Sunday, January 26, 2020 - Haggai 2 - Freedom Community Church - Pastor Rob Lloyd

Sunday, January 26, 2020 - Haggai 2 - Freedom Community Church - Pastor Rob Lloyd, Battle Ground, Washington, US

Sunday Service Time: 10 AM
Sunday Service Location: 1919 SW 25th Ave, Battle Ground, WA 98604
Phone: (360) 975-9356
Email: info@freedomcommunity.church
Prayer Request: wepray@freedomcommunity.church
Mailing Address: 1400 NE 136th Ave. Ste 201, Vancouver, WA 98684

Sermon Notes:
Last week we looked into the first prophecy of Haggai as he was called by the Lord to get the people who had returned from the Babylonian captivity, back on track in rebuilding the temple.
• In the third siege of the Babylonians against Jerusalem, they decimated the city, the wall and the temple before taking the people captive to Babylon. And the word of God delivered through Haggai worked, so the people got back to work after about 15 years of neglect of the things of God.
• And as we pick up today in Ch. 2, Haggai is given three more prophecies for this group of people.
• And although there is going to be mention of the corrective process that has been occurring because of the long period of neglect, each of these prophecies are given directly by God to encourage them as they keep pressing forward. And I hope we will find encouragement for the same. And verse 1 brings us to the second of four prophecies found in this book:
In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: 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:
It’s been just short of 1 month since they started rebuilding, as we heard about in 1:12-15
• And from doing the math, this is October 17, 520 BC, meaning this would have been the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (one of the three fall feasts)
3 ‘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?

I don’t know about you, but this seems a little rough, like he’s rubbing their face in the fact that what they had before was far superior to what they are building now. And when its not even done yet and they are already down about it, that makes being encouraged kind of difficult.
• If we go to Ezra 3:12-13, which was written 15 years earlier, when those who had seen Solomon’s temple, then laid the foundation of this new temple and saw that it was nothing in comparison, they wept out loud. So, the Lord bringing this up here is something that has been on their mind all this time.
• But like I told you in the beginning, these three prophecies are going to deal with the obvious
discouragements head on, so the Lord can encourage them to keep moving forward
• And so He rips the proverbial band aid off, not because He wants to cause them pain, but for the exact opposite reason; so they can address it and move forward:
And having done so, now comes the encouragement portion;
4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. 5 ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’

Last time the Lord stirred up their spirits to get them going, but now, when discouragement comes, the Lord says to each of them three important things; 1) be strong 2) keep working, and 3) I am with you
• And honestly, these instructions during times of discouragement have never changed among the people God has covenanted with, which includes us
• It’s not hard to get discouraged while laboring in a world that is temporary and decaying. Where the work we do can be torn down, disrespected, stolen, destroyed and so forth
• And what can make it more frustrating is when we are the cause for the loss and/or the replacement is far less than what we had before
o kind of like when you wreck your car and the insurance company gives you half the payoff
But when we get back on track with Jesus, and are engaged in the things of His kingdom that He has set out for us to do, when discouragement comes we need to remember these same three things; 1) be strong 2) keep working, and 3) He is never going to take His Holy Spirit from us, so there is no reason to fear
• So often we feel like quitting would be the right answer because of discouragement, but the truth is the discouragement is there because we have different expectations than God does.
Often it can be that our expectations are greater than His plans. And I have watched that play out in several ways. One can be when we decide not to engage or continue in the work because we don’t have the same gifting others do, so we fear our impact would be too insignificant.
• Another can be when we think we have to keep up with others expectations or even our own, so we decide to increase the scope of work beyond Gods plan.
• And the preemptive way to avoid this kind of discouragement is to let God decide the work and scope, and then follow His lead.
o If we are doing that, then everything we offer will be what He wants and will be matched with
what He provides. It will still be work, but it will be blessed.
And in bringing up the covenant He made with them 900 years earlier, when He brought them out of Egypt, He intends for them to be reminded that He has an eternal plan for them that He will be faithful to follow through to the end. And that’s where He now takes them as He continues to encourage them
6 “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; 7 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. 8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘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,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

Everything He just said is in regard to what is coming in their future (and ours). For the reference to Him shaking the heaven and earth is speaking of things that will occur during the tribulation period, which must happen in order to finally judge, and therefore end, the consequences of sin entering the world.
• And some might say, “well that doesn’t sound very encouraging to me to hear the Lord is going
to judge the earth and violently shake it as part of the process”.
• But there are two key pieces that need to be considered here. First f you have a relationship with Jesus, you won’t be here during this time (so be encouraged as we are instructed in 1 Thes. 4:18).
• And the other point that He is focusing on here is that this temple they are building isn’t the final temple
Up to this time there was 1) the Tabernacle in the wilderness, then 2) Solomon was given permission to build the first temple (it was destroyed in 586 BC), now we are hearing of what many have called 3) Zerubbabel’s
temple. 4) Harrod (the Idumean) would pretty much tear it down and build the temple that would have been standing during Jesus time on earth. That temple was torn to the ground in 70 AD
• And as we discussed last week, 5) there is a current temple and it is us; each follower of Jesus (1 Cor. 6:19-20, 2 Cor. 6:16-18)
• 6) Another temple will be built and standing during the tribulation. This is not a temple God has asked for. And will actually used by antichrist
• But then comes 7) the temple we will see during the millennial reign and it will be replaced in the 8) eternal heaven. There we are told in Rev. 21:22 “…for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

It’s the temple that Jesus will occupy during the millennial reign that God is bringing to their attention, because it’s there the Prince of Peace will be reigning from
• And the same God who was able to cause King Cyrus to send them back with all the treasures of the temple that were taken during the Babylonian captivity, could allot any amount of material to this current temple, because He owns it all. Kings and rulers might pass it around, but when the Lord wants it, He doesn’t have to ask anyone because it’s all His
• And when we see Jesus in the millennial temple, I promise that any disappointment we have ever encountered will be nothing but a past experience forever more
So if your feeling discouraged now, remember the Lords encouragement is for us to look ahead to what is coming and not to get fixated on the here and now!
Now we come to the third of the four prophecies
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, saying,

Now this is about 2 months later than the last prophecy (Dec. 18th). And what we need to see is the Lord is going to point to the condition they were in when Haggai began to prophecy, and then move forward to what as been happening since
11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, 12 “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?” ’ ” Then the priests answered and said, “No.” 13 And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?” So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” 14 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.

Just because Haggai got them working again it doesn’t mean they all came into the work with the right heart.
After all the Lord did tell them they were missing out on His blessing because the temple was neglected, which as the very mission they returned to complete. So, some might have said in their heart, “I will do this and He will have to bless me”
• But the point is working on the temple alone could not make them holy (set apart for God). If their hearts were not right with Him, the Lord would not receive this work as a return to or offering for Him
• And they knew this because the law instructed that each sacrifice had to be inspected by the priest to insure it was without blemish, and if it was, it was rejected
And now the Lord reminds them of what He told them in 1:9-11;
15 ‘And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord— 16 since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord.
The sad truth is even while the Lord was trying to get their attention through the shortages and losses they were incurring, the strategy of many of them was to ignore Gods attempts to get their attention

And I am sure there are some who have adopted this strategy in their present situation. They have pulled back from engaging with the Lord, and in return He has been using what He can to get their attention. Yet they keep ignoring Him, somehow believing if they do, at some point He will quit pressing or maybe stop making
such a big deal of their complacency. And if that’s your strategy, I have some bad news. It won’t work any better for you than it did for them.
But now is where His message turns the corner to what has been changing in them since they started engaging with the Lord again, so that He might bring them encouragement
18 ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it: 19 Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’ ”

Three times now in just 4 verses, He has asked them to consider. And honestly, busywork for the Lord is not going to be a turning point for the heart but sitting before the Lord and working through what has kept you from Him will.
• This is exactly what happens in Isaiah 1, where the Lord lays out the case against them and then coming to verse 18 He says “Come now, and let us reason together”… And He concludes with how He wants to bless them
• And what did He want them to consider? I believe its since their hearts were complacent about the things of the Lord, and therefore the temple laid in ruins (cause and effect), He identified them as unclean when they came to work on the temple before getting their hearts right.
• And He is saying “now that you have re-engaged with your hearts and hands, (because there is a correlation [James 2:17-18]), I am restoring the blessing”
o This is a double win for them, for they would reengage with the God of the universe, and He
would provide for them.

Folk’s, our God never changes (Heb. 13:8, James 1:17), so when we read of what He wants to do with and for them, we too should be encouraged, because He also wants to be our provision and blessing as we abide (make our home with) Him.
• And if you have neglected your relationship with Him (and therefore real service for His kingdom),

He is saying the same thing to you right now; “come to me and lets air this out and get you plugged back in”. Do you want that? Because He wants it for you!
• And if you need some encouragement from the Lord, this is where you will find it
Now we have come to the fourth and final prophecy and this one is on the same day as the one we just finished
20 And again the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: This prophecy (message from God) is specifically for Zerubbabel and there’s a reason for that.

• And it’s one more reminder that God goes out of His way to speak to those who are His, especially when they need specific instruction or encouragement.
• But we will also see this prophecy casts a bigger net than just for Zerubbabel, even though it is for him.
‘I will shake heaven and earth. 22 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.

So we are brought back to a reference to what’s going to happen during the tribulation, with the addition of some details. One of those is to assure Zerubbabel the time of the gentiles will come to an end and the Jewish people will once again take the place God has given them. This happens in the Millennial kingdom
• So, going to verse 23 we know we are being told of something still future, even to us
• But I believe these references to the tribulation are so specific so no one can say these are past events, but rather are being used to point to the time when Jesus returns to set up His kingdom upon the earth
23 ‘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.”

When the Lord says to anyone, “I have chosen you”, you don’t really need anything more. And indeed, He has said that to every follower of Christ in John 15:16
But for Zerubbabel, who was a descendant of the last legitimate king of Israel (Jehoiachin), who the Lord declared a curse over because of his wickedness, and allowed Nebby of Babylon to kill, this is powerful.
• In that curse of Jehoiachin, God said his descendants would not sit on the throne and likened him to a signet ring on Gods right hand that He would take off and cast down (Jer. 22:24).
• But there’s another significant piece of the story. That was the lineage of David, and it would be the lineage of Jesus.
• So, in essence God now says to Zerubbabel, “I’m going to restore the lineage through you. You will be My signet ring. Zerubbabel, I have chosen you for this”
So not only did God lift Zerubbabel’s spirits by removing all these nagging questions he must have had, by declaring him as Gods seal. He also promised an irrevocable blessing on the nation during the millennial kingdom.
• I find God’s pretty good at this encouragement thing. And if you are united with Him with both your heart and hands, when you need encouragement, I have a sneaking suspicion you will find more than you need. He’s just that good!