it says that the people obeyed the voice of the Lord. In the prior verses, God had called them to bring resources to get to work on the temple. They didn’t simply say “I’m sorry” and change nothing - they let their actions communicate a heart change.

So often we limit repentance to a verbal apology, but in reality - repentance is a life change. If we are going to repent of our sinful behavior, it must result in the act of obediently changing that behavior.

There may be things in your life and mine that God is calling us to change - maybe it is in our priorities, maybe it is in our habits, maybe it is in our _______. If we are really going to repent, then we must be willing to take action in obedience.

Secondly, in this passage we get to see

The motivation of repentance - fear of the Lord

Look again at verse 12, Haggai notes that “the people feared the Lord.” This is not so much being afraid of God - though that is an element. This is a reverent fear. This is a fear that recognizes that God is worthy to be obeyed and can do something about disobedience.

A couple of weeks ago, when we looked at the book of Zephaniah, we got a glimpse into the opposite of this motivation.

Zephaniah 1:12 ESV

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’

These people didn’t care either way. They simply didn’t think God would act.

Here in the book of Haggai, roughly a hundred years have passed and we get a different picture - they fear God.

The question is - do you and I? Do we revere God enough to let even those hidden sins be addressed and repented? Do we fear God enough to allow his priorities to impact our priorities?

The people of Judah were motivated to repent by a healthy fear of God.

Finally, in this passage, we get to see....

The cause of repentance - the Lord

In verse 14 it says that the Lord “stirred up the spirit” of the people. It is God who is moving. It is God who is initiating.

Beloved, we need to pay attention when God pricks our spirit. We need to notice when in reading his word or hearing from a respected brother or sister in Christ that there is something that needs to be changed - it may very-well be the Spirit of God initiating.

These elements of repentance are really not new to us though. If you’ve grown up in the church, I think in many ways you’ve experienced this kind of repentance.

But let’s turn this around for a moment. This has always been God’s pattern.

God initiates repentance.

In the garden - when Adam and Even sinned - they did not turn first, God turned to them - revealing their sin and then paying for it by providing a covering for them.

Even in the New Testament we learn that...

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God didn’t wait for us to come to the realization that we needed salvation - He provided it while we were stuck in our sinful state.

Friend - if you are not yet a follower of Christ, I pray that you will understand this - that God may be drawing you to Him. If you’ve tuned in this long to listen to a socially distanced message - then maybe there is something that God is doing in your heart. Pay attention to that.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

But not only does God initiate repentance,

Our fear of God motivates our repentance

When we come to the realization of who God is and who we are - we come face to face with our fallenness.

The Bible says that God is holy and just and perfect.

Psalm 77:13 ESV

Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?

The Bible says that we are sinful and imperfect.

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

because of our sinfulness, we have a just reward or wage...

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Friend - in our selfishness, we want to think that this life is all there is. We want to assume that we get to do all we can, gain all we can, enjoy all we can for as long as we can, and then kick the can. The end.

But there is more to life than the here and now. You and I were made for eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has placed eternity in our hearts. He has given us some innate understanding that there is more to this life.

We need to have a healthy fear of God - who he is, what he expects - to drive our repentance.

Finally,

Obedience is the action of repentance

When God uses His spirit as a means of tugging on our hearts and helping us see who we are and who He is, the natural response is obedience.

This is first of all an obedience of faith -

believing that we are sinful

believing that our sin deserves death

believing that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our death

Secondly, an obedience of confession

confessing our sin before God

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Thirdly, an obedience of submission - yielding our lives to his, acknowledging God’s sovereignty in the universe and in our lives. Aligning our priorities with His.

Conclusion

We’ve really only considered the first chapter of this short book. In chapter 2, we get to see how God, through Haggai, gives the people a glimpse of the glory of the temple - it’s not wrapped up in the size or the adornment - but in the people of God obeying the word of God and honoring Him!

Chapter 2 also reveals the ways that God chose to bless the defiled people of Judah because of their faithful obedience and how God called out a Zerubbabel to be his chosen leader for a time.

I think God blessed the people of Judah because they responded appropriately to His call to repent.

So in closing, I have to ask -

Are our priorities aligning with God’s priorities?

Have we appropriately repented and changed our ways when God’s spirit stirs us to action?

Sources:

Craigie, Peter C., The Old Testament: It’s Background, Growth, and Content (Abington, Nashville, 1987)

Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

Dever, Mark, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made, (Crossway, Wheaton, 2006)

Longman III, Tremper; Raymond B. Dillard; An Introduction to the Old Testament, 2nd Ed. (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2006)

McConville, Gordon. Exploring the Old Testament: The Prophets. Vol. 4. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1993.

Willmington, H. L. The Outline Bible. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999.