Keep On

Introduction

We live in a time where it’s really easy to get distracted. We are constantly flooded with entertainment, memories, goals, and chores. And with so much to do, it sometimes feels like we can’t get anything really done.

There are some times where I know I have so much to do that I get discouraged before I even begin and it ends up delaying any of the progress that needs to be made.

And that is what is happening in Haggai 2:1-9

And as we look at this passage today, we will find that we are called to continue in God’s work while trusting in His presence and provision.

So, Because God is calling me to actively trust and obey, I should

Watch Out For Helpless Discouragements

Haggai 2:1–3 CSB

1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison?

A Debilitating Nostalgia

Those who were old enough to remember the Solomonic temple that was destroyed 66 years ago were embarrassed and discouraged and apparently the stories of how great it was were known by everyone because no one was enthused at this time. This discouragement resulted in them halting progress only two months after Haggai’s sermon in chapter 1.

What would you say is the difference between healthy reflection and unhealthy nostalgia?

Healthy reflection would be thinking of how great your grandmother encouraged you when you were a kid so you can be encouraging to others around you or so you can find a little encouragement yourself.

Unhealthy nostalgia would be obsessing over the unchangeable past, such as the loss of a beloved grandparent, that leaves you totally disconnected and chasing what is unobtainable.

Rear-view mirror and front windshield

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are driving at the steering wheel of life obsessing over what they left behind in the rear-view and not focusing on what’s important before them.

Find Confidence to Move Forward Knowing He Is With Me

Haggai 2:4–5 CSB

4 Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel—this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land—this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you—the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 5 This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.’ ”

Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear one million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.”

A Deliberate Encouragement

In verse 4 we should notice the usage of phrases like, “be strong” which is used 3 times to emphasizes the point, and the phrase “I am with you”. It would seem that Haggai is drawing a connection to 1 Chronicles 28:20

1 Chronicles 28:20 NKJV

20 And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

It is almost as though Haggai is saying, “You may be discouraged because your temple will never be like Solomon’s temple, but let me remind you that the same God that was with Solomon is also with you in this journey.”

In verse 5 we will find that they should find encouragement:

First, in God’s past presence.

Haggai is reminding them of the faithful presence of God throughout the history of their people.

Second, in God’s promised presence.

The phrase, “remains” here permanence rather than temporary presence.

So, they are to find that the God who always has been and always will be faithful is with them and because that’s true they shouldn’t be anxious or discouraged.

Is this not the same message to us? What are some ways God has worked in your life in the past?

And aren’t there times where our Christian life seems to get so hectic that we feel discouraged? Well, we should be reminded just like Haggai reminded them. The same words of promise that went out to Joshua also encouraged them in Haggai’s time. And the same words that went out to Joshua may also encourage us today. But don’t forget that even Christ Himself has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us in Hebrews.

Rest in His Sovereign Provision

Haggai 2:6–9 CSB

6 For the Lord of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of Armies. 8 “The silver and gold belong to me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. 9 “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Armies. “I will provide peace in this place”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

Adoniram Judson landed in Burma in the early 1800’s with a wife he just married 18 months earlier, there he began a lifelong battle in 108-degree heat with cholera, malaria, dysentery, and unknown miseries that would take not only his precious wife, Ann but a second wife, seven of his thirteen children, and colleague after colleague in death.

Through all the struggles with sickness and interruptions, Judson labored to learn the language, translate the Bible, and do evangelism on the streets. It took six years before they baptized their first convert, Maung Nau. The sowing was long and hard, the reaping even harder, for years.

Why would this man ever be so encouraged? Before he came everyone told him it wasn’t worth it, all of the odds were against him and nothing seemed to go his way. But what kept Judson going was the fact that this was a man who knew that he served a sovereign God. At the turn from the second to the third millennium, Patrick Johnstone estimated the Myanmar (Burma’s new name) Baptist Convention to be 3,700 congregations with 617,781 members and 1,900,000 affiliates.

A Dominant Provider

What is the significance of Lord of Armies?

6-7a This is a passage that has a lot in it. And it’s two fold.

First, it was fulfilled fairly quickly as the Persian rulers, beginning with Cyrus, soon facilitated the building project with the tax money that came from the Samaritans that Ezra told us opposed the project.

But there’s something else here that the writer of Hebrew’s picks up on in Hebrews 12:25-29 let’s read it and I’ll share the two takes on it.

Hebrews 12:25–29 NKJV

25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Take one of this text is that this is referring to the end of time when Christ will return again with judgment against His enemies

But another view is many are defecting back to Judaism during the time of this time when Hebrews was written. Kenneth Gentry said, “And at the worst possible time. They were leaving the spiritual, anti-typical, fulfillment realities of Christianity to return to the material, typical, ceremonial world of a now-defunct Judaism. This apostasy occurred when God was about to “shake not only the earth, but also the heaven” (Heb 12:26). The shaking of the “created things” (12:27) speaks of the destruction of the temple system with its “made with hands” ritual implements (9:11, 24; cp. Mk 14:58), which are “ready to vanish away” (8:13; cp. Jn 4:21; Ac 6:14; 7:48; 2Co 3:11; Gal 4:25-30). In place of the OT system, Christianity will remain as a “kingdom which cannot be shaken” (12:28).”

Now, I tend to agree with Gentry here but I’ll let you decide for yourselves where you stand and I won’t be too dogmatic.

v7-8. Here Haggai is encouraging them by promising that it is God who will bring in the funds for His glory as it’s his money to do with what He wants to anyway. (I do tend to disagree with the NKJV’s translation of the word “Desire” with a capitalization)

v9. And finally here we see a statement that was literally fulfilled. The latter glory of the temple is read of in Mark 13:1

Mark 13:1 NKJV

1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!”

But most importantly, it is fulfilled in the coming of the Lord of the Temple. Matthew 12:6-7

Matthew 12:6 NKJV

6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

And it is the Lord Jesus who is not only the Lord of the Temple, but He is greater than the temple as we see in John 12:13-22.

Now, lastly, He says, “In this place I will give peace.” That word for peace is “shalom” and it sums up all of the blessings of the Messianic age, when reconciliation with God and His rule will ensure everlasting peace.

Conclusion

So, over all this passage teaches us that we should continue to carry out God’s work while depending on Him to provide for our needs.

I shouldn’t get caught up in the worries of the past, but focus on God’s work for me today.

I can be encouraged as I obey Him because He is with me.

I can rest because I know that He has provided for me in the past and He is powerful enough to accomplish His plans for me today.