A. The southern kingdom
of Judah had just undergone judgment having spent 70 years captive in
Babylon.
B. Returned to rebuild
the Temple, but encountered opposition.
C. Interpreted the
situation as indicating God must not want the work to proceed.
D. Progress languished,
God was neglected, focus turned to personal goals.
II. Haggai 1:12-15
A. 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 presence of the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD'S
messenger, spoke the LORD'S message to the people, saying, "I
[am] with you, says the LORD." So 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 sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. (Haggai
1:12-15)
B. Like the passage, my message today is very
simple.
1. Our problems can stem from a lack of knowledge
of God.
2. Yet even when we come to know the message of
God—as this nation has—there remains the issue of our
response to that
knowledge: what do we do with what God has revealed?
3. Even when God's message eclipses the other
distractions so as to enter our eyes and ears, there is still the
matter of piercing our hearts!
4. More often than not, it is this
which prevents us from turning to God with our whole heart: we simply
do not want to obey!
5.God's Word and His messengers can talk until they are blue in the
face, but if the seed falls on concrete, no response will be
forthcoming!
6.It behooves us to pay attention to the simplicity of what took
place in the time of Haggai resulting in the restoration of Godly
priorities and restitution by God.
C. Passage records three important stages in God's
dealing with men: 1) rebuke; 2) response; 3) restoration.
III. Rebuke
A. Last week, we saw that the nation was
experiencing various symptoms of lack: working hard, but gaining
little, even losing that which they had.
1. As if “'fate' had turned against them.”
(But we don't believe in 'fate!')
B. Treating symptoms is ineffective: there is an
ultimate need to get to the root cause.
1. God's dutiful response to disobedience:
removing His blessing, even bringing a curse—actively
interfering with their
prosperity and well-being.
a) “He who earns wages, earns wages to put
into a bag with holes.” (Hag. 1:6)
b) “You looked for much, but indeed it came
to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away.” (Hag.
1:9)
c) Would God do this to His people? [YES!]
C. Symptoms are important—a first step in
recognizing the problem.
1. But don't stop there!
2. Can distract from the root cause.
3. The symptoms get our attention, but they are
not the root cause!
4. God often uses symptoms because of our
misplaced priorities.
a) The people cared more about their physical
prosperity than their relations with God.
b) We can ignore spiritual malaise for an extended
period and, if we prove to be spiritually torpid, then God resorts to
physical communication.
(1) Hunger, thirst, cold, discomfort. Even loss of
“net worth!”
(2) Distracted by chasing after wealth, what
better way to get our attention than to take it away after we've
worked so hard to earn it?
(3) We are not the source of our prosperity: He
is!
5. “Consider your ways!” (Hag. 1:5:7)
IV. Response
A. The passage before us today records the
response of the people to the message of God (Hag. 1:12).
B. Three different parties are singled out:
1. “Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel” -
representing governmental rule.
a) A descendant in the kingly line of David and
grandson of Jehoiachin, one of the last ungodly kings prior to the
nation being take away to Babylon (1Chr. 3:17 cf. Hag. 1:1).
2. “Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high
priest” - representing spiritual rule.
3. “All the remnant of the people”
C. Responsibility extends to both leadership and
the common people.
1. Leadership has greater influence, and
therefore, the greater responsibility to lead the nation in a path
which is responsive to the truths of God.
2. Leaders, as great as their influence may be,
cannot turn a nation on their own: repentance and change must
germinate in the common man in the street.
D. Motivation for response.
1. A belief that God Has spoken.
a) “the words of Haggai the prophet, as the
LORD their God had sent him” (Hag. 1:12)
b) How is God speaking in our day?
(1) Through His Word.
(2) Through chosen vessels who are compelled to
preach and teach its truths.
(3) Through events, just like in the time of
Haggai.
c) Where the view arises that God is no longer
speaking or that He is not involved in the prosperity or downfall of
nations—even by way of the physical realm—then motivation
will be lacking.
(1) God's Word considered irrelevant or as “holy”
as swiss cheese: moth-eaten fables and riddled with errors.
(2) Mother earth and environmental concerns, but
as if God is no longer controller of His physical domain!
(3) We are urged to “care for Mother earth”
while we ignore and even thumb our nose at “Father God,”
the very Creator of this fish bowl we find ourselves swimming in.
2. Fear of God.
a) “the people feared the presence of the
LORD” (Hag. 1:12)
b) God uses both the carrot and the stick.
(1) He draws us by communicating His great love
for us, His desire and ability to bless, and the simplicity by which
our obedience leads to His blessings falling upon us.
(2) It is so simple!
Yet in the face of our dark hearts, we turn away, time and time
again.
(3) So, out of still
greater love, God turns to the stick. He loves us to much to simply
let us walk away in indifference and darkness.
(a). . . "My
son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged
when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And
scourges every son whom He receives." (Heb 12:5b-6)
c) The people of
Haggai's day responded out of fear of God's visitation in judgment.
(1) The people
feared “from the face” of YHWH.
(2) God's
presence descended on Mt. Sinai: Now all the people witnessed the
thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the
mountain smoking; and when the people saw it,
they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, "You
speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest
we die." (Ex 20:18-19)
(3) Among
Moses' final words to Israel prior to his death: "Gather
the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger
who is
within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn
to fear
the LORD your God and carefully observe all the words of this law,
"and that
their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn
to fear
the LORD your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the
Jordan to possess." (De 31:12-13)
(4) Peter
speaking to the household of Cornelius: "But in every nation
whoever fears
Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (Ac 10:35)
d)Where is our fear of God?
(1)Do we, as a nation fear Him? [NO]
(2)Are we, a nation which “works righteousness”? [NO]
(3)Do we, as believers within the church fear Him?
(a)Our actions and the lyrics of many of our modern worship songs
betray our cavalier approach to God.
(b)To many, He's just a “big man,” a “big buddy in
the sky” who's main purpose in life is to ministry to ME.
(c)His holiness, perfection, and power are too often eclipsed by a
wash of sentimentalism which fails to recognize that we are a people
of unclean lips (Isa. 6:5) dependent upon the grace and mercy of a
God who is described as a “consuming fire” (Ex. 24:17)
e) Take
note: the people of Haggai's day feared
His presence! Can we say the same?
(1) Writer
of Hebrews: 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.
For our
God is
a consuming fire.
(Heb 12:28-29)
V. Restoration
A. The leaders and the people
1. Believed that God had spoken.
2. Agreed in their hearts that God's assessment of
their condition was accurate.
3. Responded in obedience to what God had
revealed.
a) Their response was like those who heard Peter
preach on the day of Pentecost: "Therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ." Now when they heard this,
they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of
the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
(Ac 2:36-37)
4. This is always the pattern we find in true
Biblical repentance and restoration:
a) Believe God has spoken.
b) Agree with God has said— that His Words,
rather than our own perceptions, are accurate!
c) Respond in obedience: a desire to do
that which God explains!
B. The response by God
1. “Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, spoke
the LORD's message to the people, saying “I am with you, says
the LORD.”
a) WOW!
b) God is a god of encouragement! If we would just
agree and turn, then He can be counted as faithful to show us the
road out of our pit.
c) When we have rejected God and things go from
bad to worse, Satan and our own conscience can condemn us and push us
in a direction even farther from God. But God says, “I AM WITH
YOU”!
(1) He always, always, always wants us to choose
the fork in the road leading toward healing and restoration.
2. We also read: “So 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 the remnant of the people” (Hag. 1:14)
a) God stirred up their spirits in response.
(1) Stem of the Hebrew verb identifies the subject
as the cause of the
action: “God caused [them] to wake up”
(2) Their spirits had been torpid, languishing, as
if asleep.
(3) It does not say, “they awoke and shook
off their slumber”. God Himself initiated a response within
their spirits bringing about a desire to respond and obey.
(4) The meager response on the part of the people
of God was met by God’s grace to enable them to obey His voice.
(5) Examples
(a) The very act which resulted in the Jews being
in Jerusalem to begin this work of rebuilding the temple was
initiated by God moving the spirits of men.
i)God stirred
up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to issue the proclamation that
the Jews could return to their land (2Chr. 36:22; Ezra 1:1).
ii)God stirred
up the spirit of the people who returned from Babylon: “Then
the heads of fathers' households of Benjamin and Judah and the
priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had
stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in
Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:5).
(b) New Testament
i)Now may
the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His
will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom [be] glory forever and ever.
Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
3. The need of revival by God followed by His
further empowerment.
a) David recognized this same truth in Psalm
138 “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, [And]
made me bold [with] strength in my soul. . . . Though the LORD
[is] on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows
from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And
Your right hand will save me.” (Psalms 138:3-7)
(1) Become lowly of mind (but as a nation, we are
still proud: “the power of pride”).
(2) Cry out to God (but as a nation, we are still
relying on our own capabilities).
(3) He answers.
(4) He revives.
(5) He saves.
C. The result of having their spirits stirred by
God: the ability and motivation to obey God’s command.
1. “. . . and they came and worked on the
house of the LORD of hosts, their God.” (Hag. 1:14)
2. Their response in obedience (recorded in verse
14) is said to have been on the twenty-fourth day of the same month
as the message initially came to Haggai (in verse 1).
a) 21 days had elapsed between the time Haggai
received the message and the people began to work on the Temple
b) Why the delay?
(1) Some suggest that they were making
preparations to rebuild—but wouldn’t that have been
considered the beginning of the work itself?
(2) Another possibility: since it was late
September, perhaps they were working taking in the harvest?1
Could it be that an unusually meager harvest served to further
confirm the message given by Haggai?
(a) “For I called for a drought on the land
and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and oil, on whatever
the ground brings forth . . .” (Hag. 1:11)
VI. How do we Compare to Israel in Haggai’s
Day
A. Are we not experiencing similar symptoms, both
personally and nationally in our day?
B. As we considered last week, there are ample
reasons why God would withdraw His hand of blessing and even actively
move in opposition to us.
C. But, are we as responsive as Israel was to
Haggai’s call to repentance?
D. It is my contention that we are not.
We are still blinded by pride coupled with a belief that we are
captains of our own destiny. We are unable to take the two most
critical steps described by David in Psalm 138:
1. Become lowly of mind (but as a nation, we are
still proud: “the power of pride”).
2. Cry out to God (but as a nation, we are still
relying on our own capabilities).
E. Until we do so, we can’t expect the three
responses on the part of God:
1. He answers.
2. He revives.
3. He saves.
F. Jesus taught a parable concerning humility
which we would do well to consider.
1. Recorded in the 18th chapter of
Luke, it concerns a self-righteous Pharisee and a despised
tax-collector and compares their interaction with God.
2. "Two men went up to the temple to pray,
one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and
prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other
men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the
tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his
eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me
a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke
18:10-14)
3. Which man depicts our nation? Which man
depicts us as individuals?
4. What could be more beautiful than the
simplicity of a proud and once-powerful nation admitting our fault
before the Lord and turning to Him, first individually and then
nationally, for cleansing and restoration?
5. As in the days of Haggai, would He not also
respond and come to our rescue?