Be Strong in the Lord Dr. Ritch Boerckel February 15, 2015 Scriptural Text: Haggai 2, ESV Haggai, as we recall, ministers around the same time as Zachariah, so they are considered contemporaries. They will give a very similar message to the time after the Exile into Babylon. The Nation of Israel is going to re-enter the land and re-establish the worship of YAHWEH in Jerusalem. The Prophet Malachi will follow them. That is the historical context of this book. In our previous study, the issue with the people Haggai was dealing with was that they had entered the land and they had begun reconstruction of the Temple. For fourteen years it had laid dormant and God is telling them, You have misplaced your priorities. You came back to the land with right priorities of serving Me and of pursuing My glory, but somewhere along the line you became distracted. I am calling you to turn from the worldly, or temporal-life, priorities you are focused upon and to turn back with an upward focus upon Me. They obey and they begin the Temple re-building anew, but then they become discouraged. That is what our text is about in this study. The Coming Glory of the Temple 1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 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. 7 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. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts. Blessings for a Defiled People 10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, 11 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered and said, No. 13 Then Haggai said, If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? The priests answered and said, It does become unclean. 14 Then Haggai answered and said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the LORD, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the LORD, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the LORD. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.
Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet 20 The word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 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 the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts. The greatest gift God offers us in the Gospel is Himself. No gift provides more permanent joy or deeper satisfaction than the gift God offers in Himself. It is interesting that Jesus defines eternal life this way, in John 17, 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is fascinating because He does not say, This is eternal life that you might live in a wonderful place, experiencing great pleasures forever and ever, no, He says, This is really eternal life is all about, knowing You, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So, the big question that must be asked that provides a focus for the whole purpose of our life is this: Do I truly know and enjoy God.? Every true believer, from Adam to the End of the Age, understands God Himself is the great Treasure offered in the Gospel, who fulfills the longing of our heart. That is why the psalmist exclaimed, in Psalm 27, 4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. The Gospel makes our life very simple and it channels all of our longings and all of our desires and all of our wants and it places them right here, One thing I have asked and everything else becomes sort of the gravy. This is the focus. This is where life is that I might behold the beauty of the Lord and meditate upon Him in His Temple. Nothing compares to the experience of seeing God in His glory and personally drawing near to Him in real relationship. Christianity is an historic faith; it is a doctrinal faith; it is a practical faith, but Christianity is also an experiential faith. If the experience of knowing God personally is cut out of one s faith, one looses the whole of Christianity. In fact, we can say they do not have Christianity. The Christian faith rejoices, first and foremost, in the truth that through Jesus Christ we experientially and personally know the one true and Living God. The Apostle Paul echoes the importance of this central truth in Philippians 3, 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ Yes, Paul is telling us he has lost everything he used to hold dear and believe what was important, but it matters not anymore to him. He continues he would make that trade a million times over because now he gets to know God and know Christ Jesus. So, again, we come back to this important question, a question each one of us must answer for our self, it is an experiential question regarding the Christian faith: Do I personally know and enjoy the Living God? The question is not whether we love going to church, whether we enjoy singing praise songs, whether we feel reverent as we pray prayers, whether we have a conviction to affirm a strong doctrinal statement, whether we have a passion to do good works in God s name, whether we enjoy hanging around people who know God. The question here is this: Do I personally know and enjoy the Living God? If we are not sure of that question, then no other question matters because this is the treasure God offers in His Gospel. It is the very purpose for Jesus coming to this earth. It is the purpose for which we are created. Indeed, if we fall short of knowing and enjoying God we do fall short of eternal life.
In our previous study, we opened our Bible in Haggai 1, and we discovered a group of Jewish people who knew God and who enjoyed Him. They pursued Him vibrantly at one point in their life, but then, at some point, through discouragement, they set God on the edges of their life and they put Him out in the periphery. They forfeited Him as the center and God lost the highest priority of their heart s desires. So, God, in love, uses Haggai, His messenger, to awaken this people to their first love. We recall from that text we read, 3 Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. This comes to the people as they are fixing up their own homes and making them really nice all the while God s House, the place where they can enjoy and know Him, is lying in ruins. He questions them is this is really how they want to live life. They are instructed to consider their life and whether they are living it wisely or whether they are living it foolishly. Haggai proclaims his first message in the year 520 BC, but the people had been living in the land of Jerusalem for the prior sixteen years. Fifty thousand faithful, zealous, Jewish people came back from the land of Babylon after begin scattered abroad by the Babylonian empire. They came back from that land in order to build this Temple. For two years they worked on it, but then they became very discouraged because they were immediately confronted with opposition by a group called the Samaritans. After two years of working they had laid the foundation and they had build the alter. They were able to have worship in the Temple even though the walls were not erected. They were able to worship God, but then through discouragement they stopped building the Temple and for the next fourteen years no work would be set upon that Temple. The application is to ask our self: Have I ever become discouraged in a work God called me to do for His glory as a result of opposition? Is there any work we have begun at some time in our life, maybe in college any of us thought about evangelism or discipleship or some other work that would glorify God through His church, and we were very active in that, but opposition and discouragement came and we got our eyes off of that and now our focus is on the paneled houses of life, the temporal areas and the temporal things? Whenever we engage our life in a work for the glory of God we must expect opposition and discouraging words. We come to the first message of Haggai in Chapter 1 and God says, Consider your ways! That message took place on August 30, 520 BC. The equivalent of Haggai 1, I believe, is the word Jesus gave to His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6, 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. They became concerned about temporal matters of starting their businesses, raising their families, and building their own homes and they stopped seeking, first, God's Kingdom, and that is what was happening in Jesus day. They were worried about food and clothing and did they not know they have a Father who cares for them. When Haggai preaches this first message, something remarkable happened. There was a bit of a revival. The people hear the Word of the Lord and the Spirit stirs up their hearts and they obey and repent of their wrong priorities and they get back on track with God in the center. Chapter 2 opens with another date, September 21, 520 BC, the date they actually begin building the Temple again and they work on that Temple for almost a month. But, again, discouragement sets in. Even after they have a revival in their heart and the Spirit stirs them up and they being engaging in the glory of God and His work and His calling for their life, about one month later their hands begin to hang down, their heads begin to droop, and they are beginning to wonder if they should continue anymore.
And, Chapter 2 opens with another date. Again, the Jewish calendar is not ours, but the second date is October 17, 520 BC. That is when this second message is given. The Book of Haggai will have four messages. The first is in Chapter 1 and three are in our text for this study. They had begun work on this glorious Temple for the glory of God, but some who were rebuilding the Temple were older folks who remembered what the Temple of Solomon was like and this Temple they were building was smaller in scope and scale than Solomon s Temple. Furthermore, they did not have as much money as they collected in Solomon s day so it was going to be less glorious and with less pizzazz, gold, and ornate decorations. As they are building this, during these twenty-some days, they are realizing, as they begin rebuilding these walls, This is going to be a lot smaller and a lot less glorious than the Temple that was destroyed. So, we pick up with our text, 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, 3 Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? 1 God is reporting what many of the Jews had been saying as they worked on the Temple. Some of the old people, as they worked on the Temple, were talking to the younger people and they said, This is nice, I guess. You should have seen it in our day, when we were your age. I wish you could have seen the glory of Solomon s Temple. That was really something. The young people were becoming discouraged as they were hearing this report. They were laboring with their very lives. They were giving their all to do this, and the older people were telling them of the comparison to Solomon s Temple, This is okay, but in the old days this used to be great. They were getting a little bit irritated, All the older folks are doing is telling us how great things used to be. That is discouraging to us. All of this negative comparison brought discouragement to a difficult work. Difficult work for God, for His Kingdom, and for His glory is hard to accomplish even in the best of circumstances. Can we not agree to that? As any of us have engaged in difficult work of the Lord, we understand that. In the best of circumstances it is hard to accomplish and it is hard to persevere, but when we throw in the impact of complaining and careless words by fellow co-workers the temptation to quit in discouragement runs extremely high. The practical lesson for us is this: Critical and complaining words easily spread discouragement among God s people and ultimately it hinders God s work. Was it true what they said? Yes, it was true. It is smaller. It is not going to be as glorious, but its effect, the spirit of the words behind it was one of diminishing and discouraging. A great deal of harm to God s glory often comes from a thoughtless use of our tongues. James talks about this 3:5 So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 2 Little do these folks realize, when they are complaining and having these negative comparisons, what they are doing to the spirit of the whole thing, the energy, and the enthusiasm. The tongue is a fire, a very world of iniquity. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and that is what is happening. Little words were defiling the whole group of fifty thousand people from wanting to continue on in this important work and labor of pursuing the glory of God together. The tongue has set on fire the course of our life and it is set on fire by Hell. Those speaking discouraging words likely did not intend to do so, nor, perhaps, were they even aware they were doing so. So seldom as we aware when we are the ones speaking words that suck faith and joy out of God s people. That is the reason why we are constantly being told to beware of how we speak with others, especially when we are connecting words that are complaining, careless, and negative. 1 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 2 NASB
The question I might ask myself is this: Do I use words to draw unfavorable comparisons from the past to the present? Do I use words to express pessimism about our ability to achieved some God-glorifying goal? Do I use words that tempt others to give up accomplishing the great things for God? The spiritual climate of God s people, as Haggai 2 opens, is one of discouragement again. God present three more messages to this group of people. Each message is design for the same purpose: to encourage discouraged worshippers to persevere in their work for the glory of God. Just as Matthew 6 was the parallel statement to Haggai 1, so, I believe, 1 Corinthians 15 has a parallel statement Haggai 2. This is what God says to us, 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Why would God have to say that? It is because there is so much discouragement, even in the midst of God s own people, that causes them to want to give up and walk away from it. God gives this message, in 1 Corinthians 15, and that is the message Haggai brings to us as well. Haggai gives to us three specific instructions for a God-centered life that perseveres in God s work. The first is: Be strong for God is with us. This message, again, is given on October 27, 520 BC, 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. When we are discouraged about continuing in obedience to God, Satan exploits our difficulties by sending selfpity to rob us of our strength. Self-pity assures us we are victims unable to stand against the obstacle that confronts us. Self-pity fixes our mind upon the enormity and the unfairness of the difficulties we face. Self-pity pushes our thoughts inward toward our own plight. We can almost imagine the younger men saying, This is a big bummer. There is no way we can ever build anything that anyone would be satisfied or be proud of. It does not look like it is possible. Why are these other people dragging us down all the time with their talk. All this was inward, inward, inward. How different faith is from self-pity. Faith fixes our thoughts upward upon God, upon His goodness toward us, upon His power in us, upon His presence with us, upon His fighting for us, upon His working through us. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world because faith connects us to the Living God. Is that not awesome? Notice, three times, in Verse 4 God says, Be strong. Be strong. Be Strong. Do not cave into self-pity. Do not let discouragement control your thoughts and your actions. Do not let unfavorable comparisons weaken your resolve. Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. The kind of strength God is encouraging us toward is spiritual strength, strength to overcome temptation, strength to persevere underneath opposition, strength to hold to God when unbelief is prying our fingers off of Him. If we study our Bibles carefully, we will notice this is not the first time God encourages His people to be strong. There are three specific occasions prior to this that I believe are connected to our text, where God says threefold, Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. This October 17th is toward the end of the Feast of the Tabernacles, so it is a festival time and a time when faithful Jewish peoples would have been thinking about God s work in the past. In the Feast of the Tabernacles, one of the things the Israelites did was to read out loud the entire Book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, guess what happens? Moses is talking to Joshua and he says, Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. 3 Furthermore, Joshua opens up and there is God talking to Joshua and He says, Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. 4 Then, at the 3 Deuteronomy 11:8, 31:6, 7 4 Joshua 1:6, 7, 9
dedication of the Temple Solomon built, God instruction to Solomon through David was, Be strong. Be strong. Be strong, 5 as Solomon sets his sights in this commission with the work of building the first Temple. God urges His people to be strong. Why does He do that? Why do we need to be strong? It is because Gods work is never light and easy. It is always deep and extremely difficult and it always faces opposition. How can we be strong? We are strong, not in our own strength and not by lifting spiritual weights and drawing more from our self, but we are strong in the Lord. Over and over, in the Book of Haggai, as we notice, there is this title for God: He is the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of the Armies, the all-powerful, all-mighty God. Be strong in Him. And, with the command for us to be strong, He gives to us access to Him and to His infinite strength. He is going to follow this command to be strong with these words, 4b for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. We can persevere in God s work because we know God abides with us and He is present with us and His Spirit remains in our midst. I love the passage in Zachariah as he writes about the very same kind of issue, and he says, 6 Then he said to me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. A.W. Tozer once said, If God were to take the Holy Spirit out of this world, much of what we are doing in our churches would go right on and nobody would know the difference. That is infinitely sad because that tells us we may be strong in our own resources, talents, and abilities, but the work God calls us to do is always beyond our self and it requires the hand of God. That is why a church is only fully alive when we are strong in the Lord and we are able to do things that are really inexplicable, that cannot be explained by human talent or human resources. The presence of the Lord makes all the difference with His people. The New Testament parallel to this encouragement of God giving His strength to His people, the one most vivid, I believe, is from Ephesians 6. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and he writes, 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 6 One of the schemes of the Devil is using unaware, unintentional, negative comparisons on others in order to discourage the people in building in building the Temple. That is one of Satan s schemes and he is behind this. God desires us to complete His work that He has given to us for His glory. It is His work, not ours. That is why, as He commands us to be about His work, He is telling us, I will supply you with everything you need, but you need to receive it daily. Be strong in the Lord. God s strength is available to you and to me to fulfill God s calling upon our life. Our chief responsibility to gain God s strength each morning is simple, and I believe this is a daily command for us and each day we must ask, Am I strong in the Lord or am I simply strong in my own physical energy, my own physical ability to do my job, and relate to my family and to others? Am I going about my day in the strength of myself or in the strength of the Lord? Those are the questions and everyday we must answer them. And, guess what, really bad things happen when we go about in the strength of our self. Relationships get broken, our spiritual fruitfulness for God is nil and void. So, we must ask our self: Where is my strength coming from? Everyday we must connect to the Vine, to the power source of God Himself. Our chief responsibility to gain 5 1 Chronicles 22:13b, 28:10, 20 6 NASB
God s strength each morning is simple: we must get our soul happy in God. That is it. How do we gain strength in the Lord. We find our satisfaction in God, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Here is a question I ask myself and I have this question for each of us: Do I take time to make my soul happy in God each day? If we do not, we are not living out in the strength of the Lord and we can expect all kinds of disaster to happen around us. Jonathan Edwards writes, God s purpose for my life is that I have a passion for God s glory and that I have a passion for my joy in that glory and that these two are really one passion. 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. 7 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. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. He is encouraging them and telling them what will happen because He has ordained it. And, He is asking them if they will be a part of it. He is encouraging the discouraged laborers that the kingdom of this world will come to an end and it will be shaken and that His Kingdom will rise and will never, ever be shaken. Warren Wiersbe writes, It is better to fail an endeavor that you know will ultimately succeed than to succeed in an endeavor that you know will ultimately fail. I believe that is what God is giving to them, Please understand, as you are looking at this world you are tempted to go back to building your paneled houses. That world you want to go back to is going to be shaken and it will be no more. The world that you are leaving, the world of My glory, that is the world that will endure. Where are you investing your life? Are you investing your life in something that will ultimately succeed or are you investing your life in something that will ultimately fail? That is the question. Secondly, the instruction for a God-centered life that perseveres in God s work is to be pure for God gives the increase, 10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, 11 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priests answered and said, No. 13 Then Haggai said, If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? The priests answered and said, It does become unclean. 14 Then Haggai answered and said, So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the LORD, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. The reference to the date is December 18, 520 BC. We are a couple of months ahead from where we were last and he gives this third message in the Book of Haggai and he wants to take them back to Leviticus because the priests know what they are supposed to do and how everything works. The lesson from Haggai is that holiness is not transferable, but sin is transferable. Practical righteousness channels God s strength to our life. We will forever be discouraged in our work for the Lord if we do not deal with sin. That is why there is a discussion about sin and holiness. One of the reasons why they are discouraged is because they have allowed sin, wrong priorities in the past, present discouragement, and unbelief in the present to enter into their life and that is going to affect everything they do. When we think about these questions, I do not know what the practical value is from the Levitical Law, but the practical value is so incredible because it teaches us the sin of disobedience is infectious and righteousness and obedience are not. In other words, sin spreads from person to person in a community, righteousness is an individual matter that does not spread easily from person to person. Righteousness requires an individual pursuit so we are to set our eyes upon righteousness. If a sick person enters into our home, does that sick person become well because he comes in contact with healthy people? Or, do healthy people become sick because they have come in contact with someone who is ill? The answer is healthy people become sick, but the sick person does not become well. That is the way things work and that is the way in spiritual truth. Haggai is saying we are to be very careful with sin because it contaminates and
we are not to believe that righteousness is carried forward in a transferable way. Each person has to deal with this issue in regard to their own personal life. As these people had these sins in their life of wrong priorities and unbelief with regard to what God would have them continue to do, they were still going to the Temple this whole time and they were offering sacrifices, singing songs together, observing feasts, and praying prayers to God. One of the messages God is giving through these two questions is: Please understand that your own religious deeds as a community and as an individual do not make the sins of your life clean. Rather you sin of wrong priorities infects the religious deeds you are doing. That is a vital and important principle. Sometimes when sin enters we say, Okay, that might be true that sin is there, but look, I am doing all of these other good things, as though they count for something and as though all the other good things invade that area of sin and obliterates it. That is not how it works. Sin obliterates righteousness. Righteousness in our life does not obliterate the sin and that is the reason why the Gospel calls us to a righteousness that is not our own. We need God to bathe us with His righteousness, to clean us completely out so that we can be vessels ready to be used of the Lord. 15 Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the LORD, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the LORD. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you. What Haggai wants the people to understand is that sin always hinders God s work and robs us of His blessing. Consider what was happening. They were frustrated with why they were not getting ahead and not having the depth of satisfaction. The reason why is that they allowed sin to remain in their life unchecked and they were not cleaning it out. They expected just because they were singing songs and doing some good things somehow that cancelled out the sins of their life and opened the door to God, but that is not how it works. Sin in a life always slams shut the door to God s blessing. He is telling them if they want to be encouraged to continue in the work of the Lord, they are to be pure for God Himself will give to them the increase and He will make it so. That is why, at the end of Verse 19, Haggai tells them, But from this day on I will bless you, anticipating the people s repentance. What are God s instructions? If we want a God-centered life that perseveres in His work, the first is to be strong in the Lord; God is with us. Secondly, let us consider this issue of practical, personal holiness. The reason why we are struggling with a lack of fruitfulness in our life has to do with some sin we have grabbed on to either individually in our heart or in community with others and they are blocking God from blessing us. We are to be encouraged. If we gain purity, which is accessible through Jesus Christ, God will bless us from that day forward. Third, the instruction for a God-centered life that perseveres in God s work is to be confident because God will win the victory. God encourages us to persevere through hardship, continuing to labor for Him, first by saying, Draw near to Me and I will with you and I will strengthen you. Secondly, get rid of your sin that suck strength from your soul and apply for My righteousness that comes through faith. Set your eyes on the final victory when I am going to set all the wrongs in this world right. Please understand how this whole journey ends for you. Bible prophesy is invaluable in its practical importance because it fills up our heart with hope, the certainly of what the future holds, 7 20 The word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 8 21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and to 7 Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 8 December 18, 520 BC
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 the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. The work shake indicates a future judgment. It seems as though these opponents are so powerful and the king of the earth is so powerful they will never be able to return to this former glory, but God says that is not the way the story ends. The story ends with all of the kingdoms of this world that seem so powerful and that seem so enduring being grabbed hold of by God and He is going to shake them and everything will come loose. They will be overcome and they will dissipate and disappear from this world forever and ever. If we connect our life with the kingdom of this world, beloved, we will be shaken with the kingdom of this world and we find important will disappear and vanish. We should not be discouraged being involved in the work of the Lord. It is the one thing that endures. Then Haggai says, 23 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts. There is so much here. I believe Haggai, underneath the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is pointing to Zerubbabel, whose line, his grandfather, sinned wickedly against the Lord and Jeremiah records that his line would never, ever experience the blessing of reigning and ruling in the Kingdom. Two generations later, God tells Zerubbabel that He is going to establish him into this line and placing him back into a place of blessing. How can God, both, say to Zerubbabel grandfather, You will never have children who will sit on the throne, yet, at the same time say, Zerubbabel, I am going to give you My signet ring and let you have the authority of My power to rule and to reign in the whole world. If we skip forward to Matthew, guess who is in the line of Jesus? And, if we look at Matthew 1, there he is, 12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. What God is saying is that He is still going to fulfill His curse and Zerubbabel s grandfather will remain childless, yet Zerubbabel will be connected to this messianic line through the virgin birth of Jesus. God is going to say to Zerubbabel, What was taken from you through the curse I placed upon your grandfather will be given back to you in mercy and you will be a part of the glory of this Kingdom I have yet in store. How encouraging that is. These are action steps from Haggai. If you are finding yourself, or thinking to yourself, that you have been discouraged about connecting to God and His work and you have placed your priorities on this world and its kingdom and you are wondering what can you do, I would encourage you in three ways. First, consider your ways. Consider whether or not your priorities are aligned to God, to eternity, or to yourself and a passing world. Second, commit to investing your life for God s glory and for His Kingdom work. Nothing connects to our eternal purpose other than God s glory and His calling. Third, make it your first duty every morning to receive strength from the Lord and to make yourself happy before Him. I do not know if you will have to rearrange the course of your morning schedule in order to do that, but there is nothing more important to you and to your success, your fruitfulness, and your happiness and joy if you do that.
Fourth, pursue practical holiness. No one will see the Lord without it. Deal with sin. Finally, set your hope on God s future plan. Like a laser, look at the certainty of what the future will be and continue to consider that because right now it does not look how the story is going to end. It did not look like that for the people of Haggai s day and it does not look like for the people of our day. God will be victorious. That is how the story ends, 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 9 9 New King James Version (NKJV)