Build God’s House: The Message of Haggai - Cameron Jungles - 8-21-2013

Build God’s House: The Message of Haggai (Eastside Baptist/Wed PM/August 21, 2013)

Setting and Context

Haggai – “my feast”

Ministered in Jerusalem

Contemporary of Zechariah

“The Goad of God”

Served in post-exilic Judah

520 to 516 B.C.

4 Oracles all from 520 B.C.

538 B.C. – first Jews return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel.

536 – foundation for temple laid, then opposition

536-520 – no work on temple

520 – Haggai sent by God to spur people to work on temple

Structure & Message

The Call to Rebuild the Temple (1:1-15)
The Glory of the 2nd Temple (2:1-9)
A Defiled People Purified and Blessed (2:10-19)
Message to Zerubbabel (2:20-23)

Call to Rebuild Temple (1:1-15)

Misplaced Priorities – their houses over God’s House.
Curse of Futility – their crops weren’t producing because of their misplaced priorities.
Haggai calls them to repent and build – and they obey!

Haggai 1:4
"Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

Haggai 1:6
You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

Haggai 1:9
"You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.

Deuteronomy 28:38
You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.

Deuteronomy 28:39
You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.

Deuteronomy 28:40
You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.

Haggai 1:7-8
This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD.

Glory of the 2nd Temple (2:1-9)

The temple they were building didn’t look as glorious as the one Solomon built or the one described in Ezekiel 40-43.

Yet, God promises that this 2nd temple will be more glorious than the 1st – because God’s Messiah, Jesus, will fulfill it.

Haggai 2:3
'Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?

Haggai 2:4
But now be strong, Zerubbabel,' declares the LORD. 'Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the LORD, 'and work. For I am with you,' declares the LORD Almighty.

Haggai 2:6
"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. (Hag. 2:6, NIV)

Haggai 2:7
I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, ' says the LORD Almighty. (Hag. 2:7, NIV)


Haggai 2:9
'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace, ' declares the LORD Almighty."

People Purified & Blessed (2:10-19)

Two Questions about ceremonial defilement & consecration.

Implication is that defilement spreads and affects the whole.

The people and land were defiled by their own sin.

But God will mercifully purify them and bless them.

Haggai 2:19
Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. "'From this day on I will bless you.'"

Message to Zerubbabel (2:20-23)

Zerubbabel, an heir of David’s throne but vassal of Persia is promised future glory as God’s “signet ring.” (see Jer. 22:24-25)

Has typological implications that will be ultimately fulfilled in the final heir of David, Jesus.

Haggai 2:21
"Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.

Haggai 2:22
I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.

Haggai 2:23
"'On that day, ' declares the LORD Almighty, 'I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,' declares the LORD, 'and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,' declares the LORD Almighty."

Important Themes

God’s glory and honor are supreme. His glory must not be in competition with our selfish pursuits.

God will chastise his own people in order to make them holy and bring himself honor.

God kept his promises to his people that he sent into exile. He restored a remnant and blessed them in the land.

God takes defiled, unworthy sinners and purifies them and blesses them.

The past glories of God’s presence among his covenant people is nothing in comparison to his glorious presence that is still coming in the culmination of all things.

“Jesus Lens” and Application

God’s special presence is no longer localized in a Temple building.

Jesus has come and is “God with Us.” He is the greater Temple.

Now that Jesus has come, God’s Spirit lives in the church, and we are God’s Temple.

1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are co-workers in God's service; you are God's field, God's building.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?

1 Corinthians 3:17
If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

1 Peter 2:5
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

• So, today the application of Haggai is to build the church of Jesus Christ, which is not a building, but a community of believers for the glory of God.
• One day, the full and glorious presence of God will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. 

Revelation 21:1
Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

Revelation 21:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.