The prophet Haggai delivers a sharp rebuke for the people who have returned from captivity. They started out with zeal for God and His ways but now have fallen into sinful patterns. They had little zeal to establish worship in the way that God had commanded. It has been sixteen years since they returned and now their personal goals are hindering their worship. They were neglecting the temple and gratifying themselves. They were sluggish about rebuilding the temple and overly focused on their possessions and homes. Accordingly, Haggai preached to shake the returnees out of their neglect. His message was that their priorities were off. He made it clear that neglecting the house of God always has consequences.

Lord thank you. Thank you for the beauty of your word, for the way that it brings us back, it shows us who we really are, it uncovers things in us for your own glory, for our own benefit, for our healing Lord. Thank you for the healing that you're doing in your people as a result of your wonderful commands that are always so good and now Lord I pray you would give us as a result of our time the heart to to hear and obey the commands that Haggai issued to his people that we would be like them and we would snap into action the way they did Amen. Okay Haggai Open up to the book of Haggai. The prophet Haggai delivers a very sharp rebuke to the people who returned from captivity.

They came back from 70 years of captivity and began to rebuild the temple they had a nice start and then they just wore out there was criticism there was perhaps fear and other forces there were at work and now it's been 16 years since they returned and things have stalled. Quite likely they worked for a couple of years and then laid off for 14 years for rebuilding the temple. There's an old Bible that has a really, I think, a really clear introduction to the book of Haggai. It says this, that the building of the temple had been interrupted, most probably from coldness, doubts, and fears of the people themselves. However, God providentially renewed, and Haggai was divinely commissioned to encourage the rulers and stir up the zeal and energies of the people.

He accordingly reproves their delay and exhorts them to proceed. Their ready obedience is encouraged by a renewed message from God. He comforts the old men who wept at the diminished magnificence of the second temple by assuring them of its surpassing glory in the advent of the Messiah. He shows how God had smitten the earth with a curse on account of their sins and promises them fruitful harvests from the day the foundation of the temple was laid and he predicts the prosperity of Messiah's kingdom." Haggai is quoted in the New Testament in Matthew 28 20 and in Romans 8 31 in Hebrews 12 26 there you have it so what was going on their personal goals were hindering God's desires for their worship And they had been rebuilding their homes, but they weren't rebuilding his temple. And as a result, they weren't successful in anything.

And so He's answering why they're working so hard and getting so little. It's like their pockets have holes in them. Everything is slipping through their fingers. Nothing is working. And Haggai identifies why that is and compels them to do the thing that will really cause blessing to come down upon them.

And so Haggai is preaching their four sermons here in the book of Haggai. There are only two chapters and he's desiring to shake the returnees out of their neglect and really to turn them back to a better way to where their pockets aren't being emptied from the bottom out where things aren't slipping through their hands. This is God's desire. God desires to bless his people and so he issues these commands in order to help them to understand why it is their pockets are empty. This was the result of their spending their money on themselves.

At the same time, they're not energetically seeking to re-establish the worship of God. They have no passion for it. They're sluggish. They're sluggish about the temple and they're bullish about their houses and cars. That's the deal.

And so this is a helpful message for really any time in history because this problem didn't just exist in the 6th century BC. So here's his message, your priorities are all wrong. You need to rearrange your schedule. You need to rearrange the allocation of your money. And this book here should ask us to review where we're spending our money and where we're spending our time.

So when you read Haggai, I have that in the backdrop, It's a confrontation of the people of God to consider where they're spending their time and their money now Hagia is making it so clear that when you neglect the worship of God there are severe consequences And these consequences for them are financial. It's hitting them in their pocketbook. Because they're spending their money in the wrong place, they don't have any money for any place. And that's the problem that they found themselves in. Now let's talk about this matter of worship as we sort of lay a framework for this message.

God has always had a place where he gathered his people to worship. They come to see the Lord. They come to hear His law. They come to turn away from their sins and God has always gathered people. The first most prominent gathering was in the tabernacle where the children of Israel gathered all around the tabernacle, tribes on the north, tribes on the south, tribes on the east, tribes on the west.

They all pointed their houses, they all pointed their eyes toward the tabernacle and the glory of God would fill the tabernacle and all would gather there. Why? Because God wanted to be near his people. Tabernacle equals nearness of God. Temple means nearness of God and this temple that he's speaking of here means that Now the temple is figurative of something greater than just a physical temple and in one way this whole talk about building a temple is totally meaningless to us.

We don't build temples anymore. The ceremony of law has been abrogated and we don't do that anymore. So what's the application? Well what we find in Scripture is that the temple is figurative of a number of things. It is figurative of the Church of Jesus Christ, the gathered Church of Christ.

The temple is actually figurative of Christ himself and your body is also a temple of the Holy Spirit. So when you hear the word temple in the Bible, make sure that your mind is sorting out the various meanings. Get it on its fundamental level that the Bible is speaking of, but don't just stop there. When you hear the word temple, think about the nearness of God in all these different aspects, in the nearness of God in the Church, and the nearness of God in your heart, because that's what the temple is all about. So God is always gathered as people together, but the problem is, people have always wanted to neglect their gathering together with God and that is the heart of the problem.

Now back in the Old Covenant economy during the ceremonial law the refusal to come and worship God in the temple was the equivalent of refusing God himself. So this neglect bore witness to a greater, more devastating problem. They did not want to come before God and so God judged his people on this matter of worship and we've seen this many times as we've read through the prophets that God judges individuals and nations and churches on their worship. In fact, if you want to know the future of a nation, look at their worship and ask, is the way that they are worshiping going to cause their destruction or their prosperity because the worship of a people is always at the heart of the success or the failure of that nation or of that person. And here's how God judges worship.

I'll just say it very simply. He judges his people on the who, what, where, when, and why of their worship. The who, the what, the where, the when, and the why of their worship. Now we could spend lots of time unpacking each one of those, but just be assured this is the measuring line upon which the people of God are judged by God in terms of their worship. So, the people were preoccupied with their own houses, and they had left the house of God in ruins.

And God tells them that their poverty is linked to their poverty of spirit and their desire for the rebuilding of the house of God. So that's the basic message. Now I want us to recognize the seriousness of Haggai's message. It's interesting to observe, and you'll see this when you read through the book, look for this. These four words, thus says the Lord, those words occur 26 times in only 38 verses.

Think about that for a minute. It's a remarkable concentration of a repetitive command that you'll find throughout the entire testimony. So when you read it, look for those words. These are the most serious, these are the most beneficial, these are the most helpful words anyone can ever hear. When you hear the words, thus saith the Lord, know what comes after it.

Recognize the beauty and the goodness of what comes after it. 26 times in 38 verses you're gonna read that and I just challenge you when you see those words look just pause for a moment and say what what did he mean what what did the Lord say let's talk about the author of the book in the second element of your outline here there are three prophets that stand together During the time of restoration these are the post exilic prophets the prophets that Spoke after the exile and so now some of the post exilic prophets speak just before just on the hinge point of the return and some when the return is in full swing and Haggai is one of those that is speaking from Jerusalem and he is called one of the prophets of the Restoration. There are three prophets of the Restoration, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the last three prophecies in the Old Testament. And they should be thought of together because they're speaking of a very, very tight time frame. Who wrote the book?

Haggai wrote it. How do we know that? Haggai is mentioned nine times in the book as being the author. And, you know, there are liberal scholars who quibble about that. The Bible says Haggai wrote the book.

There you have it. I don't really have any interest in going any deeper than that. Haggai is referred to in Ezra 5 verse 1 and in Ezra 6 14 and of course this prophecy is the only one that he wrote or at least the only one that you know ended up in canonical scripture. Haggai's name. As with all the other prophets, the name of the prophet means something.

It really tells something of the essence of the man's ministry and his life and his effect and I think we find the same thing with Haggai. His name means festival, perhaps you know implying a feast and that's exactly what his message is. Come and have a feast. You've been deprived of a feast because you don't spend your money in the right place and if you did devote your resources to the building of the temple of God it would be a feast. Come to the feast.

So let's talk about the time frame. You know I hope you've been kind of getting your coordinates about the prophets and what's going on. You have the pre-exilic prophets you know like Jeremiah and then you have the exilic prophets and then you have the the post-exilic prophets But now what's really interesting about Haggai is all of these prophecies were delivered in a four-month timeframe and they were delivered from August 29th 520 BC to December 18th 520 BC. So in 538 BC Cyrus the king of Persia issues a decree to allow the Jews to rebuild the temple and the first return was with Zerubbabel in 536. Work began immediately.

Ezra 4 and 5 gives the backstory of that. Reading Ezra and Haggai together is very helpful. And they come back. The Samaritans are hindering the work. There's all kinds of chatter and fear.

The work stops in 534 BC because of the opposition. And the work stayed stopped until Haggai came and he challenged the people on August 29th 520 BC. There was discouragement, there was pessimism, there was nonchalance that had set in, and the initial optimism was just drubbed out of them as a result of these different things. Some of them were legal battles about the land and clarifying who had what land and all this kind of thing. But there were these 14 years when the rebuilding of the temple was ignored and then it was finally resumed and then it was completed about four years later.

So it did finally complete. So where we are in time is approximately 50, 000 captives have returned from Babylon and they're now home and they've been there for 16 years at this point. Now just a note about the number who returned 50, 000. Now just think about that for a minute. That might sound like a lot, but do you remember how many came out of Egypt with Moses?

Around two million. Approximately two million. And now the people of God have been reduced dramatically. It almost reminds me of what happened in the days of Gideon when God reduced the army and its size for his own glory. So there's a vast reduction of people here.

Now the reason this whole time frame question should be engaged is I think we should always remember that this is history. These are real kings. These are real nations, real battles, real situations. The Bible is not a book of mythology. You can actually find down to the day and the month that many of these things happened in history.

People don't want to admit this type of thing but the Bible is a book of history. It's real. You know what? It's about real life. It's a blessing that God would reveal himself through the normal things that have happened in history as a result of his providence.

The fourth item in your outline is headed with the words the results of his preaching. To me this is one of the neatest things about the book of Haggai because Haggai preached four messages. He preached four sermons and there was a rapid response and there was fruit from the labor, and the temple was completed. It was a beautiful story of the people of God springing into action. There's such a beautiful aspect of this story.

Haggai preaches and 23 days after he preaches the work has begun and it doesn't stop. It does slow down a couple of times but it continues to its completion in a relatively short period of time. There's some key verses if you just want to see some of the critical things that are said here in the book, these are my favorite verses. Chapter 1 verses 6 through 9, chapter 1 verse 10, chapter 2 verses 7 through 9. These are critical and helpful statements that are there.

So with that let's jump into the book. As you can see on your outline there are four messages of Haggai and the first message is delivered in the first chapter in verses 1 through 15 in the first chapter and then in the second chapter there are three other messages the second message speaks of the glory of the temple that's in chapter 2 verses 1 through 9 the third message speaks of the blessings of obedience in verses 10 through 19 in chapter 2 and then the fourth message gives us a picture of promised blessing in chapter 2 verse 20 through 23. So there are these four messages preached in a four month period. So when you think of Haggai, think of that. Four messages, four months, a discouraged people who snap back into action.

So let's begin with chapter 1 and since there are only 38 verses in the whole book of Haggai we're just gonna kind of walk through section by section and pause on the critical sections here. Now in chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 this first prophecy or this first sermon explains the problem in verses 1 and 2. And of course the first thing we hear from Haggai is the historical context and the biblical writers are constantly trying to give us historical context. In the second year of King Darius in the sixth month on the first day of the month the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest sang thus speaks the Lord of hosts saying this people says the time has not come the time that the Lord's house should be built now I want you to notice something that's very, very important in these first two verses. And the question is, who is this being directed to?

Who is Haggai speaking to? And it's very critical that you understand who he is speaking to. He's speaking to two parties. He's speaking to the civil governor and he's also speaking to the religious governor. And so this is a prophecy to both the civil and the religious.

This is to both the church and the state. And the reason I want to bring that up is that there are many people that believe that the church has nothing to do with the state. But here, in Haggai chapter 1 verses 1 and 2, it's very clear that the prophet of God is speaking to both the church and the state simultaneously. He's bringing the very same message to the state that he is to the church and this is how Christians ought to think. The law of God applies to everything.

It doesn't just apply to the church. There are people that believe that when you step outside of the church all of a sudden the laws of God don't matter anymore. So this is very clear here. So you have Zerubbabel the son of Shealti, the governor of Judah, that's the civil realm, and then to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, that's the religious realm, That's the church. So both jurisdictions are addressed here.

Then in verse 3 we find this correction. Now at the end of verse 2 we heard what the people are saying. The time has not come that the house of the Lord should be built. Bad timing. Bad timing.

This is always the excuse. Bad timing. I need to spend my money on myself. Bad timing. It's always bad timing to spend your money and your energy on the worship of God because you always think it'll cost you more than it will and the truth is is that it actually is costing you more to withhold than it is to give.

And then in verse 3 there's this correction. The word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying, there you go, see that? The word of the Lord came. Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panel houses and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways." So this is a call to repentance.

Consider your ways. I was reading Martin Luther's commentary on the book of Haggai earlier today and I was really struck by Martin Luther's words about this correction, this rebuke that he begins with. I just thought it was very fascinating the way that he framed this. Luther says this, he begins with a reproach as is the custom of all the prophets. You see, first of all they set forth a rebuke, threaten the wrath of God, and then they add sweet and gentle promises.

This is something Satan does not do. He first attracts with his enticements with which he lures into error with those enticements, wounds mortally, and destroys. So also the heralds of Satan do the same thing with their teachings. God first leads souls to hell, then he brings them back, humbles them, lifts them up, he confounds them with dishonor, and finally glorifies them. This is exactly what we see Haggai doing, but you know in a way that no one else can communicate it like Luther.

He takes you to hell first and then he brings you back from the dead and blesses you and that's exactly what we hear from Haggai, consider your ways. In other words, understand who you really are. What are you doing? And then in verse 6 there are the results of ignoring the temple. You have sown much and bring in little.

You eat but you do not have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes." It's such vivid language. Nothing you do is fulfilling or satisfying.

Nothing is working. And this is a statement of the judgment of God to those who set aside His worship. There is an economic impact. God judges His people in this way. You often find this with those who can't find it in their hearts to keep the Sabbath.

They work and work and work and work and they are so afraid that God won't provide for them that they're going to continue working on Sunday because they think that somehow if they don't work just a little bit more they won't have quite enough. And the opposite is actually true because God is going to put your money into a bag with holes, supernatural holes. You don't see the holes, Your pockets don't have any literal holes, but he sees to it that your resources are drained out. So then in verse 7, Hegiah issues this command, and this is the command that they heard and they listened to. Thus says the Lord of hosts, there it is again, consider your ways, go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified says the Lord.

And here He's asking the people to engage themselves in the physical labor of the rebuilding of the temple and actually going up into the hills and cutting the wood and bringing it back so that the temple can be appointed. They've been going up to the hills already, most likely, to get wood for their panel houses. But now, he's asking them to go get wood to build the temple. Why? That I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord.

You see that word pleasure? This is a word that appears many times in Scripture and to understand this matter of pleasure from God's perspective is one of the most important things. You know, in His presence are pleasures forevermore. This is a great theme of the Bible. Come near to God and you'll find yourself drinking of His river of delights.

And so he says that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified when God is taking pleasure his own pleasure he takes people with him and that's the point here and then there's the reason for the judgment that's spelled out in verses 9 through 11. You looked for much but indeed it came to little. Now stop there for a second. You looked for much. In other words, you had such a great vision.

You know, you had such great ideas about your life and so you concocted this life but it was all about you. You looked for much. You looked out there you were you were so excited you know you you had such a great you know picture of this bright future and you went out there and it just fell on its face and he's saying you want to know why it fell on its face he says this and when you brought it home I blew it away God says I blew it away gone why says the Lord of hosts because of my house that is in ruins while every one of you runs to his own house Therefore the heavens above you with will withhold the dew and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains on the grain and the new wine and the oil on whatever the ground brings forth on men and livestock and on all the labor of your hands." Do you notice how he covers all the different industries? Various products, various activities.

He's called a blight on all these things. Doesn't really matter what you're doing, he'll find a way to deprive it from you if you're not giving your energy to him. And then in verse 12 we see this marvelous thing here that happens. The people obeyed. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, the civil and the religious realm, the church and the state both responded in the same way with all the remnant of the people.

Do you see that? The church, the state and the remnant. These are the people who are being spoken of here. They obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the presence of the Lord.

So it was a marvelous time of turning. God turned the hearts of the people and the church and the state and they all pull together. And then in verses 13 to 15 Haggai speaks to the people. Then Haggai the Lord's messenger spoke the Lord's message to the people saying I am with you says the Lord you see how God rewarded them he rewarded them with the greatest reward It's the reward that can follow you everywhere to the ends of the earth, to the greatest depths. His own presence.

I am with you. That is the reward. You know, this is very much like what the Lord said to those in the early church in Matthew 28, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. The presence of God is the treasure. It's the most important thing.

It doesn't really matter what you have in your pocket, what kind of house you live in. If you don't have the presence of the Lord, you don't really have anything. And so Haggai is speaking this word of comfort and he's saying, I am with you says the Lord what a blessing and then we see how the Lord stirred up Zerubbabel and Joshua in the final verses of this chapter verses 14 and 15 Now notice these first words in verse 14. So the Lord stirred up the spirit. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel the governor of Judah and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehoshadak the high priest.

It's interesting how often Haggai repeats this who these people are the civil and the religious and it was the Spirit of God that brought them to this obedience and then it says and the spirit of all the remnant of the people so again you have the Spirit of God motivating the civil government you have the Spirit of God coming and motivating the church and you have the Spirit of God stirring up the people of God, the remnant. And it says, they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. This is history. This is real. It's not a story.

It's not a fable at all. I find it fascinating and really encouraging that you have the Spirit of God stirring up the civil realm and the church as well and the people. You know what a marvel it is when all those three things come together. I mean do you pray that that could happen today? That the church and the state and all the people together are of one heart and one soul.

It's almost incomprehensible to think of it, but it is possible. It happened right here and it can happen again. The Spirit of God can come down upon our civil leaders and turn their hearts. God is able to do that. But it was a work of the Holy Spirit and what happened to the church and the state and the remnant is that the Holy Spirit came upon them and subdued their spirit and they began to be teachable.

This is the first mark of the work of the Holy Spirit. You begin to be teachable and as a result of your becoming teachable, you begin to be holy. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit makes you holy.

The chief evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is holiness. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Now we live in a day when people think the Holy Spirit just makes you do all kinds of crazy things. You run around, you bark, you flop on the ground. But the Holy Spirit makes you holy.

The Holy Spirit makes you teachable so that your ear turns toward the Lord. And your ear turns, and your heart turns, and then your feet turn to do His work voluntarily. It's something that wells up within you. It's not imposed from the outside. Christianity is not about something being imposed from the outside that you must do.

Christianity is a work of God in your heart. He changes your heart, then He moves your feet. But it isn't your work, it's His work. And you do that work voluntarily. And one of the most prominent features of the work of the Holy Spirit is availability.

You volunteer. You have a desire and you say yes and you want to go with your master. You know I think of what it was like to me when I asked Deborah to marry me. And when I asked her, I was so struck by her absolute willingness, her unqualified, unhesitating willingness to fall into my arms. It was amazing.

I couldn't believe it. It was a work of the Spirit of God, no question about it. This is what happens to a believer. His mind changes, his heart changes from the inside out, and then by this move of God we become volunteers and we want it we desire it John Calvin said that he was converted this way he said this by a sudden move of my heart he made me teachable. Isn't that beautiful?

This is how people are converted. It just happens by a sudden move of the heart and then everything changes. So that's chapter one. The first prophecy, the first message, the first sermon exposes the sin, it diagnoses the reason for the sin, and it issues a call to come back and they came back. So chapter 1 is such a wonderful thing.

It's a picture of a people who had kind of lost their heart and by the end of the chapter they got their heart back. And how did they get there? Well kind of like Luther said, you know, the Lord had to take them to hell first, raise them up to new life, and then give them a new heart and a new spirit, and now they're ready for their work again. Okay, the second prophecy is delivered, recorded here in chapter 2 verses 1 through 9 and We'll read it in the seventh month on the 21st of the month The word of the Lord came to Haggai came by Haggai the prophets saying speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel the governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest and to the remnant of the people again the church the state and the remnant he's speaking to all three of them simultaneously and here's what he says, who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory and how do you see it now in comparison with it? Is this not in your eyes as nothing?

Now what is happening here? There are people who remembered the old temple, the temple that Solomon built. It was absolutely magnificent. It was a wonder of the world. And the old people looked at this new dinky little temple and they were disappointed.

When we deal with Zechariah we'll find the exact same thing is happening in the days of Zechariah. Zechariah is prophesying at the same time and Zechariah says don't despise the day of small things. But here, they're looking at the temple and they're saying, it's nothing compared to what we had before. The people who grew up, who were born and grew up in captivity, they were excited. But the people who remembered the glory of the former temple they thought it wasn't very much at all it's almost like what we hear in Isaiah who has believed our report who believed this who believe this is really God working it's so small hey yes is and How do you see it now in comparison with it?

Is this not in your eyes is nothing? And then in verse 4 he desires to turn them and he says, Yet now be strong Zerubbabel says the Lord and be strong Joshua son of Jehoshadak the high priest and be strong all you people of the land did you hear that again be strong you civil realm be strong you church be strong you remnants calling them all together to move in unity. What a wonderful thing that would be if that happened in our land. Says the Lord, and work for I am with you says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt.

So my spirit remains among you. Do not fear." So do you understand what's happening? They started the work. There was tremendous excitement and then some people came and said this is really nothing and it was discouraging to the people so Haggai came back in to encourage the people to call them back Call them back to the energy that they had started with because their energies were flagging and he wants to bring them back to their former energy. Now we're talking here about the temple of God.

As we ought always to do, Think of the temple of God on numerous levels. Think of it as a tabernacle. Think of it as the temple. But you should always think about it also as the body of Christ. In Ephesians chapter 2 verses 19 through 22, we see how the Lord explains this to us.

He says this, Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being joined together grows into what A holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The temple of God is also the people of God and we are living stones as stones fitted together in that temple and so when he speaks of the temple in time past he's also speaking simultaneously of the Church of Jesus Christ and he is saying come together in the Church of Jesus Christ. Invest your labors, invest your money into the Church of Jesus Christ. Don't just live a life all on your own. Don't just build your house and have nice panel houses.

You know turn your resources to the people of God. Why is it that you have no money? Well there's a reason. You're spending it all on yourself and God's not multiplying it. The Lord Jesus Christ's body is also likened to a temple in John chapter 2 verses 19 through 22.

Jesus answered and said to them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said it has taken 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Jesus Christ is the temple of God. And then we also learn in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And you can read more carefully about that in 1st Corinthians 6 verses 15 through 20.

So then in verse 6 in chapter 2 the Lord speaks again, For thus says the Lord of hosts, Once more it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations and I will fill this temple with glory says the Lord of hosts the silver is mine and the gold is mine says the Lord of hosts the glory of this ladder temple shall be greater than the former says the Lord of hosts and in this place I will give peace says the Lord of hosts here's the Prophet encouraging the people in their obedience and he says a number of things in verses 6 through 9 which are really critical to us first of all he says he'll shake the nations and he's really speaking of how he will shake the conscience of the nations, of people in the nations, people from every tongue, tribe, and nation, and they will come to the Lord. And they will come to what? The desire of all nations. Mark that. The desire of all nations.

Who is the desire of all nations? Who is the one that everyone really wants? Who has the things that every human being longs for? Christ. Christ himself.

He is the desire of all nations. Now, the nations seek to fulfill their desires in the wrong places in the wrong ways. But when they find their desires in Jesus Christ, then they are fulfilled. And it says here, I will fill this temple with glory. In other words, when you seek the desire of all nations, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, he will fill your, the temple of your body with glory.

And He will fill the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ with glory, and He will fill the state with His glory. The Church, the state, and the remnant are always in view and when you have the church in the state and the remnant all longing for this desire of all nations you have glory and then in verse 8 the Prophet turns to remind them of something that we all need to be reminded of and it has to do with money it has to do with access to money it has to do with how you get it and how you keep it he says this the silver is mine and the gold is mine says the Lord of hosts in other words you don't need to worry about money let me worry about the money it's mine I just move it around you be faithful with what I give you and remember it's mine and if you know what if you just spend it on yourself I'm gonna take it back you won't be able to invest it where you want to because I'm gonna take it from you the gold is mine the silver is mine and then he he issues a prophecy of the future.

The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace. Now I believe he's speaking typologically again about the temple. And he's speaking of the latter temple this small despised temple that doesn't seem to be impressive at all he's saying that the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former in other words, something greater than Solomon is here. Something greater than Solomon's temple is here even though it's small.

Even though it's like a, you know, a ping-pong table by measure, you know, sitting in the middle of a football field in a gigantic stadium. It's just a little nothing. It's not like what it was in its former glory. But he says this, it will be greater. Even though it's smaller, it will be greater.

And I understand this is also a picture or a prophecy of the New Covenant where you have better promises and where you have better better everything as the Spirit of the Lord is poured out You have the latter temple greater than the former and this is what it means to have the Spirit of God in your heart. You have something greater than the former glory. You have something greater than the Old Covenant glory. Christians who are alive today have greater power, greater joy, greater peace, greater capability, greater everything, and we often don't even recognize it. We're often blind to it.

You know, one time a few years ago, I was doing a conference on fatherhood, and one of the speakers, I believe it might have been Kevin Swanson who said this, I was doing fatherhood conferences all over the country, and there must have been 50 men that gave messages at these little conferences that I did, and Kevin was giving one of them and he made a comment about the Old Covenant. He was observing that the Old Covenant saints, the Old Covenant fathers, almost all had sons that went astray and he said you know I'm doing a lot better than Abraham and Isaac and... I'm doing a lot better with my family than all these other patriarchs. What's that all about? I thought, hey, you know what?

So am I. And I'm looking over there. Hey, so is that guy. So is... Hey, like almost everybody in this room has a better family life, a better experience for their sons and daughters than even the patriarchs did, these godly men.

And here's what he said. He said, consider that it's because of the power of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant. Things are better. This latter temple shall be greater than the former. And so Haggai is encouraging the people of the glory that is to come in this latter temple.

And so he's encouraging these people. They started out strong, they gave out, they devolved to discouragement, and now He's inspiring them with a vision for the future. He's saying, just wait, be patient, I'm going to do it. So that brings us to the end of the second message of the second sermon. The third message of the third sermon is seen in chapter 2 verses 10 through 19 and let's read it.

On the 24th day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet saying thus says the Lord of hosts now ask the priests concerning the law saying if one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and with the edge he touches bread or stew wine or oil or any food will it become holy and the answer is no the priests answered no and haggai said if one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these will it be unclean so the priest answered and said it shall be unclean then haggai answered and said so is this people and so is this nation before me says the Lord and so is every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean." What is he saying? He's saying that when you worship God in a false way everything in your life becomes unclean it's the headwaters of everything your worship of God personally your worship of God in the church is the headwaters of everything and God judges individuals and nations on the basis of that and then we come to the fourth message or the fourth sermon here the final one and this is a crescendo of encouragement and blessing in verses 20 through 23 we read again the word of the Lord came to Haggai in the 24th day of the month saying speak to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah saying I will shake heaven and earth I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them.

The horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother." In other words, he's saying that he's going to destroy the works of the devil. He's going to overthrow the things that harm the people of God. And then the last verse reads this way, In that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you like a signet ring. For I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts." Zerubbabel, the civil leader, is made like a signet ring. And most commentators believe that he is speaking of Christ, that Zerubbabel is a type of Christ.

And he has a signet ring that indicates ownership. He makes his authority known by this ring. I will make you like a signet ring for I have chosen you says the Lord of hosts. In other words he's speaking about the authority of the name of Jesus Christ and how He will rule and He will reign. Remember Zerubbabel is the civil leader and for some reason even this civil leader is named to be a type of Jesus Christ because He stands over a nation in order to do it good, to bring blessing into the nation, to give it proper laws, to punish evildoers, and to draw the people into the worship of God.

The very best function of a civil leader is to encourage people to worship Jesus Christ and Him alone. Yet today it's illegal to do that in our own civil government. We've drifted so far away from this whole model of spiritual and civil and personal life where even the civil rulers are calling us to worship. Can you imagine what would happen if our civil leaders all over this nation began to urge people to go and worship God? It would be such a marvelous thing.

Perhaps you know many would take it to heart. Okay let's press on here. Let's talk about Christ and Haggai. I'm just going to give you a few examples. The temple, that's one.

Number two is Zerubbabel and the signet ring. Recognize also that Zerubbabel is mentioned in Matthew chapter 1 verse 12 in the genealogy. So this really is a prophecy of the coming Messiah and Zerubbabel stands in the long line of faithful men who can be traced directly from David to Christ. And then finally the final picture of Christ is in chapter 2, verses 6 through 9. They shall come to the desire of all nations.

The desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory says the Lord of hosts I don't know if this prophecy actually is connected with what something that the Apostle Peter speaks of he says the silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. You know, Peter says that the people of God are God's treasures. And you have this whole idea of the church, the precious stones of the church being collected together to form a temple of God. The silver is mine and the gold is mine.

Perhaps he's saying the people are mine, they are my treasures, and I will fill the temple with glory. Okay, here are a few lessons. The temple of God is broken down and needs repair. And what will we do? What will we do?

I think all of us should recognize that the temple of God is broken down and in need of repair. And I just think that we should recognize that God calls us to devote ourselves to His worship. You know, what does America need more than anything else right now? A better economy, better laws, better leaders. Is that what America really needs?

Does America, you know, need to just fix its immigration problem? Does it need to fix its international relations issues? What about the military? If you could just fix the military everything would be just right. No, America needs a rebuilt temple.

America needs what Haggai saw. The civil and the spiritual and the remnant turned to God to quit filling their own pockets and to turn to the worship of God a rebuilt temple is what we need today and it's sad to see the state of our society when you see the temple of God destroyed. But let's don't forget what Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3 17. He who destroys the temple of God, him I will destroy. The neglect of the temple of God has really dramatic repercussions.

You know the light, the light punishment happens when you don't have any money. You don't have any resources because you've been spending it all on yourself, but the judgment increases in intensity And he who destroys the temple of God, him I will destroy. And how do you destroy the temple? False doctrine, heartless worship, slothful service, spending money all on yourself and not giving it to the Church of Jesus Christ and God will cut these off. He'll make them shambles and He'll deprive them of their reward.

So the biggest problem in America isn't health care and the economy and taxes and bad laws. The problem is ourselves and recovering this passion for God in order to to fill the church with our gifts is such a critical manner. Your time, your money, your prayers, and I think we can take it even to a more personal level. I think we have to apply this on a corporate level and ask, how am I misspending my resources so that my pockets have holes in them? And how ought I to redirect my resources to the Church of Jesus Christ?

That's one question about corporate worship that we should ask, but what about personal worship? You know, are we so busy in this life that we don't stop to worship God in the temple of our body we're going through all the activities we're shopping and shopping and shopping and as a result we find the deprivations that happen to these people here because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now let me just clarify one thing In one sense the temple of God will never be destroyed. Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. It cannot be shaken and so it will not be destroyed.

But the question we should ask is about our zeal. Has it grown cold? Are we spending all of our time and money on our own things and leaving the house of God in shambles? And one of the tragedies of that is when we do that our own hearts are in shambles as well. So this is a call to examine our priorities and to see where we are with all these things.

But there's a phrase at the very end of Haggai chapter 2 verse 19 and this is the great promise, but from this day I will bless you. From this day I will bless you. What is he saying? Stop spending your money on yourself. Turn and rebuild the temple of God and on that day I will bless you.

On that day. It's a promise of blessing. So that's the whole message of Haggai. Come and be blessed by the Lord by turning.