What an Incredible Response!

Embracing God's Priorities & Perspective series

by Pastor Frank Rice

Haggai 1:12-2:9

We love positive results! We’re encouraged by progress. We often plan special events, hoping people will come, then a whole crowd shows up and we’re flabbergasted! We plan yard sales or fundraisers and hope we’re not disappointed! We plant a garden and it grows! We long to see something favorable happen that will assure us that we are not wasting our time and energy! And we’re often surprised! The prophet had confronted his people with their misguided priorities. The evidence that they had placed their projects ahead of God’s was overwhelming. They were guilty! But how they respond is incredible!

 

v      There are a few factors to consider in this amazing turnaround.

1.      The Mosaic covenant was intact! “Through Moses the LORD made it clear that Israel’s agricultural and economic success was contingent upon her faithfulness to God.” (Chisholm)

 

2.      The prophet’s assignment was carried out! He reminded God’s people of their prior covenant commitment and pointed out the overwhelming evidence of their failure to honor it.

 

3.      The events of life had prepared the people to “consider” what was being said by the prophet and they responded positively!

 

4.      They recognized and respected God’s voice through the prophet and they did what God told them to do (v. 12). Wow!

 

v      When the people responded positively to the message, the LORD responded positively to their obedience (vv. 13-14).

1.      The LORD promised His presence and His resources to those who responded by faith to what He had said (v. 13). What more could anyone want or need!?

 

2.      The LORD motivated and energized His people to action (v. 14). Leaders led and followers followed! They came. They worked. They focused their energies on God’s priorities! 

 

v      When the people had heard, there seemed to be a delay (v. 15). Almost three weeks lapsed between 1:1 and 1:15. Why the delay?

1.      The time of harvest (meager?) was upon them. But while they worked they had time to process the message, to think.

 

2.      The seventh month was the busiest in Israel’s festal calendar; The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles all prohibited or limited the work.

 

3.      The mounds of debris in the temple area had to be removed.

 

4.      An inventory of supplies / materials needed to be taken.

 

5.      The work crews needed to be organized. So much to do!

 

v      The LORD recognizes an air of discouragement that looms over His people (vv. 1-3). (We’re not certain of the reason for this.)

1.      Maybe the workers were weary and the resources seemed so inadequate for the task. “The lack of progress on the project coupled with the enormity of the task yet to come may have been accentuated by the frustration of celebrating a third festal event in the unsightly ruins.” (Boda)

 

2.      Maybe the opposition outside the city was getting to them. (There were also some “wet blankets” on the inside!)

 

3.      Maybe they couldn’t envision the finished product.

 

4.      Maybe they became uncertain of the LORD’s support.

 

5.      Maybe the elders who had seen the glory of the first temple were unintentionally making disheartening comparisons.

 

6.      Admittedly, this reconstruction couldn’t compare to the former. But it wasn’t necessarily the structure, but the Resident for whom it was being prepared, that made all the difference!

 

v      The LORD reassures His people of His covenant faithfulness (vv.4-5)! (Have you noticed the repetition of names and titles!?)

1.      The LORD, thru the prophet, addresses the leaders by name for the fourth time and then he addresses the people.

 

2.      The LORD encourages each party to be strong. This is not the first person to whom He has said this! (Think of any others?)

 

3.      The LORD encourages them to use their strength to do the work. He strengthens His people for the tasks He assigns!

 

4.      The LORD encourages them to stop being afraid (v. 5c).

 

5.      The LORD again promises (vv. 4b & 5b) His presence as part of His covenant commitment to His people!

 

v      The LORD promises that He will provide the resources necessary to rebuild His temple (vv. 6-9).

1.      He will soon shake up nature and nations (vv. 6-7a)! The LORD of Hosts will cause chaos and destabilize world powers! “Those things which the nations desire and deem precious.” (Verhoef) “And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.” (ESV)

 

2.      He will “turn them upside-down” and empty their pockets! Their treasures (glory) will fill His temple, since all the glories the nations have pillaged are His to begin with (vv. 7b-8)! His promises would soon find partial fulfillment! “Opponents who hoped to bring the building to a halt were ordered to pay in full the cost of the Temple from the royal revenue in their own taxation district (Ezra 6:8-12).” (Baldwin)

 

3.      He will magnify the glory of the future temple far beyond what they could imagine. He will provide something they have longed for and have rarely experienced – peace in Jerusalem (v. 9).

 

Am I willing to embrace and get to work on God’s priorities and therefore experience His presence and His peace?

Only then will He be glorified!

How responsive are we to God’s Word?