Haggai: A Message Of Hope Haggai 1-2

January 27, 2013First Baptist Church

Jackson, Mississippi, USA

Write your personal testimony on the “My Name Is Written in the Book of Life” page that was given out at the end of worship last week and return it to the church.

It can also be completed on the website: www.fbcj.org Dr. Page has asked everyone to write their testimony so a book will be made for

our new pastor to read when he arrives and become acquainted with each of us through our Life Story.

Sunday, February 3, 4:00 p.m. Worship Service in the Chapel led by Tom Washburn.

Be a difference maker for the Lord’s Kingdom! FBCJ is encouraging SS classes to have Super Bowl fellowships in their homes

and invite unbelievers to attend.

Cathy Jeffcoat’s fourth chemo treatment will be on Thursday, January 31.

“Blood work will be drawn that morning and I will find out if the counts are good to go forward with the treatment that day. Then, when I leave six hours later, I will have only two chemo treatments that are on schedule. God has been so great in providing an opportunity to share Him with others as I am having the treatment, having energy to be a part of my daily routine, seeing our new grandson, Kolt Grissom born January 3 and then receiving a call from our almost 8 year old granddaughter last week, Kaylee Grissom, sharing with us she had prayed asking Jesus to come into her heart. January has been a RED LETTER month for our family. My prayer is to continue to praise Him on this journey. Thank you for prayers, support and encouragement.” CJ

JANUARY MEMORY VERSE:Psalm 40:1-2 HCSB1 “I waited patiently for the Lord,

and He turned to me and heard my cry for help. 2 He brought me up from a desolate pit,

out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.”

Psalm 40:1-2 HCSB

FEBRUARY VERSE:Psalm 51:10 HCSB10 “God, create a clean heart for me

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 HCSB

HaggaiA Message Of Hope!

Romans 5:1-5 NIV 1984 1“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through Whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us.”

Romans 5:1-5 NIV 1984

All the prophets , both major prophets and minor prophets, testify about Jesus! (including Haggai)

Jesus is on every page of the Old Testament.

Acts 10:43 NIV 198443 “All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.” Acts 10:43 NIV 1984

As many of the prophets (Habakkuk) had prophesied, God raised up the Babylonian nation to come sweeping down across the land of Israel.

Jerusalem was captured, the king was taken captive, his eyes were put out, he was carried as a captive to Babylon and there, just as the prophecy of Jeremiah had foretold, the people stayed in bondage exactly 70 years.

This is one of those remarkable prophecies which have already been fulfilled, so you can see how God speaks through the prophets of things that no man could speak on his own.

After the 70 years were fulfilled, Daniel, who prophesied in Babylon, tells us that God began to move to bring the people back to the land.

They came first under Zerubbabel, the captain of the remnant who is mentioned in the opening verse of this prophecy of Haggai.

When they came to Jerusalem, they found the city in ruins. The walls were broken down and the temple was utterly destroyed.

They began work first of all on the temple.

Although they were still under the domain and rule of the Babylonians, they had permission from the king of Babylon to begin work on this temple.

They started working, and they managed to lay the foundations and perhaps just one row of stones---a much smaller temple than the original one that Solomon had built.

Then the work began to lag, and after a while it ceased altogether and for 15 years nothing was done on the temple.

It is at this point that Haggai the prophet rises up to speak.

Haggai delivers four messages to these people---all within the space of about a year and a half, all concerning the building of the temple.

But the deeper message, as we have already suggested, applies to us, the temple, the great house of God that He has been building for 20 centuries now.

We will read this prophecy not only as a message of the prophet to the people of his day about building the temple, but also as a message to the people of God everywhere (us) concerning their (our) responsibility in building the great house of God, the temple that the Holy Spirit has been building out of human hearts.

In this prophecy there are four messages and each one reveals an excuse given by the people for not working on the temple --- both their excuse and the real reason behind that excuse.

The first message includes all of chapter 1 and in verses 2-4 we read:

Haggai 1:2-4 Holman Christian Standard Bible 2 “The Lord of Hosts says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”

3 The word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

Haggai 1:2-4 Holman Christian Standard Bible

The theme of the prophecy of Haggai is "get busy and build the Lord's house.“ Don’t quit ! The church building is not the house of God.

In Haggai's day the temple was a picture or shadow of the true house of God.

Revelation 15:55 “After this I looked, and the heavenly sanctuary—the tabernacle of testimony—was opened.” Revelation 15:5

Colossians 2:1717 “These are a shadow of what was to come ; the substance is the Messiah.”

Colossians 2:17

These shadows pointed toward the true house of God which is the believer, and collectively, all believers --- forming the great house of God which is the church, the place where God dwells.

That is what God is interested in building.

In verse 2 the prophet repeats the excuse that the people gave for leaving the temple abandoned for 15 years.

They were saying "Why, the time has not yet come. There's no use doing anything now because God is not ready yet.”

But read the answer God gives to their excuse ---

Haggai 1:3-43 “The word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

Haggai 1:3-4

In other words, God says, "Is the problem really that you think it's not yet time for Me to work? Well, it's amazing that you think it is time for Me to work in helping you to build your house. How about Mine?"

And He rather ironically suggests that the real reason the work of God has lagged is that they are all wrapped up in their own affairs.

They have put God's work second and their own needs first. The fact that they were there in the land at all proves that God's time had

come. They would not have been back there if those 70 years had not been fulfilled. The real reason, therefore, was that they were not willing to put God first. Their own comforts, and their own convenience and their own desires came

first. In verses 5 and 7 God says to them, (in the NASB)

◦ “Consider your ways!”◦ “Think carefully about your ways!” HCSB

Haggai 1:7-11 7 “The Lord of Hosts says this: ‘Think carefully about your ways. 8 Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house. Then I will be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why?’ This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts. ‘Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

10 So on your account, the skies have withheld the dew and the land its crops.

11 I have summoned a drought on the fields and the hills, on the grain, new wine, olive oil, and whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all that your hands produce.’”

Haggai 1:7-11

God says, "I am behind this." Why did He do this? Why did He short-circuit all their efforts to achieve prosperity on their own? Was it because He was trying to punish them? No, God never punishes in that sense. He was trying to wake them up. He was trying to show them that there was an infallible rule that runs all through

Scripture and all through life, that men are constantly trying to reverse, that says,

Matthew 6:3333 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:33

The Cure for Anxiety Matthew 6:25-3425 “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these!

30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness , and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 10:29-30 29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 So don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-30

Why should I feel discouraged, Why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home, When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain: I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

His Eye Is on the Sparrow - a Gospel hymn that although today it is a staple of African-American worship, the song was originally written in 1905 by two Anglo - American songwriters, lyricist Civilla D. Martin and composer Charles H. Gabriel.

Civilla Charles Martin Gabriel (Words) (Music)

Civilla Martin, who wrote the lyrics, said:“Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God.

Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair.

Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.

One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it.

Mrs. Doolittle's reply was simple: "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."

The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me.

The hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow was the outcome of that experience.”—Civilla Martin

The song is most associated with actress-singer Ethel Waters who used the title for her autobiography.

Matthew 6:26-27 26 “Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying?” Matthew 6:26-27

The way to have what you need in terms of physical food and material shelter and the necessities of life is to give your major concern and interests (not to these things), but to advancing God's work.

That is what we are here for, to advance His kingdom!

We have a Father in Heaven Who knows our needs along this line, and He is perfectly able to supply them, and He will as long as our interest is first of all in His work.

Philippians 4:1919 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

That is calling us back to this great principle that the NT is reminding us of that we are not our own, but we were bought with a price; we belong to Him.

We are here to advance His cause, His interests. We are here to build the house of God.

That is why God has left us here in this world, so that we might be His instruments in this work of erecting a great temple of human beings which will be and is a habitation of God, the dwelling place of God.

Is He first in our interests? Is that Who we live for? Or is it that we want a larger TV set or a snazzy automobile or a more beautiful

home or better drapes or an extravagant rug? God has called us primarily to put the building of the house of God first---not

the brick and mortar building, but the church of God.

There are people all around us that the Holy Spirit intends to add to the house of God.

We are to be His instruments and the channels of His working. The great question that Haggai confronts us with is: how can we find time to

advance our interests so eagerly, so carefully, so thoughtfully---spending so much time thinking about advancing our own material gain and then excuse ourselves from the work of building the house of God by saying, "It isn't time yet!"?

Do you remember the story of William Carey, the father of modern missions, who in 18th century England got concerned about India, far across the sea, and prayed that God would somehow reach those poor heathen who had never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He tried to stir up interest in the churches of England, but he met everywhere with adamant resistance to his idea.

In one meeting, Carey made an impassioned plea to be sent out as a missionary.

Even though he was an uneducated cobbler, he was willing to go.

One of the elders of the meeting pointed his finger at Carey and said, "Young man, sit down.

When God wants to evangelize the heathen, He'll do it without your help." This was the kind of stubborn resistance that Carry met with, but he was a man

who would not be defeated. William Carey was used of God to begin the great modern missionary

movement that has not stopped yet, because he was concerned about God's work.

There is an excitement that comes into our lives when we really, genuinely put the affairs of God first , and do not even bother to think about the provision of

our own needs. This is why God says,

2 Corinthians 6:2b“Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.”

2 Corinthians 6:2b

So we read that they started this work in verses 12-15:

The People’s ResponseHaggai 1:12-1512 “…then the entire remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.

13 Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, delivered the Lord’s message to the people, “I am with you”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

14 The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They began work on the house of Yahweh of Hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.” Haggai 1:12-15

How long did the work last? For only three weeks! And then it ground to a halt again. So Haggai says in chapter 2, verse 3:

Haggai 2:33 “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem like nothing to you?” Haggai 2:3

Now God was repeating through Haggai what the people were saying.

They had gotten started and the temple had begun to go up.

There was a bustle of excitement until an old man came down to watch the work.

He had been a child when they were carried captive into Babylon and had seen the temple of Solomon in all its great glory, and as old men sometimes do, he was living in the past.

And he said, "Do you call this a temple? This heap of ruins here? I saw Solomon's temple, and what you are building here is nothing compared to that.

All the gold and silver that was in that temple---it was amazing! And you don't even have any gold or silver. How are you going to decorate this temple?"

The people got discouraged and they said, "You know, he's right. We don't have any gold or silver. We don't have anything to make this temple beautiful.

What's the use? Why work?" So they quit. But the Lord said (2:4):

Haggai 2:44 “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 Hosts.” Haggai 2:4

That is always God's answer. "Work, for I am with you. Don't worry about the fact that things don't look as good as they ought to." Then in verses 5 and 6:

Haggai 2:5-65 “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.”

6 For the Lord of Hosts says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.” Haggai 2:5-6

When God says He will shake the heavens and the people and the earth, He means that He is going to rearrange the whole historical picture (verses 7 and 8):

Haggai 2:7-87 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 Hosts. 8 “The silver and gold belong to Me”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.” Haggai 2:7-8

“God shook the world with a Babe, not with a bomb.” Vance Havner

God said, "You don't need to worry about gold. I've got all we need of that. And if I wanted this house decorated with gold and silver, I could stack it up in

piles here on your back step. But that isn't the kind of glory I have in mind. I am going to fill this house, so that (in verse 9):

Haggai 2:99 “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first,” says the Lord of Hosts. ‘I will provide peace in this place’—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.” Haggai 2:9

God is like that. He says, "Look, you are discouraged because you think what you are doing

won't amount to anything. But don't stop the work because of that. I have a different plan in mind. This house, little as it is, unpretentious as it is, without gold or silver, is actually

going to have greater glory in it than the glory of the previous temple.“ And His words were fulfilled (as always). You know how? Into that house one day came One Who found it filled with money changers,

and overthrowing the tables, He drove them out and said, "You make My Father's house a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:13)

So He cleansed it and made it a house of prayer.

Jesus filled God’s house with the glory of His teaching, standing in the midst of it and saying things such as people had never heard before.

He utterly changed the whole life of that nation and every nation in the world by what He said.

From out of that house there went forth a glory that has never ceased, a different kind of glory.

Do not stop the work because it does not compare with something that was there in the past.

That is one of the problems of God's people. We are always looking back to the past. We say,

◦ "Oh, for the days of Dr. Pollard. ◦ Oh, for the days of what First Baptist used to be."

And we are wistful and long to have it that way.

But the great lesson that God wants to impress upon us is that God always does a new and different work.

The thing that is coming in the future is always better for our present situation than the past.

We do not need to hang on to these things of tradition. God is saying, "Keep on working, I am with you! And when I am in your midst

you don't need to worry about how it is going to turn out. It may be different but it will always be better." Well, that took effect for awhile, and then what? They quit again. In verses 15-18 we read:

Haggai 2:15-1815 “Now, reflect back from this day: Before one stone was placed on another in the Lord’s temple, 16 what state were you in? When someone came to a grain heap of 20 measures, it only amounted to 10; when one came to the winepress to dip 50 measures from the vat, it only amounted to 20. 17 I struck you—all the work of your hands—with blight, mildew, and hail, but you didn’t turn to Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration. 18 “Consider carefully from this day forward; from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid; consider it carefully.” Haggai 2:15-18

What does he mean? If you read between the lines, you can see again what the people were saying. They were saying, "Look, we've been working on the temple for two months.

You said that the reason we were having such a hard time materially and physically was that we weren't working on the temple. We have been working on the temple now for two months, 21 days, and we are still having a hard time. What is the matter? Why work? Nothing is happening. It doesn't work."

They were the same kind of people we are. They wanted instant results:

◦ “I straightened everything out yesterday.

◦ Today everything ought to go great."

What Haggai said to these people was: “Do you think the deep pollution of sin that has been going on for years is going

to be cured overnight?” Do you think that all these habits of wrong thinking that have been deeply

ingrained in your mind are suddenly going to be eliminated simply because you begin to operate on the right basis?

No, we need patience.

Galatians 6:99 “So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9

Not everything has a quick fix!

Haggai 2:19cBut from this day on I will bless you.”

Haggai 2:19c

Do not worry. Keep on. Do not stop work just because you do not see instant results. If you are doing the right thing, keep on doing it and the results will come. Once again, on the very same day, they needed a little encouragement and

so another message came, the last one (verses 20-23):

Haggai 2:20-2320 “The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword. 23 On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, My servant” —this is the Lord’s declaration—“and make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you.” This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.”

Haggai 2:20-23

Now here was a special word of encouragement to the leader while the people were yet under the authority of Babylon, although they were back in the land and building the temple again, they were still beset by many problems.

Everywhere they looked there was the sign of the authority of the foreign power.

They saw chariots everywhere and soldiers marching through the streets and all the signs of bondage, and their hearts grew fearful and they said, "When will it ever be? Are we ever going to be free?"

God says, "Don't worry. I have a program that will reverse the whole order of things. I will destroy the power of this kingdom. I will bring their chariots to naught. I will break you loose from the bondage of this people and I am going to take Zerubbabel, the man who stands as the leader of the people and make him a signet ring."

Now Zerubbabel was of the royal line, the line of David, and these words were spoken of his descendent Who was Jesus of Nazareth.

In Jesus, God fulfilled all these words. He took the Son of David & made Him a signet ring by which all the nations

shall ultimately be ruled.

A signet ring was a ring with a seal set into it, typically for leaving an impression in sealing wax.

The wearing of signet rings (from Latin "signum" meaning sign) goes back to ancient Egypt; the distinctive personal signature was not developed in antiquity and most documents needed a seal.

Because it is used to attest the authority of its bearer, the signet ring has also been seen as a symbol of power.

Now in what way is all this a word to us? It is a word of encouragement in a day of darkness, a word of rising up and

acting now. Build now. Do not wait. The work of God needs to be done now! Not next year. Not ten years from now. Now! Are our hearts open? Are our homes open? Are our lives ready? A great harvest field is before us here in Jackson and around the world. Opportunities abound as they never have before. Is this first in our prayers? Is it first in our interests that this great harvest may be reaped? Are our homes open to our neighbors so that they can come in and find a

friendly heart and a ready smile and a ready ear to listen? How much are we ready to build the house of the Lord? This is always the key, is it not? This is the work of the Spirit. When all that man has done around us crumbles into nothing and all the vast

civilizations and great secrets of nature are forgotten, the one thing that will last is the work of the Lord, the house of God that He is building now.

Are we investing in eternal things? That is Haggai's word.

Stedman, Ray. "Haggai: Some Words to Discouraged Carpenters." Discovery Publishing. Blue Letter Bible. 1 Mar 1996.