Haggai 2:10-23

HOLINESS IS A PREREQUISITE OF WORSHIP & SERVICE

Introduction:

God is a holy God and He wants his people to live holy lives, not perfect.... but holy lives, lives that are Set-apart for Him!

Living holy lives is not automatic. It takes continual effort to stay away from temptation, it takes discipline to be filled with the Holy Spirit,

and it take the joy of the Lord for us to say no to sin. Sin a temporal joy. You can only say NO to sin when you have a much greater joy in God.

That is basically what we find in the Book of Haggai.

The very people whom he saved, provided for with everything , treasured, favored...

God brought them out from Babylon to go back to the land promised to them - Jerusalem.

These same people abandoned God…

You know why?

These People love themselves more than God.

They love their house more than the house of God.

They built wonderful houses and left the house of God in ruins.....

Without the temple - there was no worship to God, there are no offerings to God.

They were leaving unholy lives!!!

Each one just lived according to what they want, abandoning their God who saved them.

I. A CALL TO CLEANNESS OF LIFE (10-19)

A. God’s Rebuke to the people (vv. 10-13)

Haggai 2:10 NASB95

10 On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying,

Here, on December 18, he brings another cautionary message. 3 months after they start rebuilding.

Haggai 2:11–13 NASB95

11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Ask now the priests for a ruling: 12 ‘If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’ ” And the priests answered, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.”

The questions that the Lord tells Haggai to direct to the priests are designed to show that while ceremonial holiness is not transferable (v. 12), ceremonial defilement is (v. 13).

holiness cannot be transferred directly

uncleanness can be transferred.

Two months later, Haggai has a particular question for the priests. Does touching something holy make a person holy? Obviously the answer is, ‘No.’

Haggai 2:14 NASB95

14 Then Haggai said, “ ‘So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

Haggai applies the priests’ answer to the people. The process of being made clean or holy before Yahweh requires intentional effort. Becoming impure, on the other hand, requires no effort, only contact with the unclean.

It is not enough to rebuild the temple; the deeper issue of the people’s defilement before a holy God must be dealt with.

“HOLINESS IS A PREREQUISITE OF WORSHIP & SERVICE”

The mere presence of a rebuilt temple will not render them holy as a people, God demands genuine change of heart and life, not mere outward conformity.

Application: Attending Sunday Services and coming to church does not automatically make you Holy. Only when their is genuine change of heart and life. When you apply what you have heard from the Sermon.

You need a changed heart for our worship and service is acceptable to God.

B. GOD’S PROMISE OF BLESSING (VV.15-19)

Haggai 2:15 NASB95

15 ‘But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord,

But now.This word signals a transition from indictment to blessing, as a result of the rebuilding of the temple. In spite of their past defilement, the holy God is determined to bless them (v. 19).

Haggai 2:16–17 NASB95

16 from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. 17 ‘I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord.

Haggai 2:16–17 NASB95

16 from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. 17 ‘I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord.

this was the consequence of disobedience in the past:

Decreased in grain harvest by 50%.

Decreased in grape/juice harvest by 60%

No more seeds to plant.

Haggai 2:18–19 NASB95

18 ‘Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: 19 ‘Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’ ”

I will bless you

Is the seed yet in the barn? The seed for the next year has already been planted but it is too soon to anticipate by normal means what the outcome will be.

the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree. The four main fruit trees in Israel.

I will bless you. God’s grace will nonetheless overcome the sin and defilement of His people. Though He chastises them, in the end mercy triumphs over judgment.

The people can take comfort in the assurance that Yahweh will bless their obedience.

II. A CALL TO CONFIDENCE FOR THE FUTURE (20-23)

A. God’s intervention among the nations (vv.20-22)

Haggai 2:20 NASB95

20 Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

this is the 5th oracle...

Haggai 2:21–22 NASB95

21 “Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 ‘I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.’

B. God’s promise of future Messiah (v.23)

Haggai 2:23 NASB95

23 ‘On that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ ” declares the Lord of hosts.

my servant. Like his ancestor David, Zerubbabel is God’s chosen representative to accomplish His work. Isaiah speaks of a greater Servant who will come, whom Zerubbabel foreshadows (Is. 42:10

Jesus is the descendant of Zerubbabel

Matthew 1:12 NASB95

12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.

signet ring. A symbol of authority, ownership, and power...

Zerubbabel represents a continuing future for the line of David. The Lord is not, after all, finished with that family. A new shoot will yet emerge from the stump of Jesse

Isaiah 11:1 NASB95

1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

More than five hundred years later, God accomplished this final salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, who was descended from David according to the flesh and declared the Son of God in power at His resurrection

Romans 1:1–4 NASB95

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,

“Our HOPE in found in Jesus Christ”

PROPER RESPONSE:

A. Since holiness is not contagious, a constant examination of heart and daily intentional effort to walk in holiness is a must.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 NASB95

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

1 Thessalonians 4:6–8 NASB95

6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

B. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision of salvation and for eternal life. Put your faith and trust in Him alone so you can receive eternal life.

1 Timothy 2:5 NASB95

5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

John 14:6 NASB95

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

CONCLUSION:

God is pleased when His people lives holy lives so that they will enjoy his blessings not just in this world but for eternity.