Day 262
Haggai’s third sermon was about holiness, and that is where grace can be found. Holiness is not contagious, but unholiness is. You cannot catch cleanliness like a cold by standing next to something holy, but uncleanness spreads. If someone carries holy meat and touches bread, the bread does not become holy. If someone who was unclean from a dead body touches the bread, it becomes unclean. By rebuilding the temple, the people were not automatically made clean. The work was good, but the heart still mattered (Haggai 2:13-14).
This can sound like bad news, but it is also mercy. God would not let them work on a project and call it a changed life. He told them the truth in order for them to be honest with themselves. God then does what they cannot do for themselves. “From this day on I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19). They had a little barn with seed in it and still no harvest, and had become unclean in their ways. God still promised a blessing of harvest. It was not because holiness rubbed off on them, but because He chose to be close to them. God sees the walls in our hearts and does not pretend it is clean. He still gives grace and a blessing.
If standing near holy work cannot make you clean, what in your life are you hoping will rub off on you?
We did not finish Ezra. We will be back, and that is the joy of reading chronologically; we skip and then read the similar sections together. We heard about the prophets Haggai and Zechariah yesterday in Ezra 5. They were encouraging the exiles who had come back to Jerusalem after being in Babylon for 70 years to rebuild the temple. God had a message for Joshua and Zerubbabel, the appointed governor of Judah, given through the prophet Haggai. The book of Haggai has sections of four short sermons that happened within four months.
August 29, 520 BC, sermon 1. The message to Zerubbabel and Joshua was that the people were building big, beautiful cedar houses for themselves, living like royalty, and yet they had left God’s house in ruins. Their priorities were messed up. The work on the temple had sat idle for about 16 years. Notice that in Haggai 1:2 God said, “These people,” not “My people.” There was a disconnect. The people were living in luxury and had put God last on the to-do list. They were not putting Him first, and they acted shocked when they blew through their paycheck.
Go. Bring. Build. Those were the commands God gave through Haggai. God wanted them to go up to the mountain and get wood in order to build Him a house. This was not so they could feel spiritual, but so that God would be pleased and honored. Due to their sin of neglecting His house, there would be no blessings of rain, which in turn affected crops and animals (Haggai 1:10-11). It was rare that the people actually listened to a prophet! Then God said, “I am with you”. Once they decided to obey, which was 23 days later, they officially came to start the building work. Haggai was the spark that got the people going. This was the fastest building project; there was no huge government red tape or building permits.
October 17, 520 BC, sermon 2. God spoke to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant. “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?” (Haggai 2:3). Who, after 70 years of exile, could still remember Solomon’s Temple? It was a direct challenge from God. The second temple was not as grand or intricate, but God told them do not look back and remember what you had, you must move forward. This calls to mind Lot’s wife, when she had looked back to the city, remembering what she had, and was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). Discouragement is honest. You can have the feelings; just do not dwell there. “Be strong!” was said three times (Haggai 2:4). Do not let fear win. God is not limited to a small building. He owns all of the materials: silver and gold. The second temple may never look as glamorous, but this is the House of the Lord where Jesus later walked. His glory is greater than any building material. It does not need to be fancy.
December 18, 520 BC, sermon 3. Holiness is not contagious, but unholiness is. They had seed in the barn, so the vine and trees had yielded nothing. The blessing was of an abundant harvest, which they had yet to plant, and was promised before the harvest.
Sermon 4 was later that same day, to Zerubbabel. Persia looked like a permanent and dominant power, but God can take down any ruler. In Jeremiah 22:24, God said He would pull Jehoiachin off like a signet ring. Here He made Zerubbabel like a signet ring (Haggai 2:23). He would make him the chosen authority, not just jewelry. Haggai turned that judgment into a promise: the ring God had pulled off was put back on.
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