I started running competitively in 7th grade and quickly discovered that I had some natural ability – I cannot venture to count number of miles I ran over next eight years, number of races I competed in, or number of medals I won – Ultimately, that’s not what’s most significant about this story
What is significant about this story is how I sold my soul to process – By time I reached college, my entire life revolved around athletic achievement – From time I woke up in morning until time I went to bed at night, my thoughts and actions revolved around one thing: running faster – And what I quickly discovered is that, no matter how fast you run, there’s always possibility of running just a little bit faster
My life became a performance, a performance that determined my value as a human being – When I succeeded, I was valuable – When I failed, I was worthless – My dream was to succeed and, thus, to believe I had value – And then God blew away my dream
I came down off a steeplechase barrier and partially tore my Achilles tendon – That was beginning of a long, slow, painful death to my running career – But that’s not what’s most significant about this story either
What’s most significant about this story is that God, in His merciful judgment of my sin, showed me a clear fork in road – Go this way and devote my life to things that can and will pass away in a moment – Or go that way and devote my life to things that will endure forever – By grace of God, I chose to go that way – And it was best choice I’ve ever made
We are taking a planned pause from Gospel of John in month of July and we are going to take four weeks to look at prophetic Book of Haggai – At heart of Book of Haggai is rebuilding of Temple in Jerusalem after Israelites’ exile in Babylon – In order to make sure we understand significance of this rebuilding to ancient Israelites and its implications for us, today, I want to take a little bit of time before we jump into text to talk about significance of Temple in life of ancient Israel
Temple theology really begins with Tabernacle, which, you’ll remember, God instructed Israelites to build as He entered into covenant relationship with them at Mt. Sinai – Tabernacle was a large, beautiful, detailed tent that served as a mobile worship center throughout Israel’s journey to Promised Land
Tabernacle was God’s sacred dwelling place among His people (Ex. 25:8) – Now, we know that God is omnipresent; that is to say, He is everywhere all the time – So, His completeness cannot be contained by a building – However, He chose to be present in a special way, a unique way, among His people in Tabernacle – Tabernacle symbolized place where God of Heaven touched earth – That’s why such great detail was given to its construction, and such precious material used, because it was to symbolize Divine and heavenly realities on earth
Tabernacle became center of Hebrew life, both figuratively and literally – Hebrew life revolved around Tabernacle – It was central place of worship for One True God – And it was always located in center of Israelites’ traveling camp because at center of camp was place for king’s tent – Israel, by putting Tabernacle at center, acknowledge that Yahweh was her King[1]
Tabernacle was right structure for Israel in its itinerant days – But, when their days of sojourning had ended, when they had completed God-given task of pushing out Canaanites and occupying Promised Land, it was right for that mobile worship center to become a stationary worship center – Thus, building of Temple in Jerusalem during reign of King Solomon
Temple functioned much in same way as Tabernacle – But Temple emphatically declared that Israel had been established in Promised Land – That God had been faithful to keep His promise to Abraham – And that He now dwelled permanently in His Temple, with His people, in His Promised Land…
…which is precisely what made events of 586 BC so devastating – In 586 BC, Jerusalem and sacred Temple were destroyed by Babylonians and majority of Jews living in area were exiled to Babylon – This was an act of Divine judgment against Israel for her persistent sin and rebelliousness
Literature written during exile reveals disturbance and despair this caused for God’s people – But God’s prophets, Ezekiel, specifically, foretold a time when Temple would be rebuilt (Ezek. 40-48) – Israel latched on to these prophecies and held onto them as hope[2]
And, indeed, as He always does, God would keep His promise – About 45 years after Temple was destroyed, Babylonians fell to Persians – Cyrus, Emperor of Persia, sent large population of Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild Temple – Story is documented in Book of Ezra – But, rebuilding did not go as Israelites had hoped or imagined – They started work of rebuilding but, shortly thereafter, postponed it because of violent opposition from neighboring peoples[3]
And it is at this point in Israel’s history that Haggai enters scene – Over 15 years after construction efforts had been abandoned, God sent Haggai to rouse His people to get back to work – Book of Haggai consists of four oracles, or four divine messages from God to people of Israel in this social and historical context – This morning we are going to look at first oracle, verses 1-15
We’ll break it up into three sections: Introduction, Rebuke, Response
Let’s look first, and briefly, at Introduction
Read v. 1
Here in verse one, we are introduced to first oracle – It’s time-stamped for us, down to very day it was given in 520 BC – And we are introduced to three key figures in this era of Israel’s history:
First being Haggai, himself – We know very little about Haggai, except that he was a faithful prophet of God (Ezra 5-6) and that his name comes from Hebrew word for feast, which is fitting for a prophet whose focus was Temple, center point of major Jewish feasts
Second is Zerubbabel, governor of Judah – Judah, at this time, was still under Persian rule, but Persians had delegated oversight of this region to Zerubbabel – Zerubbabel’s lineage is significant here: being in lineage of Shealtiel put him in lineage of David and, thus, connected him to Davidic Covenant
Finally, is Joshua, high priest – His lineage is also significant – Being in line of Jehozadak put him in line of Zadok, who was linked to those prophecies I just mentioned about rebuilding of Temple (Ezekiel 44)
So, to attentive reader, lineage of Joshua and Zerubbabel signals eschatological hope – That is to say, we should see that God is making a clear and decisive move here to fulfill His previous promises to restore Israel and rebuild Temple – Lineages key us in to that reality
So, verse one is Introduction to oracle – Now, let’s look at Rebuke starting in verse 2
Read v. 2-7
At this point, Israelites who had gone away into exile had now been living back in Promised Land for 18 years – Their initial attempt at rebuilding Temple was sixteen years in past – Temple, place symbolized God’s special and unique presence among them – Place that, for generations, had served as anchor of Jewish life, sat abandoned – And Israelites had simply moved on with living everyday life
They had rebuilt their own houses, paneled houses, which may refer to luxury but may simply refer to houses that had been completed – And they had put their heads down and gone on with monotonous but necessary tasks of daily life – But it was not going well for these Israelites – They were sowing seed, but not reaping – Eating, but always hungry – Drinking, but always thirsty – Clothed, but always cold – And wages they earned were burning a hole in their pockets
Why? – Because they had neglected Lord and His Temple and become focused on themselves – And they had come to justify their way of life by saying: “the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord”
Now, we don’t know exact reasoning behind this claim – Some think it was a theological reasoning based on prophetic writings about rebuilding of Temple – Or that Israel was awaiting appearance of a messianic figure – Some think it was financial reasoning – We know that Darius had significantly increased taxation around this period, so Israelites could have been scrapping to put food on table – Others think it was related to fact that oracle came right before harvest time, when everyone would be neck-deep working in fields and too busy to build Temple – Or it could have been that Israelites were just discouraged and overwhelmed by long experience of difficult times – They were just trying to survive[4]
Whatever the reasoning, people of Israel were wrong – It was time to rebuild Temple – And Lord was letting them know about it
He calls them, “these people” instead of “my people” – His question to them is rhetorical and pointed – And twice He commands them “Consider your ways” – It is literally in Hebrew: “set your heart upon your ways” – Think about what you are doing and what you are not doing – Take an assessment of how you are spending your life – And then, tell me this, “How is it going for you?”
Lord commands them to consider – But He’s not going to leave them to come to their own conclusions – He follows with another command:
Read v. 8
Verse 8 could be theme verse of this book – If we were to answer the question “What is the Book of Haggai about?” in a single sentence, this would be a good answer
We see two commands here: “go up” and “build” – And notice the two reasons He gives for building His house: 1) so that He may take pleasure in it – 2) So that He may be glorified – God-centered justification – He’s not saying, “You should do this so that things start going better for you” – That would be a man-centered justification – But what we see here is a God-centered justification – God is saying, “You should do this because I am worthy
Rebuke ends with a second reminder of vanity of Israel’s efforts to live a life focused on themselves – Verses 9-11 reflect and parallel verses 5-7 – And, again, He’s not going to leave Israelites to come to their own conclusions – He’s going to spell it out for them:
Read v. 9-11
Israel’s sin, plain and simple, was that they had busied themselves with their own houses while leaving Lord’s house in ruins – For this reason, Lord actively worked against them – He blew away fruit of their vain worldly pursuits like one blows away seeds of a spring dandelion
Why would the Lord do that? – Well, for one, He was keeping His promise to Israel – You see, when He entered into covenant with them at Sinai, He promised that their obedience would bring about material blessing but their disobedience would bring about material cursing – Read Deuteronomy 28 – So the Lord, in cursing their faithless toil, was simply and justly being promise-keeping God that He is – And this should not have been a surprise to people of Israel, who were familiar with their Divine covenant
But in this act of working against Israel in line with Mosaic Covenant, we must not only see judgment, but mercy – His curse upon Israel’s material possessions was not merely retributive, but also restorative – He was trying to use material barrenness to reveal spiritual barrenness, so that Israel might turn back to Him
Now, we no longer live under Mosaic Covenant – Blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28 do not govern life of Christian – Material depravity or prosperity are not trustworthy indicators of spiritual health – That’s mistaken theology of prosperity Gospel – Jesus says that spiritual health and obedience may, in fact, lead to material loss – Life of many of apostles proves it true – All of that is true
And, yet, it remains true for us today that God, in an act of merciful judgment, might blow away vain pursuits of this life to show us our spiritual barrenness, so that we might turn to Him – Many of you can attest to that personally
And turn, Israel did – Following Lord’s Rebuke, we see Israel’s Response
Read v. 12-15
So, under leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua, people of Israel did two things in response to hearing God’s Word – First, they “obeyed voice of Lord” (v. 12) – Second, they “feared the Lord” (v. 12) – They listened, they humbled themselves, and they repented
So, we see two things that Israel does in response to God’s Word – And then we see two things that God does in response to Israel’s repentance – In verse 13, God issues a promise: “I am with you” – My Temple may not be finished yet, but my presence is still here with you – I have not abandoned or forsaken you – I am with you as you go about this holy task of rebuilding my house
And then, second thing God does in response, so as to prove His power and presence among His people – So as to ratify promise – We are told in verse 14 that “the Lord stirred up the spirit” of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people so that they got back to work – So God is one initiating, leading, and directing this holy task of rebuilding Temple as His people fear Him and obey Him
This is how chapter one and first oracle conclude, with Israel repenting at Lord’s rebuke – And Lord responding to Israel’s repentance – As we move to thinking about application, we need to think about differences between Mosaic Covenant of Haggai’s day, and Covenant of Christ, under which we now live – And, specifically, about how Jesus fulfilled and transformed our understanding of Temple
In chapter one of John’s Gospel, which we looked at earlier this year, John creatively and powerfully writes that Jesus, eternal Word of God, took on flesh and “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14) – That’s creative word John uses in Greek – John wants us to see that Jesus is the New and Better Tabernacle – He is fullness of God, incarnate – He is the more special and more unique presence of God on earth – In Jesus, Heaven and Earth collide in unfathomable ways
Then, in John 2, after Jesus cleansed that very Temple that was being built in Haggai’s day, Jews demanded that Jesus show them a sign to prove His authority – Jesus responded by saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19) – Jews were confused at His response – But John tells us that Jesus was referring not to Temple structure but to His body – Jesus is New and Better Temple
Jesus’ death and resurrection confirmed all of this to be true – Matthew records that, at moment of Jesus’ death, “the curtain of the temple [which separated holy of holies, God’s powerful Divine presence, from secular spaces] was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matt. 27:51) – So that God’s presence was prepared to move out of Temple in Jerusalem to cover face of whole earth
And this process was finished through Jesus’ resurrection from dead and ascension to heaven – As resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven, He punctured the partition that separated heaven from earth – Then, He sat down at right hand of Father and together they sent Spirit through opening between heaven and earth to invade hearts and minds of men and women who would turn from sin and believe Gospel
And mysterious and marvelous results of all of this is an extension of Christ, New and Better Temple on earth – That extension is the church – Not a building, but group of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation who trust in Christ and are bound together by His Spirit into His body
Paul makes this abundantly clear is his letter to Ephesians, writing, “you [all] are no longer strangers and aliens, but you [all] are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you [all] also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:19-22)
Do see fulfillment and transformation of Temple in Christ? – Christ, New and Better Temple, is cornerstone of whole structure, anchored in heavens at right hand of Father – He is heavenly cornerstone of church – Church is earthly extension of New and Better Temple – Church, so much as it has union with Christ through Gospel, has become place of God’s special and unique presence on earth – Church is place, God help us, where heaven meets earth – The place where individuals like you and me are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit
Now, you and I are not God – We are distinctly creatures, and He remains distinctly our Creator – Yet, in some profound, mysterious way, by Spirit who dwells inside us, we are Temple of living God on earth
And, friends, this Temple is yet unfinished – There are yet screws that need to be tightened – There are yet curtains that need to be sown – There is yet room for us to grow in godliness so that we might better reflect glory of our Lord
And there are precious stones still scattered all across this earth, waiting to be discovered, mined, and built into this new Temple of Living God – There are yet people across our neighborhoods, our city, our nation, and our world waiting to hear Good News of Jesus and to be built into His living Temple by Spirit – There is yet room for evangelism and discipleship
You know, there is another place in our Scriptures, where Lord brings together this command to “Go” and also this promise to be with us – It is one you are familiar with
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
This New and Better Temple is yet unfinished – And so I leave you with those same commands God gave to Israel through mouth of Haggai:
Consider your ways, Go, and Build
Have you busied yourself with your own house at expense of Christ’s church? – Have you neglected Lord and become too focused on yourself? – Too focused on your accomplishments at work or at school or in athletics or as a parent? – Have you become too focused on your your comfort, on having “nice” stuff and “nice” life? – Have you become too focused on your pleasure, on chasing next fun experience? – Or your reputation among friends, family members, neighbors, or co-workers? – Or maybe you’ve just been swallowed up by rat-race of life?
If so, how is that going for you? – Are you tasting toil of a life lived without reverence for God? – Eating, but always hungry – Drinking, but always thirsty – Clothed, but always cold – And finding that everything seems to fall short of satisfaction?
If you’re lost in pursuit of life apart from God, or if you’ve wandered off course, or you’ve become slack in your effort and you sense God putting His finger on something specific this morning that you need to stop doing or start doing, or maybe a perspective you need to adjust, this is an opportunity to obey voice of Lord, fear Him, and refocus on work
I believe many of you here this morning are doing well – You are giving your life away for others, serving, sharing your faith, working as unto Lord, training your kids up in way they should go – Not perfectly, but faithfully – And you’re feeling overwhelmed by weight of God’s call on your life to be faithful in all these different areas – You have not wandered, but you are weary – And you’re probably kind of person who always feels like you need to be doing more
My challenge to you is to differentiate between conviction of Spirit, which is specific, focuses in on one issue or attitude, and relents when you repent, and lying voice of enemy who lobs vague condemnations like “You aren’t doing enough” or “You aren’t good enough” that keep coming back even when you repent – When you hear voice of Spirit, you obey – When you hear voice of enemy, you rebuke him and you replace it with Lord’s promise, like this one: “I am with you”
Prayer
-Consider our ways
-Stir up our spirits to Go and Build so that He might take pleasure in it and that He may be glorified
[1] Tremper Longman III, Immanuel in Our Place: Seeing Christ in Israel’s Worship, ed. Tremper Longman III and J. Alan Groves, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001), 25-36.
[2] Mark J. Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2004), 96.
[3] Iain M. Duguid and Matthew P. Harmon, Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2018), 5.
[4] Iain M. Duguid and Matthew P. Harmon, Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2018), 52.