Skip to content The Prophetic Voice that Reignited a Nation's Purpose: Haggai 1-2 May 14 · 15 min ...more
The Prophetic Voice that Reignited a Nation's Purpose: Haggai 1-2
May 14, 2025 · 15 min
Discover the divine lessons from Haggai on overcoming spiritual complacency and refocusing on God's purpose for His people.
Series Stand on the Word - Audio On Demand May 14, 2025 · 15 min · Stand on the Word - Audio On Demand
Discover the divine lessons from Haggai on overcoming spiritual complacency and refocusing on God's purpose for His people. ...more Show the full description Show less Discover the divine lessons from Haggai on overcoming spiritual complacency and refocusing on God's purpose for His people.
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The Call to Rebuild and Prioritize God's Work 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning. Alright. Today, we are looking at the book of Haggai. As I mentioned, as we go through the book of Ezra, we are going to0:22 take these prophetic books that were coming at the same time because they're intertwined with what we're reading in Ezra. Haggai was 1 of the prophets who spoke the word of the Lord with great effect0:34 during this first period of the return of the exiles to Jerusalem. Verse 5 of chapter 2. According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst.0:46 Fear not. Now these, 2 short chapters show the power of the prophetic word of God. Now Haggai, along with Zechariah,0:58 brought conviction to the hearts of the people in Jerusalem, causing them to consider their misplaced priorities and their spiritual complacency. The result was they repented. They regained1:09 their courage, and they returned to the work of rebuilding the temple. As you'll recall, if you, read Ezra chapter 4, the returning exiles had laid the foundation of the1:21 temple, but the stones hadn't even settled, and the opposition arose. And that opposition, appealed to the governing authorities, the Persian king, with a campaign of1:33 half truths, and, they gained approval from Artaxerxes to stop the construction. Now the returning exiles who were had laid the foundation, they1:44 complied. They they didn't we have no record of any resistance. They they complied. Why? I think Haggai provides some insight into that question.1:57 My take is this. There were spiritual complacency. And they they were compromised spiritually, and there was complacency. And and when that takes place, when that is, you know, when when that's2:09 present, there's a lack of courage. So the opposition at its core was spiritual. And frankly, they were not prepared for that spiritual battle.2:21 And it would take 15 years, 15 additional years, before their hearts were ready to be challenged to rebuild the temple of God, which in that day represented the presence of2:32 God. It was their identity. Now the word of the prophet not only gets the people moving again on the temple, he then shares a vision from the Lord of a future temple that would exceed the glory of2:44 Solomon's temple, which was a vision of the Messiah, a massive temple not built with stones, but of the souls of the redeemed as doctor Henry Haley writes.2:56 Alright. Let's begin verse 1 of, chapter 1. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of3:08 Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheathiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.3:21 Now we'll see this, timing of all of this when we return to Ezra, but it's very important to point this out. There was a change in administrations. There was a new3:33 king on the throne, Darius, who is more favorable, as we will see, to the Jewish people. However, the approval to continue rebuilding the temple comes after the3:44 people repent of their indifference and return to the work. It was the prophetic word of the prophets, not the approving word of the government that God used to advance his plans for Israel.3:56 So the the approval came, but after they started moving. Alright? In fact, as we'll read in Ezra, it was their return to rebuilding that prompted the,4:08 surrounding people again to inquire about this work with the government authorities. Verse 2, thus says lord of hosts, these people say the time has not yet come to4:20 rebuild the house of the lord. Then the word of the lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Is it a time for you, yourselves, to4:32 dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Misplaced priorities. The people turned to building their own houses. They attended to their own wants and their needs4:44 walking away from the very mission they volunteered for when they left Babylon and made the 4 year journey back to Jerusalem. But those misplaced priorities4:56 were costly. Look at verse 5. Now therefore, thus says the lord of hosts, consider your ways. Alright. Consider what you're doing. Consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested5:08 little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourself, but no 1 is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them5:20 in a bag with holes. That's the futility of life lived apart from God's plans and his purposes. That's what that's what life is without5:32 Christ. It's futile. And then when but when we're walking in concert with him in obedience to him, you know, life has significance. It has meaning.5:44 Now here here's a truth revealed throughout scripture. Whatever God calls us to, Satan will seek to drive us from. Therefore, we have to stand against Satan and5:55 his tactics, tactics, or we will suffer the consequences just as these returning exiles did. Look at verse 9. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it6:07 away. Why? Declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins while each of you busies himself with his own house. Jesus6:19 talked about this in Matthew chapter 6 verse 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. If you seek those things, they'll never satisfy. But you seek that6:31 you seek to serve the Lord, seek his righteousness, and satisfaction comes. Therefore, verse 10, therefore, the heavens above you have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce.6:43 And I have called for a drought on the land, in the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, in all their labors. As6:55 doctor Haley points out, he says 1 of the most insistent Old Testament teachings is that national adversity is due to national disobedience to disobedience to God.7:07 The remedy? We'll go back to verse 7. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. We see this repeatedly. This is 1 of those phrases, consider your ways. Alright? Consider what you're doing. Think about7:19 this. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. He says,7:31 repent. Now repentance is more than feeling sorry or remorseful for what we've done. It's correcting it. It's going the opposite direction. So it wasn't7:42 just, alright. You know, feel bad because you haven't prioritized the things of God. Fix it. Go to work. Do what god has called us to do.7:55 Verse 12. Then Zerubbabel and Joshua, 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 God8:07 had sent them, and the people feared the Lord. Now notice that last sentence, and the people feared or reverenced the Lord. That's the key to everything. Reverence for8:19 God. That means we we we obey his word and his ways because we reverence him. Verse 13. Then Haggai, the messenger of your Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message.8:30 I am with you, declares the Lord. See, when we're with God, he is with us, and he is for us. Now God never leaves us, but we can't expect god to8:42 bless us when we're moving the opposite direction of what he has told us to do. Verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the the son of Sheathiel,8:54 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 209:06 fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. Now they restarted the rebuilding in 5 20 BC, and it was completed in 5 16. So it was set9:18 vacant for 15 years, but then in 4 years, they had it done. Think about that. 15 years, it just sat there. They got it done in, in in 4 years. Now chapter 2 has a prophetic9:29 element speaking to the spiritual temple that is related to the Messiah, but it also provides encouragement for the exiles to stay focused and continue their work.9:41 Verse 1. In the seventh month, on the 20 first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet. Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheathiel,9:53 governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?10:05 How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? So this this second temple paled in comparison to Solomon's. Right? But yet we're gonna see here we see in this chapter10:17 that, Haggai sees has a vision of a a temple even more glorious than that of Solomon. That is the spiritual temple that the Messiah10:29 would build in his kingdom. Yet now, be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, oh Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you10:41 people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. Be strong. Be brave. Be courageous. Be obedient. According to the covenant that I made with10:53 you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. You know, when Joshua was called, when he was appointed leader and he was to lead the people into the promised land, be11:05 strong and courageous. And that call, if you go back and look in Joshua chapter 1, the strength and the courage was to obey God. It wasn't to face the adversaries,11:17 but it was to put God first. And when we put God first, when we reverence him, we fear him, then we we lose that fear of man because our focus11:29 is on the right place. So fear not. We need to be encouraged in this work that we're called to the Lord as Jesus called us in the great commission to go therefore11:41 and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, teaching them all things that Christ has taught us through his word. You see, we have to encourage we need to encourage 111:52 another in that work. We must have a greater reverence for God than we have a fear of man. And that means the fear of rejection, the fear of standing alone. We have to12:04 have a greater reverence, a greater love for God than we have a fear of man, or the work of the kingdom will be delayed. It will be done. We know God's word will be fulfilled. It's the12:16 timing that is yet to be decided. Verse 6, for thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will12:28 shake all nations so that the treasuries of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the lord god. This is that prophetic view of what is yet to come. Drop down to12:40 verse 18 and and intertwined in this is the result of their obedience. Consider from this day onward, from the 20 fourth day of the ninth month since the day that the12:52 foundation of Lord's temple was laid, consider, Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from13:03 this day on, I will bless you. So the Lord says, you don't see it now, but the blessing is coming. Then in a final word, which is believed to be totally prophetic in the nature in nature, Zerubbabel13:17 represents the family of David, the throne of David, which from which the Messiah, the g Jesus Christ would come. Verse 21, speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the13:28 earth and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders and their horses, and their riders shall go down,13:40 everyone by the sword of his brother. On that day, declares the lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Sheathiel, declares the lord, and make you like a signet ring13:52 for I have chosen you, declares the lord of hosts. Father, thank you for your word. And, lord, I pray that we would not be complacent spiritually14:04 in what you've called us to do. And, lord, may we not have misplaced priorities. May we not shrink back because of opposition, but may we realize that what you have called us to, Satan will14:16 try to keep us from. And so, father, I pray that we would be spiritually prepared, encouraging 1 another with a with a reverence and a fear of you, that we would, as Jesus, and seek first the kingdom of14:28 God and his righteousness. And, Lord, then all of these things, meaning that, Lord, we would have satisfaction. Our our money bags would not have holes in it. Lord, we would drink and be14:39 satisfied. We would eat and be filled as we serve you. We thank you for your word. But, Lord, I pray that we would do more than just read it and study it. May we apply it to14:51 our lives, and may the Holy Spirit help us in that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until next time, keep standing on the word.15:05 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you15:17 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 The Call to Rebuild and Prioritize God's Work
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