Minor Prophets: Haggai 2

I love Jesus Christ. I love Jesus Christ.

There is nothing more important to me than serving him.

else will go before I forsake serving him as long as he gives me life and breath.

I know many of you have that same desire. I know some of you are struggling with attaining to that desire. You want to have that, but there are things that seem to impede. to get in the way. Have you ever felt like you were just too small to do the task?

Have you ever felt discouraged when you think about trying to serve Jesus Christ? Have you felt overwhelmed? And because you felt small or discouraged or overwhelmed, you sort of just never got started. Maybe it's a different situation. Have you ever felt unworthy because of what has happened in your past?

Because at one time you strayed so far and you did stuff that you hope nobody but God knows about. Of course, he knows about it. But you hope nobody else ever finds out about it. You strayed so far, you don't feel like you can ever really be worthy to serve him. Have you ever felt like the opposition to serving God was so enormous that it was just almost impossible to think about how are we going to really advance God's kingdom on this earth?

The forces against us seem so great. So for that reason, you sort of shrink back. Have you ever felt any of those things? Well, I'm here to tell you today that those aren't new feelings. one reason we have the stories of scripture is because the people of God in the past have gone through the exact experiences that the people of God in the present are going through the problem we have sometimes is when we read some of these Old Testament stories is we don't realize how applicable they are to today we think it's ancient history but it's God's history to teach us something and today we're going to learn a few lessons about how we can continue to serve the Lord even when we face difficult circumstances, even when we face opposition, even when we feel unworthy.

If you recall from our last week, the prophet Haggai, 520 B.C., gets a message from the Lord. And by the precise information he gives us in the book of Haggai, we know the exact dates using our modern calendars on which he received God's messages. August 29, 520 B.C., October 17, 520 B.C., and then two messages on December the 18th, 520 B.C. So a four-month period, over a four-month period, he got four messages. We looked at the first message last week, which is the one on August 29th.

That's Haggai 1. Today, we're going to look at the next three messages. And the question I'm going to ask is, are we willing to do God's work? so, we must be determined to do his work in the following circumstances. Are you ready? Are you willing to do God's work? Then you must be ready and willing to do his work in the following circumstances. And here's the first circumstance. When we are discouraged and overwhelmed. And if would let's read some of Haggai. Haggai chapter 2. I have so many things to hold up here I I can't do it all at one time.

Can't see, can't get it together. Here we go. Haggai chapter 2. Read verses 2 to 6 with me. Speak to Zerubbabel, son of Sheltiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua, son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people.

Ask them, who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? you now does it not seem to you like nothing but now be strong o zerubbabel declares the lord be strong o joshua son of jehazadak the high priest be strong all you people of the land declares the lord and work for i am with you declares the lord almighty this is what i covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt and my spirit remains among you do not fear let's pray lord this day I pray that your spirit will open our hearts and minds that we will be prepared to serve you through any and every circumstance but I pray that for those hearts and minds that are dealing with discouragement or difficulty that they will hear afresh this message from an ancient book but that speaks to us right now today open our hearts and minds may the spirit of the living God fall fresh on us may the spirit of the living God open our minds may the spirit of the living God open our hearts and may the spirit of the living God then empower us in the name of him whose name is above every name, before whom one day we will bow and every knee will bow, and in whose name I pray. Amen. Are we willing to do God's work? If yes, we must be determined to do his work even when we are discouraged and overwhelmed.

Here's the background. The background is it's October 17, 520 B.C. The text doesn't tell you, but it's a very important day in the Jewish calendar. It is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Everybody's familiar with the Feast of Tabernacles, I'm sure. It was a fall feast which celebrated two things primarily. It celebrated first the way God cared for his people when they were in the wilderness wanderings after being set free out of Egypt. And as they lived in the wilderness, they lived in temporary structures, and they didn't have permanent homes. So when they did the Feast of Tabernacles in subsequent years, they would actually build little tabernacles, little booths, sort of like little shelters out of sticks and wood.

and during the Feast of Tabernacles they all lived outside just to remember what it was like but how God cared for them. It was also a feast to commemorate the harvest. The harvest had come in, a bountiful harvest, and the people would celebrate. Man, these Jews, they knew how to celebrate. We think these people didn't know how to celebrate.

The last day of this feast, man, they got down.

They danced all night, literally. They had a festival the last night of the Feast of Tabernacles. the men would get torches and dance all night swinging the torches they would sing it was a party but it was a party in honor of the king of kings and lord of lords who had delivered them and it's on this day it's on this day that god speaks to haggai but you know on a day of great feasting it was also a day when the people might feel discouraged because they had the task of restoring the temple. Remember the temple had been destroyed. Now Haggai is saying it's time to rebuild the temple, folks. But you know what? You see, the text of scripture tells us that some of the people who were present in 520 BC remembered what Solomon's temple looked like.

It had been destroyed 66 years earlier, but some of the people were old enough to remember it. And boy, Solomon's temple was something to behold, and they remembered it. people worked to build Solomon's temple. The walls, the doors, the beams were covered with gold. Precious jewels everywhere throughout the temple. It was a facility that required a lot of labor and a lot of money to construct. And now in 520 BC these people who have just been released from captivity a few years earlier who don't have nearly as much money as Solomon had, who don't have near as much manpower saw in the head.

Now they're asked to rebuild the temple. And they're saying, we're not sure we can do it. We don't think we can restore that glory that once existed. It was a time when they were discouraged and overwhelmed with the task that was before them. And guess what?

The Lord comes to them and he says, but now, but now, be strong. be strong be strong at the moment of discouragement is when the lord calls us to be strong the hebrew word is hazak it sounds like you ought to be strong when you say hazak it was a word that was an imperative command there was no option about being strong the lord commanded it and the word huzzah means this it means to take courage it means to stand firm it means to be resolute so when things look overwhelming and discouraging the lord says huzzah stand up be strong take courage be resolute do not shrink back and the text says be strong and work you know god when he calls us to his work when the task looks big he wants us to get in there and work he wants us to give it all that we have you know sometimes it's difficult to look all at an overwhelming task and devote ourselves to it totally but the lord says you give it all you've got i have given you certain skills i've given you certain abilities i've given you certain strengths you give it everything you've got but remember i am with you the lord almighty and his spirit are with us when we are undertaking the work you remember the lord almighty that's the lord of hosts the lord of the armies of heaven who is with us. So yes, we work, but we work in his strength and in his power, knowing that his spirit will enable us to do that which we have before us. So we don't, we aren't alone, folks. He is with us when he calls us to do it.

Louise and I have reflected often back on the days when I went back to seminary in the early 90s. I was still working full time. class for three and a half years basically all weekend long nights I was studying until the early morning hours Louise was working triple time because I was gone so much taking she was taking care of so many things and we look back now we say how did we get through that it was such an overwhelming experience and you know how we got through it the Lord was with us he enabled us to get through it i want to make a connection here between god's power and our work there is no inconsistency in saying we trust in the lord to get the work done yet we're going to work as hard as we can to make it happen as well there's no inconsistency there nehemiah when he got ready to rebuild the wall around jerusalem the people were in danger because there were enemies who wanted to stop the people from building the wall so nehemiah gets all the workers together and they begin to pray to the lord that the lord will protect them and when they finish praying nehemiah says now go get your spears and get on the wall and have those spears ready to fight if anybody comes it's sort of like let's pray now pass me the ammunition and let's get ready there's no inconsistency there because in holding the spear the Lord would be right there if it was needed at the time it was needed in other words the Lord as we work he's working too these are two things that go together so trust the last thing I want to say about times when we're discouraged we need to trust that the Lord Almighty will use our work for his glory now read the text with me starting at verse 6. This is what the Lord Almighty says. In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations and the desired of all nations will come and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord I will grant peace declares the Lord Almighty.

When we begin to work for the Lord, we need to trust that he will use our work for his glory. And the Lord makes a promise to the people, this discouraged people. If you build this house, one day I'm going to shake the nations and I'm going to fill this house that you build with a glory that has never been seen before. Now when did that happen or when will that happen? Well, it'll be about 500 years later, a child will be born named Jesus Christ.

And one day, that Jesus Christ will enter this temple and there the glory of the Lord will be seen in a way that it has never been seen before because the Lord himself, through Jesus Christ, will come and enter the temple. So the glory of this house is going to be greater than the glory of Solomon's, because Solomon didn't have Jesus walk into his house. But these folks are going to have Jesus one day walk into the house. And through Jesus, the nations are going to be shaken. Isn't that true?

And guess what? It's going to happen one more time. Is it not? Jesus is coming again. and the glory of the temple will be seen again a reconstructed temple he's going to shake the nations and the glory in the temple will be seen yet again folks most commentators believe that the reference in verse 6 I will shake all nations and the desired of all nations will come that's the desired of all nations is Jesus Christ to 27 quotes the book of Haggai and says that when the Lord comes again the second time this prophecy will be completely fulfilled.

Everybody hear that? Okay. So when you're discouraged work for the Lord. Now you also need to work for the Lord even when you have been disciplined by God. Even when you've been disciplined by section in this chapter

Haggai talks about the discipline that the Lord has sent on the people. Let me just read a few verses. Start at verse 13. Haggai said if a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things does it become defiled? Yes, the priest replied it becomes defiled.

Then Haggai said so it is with this people and the nation in my sight declares the Lord when Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled. And then he starts to talk about how the people's work is unproductive, sort of like he did in chapter 1. And start over at verse 17. I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. From this day on, from this 24th day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid.

Give careful thought. Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. From this day on, I will bless you. From this day on, I will bless you, says the Lord.

Do you hear what the Lord is saying? If we have been those who have suffered the discipline of the Lord in the past, and the children of Israel experienced that discipline by the work of their hands not being productive and when they would plant the crops God would send the locust or the mildew or the hail and it was his way of disciplining the people so that they would wake up if we have experienced that discipline we need to examine our hearts before God and give careful thought to our ways

because the hand that disciplines can also bless. And God wants the people to know it was I who disciplined you because of your sinfulness, but it is also I who can send blessing.

And the promise of God here is because the people have started to now obey him and rebuild the temple is that he will bless them. There is a connection, folks, the scriptures between our obedience to God and the blessings we receive now listen to me carefully I'm not saying that when the evangelist on tv says if you'll just send me ten dollars you know everything's going to be hunky-dory I am saying that when we obey the Lord

that it is in that circumstance we are most likely to experience his blessing it is true that sometimes God's people go through difficult valleys not because of sin but because that's where God takes them but even in those circumstances he blesses ultimately but I think there is the reality that if we want to experience blessings both spiritual and material there is something about the connection with our obedience to God that we don't want to miss I think the scriptures repeatedly help us understand that if we obey god he is going to bless us now let me see if i can prove that from the scriptures here's some scriptures how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners nor seat in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. Next text, Psalm 112.1. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands. Blessed is he who keeps the law, the Proverbs says.

Proverbs 10.6. Blessings crown the head of the righteous. Malachi 3.10 storehouse and the Lord says see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it and then Wilson's favorite verse if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Do we want the blessing of God? Then folks, we need to be obedient.

We have people in this nation who wonder why God might judge this nation through events like 9-1-1 and other events. Why shouldn't God judge this nation? Is this nation being obedient to Him? I would submit in large measure not. If this nation, if we as God's people want to experience his blessing, we need to be obedient.

And if we're not, do not complain when his judgments come because his judgments are always, always, always just. Do you hear me?

And lastly, we need to serve the Lord even when we face powerful opposition. the last section of the text verses 20 to 23 the text says the word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the 24th day of the month tells Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms overthrow chariots and their drivers horses and their riders will fall each by the sword of his brother on that day declares the Lord Almighty servants are available. Son of Sheltiel declares the Lord, and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord Almighty. The forces that oppose God and God's people often seem enormous, don't they? There were going to be the children of God that already faced the Assyrians and the Babylonians, other nations they will face.

Today God's people face opposition, don't they?

you know I've read something on the internet that probably means it's true that he's gotten death threats I haven't confirmed that through an independent source I've seen that on the internet it would not surprise me the opposition to the things of God is often enormous many oppose the gospel and anyone who faithfully proclaims it but listen folks our God is the Lord Almighty he is the Lord of hosts no power can stand against him and what the text we just read says he's going to overthrow nations the Lord Almighty is going to overthrow nations he's already overthrown the Assyrians he's already overthrown the Babylonians in history he's going to overthrow the Persians and the Romans as well and one day one day there's going to be a final reckoning folks And he's going to mete out his justice to those who have opposed him and opposed him and opposed him and have never repented of that opposition. There's going to be a final reckoning day. I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true. With justice he judges and makes war. his eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns he has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself he's dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the word of god the armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen white and clean out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations he will rule them with an iron scepter he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of god almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has his name written his name is king of kings and lord of lords but aggai wants us to know folks is that in the wind in the end god wins So get on the winning team.

And remember God's signet ring. The last part of this book says that Zerubbabel is God's signet ring. A signet ring was a ring often worn by royalty, but it could be worn by other people. It was sort of like a seal. and when an important document was signed they would impress the image on the signet ring on the document and it was the way of the person impressing the signet ring on the document saying this is my promise and what I have sealed I guarantee

and what God is saying is that Zerubbabel is my signet ring and he's his signet ring in this way God had promised that he would restore the children of Judah back to their nation. And under and through Zerubbabel, he did that. He fulfilled that promise. And with Zerubbabel, he is also guaranteeing us that he will fulfill his future promises. So Zerubbabel is the signet and guarantee ring.

On the final day, on the day of judgment, the Lord's going to say, Don't you remember Zerubbabel? Restored him just like I promised. And I am restoring all things now just the way I promised. Just the way I guaranteed it. Zerubbabel was my signet ring.

My promise and my guarantee. So here are my lessons for life. Whatever task God has given us, we should do it with all of our strength.

No holding back. Don't give God the crumbs. don't give him the leftovers don't do like what you take to united way or to goodwill you know it's that stuff that's worn out nobody knows that's what you take to goodwill that's what we do with God a lot of times he wants the best let's give him the best secondly let's look more at God and his power and less at the difficulties before us he's bigger than they are Thirdly, no matter how dark the darkness or how large the obstacles that we face, let's rakazak. Rakazak means only be strong. And I love that phrase.

That's what God said to Joshua when he took over the children of Israel.

Only be strong. fourthly let's not allow a painful or difficult past to rob us of a blessed future listen to me folks i've talked to enough of you to know that some of you have been through some very difficult circumstances in the past some of them that you created for yourselves

but you know what I love about Jesus Christ he says I make all things new the past can be the past you come to me and you leave the past with me and let's go forward in the future come to Jesus, come to Jesus he's the one who can transform a terrible past into a bright future so do not let your life continue to live in the past Some people say, well, I've done so many things. How can I ever, you know, I've got to wait until I get cleaned up and everything. Jesus says, forget trying to get cleaned up. Let me take care of that. Come to me.

I would urge you to do that. Don't wait. If you have not surrendered to him, he can make all things new.

Let's resolve and begin today to obey God completely.

Many of you are doing that. But let's do it with greater intensity. Pray that God will use the passion of the Christ to awaken us in the nation.

Who would have thought that a guy out of Hollywood might have been the most powerful witness of the present day about the gospel of Jesus Christ?

You saw those lethal weapons movies, didn't you? Who would have thunk Mel Gibson national TV under difficult questioning at times looking Diane Sawyer in the eye saying Diane it's all in the gospels go read it Matthew, Mark Luke, John it's true the forces that oppose are significant but I'm going to tell you I think God's going to use this thing

to shape the debate in this nation for sure hope to begin to change the views of many in the nation.